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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 12-05-2012, 11:42 AM
samuraistuart samuraistuart is offline
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How to thin bar stock?

I'm new here, this being my first post. I am new to knifemaking, so my experience is extremely limited. However, thanks to great websites such as this one, I can learn from others, and show off my ignorance every now and then. So let's get started showing you how little I know.......

I bought some W-2 bar stock (1/4"x2"x36") for a knife I would like to make for myself. This will be knife #2. The first knife, a drop point hunter I made out of 1084, is almost done, and will be a gift for my dad. I really got excited reading about W-2, and I want a nice hamon on my blade. Maybe it was just me, but for months I had a hard time finding W-2 in bar stock. There were round bars floating around, but I don't forge. So when I found this W-2, I jumped on it.

Here's my problem. 0.25" is too thick for the type of knives I want to make (nothing bigger than a 5" or 6" blade). 3/16" is really too thick for my purposes as well, but it's better than 1/4".

So let me ask you good people, how do you go about thinning a piece that's 2x8 or so? I thought about using an angle grinder and metal cutting wheels, but that was taking too long (the wheel was old, maybe a new one would have worked better). I have a 4x36 belt sander with one of those blue belts in low grit.....maybe like 60 grit? That was too slow as well. Mounting it vertically and getting after it with a hacksaw seems to be the only way, you'd think the angle grinder would get after it, but it didn't. It was difficult to hold that grinder and try cutting a sixteenth off of that bar!!! I have a line scribed into it, actually CUT into it with one of those Dremel metal cutting wheels, all the way around, but removing that 1/16" is proving very difficult. The Dremel wheels are slow as well, and not wide enough to cut thru the bar anyway.

What would YOU do, if you had this 3 foot piece of cherished steel that was really too thick for the knives I have in mind? Would you try to go thru the effort of thinning it out? Would you just make a big machete type of knife, or two, out of it?

Thanks for your help.

I thought about taking it out to the ranch where I can build a fire and use a blower to get it hot, and just pound it out thinner. Take that whole 36" piece and try pounding on the end of it to make it 3/16" instead of 1/4".
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  #2  
Old 12-05-2012, 12:11 PM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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I would buy the correct thickness right off the bat.

http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/shop/w-1/

Here is some W1 in the right size, he also has 1084 which takes a fine hamon.
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  #3  
Old 12-05-2012, 12:12 PM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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But if you're dead set on that W2 you have, go ahead and cut out the blade profile, and then jump through all those thinning routines you have. Less steel to thin.
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Old 12-05-2012, 02:17 PM
samuraistuart samuraistuart is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli Jensen View Post
I would buy the correct thickness right off the bat.

http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/shop/w-1/

Here is some W1 in the right size, he also has 1084 which takes a fine hamon.
Wiser words could not be spoken. All he had was 1/4", and I was dead set on W-2, for whatever reason. I'm fairly new to all this, and W-2 was all I could dream of for a while. Lesson learned.
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Old 12-05-2012, 03:15 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Already good advice but I'll address the question you asked. To thin that bar down properly you would use a milling machine or a surface grinder. A machine shop could do this for you and it shouldn't cost much. However, nothing is ever that easy: by thinning the metal this way you will induce stresses into the steel which will guarantee the blade will warp during heat treat unless you go through a comprehensive normalizing process - and that, again, is if you do it the way I said. If you thin the metal with any of those other methods like angle grinders or whatever you may as well get used to the idea of having a blade that looks like a pretzel unless you get that normalizing done RIGHT.

Also, if you don't end up with a bar of steel that has two smooth, flat, and parallel sides once your thinning is done you will find it near impossible to get clean, straight grind lines. What all this diatribe boils down to is: follow the other guy's advice and get a bar of something in the size you really want because you aren't ready yet to take on a headache of this magnitude ...


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Old 12-05-2012, 11:01 PM
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GHEzell GHEzell is offline
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I would also suggest finding a local professional blacksmith, or bladesmith for that matter... A good power hammer would make quick work of this project, and thickness dies would give very reliable, consistent thickness.

You have not mentioned your location, but perhaps there is even a forum member nearby that could do this for you.


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  #7  
Old 12-06-2012, 07:39 AM
bob levine bob levine is offline
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Or find some one with a surface grinder and have them take the stock to the desired thickness. If you were any where near Tennessee, I would tell you to bring the piece of steel up to my shop and we would make short work of it.Levineknives@msn.com
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  #8  
Old 12-06-2012, 09:29 AM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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Or . . . forget thinning it and make yourself a sword of a knife
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  #9  
Old 12-06-2012, 04:54 PM
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ranger1 ranger1 is offline
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If a hamon is what your after you can get great hamon's out of 1095.


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  #10  
Old 12-07-2012, 01:46 PM
samuraistuart samuraistuart is offline
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Wow! Thanks for all of your replies!!! I never even thought of taking it to a machine shop....that might be an option. I live in San Antonio, Texas, just FYI.

Yes, I was looking for a steel that would produce a nice hamon. It seems that my research indicates that a hamon can be achieved on either 1050 thru 1095, and W1 and W2. L6 and some others. I have a batch of 1080+, that should produce a nice hamon, right?

Again, thank you all for your help!!!
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  #11  
Old 12-07-2012, 05:37 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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1080 should work. And, we would know you were in San Antonio if you filled out your profile ...


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