i stopped making normalization cycles before quench rather quickly. I've discussed with many blacksmiths, and checked some old book written by a cutler in the 1700s, and basically that final planishing you're doing on your knife at a low red heat already refines the grain a lot. Nowadays, my process is : Weld up some billet at the forge, make the blade, do a final pass at a very low heat to refine grain, then i grind everything down and give a simple polish (like 180 grit), leaving the edge nice and thin (less than 1mm thick usually), and then i do my quench, by leaving the blade way above the fire, so the flames do the heating and not the charcoal itself. It gives a more even heat, wich is useful when the edge is already so thin. I quench with cooking oil, but the edge (and usually the blade itself) is so thin it cools nearly instantly anyways. I clamp the blade down right after quench between two plates, or tap it on the anvil to check the straightness, and then it's ready for temper. I give the back of the blade a purple or blue temper, and the edge either a straw, yellow or bronze temper depending on the use of the blade. A medium carbon steel will hold a nice hard edge at a straw color without being brittle. After that, beacause the blade was already sanded to grit 180, i can do the final polish very quickly, and have a nice blade that way. By the way, an old technique to put a precise temper on a spot of the blade is to heat up a thick pair of tongs in the fire, and when it's red hot, you bite the place of the blade that needs tempering. It heats up very precisely where you clamped. Also a wet rag will help you control where the heat travels. So yeah, thats my process, i'm always interested in seeing other blacksmith's processes !
@@vaughanth-iosiophakis9280 yup, i never thought about it! Back in the 1770s they even made special tongs with thick widened jaws to clamp on more length
Thank you for showing us how to do things! I know that I repeat myself, but it is so amazing how you forge! The security of your hammer blows and I admire the economy of forging!!! There is so much to learn from a master - and you are clearly one! Wishing you all the best and lots of success!!🙂
Så jädra vackert! Jag blir inspirerad att gå ut i smedjan varje gång jag ser dina filmer. Stort tack för det😊 Din teknik är magisk. En tång en hammare och ett städ verkar vara allt som krävs om man är riktigt duktig. /Smedja Lobacken
I agree with you that earlier technologies worked well enough to meet most human needs. Necessary items made with hand-loomed wool are but one example.
Yes they had flux. Not borax that is common today but quartz sand can also be used as flux and that was available back then so it's likely that they used it. It works well but it has a higher melting point than borax which makes it a little bit more difficult to work with. When I weld mild steel to mild steel I usually don't use flux as it can be heated to such high temperature that it acts as it's own flux. But welding at those temperatures with high carbon steel will ruin the steel. I guess it's possible, I have actually never tried. But with a clean fire and heated correctly it's possible in theory. Give it a try and let me know how it goes 😃
I know from old writings that sand was the main flux used, beacause all workshops had a constant supply of fine sand : the powder left at the bottom of the grindstones's water. Grindstones were usually sandstone, and when wearing down would make fine sand dust, perfect for welding. I've tried welding with sand, with ashes, and apparently fern ashes work the best because of the silica content. Ashes will make a paste that coats your steel and keeps the oxygen out. Sand will stick to the steel just like borax at a bright red/orange heat, but will only melt and react chemically above yellow, usually at white heat. From that book written in 1771, it's clear that they even made damascus using sand, even with carbon steel. Flux isn't necessary if your forge burns clean and without much oxygen, and oxides melt like a flux at a white heat anyways (but as philip said, very high carbon steels don't like high temperatures). That being said, i haven't had much trouble bringing high carbon steel to a white heat for welding, and that's what the japanese do anyways with tamagahane for welding katana billets. When you see the very first sparks appearing, you know you're at the perfect temperature, pushing the heat as high as you can to melt out the impurities, while being right below actually burning your steel. On a side note, i switched to borax beacause of how dangerous sand is. Molten sand will stick to the skin and continue burning. It's basically molten glass. Back in the days they had to be careful about that, as some people would receive a drop in the palm of their hand and get burnt. But you can avoid this if you're careful. So yeah, there you go! Sand works well, and you can even apply sand 2 times during heating for extra welding cleanliness! (that's what the old book said) (also borax did exist in the middle ages but had to be imported and tberefore was expensive, while sand was free)
@@lufolkcrafts first time hearing of that, thank you so much 🙏🏻 I'll give it a try today with mild steel.. Still new to all this, I built my forge about a year ago but haven't been able to find flux where I am so I've been wondering if it was possible to make a weld with out it
![Kodak Black - Versatile 4 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VcP_1Ua__vY/mqdefault.jpg)
Lighting is perfect. Love the cinematic feel of it.
Thank you for your feedback!
Oh man, thanks. Very much appreciated. Pdf download. Perfect guide. My way has been lit by your wisdom.
Great to hear! Thank you so much!
i stopped making normalization cycles before quench rather quickly. I've discussed with many blacksmiths, and checked some old book written by a cutler in the 1700s, and basically that final planishing you're doing on your knife at a low red heat already refines the grain a lot. Nowadays, my process is : Weld up some billet at the forge, make the blade, do a final pass at a very low heat to refine grain, then i grind everything down and give a simple polish (like 180 grit), leaving the edge nice and thin (less than 1mm thick usually), and then i do my quench, by leaving the blade way above the fire, so the flames do the heating and not the charcoal itself. It gives a more even heat, wich is useful when the edge is already so thin. I quench with cooking oil, but the edge (and usually the blade itself) is so thin it cools nearly instantly anyways. I clamp the blade down right after quench between two plates, or tap it on the anvil to check the straightness, and then it's ready for temper. I give the back of the blade a purple or blue temper, and the edge either a straw, yellow or bronze temper depending on the use of the blade. A medium carbon steel will hold a nice hard edge at a straw color without being brittle. After that, beacause the blade was already sanded to grit 180, i can do the final polish very quickly, and have a nice blade that way.
By the way, an old technique to put a precise temper on a spot of the blade is to heat up a thick pair of tongs in the fire, and when it's red hot, you bite the place of the blade that needs tempering. It heats up very precisely where you clamped. Also a wet rag will help you control where the heat travels.
So yeah, thats my process, i'm always interested in seeing other blacksmith's processes !
Thank you for sharing your process!
Thank your for your feedback.. First time hearing of the tempering technique with the tongs🙏🏻🙏🏻
@@vaughanth-iosiophakis9280 yup, i never thought about it! Back in the 1770s they even made special tongs with thick widened jaws to clamp on more length
Thank you for showing us how to do things! I know that I repeat myself, but it is so amazing how you forge! The security of your hammer blows and I admire the economy of forging!!! There is so much to learn from a master - and you are clearly one! Wishing you all the best and lots of success!!🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, it means a lot!
Thank you very much for your content, I learn a great deal from following you!
I am happy to hear that! Thank you for your support!
Thank you for the pdf, that is very generous! Looking forward to binge watching all of your content this weekend.
Nice! Thank you very much!
Så jädra vackert!
Jag blir inspirerad att gå ut i smedjan varje gång jag ser dina filmer. Stort tack för det😊 Din teknik är magisk. En tång en hammare och ett städ verkar vara allt som krävs om man är riktigt duktig.
/Smedja Lobacken
Fint att höra! Tack så mycket!
Nicely done :) just ordered the pdf, looks nice and clear ! Thanks :)
Awesome! Thank you! Check your email, I just sent an update 🙂
@@lufolkcrafts oh i see :) Thanks for that update ;) maybe i will make a video of that inspiration :P but i need some time ;)
@@pracowniaprojektowroznych looking forward to it!
I agree with you that earlier technologies worked well enough to meet most human needs. Necessary items made with hand-loomed wool are but one example.
Absolutely!
Lovely video:) very interesting to see
Thank you! You might have guessed, but it's your blade 😃
@@lufolkcrafts i thought so:) looking forward getting a handle on, make a video, and use the knife.
So do i :)@@RAMUNI-Viking
They had flux back then? Is it possible to make welds without any flux?
Yes they had flux. Not borax that is common today but quartz sand can also be used as flux and that was available back then so it's likely that they used it. It works well but it has a higher melting point than borax which makes it a little bit more difficult to work with. When I weld mild steel to mild steel I usually don't use flux as it can be heated to such high temperature that it acts as it's own flux. But welding at those temperatures with high carbon steel will ruin the steel. I guess it's possible, I have actually never tried. But with a clean fire and heated correctly it's possible in theory. Give it a try and let me know how it goes 😃
I know from old writings that sand was the main flux used, beacause all workshops had a constant supply of fine sand : the powder left at the bottom of the grindstones's water. Grindstones were usually sandstone, and when wearing down would make fine sand dust, perfect for welding.
I've tried welding with sand, with ashes, and apparently fern ashes work the best because of the silica content.
Ashes will make a paste that coats your steel and keeps the oxygen out. Sand will stick to the steel just like borax at a bright red/orange heat, but will only melt and react chemically above yellow, usually at white heat. From that book written in 1771, it's clear that they even made damascus using sand, even with carbon steel. Flux isn't necessary if your forge burns clean and without much oxygen, and oxides melt like a flux at a white heat anyways (but as philip said, very high carbon steels don't like high temperatures). That being said, i haven't had much trouble bringing high carbon steel to a white heat for welding, and that's what the japanese do anyways with tamagahane for welding katana billets. When you see the very first sparks appearing, you know you're at the perfect temperature, pushing the heat as high as you can to melt out the impurities, while being right below actually burning your steel.
On a side note, i switched to borax beacause of how dangerous sand is. Molten sand will stick to the skin and continue burning. It's basically molten glass. Back in the days they had to be careful about that, as some people would receive a drop in the palm of their hand and get burnt. But you can avoid this if you're careful.
So yeah, there you go! Sand works well, and you can even apply sand 2 times during heating for extra welding cleanliness! (that's what the old book said)
(also borax did exist in the middle ages but had to be imported and tberefore was expensive, while sand was free)
@@lufolkcrafts first time hearing of that, thank you so much 🙏🏻 I'll give it a try today with mild steel..
Still new to all this, I built my forge about a year ago but haven't been able to find flux where I am so I've been wondering if it was possible to make a weld with out it
@@jeanladoire4141 very interesting thank you for the feedback🙏🏻 I think I'll give the sand a miss 😂😂
@@vaughanth-iosiophakis9280 you are welcome. Nice to hear you got into blacksmithing 🙂
👍👍👍
🔥🔥
Ekte tollekniv
Takk
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Interesting content but working in the dark spoils it for me
Thank you for your feedback. Out of curiosity, why does it spoil it? Just asking so I know if there is something I can improve 🙂
You can't see anything except exactly what you are doing i like to see the forge and around your shop
@@braddobson2060 heat treating is better done in the dark to see the exact color of the steel 😉
that makes sense.@@braddobson2060
@@jeanladoire4141sounds like you should start your own RUclips channel.