knife making

[Mortblanc]

(16 April 2018, 16:01)Pete Grey Wrote: SS a forge is a useful asset whether using coke or charcoal and an old vacuum cleaner as a blower, or using a propane torch and a few house bricks, even an oxy/acetylene blowtorch can be used on small jobs to harden and temper steel or even just make a few brackets, hooks etc. Have a go it’s good fun.

Yes SS, give it a go!

There is really nothing like making your first good knife, even if it is a small one for daily use.

I forge blades from files and old broken chisels (my favorite found steel is old horse drawn hay rake tines) and heat treat them in the forge and using the kitchen oven. They often do not look spectacular but they make excellent and usable devices and it gives you one more skill to add to the list.

So build your forge and google some info on how to work the steel on the simple devices and have a go.

You probably have the materials lying around to build the forge already. One of my friends made a forge from "kitty litter", an old kitchen sink and a shop-vac. It worked magnificently.

An anvil for small blades is as near as the flat part of your bench vise, a big piece of I beam, or a chunk of railroad track. My present anvil is a section of RR track about 12" long.

Any big 2# hammer will work for moving the metal.

And if you learn to "forge weld" you will have a skill almost lost to modern adhesives.