Anthony Reid

Thanks for the input everyone! I knew 5160 was tough but it sounds like its tougher than I thought, the suggestion to have the tines professionally heat treated is a good one as well but given that I'm only making a handful of them and it's a cost saving project for my dad so if it's not absolutely necessary I would rather save the money and hassle as the spring manufacturer deals in literal tons while I work in feet and single digit runs lol

This question isnt really blade related but my dad has asked me to make some replacement tines for his harrow that he uses to dress the riding arena where my sisters practice jumping etc. I have an industrial spring manufacturer near me that can supply 5160 in 1 3/4in by 0.323in bars at a good price. My question is if I were to bend the tines hot and allow them to cool without further heat treating would they be tough and springy enough for the job? It's mostly sand that they will be used in but they need to be able to survive the odd bump or snag. All my experience with 5160 has been in knives with heat treat being the major factor. Does anyone here have experience with this material in similar circumstances to what I am describing? The main reason I want to do it this way is that even my largest gas forge doesn't have room inside for the tines once they are bent full curve. I would tell him to order replacements from the manufacturer but none can be found and what he could order wouldn't be guaranteed to fit and would cost as much per tine as a 20ft bar of 5160

I have been making a few knives lately as I gear up to do more production. These knives have been my test runs as I focus on streamlining certain aspects of my work flow and wanted to share them here. The first is a 30 layer pattern welded rhombic puukko which will be going to it's new owner shortly. The second is a small neck/belt knife I kept for myself 1084 steel forged from a scrap left from another knife, trigger shoe style forged guard osage orange handle and an ambidextrous multi position sheath. Third is a kitchen knife I forged for my wife. And fourth is a hunter in 1084 walnut and copper that is currently available in the for sale forum with more pictures in that post.

Just wanted to share a knife I recently finished and have available for purchase. The blade is hand forged 1084 with as forged flats and ricasso, copper guard/bolster, black fiber spacer, and walnut handle. Sheath is veg tan tooling leather dyed USMC black and waxed with a combination of beeswax and paraffin for weatherproofing. The welt is glued in and saddle stitched for maximum longevity in the outdoors. Every part of this knife was hand crafted by me in my shop and is available for $250 CAD plus shipping. For those that use freedom dollars that is about $185 USD plus shipping. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions

I recently started playing with forging kitchen knives and the one im working on right now is giving me some trouble so I wanted to consult you guys before I do anything else with this blade. Its 1084 with a 5.5in blade distal tappered from 5/32-3/32 near the tip and the tang is tappered to 1/16 at the butt. I heat treated this one right after forging and profiling and ground the bevels after heat treat. It has a full flat grind to the spine. All went well until I went to a 220 belt to remove rough grinding scratches and accidentally overheated the very thin edge in a couple places. My original thought was to make the blade narrower to remove the discolored portions which extend into the blade about 1/8in. But after thinking about it and given the fact that I want to offer this knife for sale upon completion im wondering if the best option would be to re harden and temper again before I finish the blade ? If that is the case are there any tips for success in hardening such a thin blade without excessive decarb and or warping? Current edge thickness is about 0.015in what would you guys advise? Carefully grind out the overheated steel and carry on or re heat treat?

Thanks for sharing this here Alan here is a picture of the finished tongs I made (also posted in my original thread so if double posting the pic is a no no feel free to remove this one) Mine dont look as good as the ones in the video but for my second try ever at bolt tongs I'll take it.

Finished up the tongs this evening overall I very happy with how they came out but of course the next pair will be better

I have been working in getting a forging shop set up after a 3 year hiatus forced on me by life and one of the things I've been thinking about a lot is tong making as I've never quite mastered it. I can make a set of tongs but I'm never completely happy with them so I decided this time around I would focus on tongs to kill two birds with one stone, namely brush up on my forging skills and tool up with the various tongs I will need in the shop. The first set of tongs I wanted to make is a pair of bolt jaw tongs to hold the stock I intend to use for other tongs and small hardy tools (my 100lb anvil has a hardy hole that is about 11/16") My first attempt was made from 2 9in pieces of 3/8×1 1/4 mild steel but I made the jaw section behind the v bit too thin and ended up cutting off the v bits to make a set of pickup/hammer tongs. All the work drawing out reins from flat bar was a pain so I decided to try something different the next go round. My second attempt is still a work in progress but seems to be going much easier. I went with a style inspired by the WCB blacksmithing competition tongs. I made a few changes to the style to match my tooling and work situation (no top fullers and no striker) I used opposing set downs and the horn of my anvil for the big fuller and a 1/2in bottom fuller and my cross peen for the smaller one. Starting material was 18in of 3/8×1 1/4 mild with jaws forged on opposite ends of the bar ( make sure they are on opposite sides of the bar as the reins will be hot cut down the middle of the bar) 3/8×1 would have been just fine but I had the 1 1/4 stock on hand the pictures should give an idea of my work flow on these. They still need tweaking and offsetting, as well as the pivot hole and rivet and general cleanup work but the general idea is clear at this point. For those who are interested here is the video that inspired these tongs I took a look through the tong method thread and didnt see cut rein tongs mentioned unless I just missed it so I thought I would share this in case it helps someone else as it is much quicker than drawing out reins and easier than a drop tong weld for reins and can easily be adapted to almost any jaw type.

Yeah I wasn't really aiming at you Alan just thinking out loud I'll have to take a peek at the other forum you mentioned

I know most guys here are making fixed blades but I see no reason why I cant forge pocket knife blades ... after all thats how it was done in sheffield for a very long time. I am sure it has been posted here before but there is a very cool youtube video of a Sheffield blade forger taking about forging a ridiculous number of pocket knife blades per day for something like 70 years of his career. I have a small piece of pattern weld material that was the first piece I ever made and I would love to use it in a pocket knife at some point. its about 3 inches by 1 1/4 and about 3/16ths thick I think it could be reforged to make a couple pocket knife blades from if I was careful. The last friction folder I made was a forged blade as well made from W1 drill rod forged and filed to precise thickness so its conceivable that very precise blades can be made with a combination of forging and filing to precision fits.

I read through the thread above but I am still wondering a few things: I have seen a few references saying that the spring should be relieved at the end where it meets the tang to allow lint to collect without affecting the action is that necessary in general and how would it look? (having a hard time picturing it) also how would one determine the spring pre tension or is it a lot of try it and see? I have seen people just offset the base of the spring away from the pivot to create spring tension but that makes for a bigger gap when the blade is closed and means that you have to re grind the spring to match the liners after setting the spring. Could one just bend the spring to set the tension prior to heat treat? Another thing I have noticed is that most of the springs do not seem to be tapered and some are actually thinest in the middle of the working part which I would think would lead to broken springs in either case if the tension were stiff enough (It has been drilled into me that all flat springs must be tapered to prevent breakage. maybe pocket knives are different?)

Thanks Alan, that helps a lot ... I think ill try a single blade to start even though the stockman pattern is one of my favorites

Well its been a long time since I've been back here, but after moving back to the city, time and work space are pretty scarce but I am getting an itch to make some knives. Lately I have been an a traditional slip joint kick and would like to try to make one myself. I understand the basic mechanics of how they work and have drawn a few on paper and have made a couple friction folders in the past but my one attempt at a slip joint was a bit of a failure ( I tried to make a mountain man style with the wide flat spring pinned onto the back) have any of you fine makers made any traditional slip joints? any hints tips or suggestions? I will be attempting this mostly with hand tools as I sold off my big tools prior to the move. any and all thoughts and help appreciated

I can relate with the struggles of being self taught I took a black smithing course early on and had a neighbor who was a blacksmith who showed me a couple things but was too old to work much when I met him. My father taught me stock removal knife making but other than that it's been trial and error and the Internet/books for the past 12 years

I don't claim to understand the nuance but based on what I read from Brian Brazeal that his punches actually punch out a slug unlike a slitter and that it is then followed with an actual dift his argument against chisels seems to be that they only cut well when the work in supported under the cutting edge and when coming in from the back the metal stretches and "pops" leaving a ragged edge at the center of the hole leading to a cold shut when the drift goes through ... Does that sound right to you guys?