I forged a titanium knife

On a crafts fair ages ago I had forged a knife from titanium, an old piece of material from a  prothetics corporation, 6AL4,5V.  Fact is, I had heard it were impossible to forge a knife from it with an open coal forge, so I did. Fact is, there is a reason why we use steel for blades. Titanium is of course a finicky bstd to work with and to forge.  I would not make something that really needs to hold up repeated flex stress from it with an open coal forge. I used borax to minimize contamination, but it is of course suboptimal.  On the other hand, what you want to prevent in a setting where you deliver constant flexibility stress to the workpiece, might actually be a good thing for edge retention. Hydrogen buildup and oxide buildup make it brittle, but also harder. So I tried to keep that out during most of the forging process, cold- forged the edge and then slammed it full- tilt into the Ventilation stream of the forge, cold forged some more, put it back in and forged it far too hot on a wet anvil, but only the outer edge.  

 It actually gets a lousy edge, but keeps it forever. It is surprisingly well suited for feathersticking, though, and cuts surprisingly well. Getting it up to shaving sharpness is a bit tricky, but possible. It loses that hair-popping sharpness quite fast, to a point where it actually does shave, but only with some effort, but stays that way for a long time.  

As for lateral strength, in spite of the somewhat crazy forging method, it maintained well enough strength to stand up to some equally crazy stress tests.  

So, is Titanium actually suited for a bushcraft knife? 

Well, there is still a reason we use steel.  For carving, you know my stance on Moras, and that hasn't changed a bit. I would use the knife for digging up roots or breaking apart stuff, like in the video, harvesting herbs and mushrooms.  To be honest, a Mora or similar knife can do all this, too.  But remember, that thing was forged with an utterly punk method, in next to no time, on an event, between forging with kids. There could be more potential to the material with a bit more effort and a more controlled environment.  But that would actually no longer be anything resource- efficient. With high tech equipment, you could get a better result. 

The advantages of Titanium might be lighter weight, extreme corrosion resistance, tensile strength and antimagnetic properties.  If you want to pokeydeepoke at a landmine, a Titanium knife might be the way to go. But then I do not want to poke at landmines at all. 

It looks cool, though, and maybe I will make myself a golden sickle from it. Its edge holding capabilities are a bit comparable to good cutlery bronze. So, maybe that will be a thing in the future.  

Thanks for looking, and take care! 

Leaf handled knife on the bench...

 Yap, I love these knives. Made from spring steel, they are made fast and are dead reliable and handle well.

 This one is selectively tempered and mildly carburized in the forge. Convex bevel, high to zero...

 Some torsion work on the handle...

And the leaf.

It´s not exactly easy to get everything straight, and certainly you need some practice (I most certainly do... ). But I think, it´s in for a sheath now, and I will use it as a bushcraft knife. Watch this space! ;-)

Hammer in @Ahlhauser Hammer ironforge smithy

 Last Friday we came together again to do some pounding and coming-together. Daniel had made a firebox that´s just fun. It works like a rocket stove in HUGE and "roaring" maybe describes best how it works ;-)!

Before forging Nick and I cleaned up a bit.

Then it was off to the forge.

Then one by one the folks dropped by, and it became more of a party more and more.

This is Henning, somewhat of the good house-elf ;-) of the smithing club. I cannot thank him enough for all the work he does. He cares for the website (www.ahlhauser-hammer.de) and the forum we have, he drives around to get some coal or steel, he is always polite and friendly to everyone and even keeps his countenance in the worst circumstances whatsoever. Fact is, the community would have ceased some time ago if it were not for Henning who put some strings back together when I lost my temper. He´s not overly fond of stupid people but seems to be better in coping with them.

 Plus, he readily gives his advice in a friendly manner and is a funny chap on top of it all. And, he makes a progress in smithing that cannot but be called amazing!

I had found an old lathe chisel fragment in the woods, most certainly HSS or crucible steel, and I decided I´d do something to contribute to German knife culture ;-) and made a German hunting knife blade from it. Snack knife from hell, if all turns out well! The fragment was just some four centimetres long and it was a right challenge to avoid constantly hitting my tongs.

Nick at the forge.

The folks making firewood for the rocket!

Nick proudly presenting his project, a table´s leg (ouch).                                      Smoking hot!

Matthias, his customer, who came by to buy the table´s leg from him. AFTER it had cooled down. ;-)

Henning forged this pretzel of steel... he claims he´s got some misty deal running with some local dentists...;-) not that I would care, don´t like pretzels that much... ;-D

Jonas, who is somewhat becoming my apprentice in bladesmithing. He is making quite some progress at the moment, and just finished forging his first Damascus integral. Respect!

Here he has got a go at another blade from spring steel or summat ;-).

Cozy hearth fire, is it? ;-)

Then Natalie, who by the way is the daughter of my favourite misanthropist, Willy ;-) (BTW, how you doin´ bro?;-)), proposed we´d make some stew and had a go and made us some delicious food with next to nothing! Props, it was delicious! ;-)

Then we let the flames die down, had some more chatting and joking and said our goodbyes...

 

...good day it was... ;-)

A belt buckle

This is a belt buckle I made recently "on the fly", and certainly not perfect. Mild steel. This is something I would like to perfect, and it will be part of a belt (system?). We will see ;-), I´ll keep you posted, no really, I will! Promise! :-D

Christmas fair mayhem@Käsedeele Hagen

 Last weekend we were working on a Christmas fair. It has been quite some time since we last did something like this, for the last time we were on an event did not turn out too well. We were representing the ironforge this year for a change. I had borrowed a car, and we loaded up on Friday morning and were welcomed by Mrs. Rafflenbeul, owner of the lard shop and the farm where the event was located. I fetched Nick and we set up forge.

 We were there to forge with children, but also had some goodies on display. Especially the leaf pendants proved very popular with the audience, as were the smaller items such as rings and key chain pendants.

 Of course we had brought safety gear and goggles for the kids. But blimey... what´s the matter with the kids? Some were actually eager to forge, as used to be the case. As usual, the parents were in a hurry and did not want their kids to work with their hands, and some of the remarks we got from the parents were just short of plain insults. But most of the kids were just staring at us with open mouths and were very afraid. One little girl actually dressed up with all the safety gear. Then I started tutoring her, and all seemed to go well enough. Now we always help the kids by leaving one blow to them, the other for us. Now you obviously need some excellent timing and a bit of experience to muster that. It all seemed to have worked out a cinch, but when we had the iron at forging temperature and started pounding, she got a crying fit and was not to be comforted and shied away from the anvil... BECAUSE she had DONE something! Because she was afraid that the iron was taking a different shape! I do not even get the pathological logic behind that behaviour. Of course, I had an argument with the parents and it turned out she was emotionally not capable of doing anything with her hands. She does not even play. Pardon me? A (nine year old) kid that does not play? The parents even were proud of this! I asked some of the parents that did not want their kids to forge why that was so. Some stated that their kids were above that kind of work, some were like "oi, that´s too dirty", and some openly stated that they did not want their kids to get the wrong kind of ideas. Those kids were not playing, either. I overheard a conversation of some seven year olds (again) what investment fonds and what insurance was superior. These were obviously motorically impaired, but otherwise well-educated kids. In my own personal opinion, parents that do this to their kids should be punished for high treason.

Anyway, you cannot count what´s lost, but what´s still left. Some few still had fun, and those were the ones that made the work to be fun in turn. I also was quite delighted to see Thomas from Metallbau Klier   drop by  and have a little chat. Thomas has helped us out a thousand times when we were working for the Bethaus smithy, and I cannot thank him enough for all the times he entrusted his team van to us.

Coming to talk about people, it was a right delight to have Marco from Gerti´s Schieferschmiede and the weirdos from Café Halle as neighbours, always willing to exchange some weird jokes and suddenly bursting out into song.

 I like this picture of Nick... looks like they both have fun, eh? ;-)

 That´s me pounding out a blade out of magical sorcery steel, no really it is... ;-)

 Kathrin, Nick´s wife came along to sell her Viking knitting jewellery way too cheap, but as is, she was well content with the outcome.

 All in all, I find this picture tells the story best... hands that keep the fire burning!

A rose of steel that does not fade - for my mother

 My mother is currently in quite some pain and staying in hospital, so she got her Christmas present early this year to give her some joy in her hardship. I made this one on a recent Christmas fair as a present, actually. It was fun to make, and while there certainly is some room for improvement still, it was my first, so I do not complain.

 All forged in five heats (there was little time, you see;-)), it came in a bit crude still, but as is, I like it well enough (my mother certainly does, but I could whack some hammer dents into a shrapnel and she would like it ;-), that´s mothers for you ;-)).

Sometimes it´s good to make something that does not necessarily need to have an edge, and to play around a bit with steel... it certainly gave me some refreshment and a boost of creativity.

Ram´s head wall hanger

 This is a project I forged during the International Hobbit Days event@ahlhauser Hammer from 22nd to 24th of September for Danuta. Nay beautiful, but rare.;-)

 The hanger´s made from mild steel... and I forged two of them over the days...

I found it quite inspiring... and I daresay I´ll make more along the lines.

Roasting spit for a pig

A roasting spit from mild steel I made for the upcoming hobbit day celebration@Ahlhauser Hammer. The handle is a leaf crank....

Was a bit on the clumsy side of dexterous when forging, but all in all, it was fun and refreshing to make.

New tripod

 This is a collaboration in our smithy... a new tripod for outdoor cooking and our re-enactment camp. Thomas Dicker from www.out-fit.de, my favourite bushcraft and outdoor gear shop told me of thios idea. You got two poles with loops and one with a spiral.

 This makes it versatile and easy to carry: You can use it as a tripod or as two poles with the third one as a spit or a gallows for a long fire. Henning forged one of the loops and the big hook, I made the other and the spiral. Daniel and Nick also wanted to add some personal flavour and tried their best at two more hooks.

This is cool: We will sit around the cooking fire and join in the meal with equipment we all contributed to. Folks, I really like you! ;-)

Ahlhauser ironforge website online!

Roland had a fit of creativity;-) and set up a new site for our founding club. Visit:

www.ahlhauser-hammer.de

to get the static data and informations on founding (if you can find it in you to make a donation, feel free to do so!;-), we have a roof to put on and are desperately in need of funds. Any amount, however little helps and is put 100% into restoring the buildings and the historical machinery. Use the contact form on the website if you need a receipt!

Choose this bank account:

Ahlhauser Hammer
"Donation"
Märkische Bank Hagen
IBAN: Nr. DE48450600090066445600
BIC Nr. GENODEM1HGN

And, of course, if you´re in the vicinity, drop me a line, and I´ll show you around.

A hike to the ironforge and cleaning up a mess - Ahlhauser Hammer

 On the Friday of the week before last week I made for Ahlhauser Hammer ironforge and decided to take the bus and walk the final miles. The weather was not exactly all it could be, so to say, but I revelled in the solitude and silence which lately has become a bit scarce in my life again.

The sky was filled with feathery clouds, like spectres they sifted and changed, shifted in shape, constantly moving. I paused for a moment to watch a buzzard fly and listened to its eerie song that floated over the hills and far away...

Onwards I went with my heavy pack, into the denser woods. All was silent, and the feeling and scent of November was being strong, this demure feeling of something passing, flowing underneath, back into a shell of winter.

This is a trail, narrow, and seldom trodden. It felt as if it was a metaphor for my life. A hard trail, but a beautiful one. Like life.

At the ironforge I met with Michael, Nele and Nick, and we did our best to clean up the mess that the snow breakage in 2011 had left. Especially Michael was working hard. He has severe health problems with his back and joints, but my deep-felt respect goes to him for never complaining.

We looked with awe at the plants that had taken root on the ancient machines. There was moss everywhere, and algae on the floor making it unbearably slippery.

It was a bit weird, for we actually liked the message that these little trees tell; but alas they had to go...:-) to make us a smithy, that is.

There actually were even mushrooms growing in this wheelbarrow...

...like this, see?*ggg*

Just kidding, of course. It is hard work cleaning up, but we think it is well worth it. We will have a place, not only for forging, but to let some visions come true, and even as a respite for SHTF. Might even be a mead hall in the future, who knows?

When we were done, Nele and Michael had me hitch their drive and drove me home, and I left with a feeling of hope for the future.