Butcher Dies, Angles?

[J.Leon_Szesny 13]

recently made a guillotine and some dies, 
problem im having is, I must've shaped the butcher dies to an overly acute angle, so I had trouble getting in there to forge the butchered section into a smooth tang and got a lil cold shut. 
Im thinking I need to raise the angle to get more working clearance to forge shoulders and such but my dies are only 8 mm thick (0.3")....

anyway, 
tell to me, what angles you got on your butcher dies/tools? 
did you have problems with certain angles?
whats the golden standard for butcher die/tools thickness, height and displacement/bevel(?) angle?

[James M. jones 1]

Let the leading edge be rounded not sharp, generally speaking the angle is flatter than one might expect, and more round trying to get a radius on the transition. 

[J.Leon_Szesny 13]

the leading edge is not sharp but maybe considering the dies are so slim I should've extended the blunt edge, 
and the angle higher? its like 45-50 degrees I think.
good thought! 

[Alan Longmire 2,380]

Try around 20 degrees with a rounded corner.

[J.Leon_Szesny 13]

20 degree bevel? hm Im not sure that would work for the dies I have, they are very thin, 8mm(which is fine since they're for small work)
but ill keep that number in mind if I ever make a bigger guillotine with thicker dies.

[James M. jones 1]

2 hours ago, J.Leon_Szesny said:

20 degree bevel? hm Im not sure that would work for the dies I have, they are very thin, 8mm(which is fine since they're for small work)
but ill keep that number in mind if I ever make a bigger guillotine with thicker dies.

Twenty sound about what I had in mind , for an 8 mm wide tool might just make it more or less rounded, or a tipped egg shape. In the blacksmith shop we have a tendency to just try , modifying as we go , till things work. 

[J.Leon_Szesny 13]

hm aight two people saying 20 degrees, 
then I go with that first.
tipped egg, hmm that sounds like an idea!
this?

                                                          

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2019 by J.Leon_Szesny

[Alan Longmire 2,380]

Either end looks good.  Can you get any 10mm or 12mm bar?  

[J.Leon_Szesny 13]

sadly not for now...my supply is limited to the hardware store and stuff from the scrapyard.
the closest they currently got, is 20mm thick steel but its a giant sheet of the stuff, its unpickuppable for me.

other than that would be forge welding, which...I can "kinda" do but not to good yet.