forging advice

[kansas stik man]

im trying to forge a recurve spear point blade about 6-7 inch cutting edge and about 10-12 oal.  the problem im having is keeping it recurved while i rough in th blade bevals. would like to go with a convex grind. simple and effective for what i want to do with it.

[Lin Rhea]

You probaly cant keep it recurved during the early stages of forging. You would have to forge it in it's general shape and REFINE it into the final shape.

Lots of transitions take place during the forging of an object. It might look good one minute, then look pretty ugly, then good again. You are the decider. You determine the out come.

For a blade shaped object, I try to first start the point, then start distributing material in it's general proportion and shape. When it becomes recognizable as the spear point, just refine it by heating it and hammering and straighten it, then grind it to final shape.

What kind of haft attatchment will it have?

[kansas stik man]

well not a acuall spear point for a spear, a spear point style knife but i want it to be slightly recurved. i started the grip section and have it like i want and the tip but have started to do the bevels but was not sure when the best time for recurving would be.  i would like to put a really durible water proof handle(scales) on it. any sugestions?

[Lin Rhea]

I guess I was going in the wrong direction. Not unusual at all.    

It's the same advice. Take your time. Be sure to use a bar that you can affectively get the blade's width out of it. Length is easy to forge but width can get past you and you cant get it back easy at all.

I would suggest Micarta or Actionwood for what you need. Maybe G-10.

[kansas stik man]

what is the make up of g-10? and its being forged out of a 12 inch nicholson file.  not a perfect piece of metal but cheap and good practice. once done id like to make this my bush craft/survival carry knife.

[Lin Rhea]

It's tough and water proof. That's about all I can tell you. Sambar Stag is a great natural material if you want to preserve the trad look.