Hello Mariano and welcome to the forum. Really good stuff in the video, thank you for sharing it with us. Very nice knives, and your english is fine.

Best regards

Brion

Hello Mariano,

Very nice job. I watched the video and am very happy to be the owner of an air hammer. It makes forging the integral much easier. The integral, is my favorite style knife. It has all the needs of a using knife in a simple constructed blade. Handle and blade can be formed for specific jobs or just to make it easy to carry and cut.

The only thing you did that I don't do is to fuller the bar before forging the blade. I have watched several other makers and we all have our own methods that seem to arrive at a beautiful finished product. You did very nice job and thanks for the video.

This is my first post so I will go ahead and sign it. Don't know if it has an auto signature yet or not.

Ray Kirk

Hello Mariano,

Very beautiful work. Although I'm in the process of accumulating components,I am not the happy owner of a press or power hammer <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> . Could you please post a pic of the fullering tool you used in the video ?

<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />

Thanks for the comments!

Thanks Ray, integral blades are my favorite too.

This video shows how to forged with an hydraulic press. The steps are the same, but faster....

[media] http://www.youtube.c...h?v=NdcoPfpkS-A [/media]

David I don´t have a picture of my anvils fuller. But I found this one in "the internet", the shape is the same.

I used other trick to forge my integral bolsters....

[media] http://www.youtube.c...h?v=mdIwSV_oBpo [/media]

Saludos

Mariano

Thank you Mariano <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I must say, you land some very precise blows with the hammer .....<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//blink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

Very nice work. Once again, Thank You

<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />

Great thread Mariano thank you

After seeing it I was inspired and and ran out to the shop started forging a Integral Bolster knife(that's a lie sorry I don't run anywhere I walked) I'm happy to say so far so good. I'm not sure how I'm going to square up the shoulders yet I would normally use a jig that works great for flat stock, <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> but as it turns out not so great for round <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//sad.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> .

I wondering how you do this do you have a tool to help with this process if so can we get a look at it?

thanks again

Lyman

Hey Lyman! thanks for your comment.

I don´t use any jig for this type of blades...just use a circular stone with well-defined angles and square file.

But there are jigs for this type of blade, I'll see if I can get photos and put them in the forum.

Saludos

Mariano

PD: A better translation By Manuel Quiroga

"I don’t have a jig for that kind of job. It’s done by hand in a bench grinder with a sharp 90º angle stone or a thick disk turning the back of the bolster against the side of the stone. Similar to a horizontal mill but by hand. Some people do this job on the mill, in which case the real challenge is to center the bolster in the plate. "

To square up the shoulders of the bolster, I use a hot saw and 2"x4" with holes drilled a short distance in the ends. A little less than the length of the finished tang. I clamp the board in the hot saw and with a well worn cut off disc, cut a groove around the bolster where I want the handle to come to. By bringing the saw down with one hand and turning the knife with the other, you can cut a ring around the bolster about the depth you need. If you cut too deep, you start over. So, be very careful when doing this step of integral knife making.

I have a short video that I am trying to make into a good DVD and am getting closer. The last try I put the handle construction in twice. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I hope to have it completed in a couple of weeks. It has been a learning experience for me.

I am blessed with a small lath that I can clean up the bolster with. It will also make the tang perfectly square with the bolster so when you drill a hole in the handle material, it will be a very good fit. Just make sure that the tang ends up in the center of the handle. It is very easy to get it too high and then when you grind the handle shape, you find the glue and tang. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//sad.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> These are the ones that go into the kitchen and for relatives.

I hope I have been a bit of help for you.

I will be giving a demo on this at the Heartland Hammer in that is being held the 2-3 of Oct. 2010 in Meridan, KS at the home of Steve Culver. If you want to learn how I do it, that will be a great time for learning.

This is the old Brazilian Bladesmith's integral tutorial... http://www.brazilianbladesmiths.com.br/integral.ht m"> http://web.archive.org/web/20080112222924/http://www.brazilianbladesmiths.com.br/integral.htm

Mike

After a couple of close call its done this is my first completed forged knife.

Thanks again for this thread Mariano and the videos it helps so much to be able to watch it being done

Lyman,

I hope my first forged integral looks that good.

I really like that, it's nice and clean.

That´s great Lyman! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Glad my videos could contribute in something.

Saludos my friend

Mariano

Thanks Mariano,

Great videos and fun thread:)

It's cool to see how others do their integrals.

I started doing them all by hand for many years and more recently had Ray Richards Build me a type of fullering tool (Godzilla the 3-rd). I like the way it starts things off in a very accurate way. I do have to say that forging in the shoulders all by hand gives an integral a different look than when a fulling tool or a press is used. I think there is a time and place for the different styles and looks of each.

For the first 3-years of making knives all I did was forge integrals from round bar....well I did do a few from flat stock too:) They are tons of fun and really hone forging skills in a way that flat stock really will not. It takes lost of focus and continual practice to do them well and to get that metal-mass in the 'choil-area' right under the integral bolster. I am still getting the hang of that and have been trying different techniques.

Here is a shot of the Godzilla with a small sample piece of round bar that I was experimenting on when I first got this monster hardy tool set-up a couple months ago.

I have seen the Brazilian Bladesmith tutorial years ago...and though I have never owned a grinder, I did used to draw the tang out in a similar fashion that they show, but employed a hand hacksaw to do a circumference-cut than file back that angle to get the face of the drawing hammer in there. I quit doing it this way because that sharp angle created a stress-riser and on some larger 7/8" round bar I had a tang tear at the junction....that was two sessions of hand of forge work down the drain, as I already had drawn out a blade pre-form for a large integral dirk..... but I did end up making another knife out of the majority of the material.

I like how the Godzilla or a basic fulling tool will isolate the tang to prep for drawing out by hand. There is more filing involved to get it all cleaned-up, but there are no stress risers that way.

Well, thanks again:) Have fun & I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Here is a little integral I just finished up for a customer. This one was forged out of the last piece of an antique automobile starting crank. I had made several knives out of that same piece of steel & it was good stuff:)

-DON:)

Wow. Some days this forum makes me want to take up knitting...

I have always loved integral knives and have to try one (when the heat breaks...it's 106 right now and I work in a non AC garage). May I ask what diameter of round stock one starts from for a specific blade width? Does anyone hasve a rule of thumb? And also couldn't you do this from a thicker square stock too?

Thanks

Kevin