Hand Forging, Is it to big

JTknives

JTknives

Blade Heat Treating www.jarodtodd.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
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I am going to be forging out a bowie out of some L6 stock i have but its like 2.25" thick round bar. Is this to much for me to handle by hand. I was thinking of slicing off about 1 1/8" cookie off the end and wending a handle onto it. and forge that down but i'm not wanting to spend all month hammering on something thats is to big for me to realistically work with
 
2.25"??! Should be just right ...

zanbato-ss-001.jpg
 
Just my 2cents, I have a piece of 2"W2 that I cut offabout 1.5" to forge a bowie. After a few hours I gave up. Useing a 4lbs hammer. going to wait till I get my tredle hammer built. Thats alot of metal to move. It can be done your just not going to enjoy it.
 
I love using round bar, much more control over final shape and demensions, BUT I dont think I would want to tackle 2.25" round bar with a hand hammer!
 
JT,
It is too big to do by hand. You could set it up to slice a 2.5"X3/8" bar (cut out of the center) on the band saw. It would take a little while, but the equipment you have at work could do it easily. The remaining side cuts will be good for forging later projects.
Stacy
 
JT I'm turning 1800lb of 2.78" round into 1/2-1" round, I would be willing to pound down a piece of the L6 for free. Its forged round bar made in dies but it would still beat pounding 2.25 down by hand.
 
if you have a striker it would be doable. Get some one on a 15 or 20 sledge and let them do the work. Or you have someone hold it and do the drawing yourself. But if you are doing it alone with a 2.5lber then it is too big of stock imho
 
I also have what i think is like a 7" round that is something like 7" long. im thinking about slicing it up into 1"x1"x7" stock since i have axccess to a very nice automated vertical bandsaw. would 1" x 1" x 7" offer enough material to do large bowies? guess it time to go home and play with the clay and see what size stock i like
 
I have a 1.5" round bar of "silver steel (Bohler K 510)", I tried to forge it but took hours and I gave up, I cut it half (vertical) making a half circle cross section bar. Now it is forge-able I think. Some day I'll forge a sword out of it...
 
JTknives said:
I also have what i think is like a 7" round that is something like 7" long. im thinking about slicing it up into 1"x1"x7" stock since i have axccess to a very nice automated vertical bandsaw. would 1" x 1" x 7" offer enough material to do large bowies? guess it time to go home and play with the clay and see what size stock i like
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Very large bowies, I think ... yes :D
 
A power hammer or press would make quick work of it, but is a bit much by hand.

I get a pretty large bowie (11" to 13" blade) from 1.5" sliced off a 2" round.

L6 is also very stiff under the hammer. Simpler alloys are much easier to forge.

1''x1''x7" will do 2 large bowies, possibly with some left over :D
 
takes me an afternoon to hammer down 1" champalloy into a bowie with an 8lbs hammer.... but damn does it make a good knife...... i'd find someone with a press and get it squished down to a smaller size..
- or go with some strikers... for the 2.5 round... its too much for one person


Greg
 
Don Hanson III said:
A power hammer or press would make quick work of it, but is a bit much by hand.

I get a pretty large bowie (11" to 13" blade) from 1.5" sliced off a 2" round.

L6 is also very stiff under the hammer. Simpler alloys are much easier to forge.

1''x1''x7" will do 2 large bowies, possibly with some left over :D
Click to expand...

I just measured it and it comes in at 5 3/4" wide x 6 1/8" long.
maybe i should just make it 1/2" x 1" x 6" that would make a lot of stock for forging. and the out side that has the radius i will just use for smaller knives. Now that 2.25 round i have i could just split it up into 4 parts length wise.
 
What I did with the 6.5" dia 52100 I have is slice it into 1" discs then slice the discs into 1" squares. Now I have various sizes along with the 1" sq from the edges. I used one of the edges and have enough to make a couple of 7-9" bowies easily. 1 Inch sq x 6 is a lot of material.
 
Now i do have some cpm-3v that is in block form that i have sliced off a strip about that size. how hard is it to forge that stuff? It would be kinda cool to have a nice d-guard bowie with a cpm-3v blade. I looked up L6 to compare it quality agenst 3V but i could not find any crucible info on it
 
If I were you and just starting to forge blades I would start by doing smaller blades using smaller pieces of steel. 1" X 1/4" or 1 1/2 X 1/4" That should be enough of a challenge. Do the larger pieces of steel after you've leaned a few things. For one thing if all you have is the one forging hammer you made its not going to be big enough to forge out those pieces of steel you cut. Remember before you can start forging a blade out of that material you need to turn it into a usable size bar and then forge the blade out of it. Just trying to save you some frustrations and your arm. :D
 
Raymond Richard said:
If I were you and just starting to forge blades I would start by doing smaller blades using smaller pieces of steel. 1" X 1/4" or 1 1/2 X 1/4" That should be enough of a challenge. Do the larger pieces of steel after you've leaned a few things. For one thing if all you have is the one forging hammer you made its not going to be big enough to forge out those pieces of steel you cut. Remember before you can start forging a blade out of that material you need to turn it into a usable size bar and then forge the blade out of it. Just trying to save you some frustrations and your arm. :D
Click to expand...

And, 1" square is a lot more steel than 1" round...
 
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