And now for something completely different.

[DJ.]

As some of you may know, I have another hobby..............I hand forge knives and the odd axe too

Anyway, Tony H and I were talking and as he is into making things and metal work, I suggested he might like to come to my house and make something with the forge and anvil.

Yesterday, Tony arrived here in Eastbourne where the weather was rather dodgy and my forge is out side, so with fingers crossed we started.

After a little discussion, we decied making a blacksmith's knife with forged handle would be project that could be finished in a day. I remembered having a suitable piece of spring steel, but couldn't find it . Out came the angle grinder, a four foot long off roader rear spring and two 1mm cutting discs later I had two pieces about 2" x 3/4" x 10". I went back to the forge, put them on the bench and then found the piece I'd been looking for

It was dry but the wind was gusting, and fortunately the forge didn't blow out. It was soon apparent that Tony knows how to use a hammer very well and he set to forging the blade shape. Next he drew out the tang portion using my flypress:

[DJ.]

Having roughly drawn the steel out, Tony cut off the extra steel with a hardy tool and hammer:

[DJ.]

Here's a photo of the forge running :

Tony found the "Warning hot surface do not touch" plate on the top amusing as all the surrounding paint has burned away.

[DJ.]

Once happy with the blade profile, Tony hammered in the bevels (well done for not hitting the anvil face ) and then created a smooth taper on the tang. To add a bit of interest to the design we decided to twist the tang. With the tang nice and hot, Tony put the blade in the leg vice and used a converted adjustable spanner to twist it clockwise ( I left the direction up to him, but it turned out to be a good choice

After twisting, he bent the tang back upon itself and I helped turn the end 90 degrees, so it fitted nicely up to the blade before finally tapping the tang into it's finished position. By this time it was lunchtime and we'd missed coffee altogether.

At lunch handling the knife, it became apparent that if Tony had twisted the tang anti clockwise, it would have only been comfortable for left handers!

After lunch, Tony removed the forge scale using a wire brush in the angle grinder (a very dangerous piece of equipment), and then used my belt grinder to refine the blade shape and thin the edge a little:

[DJ.]

Once happy, I switched on our family gas oven with a thermometer on a baking tray and set it to 375F for tempering and Tony and I headed back to the forge.

Just as the blade was coming up to critical temperature (at which pooint the steel becomes non-magnetic) and just as Tony was about to plunge the knife into hot oil, the heavens opened and it really poured down! I got the oil into the forge and Tony raced in to quench the steel and create a lot of noxious smoke while I was getting wet covering the forge

A file confirmed we had a hardened edge, so we took the knife back to the kitchen and left it for an hour in the oven. Time for coffee

The last stage was to grind again with a finer belt, remove any scale and a little final sharpening on a water stone.

Here is the finished knife:

[DJ.]

It was good to get the forge going again, and Tony prompted me to get another gas refill so I am now ready to continue making wedding present for my daughter and her fiance.

It was a very enjoyable day and we created a useful tool. I'm glad the weather just about held out to get it finished!

I hope some of you find this an interesting read. It's a long way from kit car building but it is fun.

We had a bit of time to kill before dinner, so I dug out my copy of "Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour - A Lifetime’s Passion" by Robert Hales https://roberthales.co.uk/products/islamic-and-oriental-arms-and-armour and looked in wonder at what was achieved in the past using only hand tools!

Thanks for putting up with me going on about the knives I have made, and those I'm hoping to make in the future Tony

[Fury1630]

.......and we created a useful tool.

Yep, been using it today at my son's house to trim the edge of some wooden edging to go round the ceiling in his porch.

A most enjoyable day

[Rexholme]

Thanks for putting up with me going on about the knives I have made, and those I'm hoping to make in the future Tony

Have you sort professional help, you know, like a counsellor

That’s a great, if unexpected, read. Thanks.

[greenwoo]

brilliant....good way to spend an iffy day. Funnily enough Duncan, had been meaning to ask whether you still made bits n bobs / 'forged' as i remembered the other nice write up you did ages ago.
Fair play T.....good 1st effort!

[locost220]

Well done guys, noticed you left it till the weather cooled down, not sure you could have done that in the heat at the end of July.