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Two axes, one in Polish noble's ax Poland 17-18 century, the other is a North American triple batwing pipe tomahawk ... probably 18th century.

This is not what I was hoping to post but that will come soon. Just finished this little Hunter, 476 layer 1084 & 15N20, Brass, Bog Rata. Total length 22.5 cm, Blade 11 cm.

The heller I made a blade out of didnt fully harden in oil......think it may have been 1095 ish. Will be watching the responses here.

From an 8lb sledgehammer to 5.77lb hammer. Forged an integral with a new friend last week and thought I would copy his hammer and make it a little lighter (his 6.5lb mine 5.77lb)

I find that article a bit odd, as if Larrin thought makers actually quench their carbon steel blade at full thickness. Especially when he says he finds it odd that new makers use 1084 with canola because his results show poor hardness. Well, if you don't quench your blades with 1/8" thick edges it's suddenly less odd .

The goal of a perfect quench is to cool as slowly as possible while still achieving one's goals. In the case of of hardening steel, if one wants as much martensite as possible (it is debatable if this should be the goal) then the goal is to completely miss the nose of the TTT curve and get to the Ms temperature. Since the TTT is indeed a curve, this means while we have to cool rapidly at first to get past the nose of the curve, once we are past it we can slow down our cooling rate while still achieving our goal of getting below Ms before crossing the curve. As noted in the recent stainless/cryo thread, the rest of the cooling below the Ms to Mf can be complicated (maybe fast is necessary, maybe not). Conventional wisdom has been that once you are below the Ms temperature, rate of cooling was not important to the completion of forming martensite, so you might as well go slow to minimize stresses. Engineered quenching oils (or polymers, meaning Parks 50, AAA, etc.) are designed to have a cooling rate that is quick at the beginning and slower at lower temperatures. These oils require a specific temperature range for the oil itself to perform "as designed". Non-engineered oils also perform differently at different temperatures. Generally speaking, cooler oil temps mean slower cooling in that initial phase of the quench, so you may not miss the nose of the curve and start forming pearlite or bainite before getting below Ms and the rest goes to martensite, but lower stresses and less likely to crack. The heat transfer of all quench oils are curves, with a cooling rate as a function of steel temperature; and the curve changes to some other curve that is also a function of temperature (just a different function). Water is a bit different in that we end up with a vapor barrier when the water gets to 212F. If your water starts at 70F, you are only 142F away from boiling. If you start at 33F you are 179F away from boiling (a difference of 26%). The main factor of concern in a water quench is not the cooling rate of the water, it is how much cooling you can get done without the vapor barrier being a big factor (problem). On top of that, it isn't the vapor jacket in itself that is a problem, it is the non-uniform cooling due to a non-uniform vapor jacket. With large enough parts, a vapor jacket in a water quench is close enough to uniform that you can use hotter water as a slower quench. For example, you can quench a couple tons of 4330 in 120F water (with adequate circulation) and it will act more like an oil quench, where if you start with 70F water the quench will be too quick before the vapor jacket forms and the parts will crack.

Forged from 1080/15N20 stretched crushed W's, Desert Ironwood handles with stainless fittings.

Some leatherwork today for 3 Tahr Hunters with a couple of extra for future orders.

And here is the finished sword. I can't quite stress enough how the pictures do not do it justice because the hilt is very light and the blade is very dark so no matter what I did, the contrast always looks off. I'm tempted to get it professionally photographed, but for now this is the best I can capture it. Here are the overall stats for the finished sword: - Overall Length: 51.875" (131.8cm) - Blade Length: 40.0" (101.6cm) - Blade Width at Base: 1.389" (3.527cm) - Blade Thickness at base: 0.260" (0.660cm) - Blade Width at Tip: 0.924" (2.346cm) - Blade Thickness at Tip: 0.080" (0.202cm) - Guard Width: 9.750" (24.765cm) - Grip Length: 7.750" (19.685cm) - Guard/Grip Thickness: 0.874" (2.220cm) - Pommel Length (Bottom Section): 1.852" (4.705cm) - Pommel Diameter (Bottom Section): 1.940" (4.928cm) - Pommel Thickness (Bottom Section): 1.433" (3.641cm) - Pommel Length (Top Section): 1.496" (3.800cm) - Pommel Diameter (Top Section): 1.512" (3.841cm) - Pommel Thickness (Top Section): 0.620" (1.576cm) - Weight: 3lbs 8.2oz (1.593kg) - Center of Gravity: 3.008" (7.640cm) - Primary Node (Center of Percussion): 25" (63.5cm) forward from guard - Secondary Node: 1.630" (4.140cm) back from guard - Forward Pivot Point: At point - Aft Pivot Point: 7" (17.8cm) forward of guard Thank you all for watching! -A.J.

Sorry about the loss of a good friend Gerhard. Today I had a little time to work on some stuff. I took these three blades to 220 grit after HT. The top one is a 9-inch chef in 1095, (pre-sold) the bottom one is a very complicated commission for an O1 EDC that has me pushing the envelope on my handle skills, and the middle one is a small 4-inch, wide-blade hunter/skinner that I made out of the first try at the commission blade. It cracked in the quench. I knew the oil was too cold and tried the quench anyway. Stoopit me.

It does look very Swedish. Can you post a picture of the bottom?

Damn. Sorry for your loss Gerhard.

Shoot, good idea. I wish id have thought about somethinglike that. Its too late now, I'll have to remember for next time. I want to try one with a rifle barrel. I think the rifling will look pretty cool after the bevels are ground in.

Been a minute since I made a sharp thing. First attempt at forge welding, and the first chisel I’ve made. Wagon tire wrought and a small piece of 1084 (I think) and some curly maple. Few things wrong with it but they are only aesthetic for the most part.

1st time working with ironwood. It shapes well with files, but it's very gummy on the sandpaper, huh? I brought it to 600 grit with a light hand buff and it's already shiny. Nice stuff...