My question(s) or query(s) is/ are this...the videos I see of guys cutting up truck springs, heating them up and forging a knife, grinding, heat treating, quenching and tempering. Have they cut out the annealing part of the video? I am asking this because I have old Bodyman Vixen files that belonged to my father-in-law, and I want to make his sons knives from them. I was thinking I'd have to anneal them first before doing anything...am I wrong?
once you reach forging temperature you can start hammering. Annealing would only apply if you wanted to file or drill right off the bat with no forging
It depends.... If you are forging the blades, then, as John said, you can heat and hammer away. If you are doing stock removal, however, you'll definitely want to anneal first. That said, most of the videos you'll find online are edited versions of the process. They also don't show you the seven times it failed.
If you anneal the piece first, it's shouldn't have any problem during forging unless the piece is flawed
Annealing before forging would be redundant. Annealing before stock removal would be wise... but not completely necessary if you possess the tools and skill to work with hardened steel. I would suggest tempering files back a bit as they would make a brittle knife.
I will anneal them first, and all research on them points to 1075 steel. Thanks for all the feed back, Cheers Griff.
I would be surprised to hear they are made of 1075. I would think 1095 or W2. On the other hand, vixen files are made for use on softer metals and alloys, like aluminium and brass.
