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Hello everyone,

I joined my local blacking club (Vancouver Island Blacksmith's Association) back in april with a goal to eventually make blades. I came across ABS when I was looking for information on forging blades, since I did not know where to start and order the introduction to bladesmithing book ABS wrote (which was very helpful). I decided to join ABS in June, since I would like to eventually write journeyman bladesmith test from ABS and of course learn more from others who have mastered the art of forging blades.

As for what I have forged so far... I have made a small 4" blade with no handle, a 6-7" blade and more recently attempted to make a 16" sword. All of them are made out of mild steel (my guess 1018 or so) and are being forged in the clubs coal forges.

I just have a question.

The steel I am currently using is previous painted (1"x 1/4" stock) however when i forge a blade from it, the steel is covered with pits. Is it because of the type of steel, the paint or something else why the metal becomes pitted?

thanks.

Chris, welcome. If it is pretty old your mild steel may be 1018 but these days most structural or mild steel is what is designated "A-36". To give you an idea of the difference between the two, I only use 1018 for my complex sword hilts because A-36 will let me give days of my time before it throws a curve ball at me like hard spots, red short, cracking, color variations etc. 1018 was based on a specific chemistry for its designation, but A-36 seems to be based on a minimum tensile strength regardless of its chemistry, making it very inconsistent. Anyhow, this is just to differentiate the two as for the suitability for an actual using knife I am sure you are probably aware of the shortcomings of anything under .5% in carbon content. On the other hand mild steel (be it 1018 or A-36) is good for forging practice and there have been times when I was going to be forging in direct sunlight that I chose it over possibly ruining good high carbon stock.

As to your surface effects question- no the paint will have little contribution to the pitting on the surface, but it may contribute to some health issues for yourself as you burn it off, so do be careful and keep things in the open free air. Your pitting is very common on the blades of guys just learning how to forge, so you are in good company. The scale is natural and is alright so long as it is fine flakes and not heavy sheets (if so you need to back off your air blast). The pitting is another form of oxidation that seems to come about with the multiple long term exposures to heat and oxygen that naturally comes with the initial part of the forging learning curve.

In time, as your skills progress, the scale and surface condition will level out and you will see a much smoother surface on your forgings, which is what you want since you will have to grind the entire blade surface down to the bottom of the deepest pit in order to produce a decent flat grind. Remember to start all of your forgings hot in order to move the metal and evenly distribute the internal components and them decrease your heat as you get closer to finished shape. This is not for some secret or magic effect you may have on the inside of the steel but it helps avoid overheating things like the edge and the tip on the developing shape. But as you lower your final heats you will also greatly reduce the scaling and oxidation and allow the hammer to smooth things out better. One old blacksmith friend of mine referred to this as "hammer polishing" and I like this that term as it describes it very well.

Welcome the the forum and the ABS Chris. Nothing that I can add to Kevins post except , enjoy the journey and you will find all the help you need right here.

Welcome Chris. I wish you the best in your forging. If you have any questions, just ask them here and they will get answered. There is a lot of information on the forum and on the ABS website.

http://www.americanbladesmith.com/index.php?section=pages&id=176

This is a good area to start with.

Welcome again.

Brion