Hand Forging a Fighting Bowie Knife

In this video, I forge an 11" bowie knife from Crucible L6 steel, by hand, in coal.
Head over to my Instagram to see progress on it and other knives.
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[@aidanc1943]

Awesome video I’m relatively new to forging so this video helped a lot with shaping my first Bowie. Thank you!

[@robertmefford5273]

Very good video. All work no talking. I've learned just enough to understand what is happening for the most part. I am wanting to learn forge to almost finish. I've done stock removal and forge thick grind out. Neither bring me satisfaction. Thank you for this video sir.

[@jamescox1955]

Best advice I can give you, is keep your edge centered, straighten as you go, and use the right hammer for each purpose. An aggressive rounding hammer doesn’t do much in the way of planishing a blade smooth, and while a dainty ball peen hammer is great for adjusting choils and plunges, it won’t do much for putting the tip into a 3/8” thick bar of tool steel.

[@robertmefford5273]

Thank you sir for your response. I always have issues with starting plunge lines. I can't get a crisp line. I'm figuring it's my hammer control and not hitting the same spot but being slightly off on following blows. As for centering the edge are you meaning working the bevel centered down the knife and working both sides? ie 1/2 to 1/4,1/8 1/16 down to dime thickness?

[@robertmefford5273]

I have multiple hammers from 4 lb down to tiny ball peen. 2 lb rounding hammer and a swedish straight peen are my go to for most work. I saw the dog head you were using but haven't tried that

[@jamescox1955]

@@robertmefford5273 hammer control will help that, keep your elbow pulled in tight and it will tighten up your impact zone. Tilting the face of the hammer will help getting in there as well, using the edges and corners to strike with. Work the bevel from both sides, yes, and as you draw it down, you want to keep it from going off to one side as best you can. It’s easier to adjust as you go than it is to fight a corkscrew at the end trying to straighten it.

[@robertmefford5273]

Got ya. Thank you again for the reply and advice sir. It really means a lot that you're taking time to help. I'll use the advice well.

[@LWzz33]

Thank you

[@mattroberts5529]

Clean forging. Nice work.

[@jamescox1955]

Thank you!

[@Redmeadow]

Excellent video James, making every strike count. What was your stock thickness?

[@jamescox1955]

Thanks! Parent bar was 1” round, starting stock in the video was around 3/8” thick at the thickest, and somewhere around 1 3/8” wide or something.