Everybody's working for the weekend; I'm working for blacksmithing.

The title about says it all. I don't have many updates to share, but I will say that I forged to finished my first knife last weekend (the 14th, of all days.) I enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to the wonderful instruction by Mark (see previous post,) I have learned a sliver of how metal moves, how to make it move in the direction I want it to move, and how to fix most of my blunders. However, not so contrary to the rest of things I try, every once in awhile, they'll be a blunder that I am at a complete loss as to how to fix, and even Mark asks, "what the fuuuuuuh?" I don't know. I consider that talent!

The culmination of the previous classes (J-hooks and S-hooks, fire poker, and copper spoon) is the railroad spike knife. Everything that had been learned in prior classes is used in the railroad spike knife class. I had some wobbles along the way, but instead of causing a "WTF" moment, I was able to pull it back around and, with the help of Mark's instruction, fix my minor blunders. Looking at my knife NOW, I pick it apart, "I could have cleaned this up a bit more; I could have straightened that out just a bit," but that's how it's supposed to be, right?

And this is my finished product.....

 

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Riding on the confidence high from my RR spike knife, I then signed up for the Viking Belt Knife class. Now, I could already tell by the finished product that this knife was going to be quite different from the RR spike knife. The fact that it is forged from a piece of curved metal from a coil spring didn't bother me. The statement by Mark earlier in the day was enough to make me go, "oh dear God...." and that statement was, "dress warmly...make sure you eat a good meal before you come...we have a lot of metal to move, and I don't want anyone growing faint." Normally, that'd be a har har har moment. This was NOT a har har har moment.

After leaving work near the Atlanta city limits at 4, I drove home, grabbed good to eat on the rest of my drive home, got home at 5, let dogs out, fed dogs, changed clothes (wear layers,) waited for Andrew, and headed down to Goat n Hammer. Basically my drive went point A to point B to back down to point A and then 15 miles further. Did I mention it was f*%#ing cold? Cold as in....20s (Fahrenheit) with a windchill making it "feel like 8 degrees." Good thing forging = fire. 

We start with the spring coil that has been cut, and for sake of brevity, I will say the steps go something like this (give or take a dozen I am probably missing, and several heats in between:)

* Forge curve to flat piece
* Set down at measured mark
* Set down on horn at original mark and then 90 degree mark until about 3/8" or so
* Flip piece around, and start drawing out the 4" to 7" (lots and lots and lots of King Kong hammering...not with a power hammer....a regular 2 - 2-1/2" hammer)
* Clean up drawn out piece into nice squared piece
* Make octagonals on diamond one side, 180 degrees to other side
* Make octagonals on opposite diamond on one side, 180 degrees to other side
* End up with a nice, almost round shape
* Flip piece back around and put in fire
* Bring piece out, hammer square point on end to draw out to 4-1/2" length (I think...if I remember correctly.)
* Hammer "blade" flat (after turning 90 degrees from the hammer point)
* Hammer the shit out of it until it's the right thickness
* Clean up hammer blows, ensure bottom line is straight, smooth top line to a nice, gentle curve, draw down tip
* Cross peen down the middle of one side of the blade
* Cross peen down the blade edge of the other side
* Repeat
* Ensure blade is cleaned up nicely
* Flip blade around
* Fish tail the end of the octagonal side
* Curve fish tail to match curve of ricasso
* Heat and curve fish tail end into loop
* Fish tailed end should fit nicely in ricasso area

I got the set down portion. I ran through octagonals (because of time and the fact that I can come back and clean them up,) and I started on my blade. That's it, and hey, I'm okay with that. I won't give up on my little knife, but like other pieces I work on (artwork,) there comes a point when you need to set it to the side and give it some time before picking it back up again to continue work on it. I'm not mad at it. I'm not upset at the way it is turning out, but it just needs some time so that I can work on some other things (like hooks and such,) build up more confidence and skill, and approach it fresh in the future.

Got home around 11:30 last night, showered, and in bed for work the next morning. Feel like a cross between a flu patient and a hard-worked older woman.