First forged knife!!!!

Bill Siegle

Bill Siegle

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Messages
6,400
Here is my first successful forged blade!!! I am a big fan of Jason Knife and bought his Forged series and then a small anvil and forge from Atlas. I played around on some test pieces and then went to work on a small bar of 1075 steel to form this blade. I wanted to forge close to finished shape with minimal clean up. I have about ten minutes on the grinder for the blade which to me is pretty fast! The blade passed a few tests that made me confident that it was indeed correctly heat treated so I added wenge scales. The tang and blade both taper away from the ricasso area as I had hoped/planned. Overall it is 8 5/8in with a 4 5/8in blade tip to handle. Weight is a sweet 5oz. I’m looking forward to getting a few more blades forged out soon. It’s a lot of work but also a lot of fun.

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I’ve only forged a few knives, but from some of the footage I’ve seen, once you get into the groove of forging to shape (especially freeform as you seem to be fond of) it can be faster/more efficient than grinding... Happy hammering!
 
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Yeah the folks with a lot of experience make it look ridiculously fast and easy. For me right now it’s a little slower going but I am faster than I thought I’d be. A lot of YouTube and the Forged series really helped cut down the learning curve A LOT!!!! I’m amazed at the amount of info out there now. When I first started it was not as easy to find knife making info. I gotta agree with what most smiths have said. You just gotta do it. Experience is the best teacher!
 
I forged my first two this last winter.
First one was 1080.

Second one 5160 as a present for my dad for Christmas.

Good feeling being to turn the lump of steel Into a knife shape.

Wife bought me an Atlas Graham blown forge. Banged the first knife on a block if iron. Wife got me an Atlas Forge small anvil after that.


I got a grinder two seasons ago (just a single speed 2x72).
 
Pretty sweet, love the tapered tang nice touch. It sounds like fun banging on that steel, as I spent my whole life swinging a hatchet/hammer.
 
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