Quite a while back I posted about some damage sustained by a Styria 65cm blade here and here.
I wrote the following a couple of weeks later when Phil peened and repaired it. It has sat unpublished ever since, waiting for photos to be added. I have finally done this, so here is the end of the story!
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Towards the end of last week, it was obvious that our 65cm Styria blade was in need of a peen, as it was needing more frequent sharpening to maintain an edge. This blade had also suffered some damage to it’s edge, so this was also the time to complete the repair.
First Phil finished filing out the edges of the area of damage such that it ran smoothly into the rest of the blade edge, as shown in the picture below. Filing is carried out to work the area of damage back into sound metal and ensure there are no micro-cracks that may be propagated by hammer blows during peening. It also gives a smooth profile to work on drawing out. Phil then uses a stone on the edge to smooth out any marks left by the file.
Area of damage after careful filing
Then, using a bar peen anvil and a flat hammer, he carefully drew out the metal in the area of damage until it was level with the edge of the rest of the blade. Already, the area of damage is hard to spot.
Repair (marked by arrow) after peening just across the area of damage.
Finally, the whole blade edge received three lines of peening, drawing out and thinning the metal along the whole edge of the blade and restoring a good cutting profile to the blade. By this time, the repair is only visible on close inspection of the blade, where it can be seen that the hammer marks of peening extend slightly further back into the body of the blade at this point.
Repair after final peen (marked by arrow).
After a quick sharpen with the stone, the blade will be ready for action once again.