I am fortunate to have a friend who is an amateur blacksmith who took the time to get me started hammering hot metal. Here is the first knife I attempted to make out of a rusty old railroad spike. It’s not the prettiest knife out there, but I’m pretty proud of it for a first attempt! Here is before and after on the blade:
Here are a couple (bad) videos of some forging and the hardening quench:
And here is what I have after making a guard and securing it along with the handle scales with steel pins and epoxy. I think with a better grinding setup and experience I could get those blemishes out and profile this so much better, maybe someday I will come back and clean it up!
Some other miscellaneous pictures:
Handle and guard fit up:
What the blade looked like coming out of the quench:
What the blade looked like after a little clean-up… still a number of blemishes:
Here is a coal-tending tool I made on the coal forge:
And while a bit more recent with ever so slightly improved skills, here are a pair of tongs I made:
