u/El_Chivo84

this was supposed to be my backup blade in case my primary has catastrophic failure when being made. as i used this one as a chisel, pry bar or whatever else you'd call something used to scrape hardened flux and metal stuck inside a busted crucible. so yeah after that, and it still had its entire blade edge and still very sharp i might add, i became rather impressed with the steel i had in hand. even though the shape is odd I've grown rather used to it actually. having never done hidden tang (my primary knife) quickly came to be secondary. still needs run through the finer grits but this basically how she's turning out(if i don't just cut the parrot beak off, or make bottle opener 🤷🏽 homemade micarta scales that shine up a nice dark red with white pattern.

ok so my original posts i had some blanks with weird shaped tang/handle parts and in another i showed my forged blades-in-progress up to the point of their first grind(with 4x36 and grinder). since then I've handled one of the blanks in walnut. though not totally into the shape nor style knife blanks i have, they're growing on me. partially because of my new 1x30 belt grinder( omg i wish i knew from the get go... wow... just wow!) referred to the 1x30 not the walnut although the wood works very nicely itself i must add! so... here's a few pics of my progress, I'll add the original photos for reference in case the first post is buried or first time critics feel the urge to, well, criticize. (please do, my critics are my best fuel and fire! even if a little asshole-ish, bring it. so here's what i have now after some minimal hours later despite having some days off from work the people around me work the lamest hours and it if respect i try not to be too noisy( my patience and urge to forge almost don't care anymore but i refrain for now)

so as im moving into the finer side of blade making I'm finding there must be some techniques i need to learn when it comes to the grinding phase. these 2 pieces are actually better than my first(disaster attempt) of a blade. Apparently annealing, tempering and a handful of other fine details you don't see or learn from watching forged in fire, that are quite necessary to make a blade that doesn't shatter the first time it hits the ground or anything for that matter. these 2 were hardened but annealed (again)for easier grinder work actually have that bevel look to the blades but I'm curious how do i control better how far up that bevel goes without overdoing it? i have a 3x36 belt sander 40/80/120/240/400 grits with 6"disc, and an angle grinder with some rough 80 and medium 240ish grit flap discs. tips and suggestions all welcome. be brutally honest if you must. trial by error here, no books, some videos, but mostly just me and a couple ai chat bots (Grok and Claude) a stack of annealed files, an entire leaf spring set, some rebar and more tools than any beginner that's started with nothing but has found a new passion with a hammer and anvil

i got some blanks to practice my handle making with and they have an unsightly notch between the tang and the blade which i assume is for s guard but with the tang and blade being so wide how would i get the guard in place without a huge gap showing in the top of the guard?? surely there is a technique or style in not aware of? ps when i say beginner i mean i bought a forge, anvil, and tools like 2 months ago, had the blanks longer but now as I'm creating worthy pieces i don't want to practice my handles on the pieces I've forged...