The Socratic method at work: Answer a question with a question..........

What size knife do you want to end up with?

I ask that question because I recently made the switch from "organic" knife design, to "systematic" knife design.

That means that I used to do my blade designing at the anvil. I'd grab a piece of steel and start forging. When I achieved a shape I thought would work, I stopped forging and set about designing a handle and fittings to work with the blade.

Now I work backwards. I design the knife in its entirety and draw it out on paper in full scale. Then I make a template of the blade and tang. Then I calculate how much steel I need to make that blade. I forge all my blades out of 1 inch drill rod so there's some math in this step. Then I forge the bar out to match the template.

So what is your finished blade going to look like? Answer that question first, and the rest is obvious.

Josh is right about having a plan for your knife first. That helps you decide what your materials should be.

I forge most of my knives from 1/4" thick flat bar. If the knife has a ricasso, the height of the ricasso equals the height of front part of the handle. I will use bar stock that is about 1/8" wider than the planned height of the ricasso.

Devan,

All the above information is the way to do it. Design you knife on paper. Make a template, I use cardboard, but I am in the process of making sheet metal templates. Important to have something to look at and compare size and shape.

In the Intro Class, the Mastersmith would forge a blade, then we would try to copy it. We started with a 4" drop point, moved to a 7" inch blade, then forged a test blade with a 10" blade.

We forged the drop points from 1"X1/4", the 7" blade from 1,1/4"X1/4"", and the test knife from 1,1/2"X1/4" stock. Hope that helps.

If you order from the NJ Steel Barron, it will be shipped in 48"lengths.

My recommendation is to start small and work up as you gain more confidence in your abilities.

Best of Luck, and remember to keep it fun 🙂

Bob

Devan

This is the link to the website for Aldo Bruno, the "New Jersey Steel Baron".

Click: http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/ /

Devan,

I watched MS Robbin Hudson forge a 6"x 1-1/4" blade from 5/8ths square stock(while discussing it). Tapers in all directions. When he finished, he could have heat treated and sharpened it, it was so close to finished dimensions. Took about 45 min.

I have big W-2 and 5160 stock, so choose to forge everything down, rather than buy the now available bar stock. 1/4" is good for larger blades, but too thick for a 4" blade IMO, so you have to forge the ricasso thinner, loosing any advantage to starting with flat stock. 4" blades start at 3/16 for me. Starting with flat stock is the easiest, but a good Bladesmith can move steel where he wants it from round, square, or flat stock. My 2 cents, Dan

I forgot to mention, that when Rob gave his demonstration, he was given a piece of flat stock. He said he was use to square stock, so proceeded to forge the flat stock into a square, then a blade.

Bottom line is, with practice, we can forge a blade from anything! Push and pull the steel from where we don't want it, to where we do want it. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Dan