VernonCooney Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I have a 1084 piece of 1 1/2 x 3/8 × 36 inch piece To forge a knife with a 4 inch blade and 4 inch handle how long should the piece be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Stick tang or full tang? How thick do you want the forged blade to be (ground blade will be less)? How wide do you want the blade to be? How many heats do you plan to take. Think of the steel as mass. If you had a 1 inch cube of steel, you have, in effect, a 4 x 1 x .250 piece of steel. you could in theory get a piece of steel 8 x 1 x .1250, which would be plenty to make an 8 inch full tang knife. This is not really an answer, it's more intended to make you think about the question. Geoff 1 "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collin Miller Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Stick tang or full tang? How thick do you want the forged blade to be (ground blade will be less)? How wide do you want the blade to be? How many heats do you plan to take. Think of the steel as mass. If you had a 1 inch cube of steel, you have, in effect, a 4 x 1 x .250 piece of steel. you could in theory get a piece of steel 8 x 1 x .1250, which would be plenty to make an 8 inch full tang knife. This is not really an answer, it's more intended to make you think about the question. Geoff Yeah, but when you account for scale loss you get a 1/4" x 1" x 1" bar of steel.... At least that's what it feels like. On a less sarcastic note, I don't really try to guess how much steel I will need. I just draw the tapers into the bar and see what I have to work with, once I establish how long the blade will be, I forge in the bevels and refine the tapers. After that I just sever the blade from the bar, cutting off a bit more than I think I will need for the tang so that it only comes out a little shorter than I wanted. Forging is like sculpting, you first divide up your material, slowly shaping a form with the correct mass distribution, then refine it all to the final dimensions. “If you trust in yourself. . . believe in your dreams. . . and follow your star. . . you will still get beaten by the people who have spent their time working hard and learning things, the people who weren't so lazy.” ~ Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VernonCooney Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 I was going for a full 4 inch tang and a 1 1/4 wide x 4 inch long blade and thickness a bit below 1/8 inch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor J. Myers-Norton Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I was going for a full 4 inch tang and a 1 1/4 wide x 4 inch long blade and thickness a bit below 1/8 inch. with careful forging you could do that with about 4 inches of your original stock, I use 1.25x.25 stock and only use about 6 inches to get a knife larger than that. Also why did you start with 3/8 stock, Were you planning on making axes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VernonCooney Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 I thought that the thicker the better if forging. Should I have gone with 1/4 inch instead? Pros cons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 The larger the stock, the more work involved. You could forge this knife out of 3 inch round, but why would you? You want to use just enough, plus a little in case you screw up, or change your mind. We could have a little contest. You post your drawing, in scale, and we see who can forge it with the least steel. Forging is not a precise process, and what precision there is, is skill based. What I can do, with my tools and my experience, is going to be different from what the next guy can do. Geoff "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor J. Myers-Norton Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 The larger the stock, the more work involved. You could forge this knife out of 3 inch round, but why would you? You want to use just enough, plus a little in case you screw up, or change your mind. We could have a little contest. You post your drawing, in scale, and we see who can forge it with the least steel. Forging is not a precise process, and what precision there is, is skill based. What I can do, with my tools and my experience, is going to be different from what the next guy can do. Geoff I like this contest idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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