tap-tap-tap, is this thing on? Shop time
For the first time in far longer than I'd like, I got some shop time in today. None of this "knife in one day" nonsense, not yet at least, but I got three projects moved along.
One knife, a Ti chef's knife, is done in terms of forging and grinding, just need to anodize it and put on a handle. I'll have to go pick up an appropriate container for anodizing, as well as some more distilled water, and since I have one other Ti item ready to go and two in the works, I'll probably wait until I have them all ready before processing them. I have, somewhere, another piece ready to go, now all I need to do is find it.
One other Ti knife, more of an experiment in forging than a specific knife type, got it's integral handle forged out, and the blade neatened up a bit, along with a bit of grinding. Also, since I had the power hammer and forge going, I tried forging out some of the 1.25" Ti round bar I picked up cheap. Ugh, this stuff is hard to work with in that thickness, but it's workable, if slow moving under the hammer. Still easier than high-alloy stainless, though.
Last, I heat treated a kukri -- my second attempt, as the first attempt had to be aborted due to warping. It's cable damascus, something I thought would go well with the kukri design. No warps or cracks, and it passes the file test, so it's in the oven now, tempering @400, which should be soft enough for a knife intended for heavy use. Convex edge, about a foot of blade, if I can find it, I bought some tiger-stripe maple I'm planning on either staining black, or maybe just using some chromic acid on to darken and bring out the grain. I'll probably chromic acid it first, and if I don't like the results, bring out the heavy pigments.
All told, about 2 hours in the forge. I'm pretty tired, having not done much strenuous work recently, but I hope I can keep this up as a regular thing, at least until I find employment.
No pics, as nothing's really picture-worthy yet, and I wanted to forge, not document. Maybe later.
One knife, a Ti chef's knife, is done in terms of forging and grinding, just need to anodize it and put on a handle. I'll have to go pick up an appropriate container for anodizing, as well as some more distilled water, and since I have one other Ti item ready to go and two in the works, I'll probably wait until I have them all ready before processing them. I have, somewhere, another piece ready to go, now all I need to do is find it.
One other Ti knife, more of an experiment in forging than a specific knife type, got it's integral handle forged out, and the blade neatened up a bit, along with a bit of grinding. Also, since I had the power hammer and forge going, I tried forging out some of the 1.25" Ti round bar I picked up cheap. Ugh, this stuff is hard to work with in that thickness, but it's workable, if slow moving under the hammer. Still easier than high-alloy stainless, though.
Last, I heat treated a kukri -- my second attempt, as the first attempt had to be aborted due to warping. It's cable damascus, something I thought would go well with the kukri design. No warps or cracks, and it passes the file test, so it's in the oven now, tempering @400, which should be soft enough for a knife intended for heavy use. Convex edge, about a foot of blade, if I can find it, I bought some tiger-stripe maple I'm planning on either staining black, or maybe just using some chromic acid on to darken and bring out the grain. I'll probably chromic acid it first, and if I don't like the results, bring out the heavy pigments.
All told, about 2 hours in the forge. I'm pretty tired, having not done much strenuous work recently, but I hope I can keep this up as a regular thing, at least until I find employment.
No pics, as nothing's really picture-worthy yet, and I wanted to forge, not document. Maybe later.