No grinding yet at all, got some practice to do still and wishing I had a bigger anvil, but I took some rebar and hammered a rough shape for the first time with my little 1 burner forge set up. I need to cut a good amount of the tang off, but I figured too much was better than too little. Constructive feedback welcome, I'm very new to this and enthusiastic to learn.
Having trouble attaching picture, do I need to resize?
Ryan, if it helps this is posted in fourm news:
|quoted:
I have noticed that some members are posting photos here on the forum and that is great. However we do have size limits of less than 1000x1000 pixels. Some of the photos being posted considerably exceed these limits. The reason for these limits is that our forum has members around the world and some have slower internet service. Consequently it can take a long time to load a really large picture. So if everyone could keep an eye on their picture size we would really appreciate it. There are a number of free photo resizing programs and apps available. If you have windows 10 or adobe photoshop they are built in. Thank you all Brion
Thank you Andy.
#2
Good attempt on your first try. The advice I have is to make a template out of some sheet metal of the blade shape that you want to make and try to forge to the template. I find if I make a template and forge to the template I get better results then just freestyling it. If you get what I'm saying
Want to see more of my work follow me on Instagram:JasonVolkertKnives
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Ryan, I will recommend that you enroll in one of the ABS sanctioned classes on forging blades. The introductory course was invaluable to me. It taught me several parallel principles. Such as, forging of tool steel as opposed to scrap steel. Heat control as it relates to tool steel. The feel of the tool steel under the hammer. Preserving the steels carbon and character as it relates to the heat treatment.
You cannot learn these things using rebar or other scrap steels. These principles are necessary when forging blades. The notion that "I want to work on my hammer skills then try carbon steel", will only delay the inevitable. It's like learning steering skills without braking skills in a car.
A smith can learn hammer skills by making tongs and hand tools that will be needed in the shop from mild steel.
That would be something I am very interested in doing, where can I find more information? I also purchased a few of Kevin Cashen's instructional DVDs.
Hey Ryan,
on the ABS homepage:
There is a link at the top to 'Schools' where you can click on each school and see what is coming up:
for instance, the Texarkana school is doing an 'Intro to Bladesmithing' course on Oct 28 - http://americanblade...on=pages&id=128
That would be a class like Lin mentioned.
Also, at the bottom of the home page under 'Upcoming Events,' there are links to hammer-ins for the rest of the year.
Thank you everyone
