Forging knife blades for hunting knifes on Safari

[nztimb]

Something like these two Gert. Simple to make and you could do one with a the round and one with square . If you have a length of lighter leaf spring and thinned it approprriatly at the bend it will be a spring fuller. The other type of course is the guilitine type fuller where you can change the dies as you need them.

 

[nztimb]

A simple guilitine fuller for square set downs

 

[nztimb]

Another way to make the guilitine fuller

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

It's been my experience a short piece or railroad track can be improvised as an anvil in a pinch.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

You are correct, for light hitting work it is suffice ...but as soon as you start hitting harder to move thicker steel the railway track begin deteriorating...at least it is a cheaper option than to try and buy a anvil today...the irony being that people who has these anvils , and some of them are in beautiful condition , they keep it in their gardens as garden features, another person here in South Africa , down at Kwazulu-Natal collect about four hundred anvils just to fill a room with it as an exhibition...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Garry, thank you kindly for this info, it is much appreciated, will make the guillotine version when the lock down is lifted but can make the spring fuller type tomorrow...did some forging work today as well, working on a new procedure to get a what I think will be great looking handle by using Olive wood in another type of handle fitting for another knife I am busy with..taking a break now, had been forging for five hours non-stop..I can feel the age problem is creeping into my body after such a long forging session...

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I was lucky enough to have one which has been in the family for generations, a decent anvil would set you back 800-1000 dollars here and then you could still need to have the top faced.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I was lucky enough to have one which has been in the family for generations, a decent anvil would set you back 800-1000 dollars here and then you could still need to have the top faced.

Skinnerblade, yes, it is true, here in South Africa the price of a good condition anvil is just too expensive to spend such a lot of money onto a thing you hit every day ...there are many other options available with all the excellent steel of today available in scrap yards around the mining towns like Witbank ....since there are large industries and mines a lot of heavy steel components land in the scrap yards and it really is affordable ...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I am trying a new approach to a handle I want to fit on a blade I forged ...the Olive wood has great grain texture , I want to see if I can improve the looks of this wood`s grain on a handle ...trying this procedure ...drill a round stock from a bulk piece of Olive wood , assemble it and work it down as one handle with a brass guard plate at the front and a similar end as the Finish knifes ....

Will assemble it tomorrow...I want to forge another camp skinning knife with this type of handle ..

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Something like this ..but the back part needs to have a wider flair ..

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Did some work today on the blades, forged the Leuko blade ..will finish two knifes shortly..

Good, made some progress, would have liked to finish the work today but my belt grinding machine`s capacitor seems to be having a problem ...I had to do most of my sanding work/filing work by hand , so it took longer than when I work with the belt grinding machine...
Hardening process photos :

Tempering:

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Tempering completed: 2 x cycles at 250 degrees celsius:
Before tempering:

After tempering , 2 x cycles of 250 degree celsius:

Third phase :
Profiling, sanding buffing the blades to fit the new type of handles

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Progress:

 

[Solitaire]

Good job, if this shape of handle can help, it's very comfort :

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Good job, if this shape of handle can help, it's very comfort :
View attachment 341178

Solitaire, thank you kindly , yes I wil make use of your handle shape, I think it will fit nicely on the knife I am making ...I am currently busy shaping the handle..it is a slow process since the capacitor on the single phase motor failed ...now I am on grinder with a flapper disk......

 

[Solitaire]

This one is mine and the handle was only hand made before polishing ... A long, long time with sand paper

 

[Gert Odendaal]

This one is mine and the handle was only hand made before polishing ... A long, long time with sand paper

Soltaire, I then assume you have an idea of how much work goes into such a project???

 

[Solitaire]

From your last picture to a finished handle, I should say 4 to 6 hours for a very hard wood, but it's my hobby so I don't care about time.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

From your last picture to a finished handle, I should say 4 to 6 hours for a very hard wood, but it's my hobby so I don't care about time.

Yes , you are correct, when making a forged knife it takes much longer, you are never 100% sure if you completed the blade and levels this piece of steel will hardened successfully ...there are no guarantee...since I am using only indigenous hardwoods ,it really takes time to finish a knife....
The blades that do not harden /heat treating correctly I use for templets...I am still doing a lot of research on heat treating procedures for the steel I use..currently I like to use "scrap steel" sourcing from scrap yards ...my preference being bearings, roller bearings as well as the inner raceway of the bearings it is High carbon chromium steel known as SAE 52100 The most common material used to produce the load carrying components in precision ball bearings, roller bearings, and tapered roller bearings is 52100 chrome steel. These components are the bearings inner and outer rings, balls and rollers : Characteristics of this steel:

• ANTI-SEIZURE PROPERTIES. When a bearing becomes seized, what happens is that the two metal surfaces that are in contact with one another become welded together. ...
• FATIGUE STRENGTH. A bearing is subjected to what is known as a dynamic load, or a force that imparts motion. ...
• CORROSIVE RESISTANCE

I am frequently trying to source bearings from companies that is not on specifications and try to forge them when as new as possible...I am thinking of start making knifes using the stock removal procedures as well...the example being I can purchase an already complete blade heat treated as well , selling them to get finance to finance my forging work ...
At this stage I do not sell my forged knifes since I still like making them for myself ...but I am sure when I have determined a fail-safe steel treat procedure I will be willing to sell the forged knifes as well...so I am doing what you do , making /forging knife blades to make knifes for fun

 

[nztimb]

If you are using the bearing races that are 52100 then this might be of interest C&P fro Blade Forums

52100 is one of those steels that gets a lot of discussion. It can make a great knife, but the HT for it is not simple. It can make an OK knife with simpler procedures.
I will tell you the metallurgical way to do the HT for 52100:
The steel has 1% carbon and 1.4% chromium. This means that it is hyper-eutectoid steel with a fair amount of alloy to form chromium carbides. You will have to do the HT in such a way as to allow those elements to form the proper structures. To do this you will need a HT oven or forge that can be held at a controlled temperature for ten minutes, and a quench oil that will harden the blade. The oil should be a medium speed commercial quench oil, but Canola will do if nothing else is available. Forget about motor oil and ATF, etc.

Forging - Forge 52100 HOT. It is forged between 1700°F and 2100°F, and should not be forged in the lower red colors.
Normalize ( stress relieve) - Heat to 1650°F and air cool.
Annealing is tricky for 52100. The best way without really good equipment is to do a sub-critical anneal. Heat to 1250°F and cool to black. Then quench in oil. Do this a couple times.
Cycling the steel - This is one of the Triple Treatments often mentioned with 52100. It will get the steel ready for its final hardness and produce a fine grain. Start by heating the steel to 1650°F and quench in oil. Re-heat to 1350°F and quench in oil. Heat again to 1250° and cool to black, then quench in oil. Now the steel is ready to harden.
Hardening - Heat the steel to 1500-1525°F and hold for ten minutes. Quench in oil.
Tempering - Immediately temper at 400-450°F for two hours, cool in running water, and repeat the temper.
Cryo/Sub-zero treatment - 52100 can gain from cryo if you have the ability. Do a snap temper at 300°F and them immerse in a sub-zero bath at
-100° or in LN at -325°F. (An overnight stay in the home freezer won't do anything metallurgically.) After the sub-zero/cryo bath, temper as normal.