Hey all, I've been working a large Camp Knife made from a leaf spring and usedthe forge to straighten it out and do a bit of shaping. I was sanding offthe grunge on the belt sander when I noticed there is a crack in the topquarter of the blade that goes about half the thickness of the steel andtravels maybe a quarter to a half inch down from the back towards the edge.Now this is a fairly huge piece of steel that was going to serve as a woodchopping, bottle opening, all around heavy use camping blade. What I wantto know is if the experienced forging folk out there can tell me if thiskind of thing can be repaired? Should I hack the stock short at the crackand start over? Should I just re-adjust the demensions of the blade togrind out the crack? for the record, the steel appears to have some chromiumin it so I'm guessing 5160. This is the second time I have run into thisproblem with what I think is similar material (based on appearence andbehavior). Is it possible to heat it up and repair the crack? On the lastpiece of metal I tried folding the cold metal over in the vise at the crackto see if it would break and it didn't, so I'm guessing this kind of thingis localized. What is the opinion of the experts out there? It's all newto me.Greyangel

A fairly common problem with used springs.Stress fractures are common.You could try forge welding it back together, but might be better offto work around the crack.

Hmm, guess I'd need a picture.So we talking about a folder?I figure you gotta live as long as you have projects left to do :)

Forge damage?

May 06, 2004 61 Replies

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Who Me?

It's amazing the kind of lessons you take to heart when you have to clean up your own messes... Been told to deal with it on my own a few times in my life and I don't resent that. It's important to realize that you CAN solve your own problems and makes you more careful about the problems you DO create for yourself. Now me? I quit working on cars. I can think of better ways to spend my time... a kick in the head... poke in the eye with a sharp stick... ;)

OK, now you got me confused. Was there really a picture in all this or were you just referring to a standard diagram? I have seen what I believe you're talking about in the 50 dollar knife shop book. Illustrates the temperature/state transitions on a time scale.

Not yet. Haven't played with the forge in a couple days and the last time I was more just beating on a piece of metal.

ROTFL. I bet ;) I ordered some insulated blanket material today. Will be building a new forge when it gets here.

Ha, NOW you tell me that!

Picky, picky ;)

Forge damage?

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