Good day folks,
My nake is Kris Peacock and this is a bit of an introduction. My great-grandfather was a blacksmith around the turn of the century and I stumbled across some of his fabricated tools a while back. This got me mildly interested in metalworking, but I did not act on it. I do quite a bit of welding (gas, MIG and arc) and general metal work, but I have never forged anything. I have degrees in mechanical engineering and civil engineering, as well as a background in "git-r-done" so I figured I could jolly well make a nice knife. A couple of months ago I decided that I was going to forge a pattern welded knife for a long time friend and hunting buddy that is to be married next year. Having no knowledge of what this would entail I just decided to build a forge type device out of what I had nearby. The first attempt was a brake drum, some EMT tubing, a bit of black pipe and an electric leaf blower. I used Kingsford and had a roaring hot coal bed that easily melted and burned off steel, but it was not very controllable and a bit too hot.
I began doing a bit of internet searching about forging and decided to make a charcoal forge similar to the Tim Lively forge. This works quite well for me as far as I know. I'm no expert, but it seems pretty good. I've made a couple of sets of tongs far and I've pounded out some random bits of this and that just to test my skills. As it turns out, hot metal work is not genetic. It takes a bit of practice. As learned from this site, I am not using processed charcoal anymore. I decided to make my own.
I've been lurking in this forum now for a bit over a month and have found a wealth of information here. Much thanks to the folks who have put in the time and effort to perfect various aspects of forging. More thanks for sharing that knowledge with folks like myself. I have always found metal work to be fascinating and using a forge and some hammers seems even more gratifying. This also seems like a decent hobby for me as a forge puts out a lot of heat. In a Minnesota winter that can be a good thing.
Anyways, thats a quick bit of a introduction to me and why I'm here. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some tricks and tips while in here.
Currently, my road block is welding. I have not been able to manage a good weld in the forge. From what I've gathered on this forum, I have fluxed my stock while far too hot, and I'm also hitting the metal much harder than suggested to set the weld. I'll keep trying until I get it right :-) I'm a bit stubborn like that.
As a safetly net in case I can not weld the stock together, I'm testing a bit of an expiriment. I have taken a piece of 1/4" mild steel stock and welded layer after layer of various welding rods on the last couple inches of parent metal. I then pounded this out to 1/4" stock again and I quickly ground a bit of it down and polished it. I'd like to see how this etches, but have had one hell of a time finding ferric chloride. I just located a place about 45min from me that has it in 4oz bottles so I'll try to sneak over and get some this week. I'm unsure how it will etch the different welding rods, but it will be neat to see.