P-160: Metalworking Forge Update 8
by PhoenixGames on Oct.18, 2015, under Inventions
I believe I am almost finished with my knife making project, or at least, the forging part of it.
I replaced the fan that I was using with a much more powerful one, and noticed a huge improvement in performance. The fan forces oxygen into the forge, and this is what controls the temperature, not the actual coals themselves. My old fan wasn’t able to provide enough oxygen to heat the blade to an adequate temperature, so it took a long time to work with the steel.
The new one is heating the blade to a much higher temperature, and therefore I am able to work with it much more easily.
I have straightened out the spine of the blade, finished the finger choil, and rounded out the handle somewhat.
Now, all I have to do is finish rounding out the handle, straighten the bottom half of the blade, and then just finish it off, removing some rough or uneven spots. I may also do some more work on the shape of the blade, and see if I can make it look a bit more interesting, and less rectangular.
I also took some pictures of the blade as it cooled using my thermal imaging camera.
