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  1. General

    1. Read before you register

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    2. Forum News

      Adminstrative News and Comments

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    3. New Board Issues

      This is a temporary forum for you to be able to report issues you have following our message board upgrade. It will be removed at a later time.

      1,555
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  2. New Work

    1. Show and Tell

      This is the place to post the pictures of your latest work.

      144,590
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    2. Photography

      This is an area for photos. They don't have to be knife related, just images that you created that you want to share. I have had great fun with my digital camera and find it is a way to open the creative vein. Keep the images no larger than 640x480 and around 50k.

      8,437
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    3. Video and Multimedia

      A dedicated forum for posting videos and other forms of animated multimedia.

      2,265
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    4. Knives For Sale

      This forum is to provide a place for members to offer their knives for sale. No dealer or commercial postings, but if you have a knife that you made and would like to offer it for sale please feel free to post.

      7,024
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    5. Design and Critique

      A place to show your work and receive design help and critique.

      12,454
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  3. Old Work

    1. History

      A place to discuss the history of bladesmithing and share information about blades from all cultures

      6,490
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    2. Old Masters

      A place to share information and photos of past Masters of the craft. No living makers please and be sure to have permission to post images.

      293
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    3. Library

      A resource to list references, video and books that would add to the general knowledge of the craft.

      340
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  4. Forge Work

    1. Hot Work and Bladesmithing

      This is the place for all questions related to forging and hot work.

      1,035
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    2. Hot Work

      This forum is to replace the old hot work and bladesmithing forum. Please post new topics here.

      15,625
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    3. Bloomers and Buttons

      For the growing field of smelting iron and steel. This forum is open to crucible and bloomery discussions.

      11,891
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    4. Beginners Place

      All "newbies" / beginners, please post your questions in this forum. Thanks.

      36,744
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    5. Teacher Directory

      Here you can find teachers of the craft

      49
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  5. Forges, Tools, Equipment and Materials

    1. Tools and Tool Making

      The tools of the trade and how to make them.

      30,377
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  6. Finishing, Tips and Tricks

    1. Fit and Finish

      Discussion, tips, tricks and questions about finishing.

      9,551
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    2. Sheaths and Leatherwork

      Because every blade needs a sheath.

      806
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    3. Carving and Applied Arts

      Discussion of techniques related to decorative arts such as carving, engraving, chasing, repousse, filing etc.

      1,285
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    4. Shop Safety

      Tips and hints to keep you in one piece and not bleeding

      984
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    5. Non-Ferrous: fittings, alloys, patinas

      Non-Ferrous: fittings, alloys, patinas

      362
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  7. Heat Treating

    1. Metallurgy and other enigmas

      Questions and discussions about heat treating.

      12,696
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    2. Heat Treating by Alloy

      A catalog of methods for proper heat treatment of blade steels arranged by particular alloy

      481
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  8. Events

    1. Events of Interest

      Post your classes, hammerins, shows and events of interest.

      7,578
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  9. Discussion

    1. The Way

      Open discussion about it all.

      26,283
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    2. Fiery Beards

      A Place for Smithing TomFoolery

      7,456
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    3. Books, Videos, and other Media

      Post your book/video and other media type recommendations here.
      Links to interesting articles / websites.
      Anything related to the craft.

      1,552
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  10. Tailgate Sales

    1. Tools, Supplies and Materials

      A place to sell and where to find materials and supplies. This forum is intend for the use of our members and is not for commercial purposes.

      9,963
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  11. Hall of Fame

    1. Nominations

      Nominate a thread for inclusion in the hall of fame. Reply to existing threads to cast your vote for or against the inclusion.

      329
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    2. Show and Tell Hall of Fame

      Work voted by members to be the most significant contributions to the forum within the Show and Tell category.

      28
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    3. WIP/Tutorial Hall of Fame

      Work voted by members to be the most significant step-by-step tutorial or Work in Progress (WIP) contributions to the forum .

      65
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  12. Pinned Topics

    1. Pinned Show and Tell

      This is the home for pinned topics

      6,547
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    2. Pinned Hot Work Topics

      Home for pinned hot work topics

      299
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    3. Pinned Buttons and Bloomers

      Pinned threads relating to casting, smelting and making steel

      981
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    4. Pinned Tools and Toolmaking

      The place for pinned topics on tools and toolmaking

      818
      posts

  13. Maker's Mark Registry

    1. Maker's Mark Registry

      Post your own mark here

      124
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    2. Marks to be Identified

      Use this forum to post unknown marks.

      83
      posts

  14. KITH

    1. KITH 2011

      A forum for WIP threads to be posted of those participating in the 2011 "Knife in the Hat" event.

      824
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    2. KITH 2012

      "Knife in the Hat 2012"

      700
      posts

    3. KITH 2013

      666
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    4. KITH 2014

      441
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    5. KITH 2015

      Just what it says!

      496
      posts

    6. KITH 2016

      1,017
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    7. Christmas KITH 2016

      104
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    8. KITH 2017

      310
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    9. KITH 2018

      545
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    10. KITH 2019

      198
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  • Topics

  • Recent Status Updates

    • Clive Witton

      Clive Witton  »  timgunn

      I have built a forge from Vitcas Grade 28 Insulating Fire Bricks; the aperture (as originally constructed) measures 7.5” w x 4.75”h x 18” l (195 x 120 x 460) and have been using it for a couple of years without problems.

      I use a ¾” AMAL injector (on a burner made to the well-proven design) by simply locating it into the front of the forge to heat the forge where required. For forging mono steel and pre-made san mai this works fine and I have successfully forged blades in a wide range of carbon and stainless steels.
      I recently hand-forged some san mai (140mm x 35mm x 3mm pieces) from spring steel/mild steel as a test piece and found that there was incomplete fusion in some small areas; I put this down to insufficient heating but it could of course be poor hammering technique. I don’t have a power hammer as I can’t stand the noise and our neighbours certainly couldn’t! But, the attraction of forging my own san mai and Damascus is growing so I’ve given thought to my forge’s capability hence the performance test. Additionally, I am contemplating building a hydraulic press.
      In addition to the AMAL burner, a year ago I bought a ¾” T-Rex burner from Hybrid Burners to evaluate against it, I concluded that the T-Rex has no performance advantage over the AMAL.
      So, last weekend I modified my AMAL by adding the support tags, bored a hole into the forge top, reduced the forge volume (only by blocking which is not substantive but guess the reduced length helped) to 6.25” wide x 4.75” high x 12” deep (155 x 120 x 305) and then ran some tests the results of which are graphed  below. I monitored the temperatures with a thermocouple the tip of which just protruded into the top of the chamber. 

      As you see, the maximum temperature I eventually reached was 1220 at a gas pressure of 1.75barg. The latent heat in the blocks kept the temperature quite high even after I had reduced the gas pressure; I ended the test at 80 minutes.
       So, based on your knowledge of these things: 
      Is this the performance and temperature I should expect from the AMAL with its standard 0.036" jet in this size forge Should 1220 degrees be sufficient to allow forge welding by hand or do I need to higher temperatures and if so how to get there - fit 2 AMAL’s .... What’s your view of modifications to the forge for an optimised forge design   This is such a wide area that I hope these few questions will set my development path and would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
       Clive Witton 
      www.instagram.invictaknives.com/ 
      · 0 replies
    • John N

      John N  »  Alan Longmire

      Hi Alan, hope you are well & Happy new year ! 
      Is it possible you can assist me with a slight forum issue ? - I have forgotten my forum password - I can still log on with my work computer (hence access now  ) - I can only do this as the computer has remembered the password, and shows it as a line of ************* when I log on.
      So, I would like to change my password, but in order to change my password, I need to enter my password, here in lies the problem - Dont know if this can be addressed from an administrators end ?
      All the best, John
      · 1 reply
    • LenardReyes

      LenardReyes  »  Austin Mys

      hello mr. austin what kind of steel you used on your katana?
      · 0 replies
    • GEzell

      GEzell

      "The best work...the work REALLY worth looking at...is done on the verge of utter failure." 
      Richard Furrer
      · 0 replies
    • DMW

      DMW  »  Wayne Coe

      Wayne,
      could you suggest a good enclosure for my L510?
      thank you 
      Dave
      · 3 replies
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