CTaylorJr
Well-Known Member
Funny, at 44 years of age, not much really excites me anymore. Yesterday I got excited and I'm still a bit pumped.
Yesterday morning I went over to Bob Warner's place for a forging lesson and am now hooked on the idea! Hooked because I actually made something and REALLY hooked because I saw some of the things that can be made by forging! The damascus RR spike below is really something to behold!
When I was last playing with knives my idea of "forging" was to heat a bent piece of metal with the torch, bang the hack out of it on the ASO (anvil shaped object) dad had in the shop and then go to work making it into a knife looking object with the tools we had on hand back then.
Until years later I had no idea just how much shaping and detailing one could do with a hot piece of metal, an anvil, and a hammer!
Prior to the training session beginning Bob took the time to go over the "dos and don'ts" of working with hot steel and was patient enough to answer all of my questions.
After the formalities and metallurgy discussion were over it was time to fire up the forge! Since it was my first time to really do something like this, it was agreed that the first go around would be for me to hammer the steel on top of the welding table. The tabletop is made of 1.5" steel plate with a 1/4" skin over the top that can be replaced as needed. I wasn't really interested in dinging up the top of someones anvil due to my miscalculated hammer swing!
The 1/4" plate suffered a bit to say the least!
Here are a few pics of my first adventure into losing one's eyebrows, arm hair, and skin from the hands (BIG blister, forges are hotter in person than they look on the web)!
I'm now pondering just exactly how I want to finish the blade I forged over the weekend...
If you get the opportunity to book a session or 3 with Bob, jump on it! I'm looking forward to the next one as soon as I can swing it!
Charlie
Yesterday morning I went over to Bob Warner's place for a forging lesson and am now hooked on the idea! Hooked because I actually made something and REALLY hooked because I saw some of the things that can be made by forging! The damascus RR spike below is really something to behold!
When I was last playing with knives my idea of "forging" was to heat a bent piece of metal with the torch, bang the hack out of it on the ASO (anvil shaped object) dad had in the shop and then go to work making it into a knife looking object with the tools we had on hand back then.
Until years later I had no idea just how much shaping and detailing one could do with a hot piece of metal, an anvil, and a hammer!
Prior to the training session beginning Bob took the time to go over the "dos and don'ts" of working with hot steel and was patient enough to answer all of my questions.
After the formalities and metallurgy discussion were over it was time to fire up the forge! Since it was my first time to really do something like this, it was agreed that the first go around would be for me to hammer the steel on top of the welding table. The tabletop is made of 1.5" steel plate with a 1/4" skin over the top that can be replaced as needed. I wasn't really interested in dinging up the top of someones anvil due to my miscalculated hammer swing!
The 1/4" plate suffered a bit to say the least!Here are a few pics of my first adventure into losing one's eyebrows, arm hair, and skin from the hands (BIG blister, forges are hotter in person than they look on the web)!
I'm now pondering just exactly how I want to finish the blade I forged over the weekend...
If you get the opportunity to book a session or 3 with Bob, jump on it! I'm looking forward to the next one as soon as I can swing it!
Charlie
