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I've been working on a pipe tomahawk head and finished up the filing on Sunday. After taking the last few strokes with a 3" needle file, and seeing the 16" mill bastard next to it, I thought it would be of interest to some to see the results of drawfiling the way I do, the end result, and every single file I used on the project. First, drawfiling. For hawk heads, there's really not a good way to finish them totally on the grinder because of all the odd curves and stepped lines. Well, maybe if I had a small wheel attachment, but not as I am currently set up. I forge to shape, remove the scale and rough profile with an angle grinder, then use the belt grinder to rough in the surfaces, although it's not strictly necessary. Once the scale is gone you can jump straight to filing, I made hawks that way for eight years before I got the belt grinder. Once I have it as flat as it's gonna be on the belt grinder (36, 60, and 80 grit zirconia followed by A300, A160, A65, and A45 trizact), it's time to drawfile. I start with the 16" mill bastard, which immediately shows where the belt grinder did not make it truly flat. Then to the 12" mill bastard, then on to the six-inchers. Mill bastard, Mill 2nd cut, then mill smooth. After the last strokes with the 6" mill smooth, it's ready for 220-grit paper. I originally took this picture to show the carbon migration from the 1084 edge steel to the wrought iron body, but then I realized I had never posted a picture of a properly drawfiled surface. There are still a couple of 36-grit scratches on the edge steel, but that will be ground away after heat treat. Yes, this is not yet hardened. Also, I should mention if you don't have a belt grinder you can do the entire thing with files. Just takes a little longer. Next, here is the result of all the filing, both draw and push. See what I mean about things you can't do with a belt grinder? Every last bit of surface you see is the result of filing. There was a lathe involved in creating the bowl, but files were used on the bowl while it was in the lathe chuck as well. Note this is as-filed, it has not been sandpapered yet. Well, the molding between eye and blade has been cleaned up with a 1/2" sanding drum for a Dremel, but that's it. Finally, the files used in making this hawk: From the left, we have the 16" mill bastard with one edge ground safe (heavy stock removal and rapid drawfileing), the 1/4" chainsaw (setting some of the curves on the lathe), a 14" long-angle lathe file (fast stock removal push-filing, tends to leave a smoother surface than the 16" mill) 12" round file (lathe work), 12" mill bastard for intermediate smoothing, 8" half-round for setting the transition from eye to blade and shaping that little step on the bottom, the three six-inch mill files (bastard with safe edge, 2nd cut, and smooth), two 6" three-squares, one slim and one XX-slim with a safe edge (these were used to make the grooves and clean up the inside corners on the bowl), and finally, the 3" round needle file that was used to clean up the grooves. The 16" is the workhorse of the family. Used as a push file it cut the shoulders on the transition and the V on the eye. As a draw file it flattened and blended the blade. The long-angle lathe file has two safe edges (meant to be used on the lathe, it won't mar the chuck). The round file and big chainsaw file clean up my sloppy lathework on the neck of the bowl. The other bastard files are just used to clean up after the one before. The three-square XX-slim with one face ground smooth can cut dovetails, but it also acts like a knife to cut very sharp straight lines for the grooves. The slim three-square follows those lines to widen and deepen the cut, and the needle file removes the coarser marks of the bigger files. And that's only about a quarter of my file collection...

First off, THANKS to all you for the guidance and patience with my n00b questions over the last 3 months. It finally came together, and I wanted to share: Day one. Ordered anvil and prepped the cylinder. Added the Kaowoll and started coating the inside. (Thank to Wayne for providing the wool & cement) Still no anvil...but that's ok. Don't have a stand yet. Simple... yet effective! (now...where's that anvil!?) Staying with 'simple'... here's my burner added the .023 mig tips as nozzles Rear Port added. FINALLY! after 3 months on backorder LOOK what shows up! The perfect union! Anvil & Stand I got so lucky ... I remember this old merchandise unit that I had at the store VOILA! All painted up, put together, and IR coating added. Looks like retail if you ask me!

If properly taken care of, a good quality file can last a long time indeed. Most of the ones in that picture are 18 years old. My Mexico-made Nicholsons are so bad I simply don't use them. Poor tooth-cutting, bad heat treat. They just don't work, even on brass or silver. I hear the Brazil-made ones are a little better, but the Mexican-made experience left such a bad taste in my mouth I've said no to any foreign-made Nicholsons. I am a file snob, I admit it. But considering the life and use I get from the good ones, it's not worth it to me to deal with the cheap ones. The most important advice I can give on file care is to treat them like a precision instrument. Store them so they can't bang into each other, don't hit things with them, don't try to file hardened steel, that kind of thing. I keep mine in tool rolls hanging from the front of the bench. Or leaning on the wall where they can't fall over and the mice can't pee on them (bad rust issues if that happens). If you make a rack for them, make it out of brass, aluminum, or hard wood. Steel, even mild steel, can ding the teeth. Always lift the file on the return stroke, dragging one backwards dulls them. Brush the teeth out every few strokes. This prevents (or lessens) the phenomenon of "pinning'" where a little hard chip scratches your work. I use old toothbrushes and toothbrush-sized wire brushes, and pick the pins out with the tip of an Exacto knife if nothing else gets them out. Chainsaw files are disposables. Always have a proper handle on your files. This aids precision and prevents stabbing yourself in the hand. They're cheap (around $4 each). As you see, golf balls are good for chainsaw files. Not so much for long flat files, it's hard to keep them indexed properly.

In theory there is no difference between theory & practice. In practice there is.

Really nice. I like the shape of it a lot.

Looks really good.

Thanks for this Gary. Truly Inspired.

Wow Gary. Mind blown again. Thanks.

Welcome aboard Micheal! Thanks for The reply. Very impressive! I think I'm still too fat to be able to do half that lol. I would like to think I could do 10 miles, but usually I start to self destruct if i push it. I ran through shin splints when I was in the 290's-270's it sucks when every step has to be thought about like that, but at the same time I kinda like to play mind games with myself; pushing through mental inhibitions like pain, discomfort, fatigue, disregarding the impulse to stop. I think running and bladesmithing directly help your mental health and fortitude. Both teach discipline, patience, and give meaning and purpose along with a great sense of gratification, and self control....... Something I sometimes lack it seems... And it must not be true about the drinking! Cuz all that Jack Daniels, Glenlevet, untaxed whiskey, Evan Williams, and the 3 glasses of red wine ran out real quick! Came back up pretty fast too, and I passed out pretty quick, so it must be a fast beverage right?

Most impressive, and inspiring Gary!

Another one is to use heat treating foil and just oxidize the inside with any torch. I use a propane or MAPP gas torch and wrap my mokume billets in HT foil before I stack them in press plates. Ray Rybar taught me that. Outstanding Gary. What a great pattern. I especially like the way you alternated the W's in the center

This is pure magic. It's easy to understand why pattern welded blades were so revered in ancient times.

Gary -- A trick I've heard if you don't have white out is coat the inside of the can with the soot from a too rich oxy-acetylene flame. Apparently that will keep the can from sticking to the billet. I've never tried that, but heard it works. Thought I'd pass it along.

Boom! Nicely done, sir. That's some ninja welding. Dave

WOW !!! The pattern is already awesome the finished blade will be also..................

Hey Zeb, new guy here. I know I'm a little late coming to this post and I am definitely not a doctor!!! The only reason I felt compelled to chime in is because I am a long time runner. My running program has always been based on LSD. Long, Slow, Distance! I've never been fast but once I lock in my pace I'm good thirty five to fifty miles. Marathons are warm ups Average nine minute miles these days on the long ones but on a 5k I can still crank out seven minute miles, with a lot of huffing and puffing All I have are a few helpful quips that have motivated me to go when it was 105f or -10f with a 40mph "breeze". One doctor told me once, "If you want to live for the next hour, guaranteed, go lay down. If you want a chance at living a lot longer, go for a run" That doesn't address your specific concerns and you Do! need to listen to your body. I have a condition called Coronary Arterial Spasms. No blockage, but my big arteries can contract so severely that they can limit me to just about ten percent blood flow for short durations. It never lasts very long but when it happens you know it. If it's mid run it feels like the power cord was just cut and you're going down! Then it's over and you recover. This started in my late twenties and now at age 48 it has never yet caused me to actually fall, it's just a scary little stutter. Not life threatening, just something I deal with. It happens much less often when I'm sleeping well and stress levels are low. It actually happens less as I get older, go figure. Mine is a very specific ailment, diagnosed by a real MD and treated with medications. I'm not suggesting that you have what I have, but rather that you chart your vitals, pre and post run, and take that info to your primary care physician. As to your most recent post I will leave you with one other quip that applies to everyone, not just runners. "How you perform today depends on what you drank yesterday!" Stay safe and Happy Trails.....-M-

HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid term, and an actual answer turned in by a student. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well : Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely.. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is thereby herefore, extinct..... ....leaving only Heaven, proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.' THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.