Something Differant...but nice

[kimall]

I have been scoping the net over the hols looking for ideas for my knife make and found some info on making blades from motorbike chains and thought that they look great so decided to give it a go.I had not motorbike chains but there was a couple of the kids old bike here so I used them instead.:)This is not a finished knife just a test piece I ground up and heat treated and etched to see how it would look and I think it looks great.It is not as hard as the more common knife steel but does sharpen easy and is very sharp.
Cheers KIM

[jape]

Looking good Kimall. I didn't think the steels would be very compatible as the chain roller must be a lot harder than the outer flanges or whatever they are called, but obviously they are! Have you ever tried the steel cable? Your recent projects are tempting me to get to work again, you've already got a mate of mine at it from talking to him about it! Do you use a gas-fired forge or coke or charcoal?

[kimall]

Yer mate I have tried the cable and it worked well here is a pic of a little one I did a while ago it is etched now so is much darker but it holds an edge well.The steel is differant in the chain that is why you see the pattern when you etch it as the differant steel reacts diff to the vinegar.


Here is a pic of the little rocket I am doing my forging in.It is made from a cast iron water main fitting and a veturie burner I made myself.All up including the reg parts cost me about a hundred bucks.

[jape]

Having blown a site shed on a building site thirty feet across the yard years ago when trying to make a gas burner, I will stick to charcoal ... the cylinder went about 100 yards in the opposite direction ...

[Steven J]

Nice work mate, I am sure that you will make a fine knife out of it. Another similar source is chainsaw chains. I have yet to try this but have had a go at making cable damascus. The knife from the cable keeps a great edge and has a handle of steel that is twisted and folded back. I use it for skinning sheep because it cleans up easily. I have snapped 5mm of the tip off it where I must have had some inclusion in the weld and will regrind it back to a drop point style. It was my first attempt at damascus and as with any type of forge welding, more experience would have been good.

Nice forge too! Ohh dear, Jape!

Steve

[jape]

Well Kimall and Steve, you two are doing excellent work! Something about damascus caught my eye years ago and I will just have to have a go soon and follow your excellent example. I have a pesh kabz in damascus that I use all the time.

Got 80 feet of cable and a dozen old chain-saw chains in the shed, should get something out of it . Might ask my welder mate to set up a gas burner for me, don't trust myself with it and it would be much safer here during summer than an open forge, fewer sparks. I knew I shouldn't have cut my old leather welding apron up to make a quiver!

[Steven J]

Jape, I do all my forging (which is not much) on a charcoal forge with a Japanese style box bellows. I'll take a photo in the morning and post when I get a chance. I'll have to clean up a bit of room around it - it is drowning in junk at the moment.

I do tend to avoid firing it up in the summer, however I find that if I use good charcoal, sift out the fines and keep it wet down well (soak it first) that I don't throw many sparks.

Steve

[kimall]

Hey Jape do you want to sell some cable mate I am finding it hard to get hold of here.Steve that is so good to see not only a knife you made yourself but you are using it too which is great.I have leart more in the last week than the last 2 years because I have been forging every day.I have had the 4 kg gas bottle last me well over 4 hours for 28 bucks per fill that is so much cheaper than I expected.
Cheers KIM

[jape]

Just PM me your address Kiimall, I can spare a few feet I reckon! Might check into the bus courier thing too and compare freight prices. You any where near a bus depot? I don't do any more tree-pulling and so on, sold the truck and winches a few years back so anyone else wants some let me know. It is about half inch I think, I shall measure it tomorrow but you can fold it into itself, and it has a rope core that will burn out. I will look around for some short lengths of heavy stuff down my mate's scrap yard too.

[Steven J]

I thought I would add to the topic buy showing some pictures of my forge. (Sorry about the Dial-up Jape, I feel your pain as I am stuck with this also).

The whole thing is designed to be semi-portable. This is mainly because I used the welder at in the Metal workshop at work to build it.

The fire pot is about 3" deep so that a rod can be laid across the forge and still placed in the hottest part of the fire. I would probably build one about 2" next time as I rarely build a big fire in the forge.

Forge.JPG (115.45 KiB) Viewed 2910 times

The air ducting is made from 75mm RHS that I had lying about. The other steel I picked up at the scrap yard except for the 2mm sheet for the base. With such a large air duct you can get a huge volume of air into the forge with little effort.

Air Ducting.JPG (84.33 KiB) Viewed 2911 times

The bellows are a Japanese style box bellows. They are made from 12mm ply (main section is 800 (650 travel) x 400 x 300). It is essentially a double action pump. Valves at both ends and then valves in the smaller manifold on the side. It is many times more efficient as a bellows than the hand crank blowers. A good steady hand is all that is required (one or two cycles to heat a 1/2 inch round bar).

Box Bellows.JPG (116.2 KiB) Viewed 2912 times

I first used these bellows on the ground with a 2" pipe into a earth mound forge. When used in a portable set up, it doubles as your tool box as the lid is removable. The valves on either end can be used as handles to carry the kit.

Hope you like the pictures and that it gives someone some ideas.

I still need to add a good anvil to the kit. I currently use a little stump anvil that I picked up for $10. It is only 12kg and about 100mm square on top, but it hits a lot harder than many anvils I have used as it is so firmly seated into the timber base. I really miss not having a horn though, but have made a small bick for shaping arrow heads.

Stump Anvil 1.JPG (83.43 KiB) Viewed 2908 times

Steve

[Stewart Townsend]

Another forge



and another attempt at a anvil (a barely satisfactory attempt).




Stewart