Chris

Good job on the forged blade and the photo upload.

|quoted:

Chris

Good job on the forged blade and the photo upload.

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing with us Chris. Very nice finish on the blade and love the handle shape. As I beginner also, I learn form every picture.

|quoted:

Thank you for sharing with us Chris. Very nice finish on the blade and love the handle shape. As I beginner also, I learn form every picture.

Thanks, man! I learned a lot doing this one. First thing I really got to feel was the "forge thick-grind thin" concept. I nearly forged the edge too thin. I also learned that the file/grind guide will not totally ensure symmetrical plunges if one does not do his job too, my plunges were not identical by the time they reached the spine. I've still got to get a hold on hand finishing the plunges too; I tried to get all the scratches from the plunge shoulders to the tip to go from the tip to the butt, then get the scratches on the ricasso to go from spine to edge. I wanted to use a shoulder all the way around the top of the tang too, but I didn't get it quite rite and ended up soldering the joint, something else I'm not all that great at, as this is only the second time I've soldered a joint. Then, I managed to get the handle just below the guard at the spine too thin and it chinked out...the fill isn't obvious to the unfamiliar eye, but anyone here would see it like a Christmas tree in an empty room. Yeah, lots learned and lots left to learn.

Hi Chris!

Thats a nice looking piece! What you said sounds a lot like me.... "I learned a lot doing this one." I think thats what has kept me loving knifemaking all these years.... every day I walk into the shop, I learn something new. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Just keep on doing it... you're doing great!

|quoted:

Hi Chris!

Thats a nice looking piece! What you said sounds a lot like me.... "I learned a lot doing this one." I think thats what has kept me loving knifemaking all these years.... every day I walk into the shop, I learn something new. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Just keep on doing it... you're doing great!

Thank you, MS Caffrey!

That's really good for your first. I'm glad to see you starting with a hidden tang handle. You will get so familiar after a few that any other way will be unnatural. It's a fine job.

|quoted:

That's really good for your first. I'm glad to see you starting with a hidden tang handle. You will get so familiar after a few that any other way will be unnatural. It's a fine job.

Thank you, MS Rhea! It's my first forged, but not my first knife haha. I only wish my first knives looked anything like this; they did not!

Nice looking knife. It has pleasing lines, flow, fit and finish. Good job and excellent write up of your building and learning process. Thanks for the share!

Aside from the "forge thick grind thin" observation, any other forging challenges? How did you manage the heating of the steel and forging temps and the heat treat for instance?

What's the thinking behind your statement that the guard is too thick? Are you referring to the quillon tab portion or the bolster-like section or both?

That's a very nice looking knife Chris. I don't think the guard is too thick. You could have thinned the lower tab a bit more, but that's a purely stylistic opinion. I don't think the thicker tab detracts from the obvious quality of the work at all. Some people will love it, others, not so much. My personal taste is that it works for the knife. The thicker tab visually balances against the bird's head at the end of the handle. If you had thinned the guard tab down, I don't think the visual balance would be quite as nice. For what it's worth, it looks right to me.

|quoted:

Nice looking knife. It has pleasing lines, flow, fit and finish. Good job and excellent write up of your building and learning process. Thanks for the share!

Aside from the "forge thick grind thin" observation, any other forging challenges? How did you manage the heating of the steel and forging temps and the heat treat for instance?

What's the thinking behind your statement that the guard is too thick? Are you referring to the quillon tab portion or the bolster-like section or both?

Well, the biggest challenge that I've got right now is a lack of proper tongs. I have a very basic set of closed bit/round stock tongs, so working the tip and tang is a bit challenging as the blade wants to constantly move around in the jaws. I'm also working on a homemade post anvil that I got for a song, and the face is rather pitted, making for more clean-up grinding. I forged by color using a NC Forge Whisper Momma (propane). I heat treated with an Evenheat KF18 (220). If I wasn't going to employ a hammer after applying heat, the heat was applied using the kiln. So post-forging annealing and post-grinding normalization were performed using the kiln. I like to use the kiln for such applications as I can get much more precise temperature control with it. I have played around with normalizing and hardening other projects in the forge, however.

As for the guard, I just feel like a ~1/4" bolster-y section is a little thick; I gained this opinion after attending a Hammer-In class on judging where the instructor advised against the use of thicker guard stock, especially on smaller knives. I am happy with the tab portion though.

Nice work Chris. I don't think the guard stock is too thick at all. I tend to use stock that is about 3/8".

Have you done any cutting type tests with it? If so, how well did it do? I know that cutting quality tends to be dependent on edge geometry, so I am more talking about edge retention and abrasion resistance. I have a 80CrV2 blade tempering now and I like to compare notes on how they perform.

Chris

|quoted:

Nice work Chris. I don't think the guard stock is too thick at all. I tend to use stock that is about 3/8".

Have you done any cutting type tests with it? If so, how well did it do? I know that cutting quality tends to be dependent on edge geometry, so I am more talking about edge retention and abrasion resistance. I have a 80CrV2 blade tempering now and I like to compare notes on how they perform.

Chris

I couldn't say, man. This was a gift to my father for Christmas, so there were no potentially destructive tests performed. He told me that he'd probably never use it, so it's likely a wall hanger until I inherit it. haha

I followed a heat treat schedule that I found here on the forum; just search "80CRV2" and it won't be hard to find. Not a whole lot of guys here have been talking about it as far as I can tell. The schedule that I followed was used to treat a JS performance test blade, and as far as I know, the fella passed without a problem. Before using it for customers I will be running some performance tests and they'll be posted.

I am really not talking about destructive testing, I am sure I can make it pass the performance testing required for JS. I am more concerned about real world cutting tests. I really like to get all the performance possible out of a blade.

So with this in mind, this is where I am at this point. Heat treated and drawn back @375. The geometry is thin, thinner than some of my production slip joints. I chopped on a variety of hard mediums. Whitetail antler, 100+ year old pine knot, kiln dryer hickory and seasoned red oak. No chipping or rolling on the edge in the chopping tests. Next I cut 3/8" sisal rope. 100 cuts and no real difference in cutting quality but the shaving edge is gone. It still feels sharp on a finger nail. I think I may be just a touch hard still. It's back in the oven now. The same testing will be done @400. I really feel like it will settle in about 400-420.

Chris