Anyone else into forge work?

I love working with hot stuff

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It’s like a bacon-press for metal! :rofl:

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Mmmmm, bacon!

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Mmmmmm bacon… :yum:

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Machine gun Bacon

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I stand in awe of folks who create projects that satisfy visual directions, but also are useful as are tools and other items that have purpose. I am exceedingly impressed with @moisinvirus work in metals, perhaps you guys can ‘compare notes’

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Already a subscriber of his. :smiley:

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Current knife project. Homemade Damascus.

Shot of wavy pattern on blade edge (not ground at all in this section yet)

Side shot, hard to see the pattern

Other side

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Sweet! You can see it, just a lot of scale in the way.
I would love to get into that some day.

I have to build a forge first. Do you use propane on your forge?

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Very nice work!

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Fantastic work!!!

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Wow! Amazing Work!

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I am very much into forge work, but first I need to get space, forge, anvil, tools, oh and… knowledge.

Cant wait to see more

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I have both a propane and a coal forge. Most bladework happens in the propane forge.

Where are you located?

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Minnesota.

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Well that is not close enough for you to come play in the forge. Pity.

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He may be motivated by the temperature there :cold_face:

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I have a question sorta about forging. When I was studying color case hardening in my finishes class it says that they quench it in water. I have no experience in forging (hoping that will change at some point) so this may seem silly. I do watch the forged in fire show and they are pretty adamant about quenching in oil to help the keep from getting cracks in the material. So it makes me question why for color case hardening do they not quench in oil to avoid the stress cracks etc. Is it because the color doesn’t work out or isn’t as bright? When I asked in class no one knew about this and the only answer I got was that is the way its done.

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Case hardening is a method meant to harden the outside portion of a piece of softer metal. The lower carbon metal is placed in a crucible with some type of donor carbon, IIRC bone and such and the crucible is sealed and heated according to material thickness for temp and time. In the end you want a hardened layer and, more importantly to most folks, that cool colorization.

The hardening done of FiF is using (hopefully) higher carbon metals and the intent is to get them as hard as possible without cracking/fracturing. Water would (mostly) guarantee that (although a few shows the metal has been low enough carbon it might have been a good idea).

What may annoy you is to learn the smiths are not allowed to TEMPER their own blades and this is done by professionals off-camera. It makes sense as they are worried a very hard blade would break violently, and that is likely if someone flubbed the temper.

Short answer = it is because the low carbon metal used in case hardening is fine being water quenched.

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It’s also waaaaay more exciting to quench in oil, and my understanding is the smiths are encouraged to yank their blades before cool to get the pretty flame shots. This is explained on the show as being a moment they can check for warp and fix it but I am very doubtful about that.

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