First forged blade (photo heavy)

[jojo]

I made my first forged blade this afternoon, and I am very pleased with the result.

I don't have a forge at the moment, but who needs one when you got this in the kitchen:

Notice a bit of smoke coming out , but, hey, I was Home Alone this afternoon.....You can just see the metal sticking out of the coal.

I have a small anvil though, I hammered a few old screws to fix it on a bit of tree trunk I use for chopping wood and put it outside the kitchen door, about 10 ft away from the Rayburn, so that's doesn't give much "bashing" time:

With a couple of tools rustled up from the garage.

I used a piece of 4 mm thick off cut 01 tool steel had left over, about 22 mm wide, I cut the end off at an angle before starting to bash it.

The result of a bit of bashing the metal (the hammer is definitely too light:

The pointy end started sticking up so I resorted to the angle grinder to return to a nice shape, and also cut up a sort of tang, I would have had a try at forging the tang more but my hammer was too light to do this.

A closer view of the developing blade:

When I had gone as far as I thought I could, I tidied up the cutting with the angle grinder, and then the belt sander:

and a closer view:

The blade now needs hardening and tempering and then I'll have to find a nice handle, probably some anther.

The cutting edge is 125 mm long (5"), the widest part 32 mm and at the tang end 27 mm wide.

It looks like a Nessmuk, so I'll call it a Nessmuk!

So, that's the first one. It won't be the last

 

[Dave Budd]

good start, keep us posted with your progress. My first home-heat treated blades were done in my parents' Rayburn too

Tip: try bending the pointed bar down (sickle like) before forging the cutting edge, that way instead of it bending up into a banana it will bend up and straight

 

[British Red]

Needs a nice antler crown that JoJo - really interesting - keep us updated!

 

[Bernie Garland]

Looking good Joel keep us posted

Bernie

 

[Tony]

Good for you, you must be feeling great

 

[jojo]

Dave. Oh I get it, you pre-bend the metal first and straighten it up when forging the cutting edge! Actually, I didn't do that and that's why it ended up Nessmuk shaped!
Thanks for the tip. I have a lot to learn, mind you that's part of the fun.

Red, I intend just that, simply waiting to get some cash in

Berrnie, yep, I will keep posting, mate.

It was an enjoyable learning experience, one lesson being you don't actually need much kit to make useful things.

 

[British Red]

woohoo look forward to seeing it!!!!!!!!!

Red

 

[Snufkin]

Nice work mate. I'm just finishing up the handle on my first forged knife. As well as counter-bending to keep out the curve you can remove some of it by distal tapering (hammering it thinner towards the tip).
I like your anvil. Mines a bit of a bodge, 14lb sledgehammer head set in concrete .