Forged Hunter-my first

[JohnHV]

I've made a lot of knives with other people's blades over the years and finally took the plunge to get a forge.  Well a whole lot of burned and broken steel later, I finally have something that works!

3.75" blade of 1095 steel hand forged
Osage orange handle with copper pins

Not nearly as good as the work I routinely see posted here, but I'm happy with it.  Now a few hundred more to go to catch up with the rest of you artists!

 

 

 

[sticshooter]

VERY NICE INDEED.<><

[skullworks]

Awesomejob! I like it!

[JohnHV]

Thanks guys.

[Arkero]

Very Nice, how is the edge ?

[JohnHV]

It took a nice edge.  Shaving sharp.  I'll see how it holds up this hunting season.

I received some 1080 steel recently. I will probably switch to it since I understand it is not so finicky with regard to heat treating.

[Lin Rhea]

You should be very proud. I really like profile. That's what this forum is about. Traditional equipment.
  If you want to test the edge, just do some whittling on some old dry oak or some bois darc and then see if it has any damage. It will dull, but it should not chip or wrinkle the edge. If it does get damaged, we can make some adjustments on the next one. And there will be a next one.     Good job. Lin

[JohnHV]

Lin

Thanks for the tip!

I have some white oak in the shop.

[Kevin Evans]

Good Job  

[mater]

If you wanted it to look store bought, you could have went to the store. That thing has character. Thanks for posting
          Mark---AKA mater

[Steve Nuckels]

John, that is very nice, I too really like the profile, and that handle design is great!

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IN GOD WE TRUST

[JohnHV]

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement.

The edge held up to Lin's oak wood whittling test!  

I'm going to make a few test blades from the 1080 I have and put that through some more rigorous testing.

Meanwhile I have a few more 1095 blades to finish.

[chris amos]

That looks alot better than my first one! Nice job, you got some talent my friend! There are a couple of tests that are considered "standard" and can help you adjust your heat treat and temper as you go. One is making pull or push cuts on a piece of 1/2 inch hemp or sisal rope. Hold it firmly on a good cutting surface and start slicing. This will tell you how long you can expect to hold and edge and how well your edge geometry is for the task. A bowie or camp knife will not make as many cuts since it is a thicker blade/ bevel meant to chop. A thinner blade like a hunter or fishing knife will cut more. You can also learn alot form the edge flex. Get a round brass rod or whatever and clamp it in your vice. My friend uses a smooth steel, I use the back or my tourque wrench. Run the edge of your knife across is in the same motion as you would sharpening it. Use enough pressure so that you can see the reflection of the light on the edge deform or "flex". 2 or 3 passes on each side will do the trick. If the edge gets a burr or rolls the edge is to soft and might have been to hot in the tempering cycle. If you see or feel small chips it is to hard and the temper wasn't hot enough. You have to play with it to get it just right for the steel you are using, but if it doesn't roll and doesn't chip you got it! Hope this helped. There is alot of knifemaking talent on this forum so keep the questions comming!