This is part 2 of the knife forging tutorial. In this part we finish up all the blacksmithing of the blade. If you came directly to this webpage you can start this tutorial on page 1 right here: Forging a knife part 1

I also have a pair of videos that show this whole process. You can watch them here.

Ok, continue to work the shape and size of the knife. Using the various techniques like offsett hammering on the horn and half face hammering on the flat surface.

Also be sure to continuously flatten the blade so you don't get the thicker sections around the edges. This is just a matter of hammering flat on the anvil.

The tip of the blade

One thing I want to note is that you should spend only a little bit of time on the tip of the blade, particularly if it is thin or very curved like this one. Save the final work on the tip for the very end of the forging session. When the metal is very thin or small as in the tip it is very easy to burn or melt it in the forge or to hammer it away. So don't work the tip much. Just get it to rough shape and thicker than desired until the end of your session. Then finish it off.

And as we are moving toward finishing off the knife and the work is getting more detailed I will switch to a smaller hammer. It gives me more control and I get more precise work done. This is something to consider. Especially as you are moving on to beveling the blade and finalizing the tip of the knife.

And one more thing is that as you shape the blade you will probably have some excess material. It will get larger than you want! You can remove this by hot cutting with a tool in the hardy hole.

Continue working the knife until you get it very close to the final shape.

Then you should start working the blade so it tapers down to the cutting edge. This is a beveling of the blade.

You can just bevel a part of the blade edge or you can bevel the whole blade.

Beveling the blade

Once you have this knife pretty close to final shape you should start beveling the blade. This is a matter of hammering the blade on both sides in a way to thin it out toward the edge that will be sharpened.

Try a few techniques like laying it flat and hitting it with angled and glancing blows, or by tilting it slightly while hammering it.

At this point you are pushing the steel up toward the spine of the blade. You want to form a nice wedge shape that comes to a point at the blade edge.

Once you have it to final shape

Now it is time to anneal the knife. This is the process of softening it up so you can continue to work on it with hand tools, files, grinders, sand paper and other things.

Annealing

This is the process of heating the whole knife up to Curie temperature where it is red orange and no longer is attracted by a magnet. So heat it up and check it with a magnet. Once the magnet no longer sticks to it at all it is at the right temperature and you can slowly cool it down. You can do this by pulling it away from the fire in increments or by submersing it totally in sand.

Allow it to cool at its own pace and once it's cooled we can continue to work on it. Now we don't need the forge, we move into the workshop to do most of the finish work.

We will crank up the forge one more time though in order to harden and temper it.

Continue on with the knife forging tutorial

Szco Supplies Clip Point Blade Hunting Knife -

This 6.25 Inch Drop Point Blade Blank by Szco Supplies is 6.25 inches in overall length with a blade length of 2.25 inches and a tang length of 4 inches. It is constructed of stainless steel. It is full tang and comes with a brass guard.

The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection

Looking for instructions in bladesmithing that'll put you on the cutting edge of the custom blade market? Then this definitive guide to forging world-class blades is for you. Written by a master bladesmith, this book tells you how to set up your forge, select your materials, fashion grips and hilts, grind edges and much more!

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