OzForging

Time to go at it hammer and tongs! There are two forging temperature ranges--one above Critical and the other below. Forging below Critical is called Austenite forging or aus-forging. Let's call it OzForging because it's easier to say and I like the crazy spelling.

The concept is to keep the steel's heat under any transformation into Austenite. That way, one is forging Ferrite rather than Austenite--which makes the name of the process somewhat of a mystery. Anyway, at about 1350F O1 starts transforming to Austenite and forging should begin well before. Use the 1300F Tempilstik to keep the temperature below Ac1. Hammer as the temperature falls, hammer as long as the steel can be sufficiently indented. Then heat back to dull red and have another go at it.

OzForging Temperature Circuit

OzForging produces superior knives. Forging above Critical is faster as steel is more pliable at higher temperatures, but there's something about forging through the recalescence point that creates a superior internal structure. Grain size is much reduced as we've stayed below the austenitic range. Beyond that, the temperatures are kept cooler, thus more manageable and scaling is much less of a problem. OzForging is a process which brings out the best in you AND the steel.

Another advantage of OzForging is that if the steel temperature never exceeds Ac1 (1350F in the case of O1) there is no need for annealing or normalization prior to heat treatment because no austenite was produced.

If you've:
••worked out the knife design
••tested it by clay forging
••worked out the hammer face shapes
••tested them and forged a iron knife
if you've done all that, then you're ready to forge a knife. Go to it!

Do the same thing you did while forging an iron knife, but do it under 1350F and use O1 steel.

The first thing to do is identify Critical for O1. Steel colors look different under different light conditions. Learn the color of O1 Critical in the muffel. Have your magnet (the Pocket Pickup Magnet) in hand and heat the end of the O1 blank to red and then just a little more color. Withdraw and test with the magnet in the center of the brightest spot. Then quickly test a coolor spot. Tap, tap. Any difference? If there isn't, then back into the muffle and heat just a little brighter. Withdraw and test again--tap, tap. When the bright spot's magnetic pull starts to weaken and gets a little mushy you're apporaching Critical. Burn that color into your memory and don't go any hotter while Ozforging. Stay a little below. Ozforging with 1/8" stock means you'll have to heat a few times anyway and a few more heats under Critical won't make any difference. If you start getting much scaling, you're too hot.

The first thing you'll notice is the O1 is a little harder and stiffer than 1018. Put some more shoulder into it and take your time. Hammer one side and and when the blade starts to bow, flip it over and hammer the other side. Don't worry that the blade bends, just don't let it get way out of shape. It'll be easy to straighten the blade by hammering cold. You can plunge in water and cool at any time in order to check against your knife blank. Repeated heating and cooling while Ozforging won't do any damage to the blade. Bring the edge down to AWG #14 and be sure the blade is larger than the Knife Blank so you can trim it to size.

After OzForging do any necessary grinding/filing. Clean up the outline of the blade. Straighten it by light hammering. Get the finish down to 220/320 grit and the blade is ready for heat treatment.

Edge Packing and Forging Rituals:

Is there any merit to the concept of hammering the edge, toward the end of forging, when the steel is fairly cool? Really smacking it and getting that satisfying ring. I don't know. On the one hand, it makes some first-order kind of sense, but on the other, there doesn't seem to be much evidence to support the notion. Do I edge pack? Of course. It's part of my forging ritual. It feels right. If I don't do it, I'm left with a slight feeling of unease. About the best I can say is that by including edge packing in my forging ritual, I pay good attention to the edge--and that's not a bad thing.

When I flip a blade over, I tap the anvil once. Does it make any difference to the finished blade? I seriously doubt it. Then why do it? I picked it up somewhere and now it seems right. Rhythm is important in forging. What I'm saying is that you will develop a forging ritual. Some parts will make sense to others and other parts won't. It's your ritual, it's how you organize the experience of knife forging. Do what you need to do and believe what you need to believe in order to forge a knife.

Somewhere down the line you'll realize that the ritual is more valuable than the knives forged--it's a beautiful thing which exists only in the mind and body. And that's the tip-off and key, beauty should be the defining standard against which your ritual is measured. If your ritual is beautiful and brings you satisfaction and peace then how could the knives be any different.

The whole point is that I don't know whether the knife needs edge packed, but I need it.