Hollow forging.

Keith Montgomery

Keith Montgomery

Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
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I would really appreciate any help I can get in finding bladesmiths that can hollow forge a blade. I know that Wild Bill Caldwell does this on his Airborne Ranger and I would love to know about other makers that do this.
 
I would like to see it done.

One of the hard parts of forging a blade and then hollow grinding is keeping the blade nice and flat. If the blade is not perfectly flat at the point where your grind lines stop, then your line will be very wavy.

I have heard that Wild Bill had special dies for this type of forging. I would be tempted to surface grind the forging before grinding the bevel.

Keith.....do you own any Wild Bill's? I have 3 or 4...I can't remember....
 
jhiggins said:
Are you speaking of "Fullering?"
Click to expand...

No. What I mean is a blade that instead of being hollow ground, the hollows are forged in. This is done with a power hammer and special dies.

I don't have any of Wild Bill's knives yet. He is making knives again and I think I am going to order an Airborne Ranger soon.

This is the knife I am referring to.

11thairborne0001.JPG
 
Nice knife. Odd, though, that the pattern of the steel in the clip is so much different than the steel on the flats and hollow.
 
Keith ,
I think that what your looking for is a knife with the bevels already forged in, rather than being ground in. I know that Gene Osbourne forges his bevels in. I watched one of his forging videos and he uses dies to forge in the bevels. I think that Terry Primos also forges in his bevels by hand.
Chuck
 
Kieth I believe it is done using a top and bottom fuller. A power hammer with
top and bottom dies or a press does a good job.I can be done with a hammer and a helper :D
 
what Mark said .
Just dsress the hammer to the shape you want.
I have a heavy ball pein dressed for bevels.

Jerry Fisk had a neat little tool for forgeing in "fullers"

It fit in the hardy hole of the anvil

Had a top and bottom fuller with an adjustable guide that the spine of the blade was pushed against to keep everything even. IIRC The top fuller was was a modified ball pein hammer head. It was mounted on a flat spring arm llike a simple sping fuller.
 
This is something I'm very interested in learning to do. Please let me know if you find more information, Keith.

Also, a question - do you mean those that forge the fuller completely to shape? Or just start the fuller at the forge and finish on the grinder?
 
Actually, I am getting some great information right here. Thanks everybody for giving me the knowledge to be able to ask the right questions. It is greatly appreciated.

Dan, whatever I learn from the makers I talk to I will pass on.
 
pendentive said:
Also, a question - do you mean those that forge the fuller completely to shape? Or just start the fuller at the forge and finish on the grinder?
Click to expand...

What I am looking for is having the bevels completely forged in. I want the grinder to used as little as possible.
 
Yes, that is what I thought. ;)

Thanks for the offer to pass along the info....I hope to be forging hollows sometime later this year and could use all the help I can get.

Is your reason for liking them forged the same as mine...? ;)
 
Tim Lively offers a nice demo of handforging hollows in his video. I think Dana Ackers does that, too, and of course, Tai Goo.
 
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