# Experiments in forging



## Beau Nidle (May 31, 2017)

I got an anvil a while ago and while I mainly intended to use it for larger stuff, I also thought I'd give it a go for kitchen knives. If I'm quite honest I find forging more fun than useful most of the time, unless you're hugely bothered about cutting off a few edges of your billet to shape a knife, then stock removal is much faster and presents a much lower chance of ruining your steel. However sometimes it can be useful. I picked up a smallish billet of damascus on ebay that would have been fine for an outdoor knife, but was a bit small for a gyuto at 9" x 1.5". I was able to draw out a tang as well as form a point, extending the length by a useful amount. I then forged in some bevels that brought the width from 38mm to 45-46mm, or a reasonable heel height for a gyuto.

Here's the forged shape, still pretty rough:






Cleaned off the scale and put a profile on it, as well as roughing in the shape of the choi and the tang:





And finally gave it a quick test etch just to see how it was looking:





If anyone has feedback on the shape I'd like to hear it! My next step is to even out the thickness of the edge before I heat treat it as it varies from 1.9mm - 2.2mm right now in spots. I'll be going for an even 1.9 all along the edge, so it would be a good time to fine tune the shape too.


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## Kippington (Jun 2, 2017)

Looking really nice! How long did you get the cutting edge in the end? What kind of steel is it?
The knife honestly looks huge in the picture, as does your anvil!

I totally agree with what you said about forging. Its a pain in the ass to go through the steel fixing process, however the perks of forging come in handy from time to time such as making your billet longer and having less wastage (good steel must've been quite rare and expensive a couple of hundred years ago).

Good luck with the quench!


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## Beau Nidle (Jun 3, 2017)

Came through HT fine! There was a bit of a warp to the blade but I was able to fix that during tempering. It's 220mm on the edge and 45mm at the heel, steel is 1095 and 15n20. The anvil isn't huge, 120lbs.

I did some grinding with a jig to put the bevels in roughly, which took me to this point:





After this I switched to freehand so I could put in a distal taper and clean up the lines a little, and then went on to polishing up to 400 grit before etching:





And here's the etched blade:


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## Dave Martell (Jun 7, 2017)

That looks real nice. :thumbsup:


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## milkbaby (Jun 7, 2017)

That. Is. SWEET. :doublethumbsup:


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## Beau Nidle (Jun 8, 2017)

Thanks guys. Few more pics.

Started on the handle. When working with metal I always put the woods together first, then ad the metal at the end. Saves continually worrying about overheating the epoxy! The woods are snakewood (but you knew that already) and buckeye burl.






And then straight to the glamour shots. The only trouble with a black background is that is makes the edges of anything polished disappear!


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## valgard (Jun 8, 2017)

:jawdrop:


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## Badgertooth (Jun 8, 2017)

Whoa... do you do this for a living?


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## Mute-on (Jun 8, 2017)

That is a very nicely resolved gyuto. Congratulations!
Ready for a new career as a knife smith?


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## ashy2classy (Jun 8, 2017)

:doublethumbsup:


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## milkbaby (Jun 9, 2017)

Really nice finished knife! I totally love the look of the snakewood.


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## dwalker (Jun 9, 2017)

You should be proud of that. Very nice work.


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## Beau Nidle (Jun 9, 2017)

Thanks guys! I used it last night, it cuts very nicely and is a good size. So far this is just a hobby that has seen me produce a few knives for friends, but I'd love to turn it into even a part time thing. We'll see how the next few go I guess!

I should say that when I took it home to get my wife's opinion (she's a little alarmed at how many knives have appeared in the last few months, but at least I'm not buying them), she took one look at the snakewood, the brass, the damascus and said "It's a little overdone, don't you think?" 

Oh, and since I'm guessing someone is going to ask, it's 220mm on the edge, 240g weight. Spine is 2.8mm thick at the heel, 2.25mm midway, and 1.75mm at 1" from the tip.


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## merlijny2k (Jun 10, 2017)

Impressive work. Could you explain how one goes about fixing a warp during temper. Do you just hammer it straight on the anvil, or hold it straight wih clamps then heat. I just have a hard time imagining how one could achieve that.


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## Beau Nidle (Jun 11, 2017)

Sure, it's actually relatively simple. I usually temper for 1 hour at 400°F, let it cool and then repeat. On taking it out of the oven the first time I'll put it in a bench vice and then bend it to straighten it. I use a pair of welding gloves to hold it, and I also use some vice grips if necessary. Normally it will just curve to one side or the other during the quench which is a pretty easy fix. If it twists then that can be trickier to deal with, and might need the vice grips and a torch for localised heating.


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## merlijny2k (Jun 18, 2017)

Thanks for the explanation. Makes a lot of sense.


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