Monday, May 4, 2020

Sunday Project

Hooray!  No school work to do today!  Time to fire up the forge!

Lots of folks are deprived of social contact right now and after a long winter, we are looking for outdoor things to do.  The daughter of a friend has expressed an interest in learning to throw knives, which always gets me smiling.  So, today's project was making some throwing spikes for her.

I don't have any process pictures, but there's not much to show, actually.  I straighten some spring steel, forge a point at one end, and grind the surface smooth.  Then heat treat.  That's it.

Here's a picture of the 20 spikes I made today, fresh from the tempering oven:


And here's a closer look at the tempering colors:

Aren't those pretty?  I love those oxide colors.  I think I'll leave these as-is and maybe add a clear coat of lacquer on top to keep those colors a little longer.  

I prefer spikes over knives for throwing for just plain fun.  I may eventually make some more flat knives for throwing, but these spikes are fast to make, tough, and easy to throw.  They are a little "rough and ready," but I've been throwing a set of these spikes for about 4 years and never had a problem with them.  You can scroll through some of my older posts to see mine.  


1 comment: