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Just burned through a week's worth of coal on one blade last Thursday | Blacksmiths - nhfree.com

Just burned through a week's worth of coal on one blade last Thursday

I was trying to forge a big bowie knife from an old file and kept having to reheat the dang thing every 30 seconds. The steel just wouldnt move no matter how hot I got it and I ended up going through like 40 pounds of coal in one afternoon. My forge is just a basic brake drum setup I built 2 years ago in my shed in Ohio. I think the problem was I was hammering too cold and the file steel wasnt fully normalized before I started. Anyone else have a hard time getting old files to behave or is it just me and my setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael_bennett115mo ago

Had to keep reheating the dang thing every 30 seconds" thats my whole life with old files man. I tried making a little camp knife from an old farriers rasp and I swear I went through more propane than I did on a whole weekend of normal forging. Ended up with a knife that looked like a melted candy bar. I think it was just the file steel being a pain.

hernandez.morgan3mo ago

Threw mine in the forge too hot the first time and nearly turned it into a puddle, which is exactly what @wyattc76 is talking about with that soak time. Letting it heat slow and steady was the only thing that saved the next one I tried.

wyattc765mo ago

Don't you think the problem was less the steel and more getting the heat right? Those old rasps are basically high carbon steel with a ton of carbon in them, so they need a narrow sweet spot for forging. If you get it too hot even once, it starts acting like butter and then you're fighting it the whole way. I've screwed up more than a few projects by rushing and not letting the even heat soak all the way through. Did you try a slower, steady heat with a good 10 minute soak before you started hammering? That's the only way I've ever gotten good results out of file steel.