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A

arby

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Hey guys, it been a while since I've been on here. Computer died. Anyway, back to it. I had a bit of a play in the shed the other day, ended up rough forging a hawk head out of a piece of old crow bar. Heated it back up and dropped it into vermiculite to anneal it. Then for the next few days in my lunch breaks, I ground, filed and sanded until it was how I wanted it. Heat treated it the other night and knocked up a handle. I ended up giving the head a bath in hot vinegar to clean it up a bit and give it a grey look. Hope you like it.
 
Beautiful, Arby! I forged one once out of a ball pein hammer head, it turned out fine, but I did not file it or dress it up; it was just a working hawk. Yours is considerably more attractive. I wish I had a picture of mine, but I gave it to a friend long ago. it was incredibly strong.
 
Arby looks great, could you tell me about the finish? How long the vinager soak and how hot, boiling or just heated. How durable is it , it will obviously wear with use but does it wear quickly if it rubs on a belt or sheath?
 
arby said:
View attachment 17987 Hey guys, it been a while since I've been on here. Computer died. Anyway, back to it. I had a bit of a play in the shed the other day, ended up rough forging a hawk head out of a piece of old crow bar. Heated it back up and dropped it into vermiculite to anneal it. Then for the next few days in my lunch breaks, I ground, filed and sanded until it was how I wanted it. Heat treated it the other night and knocked up a handle. I ended up giving the head a bath in hot vinegar to clean it up a bit and give it a grey look. Hope you like it.[/very nice
Click to expand...
 
Gulch said:
Arby looks great, could you tell me about the finish? How long the vinager soak and how hot, boiling or just heated. How durable is it , it will obviously wear with use but does it wear quickly if it rubs on a belt or sheath?
Click to expand...


Hey mate, I just heated up the vinegar in a pot on the stove, till it was hot, it wasn’t boiling but it probably wouldn’t matter if it did boil, as such a low temperature wouldn’t effect the temper. Heat just speeds up the chemical reaction between the vinegar and steel. You could do the same thing cold, it would just take longer. I probably left it in for around half an hour. The greyed finish was mainly just to age it a bit, give it a forced patina of sorts. As it’s going to get used, It will eventually get scratched and rusty and I didn’t want it being all nice and shiny and then having a few scratches or rust spots spoiling the whole look. If it already looks aged, any new marks just add to the character. The finish doesn’t really rub off. It’s more like a lite surface rust that has been brushed off, how old steel goes grey over time. Hope that helps, any questions feel free to ask.
 
arby said:
Hey mate, I just heated up the vinegar in a pot on the stove, till it was hot, it wasn’t boiling but it probably wouldn’t matter if it did boil, as such a low temperature wouldn’t effect the temper. Heat just speeds up the chemical reaction between the vinegar and steel. You could do the same thing cold, it would just take longer. I probably left it in for around half an hour. The greyed finish was mainly just to age it a bit, give it a forced patina of sorts. As it’s going to get used, It will eventually get scratched and rusty and I didn’t want it being all nice and shiny and then having a few scratches or rust spots spoiling the whole look. If it already looks aged, any new marks just add to the character. The finish doesn’t really rub off. It’s more like a lite surface rust that has been brushed off, how old steel goes grey over time. Hope that helps, any questions feel free to ask.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, will try this on a knife blade or two.
arby said:
View attachment 17987 Hey guys, it been a while since I've been on here. Computer died. Anyway, back to it. I had a bit of a play in the shed the other day, ended up rough forging a hawk head out of a piece of old crow bar. Heated it back up and dropped it into vermiculite to anneal it. Then for the next few days in my lunch breaks, I ground, filed and sanded until it was how I wanted it. Heat treated it the other night and knocked up a handle. I ended up giving the head a bath in hot vinegar to clean it up a bit and give it a grey look. Hope you like it.
Click to expand...
 

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