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Forged a knife today

Tomc938

Tomc938

Ultra Member
So we are on a vacation in Hanoi right now. My wife arranged for me to spend the afternoon with a family of knife makers. With some pretty simple tools we took a thinned out piece of car spring steel and made a traditional Vietnamese kitchen knife. I got to try my hand along the way and then they fixed everything up and so I ended up with a razor sharp knife. Shave arm hair and slice thin strips of paper like nobody’s business. Couple of pictures here, but no close up of the finished product as the mom wrapped it carefully and I’m afraid to unwrap it before I get it home. Also bought a couple for our kids. $5 USD each!

(The extra picture is of the father heat treating some jack hammer bits he had sharpened. Oil quenched and then into water)
 

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Doggggboy said:
Did you have to wear safety sandals?
Click to expand...
No safety sandals, but he did offer me safety glasses for the grinding portion. They were too small to go over my glasses, and I figured being able to see what I was doing was more important given the low light.

I noticed the fan as well, but they were just plastic blades. Now if they had substituted their knives...

It was also awesome to see that after we did the forging of my blade, while the husband was heat treating the jackhammer tips they had a pot of water heating up in the forge as well. Good work/rest balance!
 
That looks like a very old Chinese knife knife we have - my favorite for chopping veggies. Holds an edge much better than those new-fangled stainless steel ones. Just be sure to not include it in your carry-on on your trip home! :eek:

I have a huge collection of worn out files that I hope to make into woodworking tools someday, but so far I've never forged anything, not even an absent note from my mom.
 
I'm looking forward to trying it out once we get home. We are flying 2x in country, and paid the extra $15 for a checked bag so I could do this.

I was surprised how quickly for forge heated up, and how little coke it took to do what we did. I thought you'd go through bags of the stuff for a couple of small projects. Might have to add this to the list of hobbies I want to try more.
 
Tomc938 said:
I'm looking forward to trying it out once we get home. We are flying 2x in country, and paid the extra $15 for a checked bag so I could do this.

I was surprised how quickly for forge heated up, and how little coke it took to do what we did. I thought you'd go through bags of the stuff for a couple of small projects. Might have to add this to the list of hobbies I want to try more.
Click to expand...
Coke is awesome for heat compared to coal. I used to collect it when we were in BC from alongside the track on a rail siding. Switching cars rattles them and some coke always spills. They also produce coke at the oil sands here but the train is built up there and a long ways from where I live.
 
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