Doodles in steel

[Bruno]

I find myself doing more simple forge work just for the fun of it. I'm planning to do more forged-to-finish things from water quenched steel because I can forge, and then quench in my water bucket. Ideally I only need to do some finish grinding on the blade surface.
Yesterday the weather was nice so I made a bunch of these.
It looks rough-ish because I worked the surface with a ball peen hammer just to give it some texture.

 

[Bruno]

Generally i am very happy with the overall shapes and the beveling. These should require only minimal grinding. That said I am not sure that the ball peen hammer finish was a great idea. I thought it would look cool but seeing them now i am starting to think that less is more.

 

[32t]

I like the finish of the ball peen at least at this point. You don't have to make scales so much less work. But I think that they will be to thin for etended work/use. Especially with the kitchen style.

If you left the handle material thicker I suppose your balence would go to hell.

 

[Bruno]

it's 5 mm which would be 3/16" ish thick? The kiridashi are meant more as marking knife or leatherknife. For that it's thick enough though if you'd use it extensively, I think a leather cord wrap would look great.

The kitchen knife is more or less the size of a steak knife. For light work like slicing some things or indeed eating a steak it would be just fine. I've had artsy steak knives in restaurants with that thickness. But as you say for real work it would not be great and if you make it handle sized it would be a very heavy lump of steel

 

[Bruno]

 

[Bruno]

Pretty happy with that
Idk if you remember tarka who used to go by Jaime at the texas meets? She bought the 2 on the right which is a right handed one snd a left handed one.

 

[32t]

Yes I remember. I gave her a ride home one year from Texas.

What are you charging for one?

 

[Bruno]

75USD for one, 100 for 2.
Shipping something by plane is pretty expensive right now because of fuel surcharges that are fixed per package.
I figure throwing in a 2nd one for a small amount makes it more tempting.
Plus If you're using them it makes sense to have a 2nd one so that if you're in the middle of some leather work and you find it's in need of a touchup, you can finish what you were doing and sharpen the first one later.

It's not a whole lot of money but then again I can forge them and heat treat them in a single session and I only need to do minimal grinding and no handsanding. So I figure it's overall much better to have fun and move them quickly at a price that is perfect for an impulse buy. They're ideal for precision cutting and take a wicked point.

The 2 on the left are still available so if you're tempted, give in to temptation

 

[32t]

I wish we lived closer. I have some 1 1/8 " ball bearings made of 52100 that it has become almost a challenge at work to make a knife out of. I also have the races at around 8" in diameter. I wish I had easy acess to a press to get them into shape. This style would be a good choice for that amount of metal I think. and nothing the other guys are looking at.