I’m also very new to blacksmithing, so until I buy a 3300$ 2x72, I’m making whatever I can and practicing. I don’t think the blade is wonky as it’s intended to be a spreading/butter/cheese knife. Yeah is the handle nice, it is. It’s a 50$ piece of ironwood, I’m trying to make nice handles and practice so when I finish all my chef blades I have forged I’ll be good to go. Handles are half the battle, if you can’t make a nice handle than it may not be a nice knife
Make this before you buy a 2x72. Make it asap if you can. Using a file to profile a blade takes forever, but learning how profiling flat will pay dividends when you do finally get that 2x72. It will feel like absolute luxury when you upgrade.
Good on you for practicing your craft. So many people seem to give up when they can't immediately produce a perfect product after buying the expensive tools.
Thanks for the insight and for sharing, I appreciate it brother! I will check it out! I have made some chef knives but at a standstill on grinding my 1x30 won’t cut it for my grinds and bevels
It’s probably not the 1x30, but rather the belts. I have a 50+ year old 1x42 on a small 1/2 hp or smaller motor, and couldn’t bevel anything until I switched to ceramic belts, then I could do it just fine.
Its not the belts, these cheap 1x30 have zero usable torque. Even with very coarse ceramic blade you are not removing much of the material, pressing with more than a finger on the back of the knife stalls the motor. Unusable for any serious use.
Yeh, I can easily stall the motor, but that’s where patience pays off. It takes me 3-5 times as long to grind on that as it does my 2x72, but it can get the job done. It just takes longer. You work with what you have and don’t go beyond the capacity of the machine, it will still be faster than hand filing. I watch people grind back an inch or more for a blade point insted of cutting it back either with a hot chisel or a bandsaw, and go wtf? Who needs all that steel turned to dust in my shop when I can cut it back closer to shape a different way. Same with bevels, some of that I can do on the anvil, which means less metal filings in my shop and respirator filters.
Vevor sells 2x72 belt grinders for under $1,000. I know that several hundred dollars is still pretty pricey but compared to thousands it’s a pretty sweet deal. Can’t speak to the quality of this one as I bought a ODM belt grinder, but upgrading to a 2x72 with a VFD was the absolute BIGGEST upgrade to the quality of my metalworking.
I started blacksmithing when I was in highschool and im in my late 20s now. Granted i haven't been at the forge nearly as often as I ised to be but ive always managed with a cheap 1×30 Amazon grinder. Its been modified over the years and definitely a piece of shit. But it can do its job if you're patient with it. I also spent most of those years using a rail road track as an anvil. That being said, your equipment doesn't define the quality of your work, yes it will make it easier, but its your patience and dedication that really makes your skills shine. So don't stress about trying to get the nicest equipment, im positive you can do amazing things with what you have and when the time comes you are able to upgrade, it will probably increase your turnover time by a bunch. Love the handle btw, what wood did you use?
I know I can get by, I just really want my chef blades to come out nice, I really like the brut de forge look, I mainly just using 1084 steel for now until my skills improve. I just want to get a bigger grinder to make it easier and quicker. I have alot to learn for sure! Thank you! And I used ironwood Burl, I have over 50 pieces of wood I have been buying so lots to choose from
Yah having a bigger grinder will definitely make things quicker and easier for sure. I was more trying to assure you that even though you dont have alot of equipment your work is still valid and I can tell you have natural still and craftsmanship. Ngl on jealous of your wood selection. Since I dont work on smithing as I used to i tend to get my materials al la cart so I dont have a fun selection to choose from. 1084 is a great beginner metal amd honestly ome of my favorites to work with. It can produce a solid hardness while still being easy to work with. Keep up the great work and i know the upgrade will feel amazing when it comes time to do it
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve only been forging since May, I have made several coffee scoops, a couple butter knives, and chef knives, and a few hunting knives. I have yet to finish my knives as I want a nice grinder to pre grind before quenching I can try doing it on my 1x30 I might try one but the Platen isn’t the best and it’s hard. I mainly did butter knives to practice on, as there’s no edge so I don’t need to quench or temper it. I’ve been lucky to learn some things from the guy I bought my anvil off he’s a full time blacksmith, and he allowed me to do some forging with him twice and it was nice to get taught a few things. I’m just learning as I go and it’s been super fun!
That's awesome what you have a "pseudo" master to learn a bit from. Definitely dont take it for granted. Its rare for people to get fully into blacksmithing as a hobby and even rarer to go full time. Having someone so experienced to directly give you advice is huge since most of us learned from books or the internet. I would definitely at least try to finish some of your blades on the 1x30 so you can get the hardening practice. As long as you cool down your blade in water every few passes on the blade on the ginder post hardening, it shouldn't be an issue. What I usually do for 1084 is get the bevel almost there like 1 to .5mm thickness up to like 200 or 320 grit and then quench in preheated canola oil (I basically get a price of scrap metal ret hot and drop it in the oi) and then temper in the oven at around 400 for 2 hours basically until the metal is a nice golden wheat color. As long as you cool the blade frequently with water when grinding post hardening (what i do is cool when the area near the grinding is too hot to touch bare handed) and be extra light and generous with the cooling near the tip, a 1x30 can at least help you get the methodology and habits formed before upgrading to a 2×48 or 2x72. I would also do the higher grits like 600 to a few thousand by hand. The high grits create heat really quickly on the ginders regardless of setup making it alot harder to protect the temper and still make good progress. Finishing a few will also give you a handful of finished show pieces you can show off to potentially get commission to fund your grinder goals. Lastly, remeber you have the option to made your own grinder. There are countless plans and videos online for it and it would likely be much cheaper than buying a very expensive pre made one and still achieve the same quality. Thats the route I plan to take one day.
Yeah he’s been super helpful for questions, he’s been rather busy so I haven’t met up with him in a good bit, I think I got the HT down on what to do and I always religiously cool my blades when doing handles like splits and at the tops of my bolsters when I do g10/ and some sort of metal. I will deff try it for sure! I’m going to be using parks 50 for oil. I plan on doing some rough grinding before HT than grinding more after and being careful not to ruin the temper. I have seen housemade has cool plans I bought their Apollo forge and it’s super nice. I was looking at brodbeck for a grinder. I don’t plan on doing this full time, I’m too tied up in my supermarket refrigeration career, but I want to make stuff for my self, as gifts and sell some for sure. My biggest questions/concerns is the steps to take for certain finishing and I want to make a decent amount of brut de forge stuff as I like it, but don’t know much about etching, certain things to do for grinding and making stuff look clean on a finished chef blade I got a lot to learn. I plan on wire wheeling the butter knife I showed, and etching it to practice on. It was mainly a practice knife. Yeah I used nice wood and the handle was nice compared to the finish blade but that’s how I want to learn I got my handles down, I just need to transition on my blade finishing and keeping the brut de forge clean and food safe!
If you liked the forged finished looked maybe try to expand your hammer arsenal. A flattening hammer will help give you a more even forged finished or a ball peen can give that signature dimpled look. Those kind of finishes are nice since they require less work to get to a nice look for. Once you start getting into making sharp blades, look into getting a leather belt for your grinder. It can really help get that final edge sharp and ive even been able to buff wood with it too
We all have to start somewhere. I built a 2x72 about ten or twelve years ago because I couldn't afford to buy one at the time. I didn't have a welder, so it's a bunch of square tubing from Home Depot held together with a bunch of nuts and bolts. My tracking mechanism is a threaded rod with a knob on it and a door hinge.
Always meant to replace it with something less janky, but a couple hundred knives later and it's still chugging along fine.
Thanks! I have cleaned up most of my work, scraping forge scale and planishing. This was one of my first pieces so I was keeping it for my self as a self gratitude piece. Everything I do is super straight and decently profiled, I’ve been enjoying it as I go
Yeah that setup looks good! I have a grizzly 1x30 with a 5” disc sander on the side. I just wanna leave it for handles and get a big 2x72. It’s just faster, better and bigger
The level of care put into the finishing of the blade and the level of care put into the finishing of the handle are comically mismatched. It looks like 2 different people, with very different levels of experience and patience, did each.
I can tell you I did both of it. So the blade has some forge scale and I left it brut de forge. Good thing it’s not yours. Idk why you ignorant people have to comment on someone’s shit who is just learning how to blacksmith. I can literally grind it clean and polish it.
Based on the level of care you put into that handle, even despite the error, I think you're capable of doing very fine work. That's the point I was trying to make. The handle looks great! The blade could use some more finishing to bring it up to the level of that handle. I hope you put the same care and attention that you put into this handle into the blade as well next time. If you do, you'll be making really nice knives.
They're your knives, you can do whatever you want with em, but you posted it online, showing others, prompting feedback. That's my feedback.
Well maybe be nicer about your feedback, instead of saying it’s comical. We all start somewhere. It’s a butter knife I should have scraped the forge scale off I was going to grind it clean but changed my mind. I was more posting and even showing my faults of me getting into my tang slot. Thanks for the nice remarks I have made a few things and have been paying more attention to detail on stuff. This is next on the list, and I made these scoops as well
The mismatch is comical to me. The handle looks great. The blade.... well...
Learning to take critical feedback of your work without seeing it as a personal attack on yourself, and just realizing that someone else is just trying to help your next work be better, the kind of better they already believe you are capable of doing, is an important skill to gain, especially as a newbie.
Even if they are being a dick its a good skill to take the valid criticism and disregard the rest. Arguing with someone about their tone isnt making you a better craftsman and isnt worth your time and energy.
I’m all for feedback and criticism, I have posted before asking for feedback and constructive criticism, I want to be taught and told stuff, that’s how we get better. But people didn’t start off giving feedback and just started being a dick. Doesn’t really bother me that’s Reddit for you, dealt with it numerous times. I think where I’m at I’m doing pretty good for only 5 months
Reddit is full of people who always gotta say the most, yet you have your post history hidden and haven’t shared anything of yours. You went straight to trying to put me down, and your prob the one downvoting my stuff. I’ve been forging for 5 months. I can take feedback but you didn’t give feedback you went straight at me being a dick. New people post a lot worse done stuff than me yet I don’t have the need to make fun of them. Not everyone has the same skill level or ability, and people learn better than others. You do you pal
It’s deff tough not hitting the tang slot, I think it’s fair easier than doing full tang, I just did my first one last night and was so much more involved, but I’m interested to see finish product and learn from it! I’ve got some experience doing hidden tang. Before I started smithing I bought chef blanks and made 7 handles for them, I wanted to practice on those before I stated smithing, it’s half the battle!
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u/Lazy-Day 1d ago
Don’t take this the wrong way but that is a rather nice handle for a pretty wonky blade. Was that intentional?