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Finished this commissioned piece the other day. Blade 11" long feather pattern of 1084/15N20. Guard made of railroad spike, 15N20 and couple end pieces of damascus. Handle stabilized redwood with centre core of mahogany that had some personal meaning for the customer. Was a challenge in may ways for me! Clint

The hawk is approx 19" long x 8" with a 2" cutting edge. The main body is made from 8 bars of twisted pattern weld with approx 20 layers in each bar with a 400 layer cutting edge. The smoke bowl is made from 9 bars of twisted pattern weld arranged in a 3x3 cube and worked to shape then hard silver soldered to the main body. Many Thanks to Alan for supplying the Curly Maple haft which I have treated with Aqua Fortis to bring out the figure and banding. The wooden beads are Californian Buckeye and Redwood and the smoke hole stopper is Buffalo horn.

Hi everyone - thought I'd share the latest one... I give you Sǫg Tǫnn (Saw Tooth) - forged in honor of the innumerable abandoned wood mills scattered around the country, left to rot as their purpose has been served long ago. How many a farm has been made possible due to the many-toothed high carbon blades - spinning tirelessly day and night, through summer and winter? How many noble trees has met their end at the sawblade's edge in order to fulfill an even higher purpose of keeping man and livestock dry and warm? Hail to you, old saw-mills covered in moss, wi

Past year has been busy, haven’t had tons of time for knives, but got this one done Old Nicholson file so probably w2 And curly pear handle, first time i ever tried a coke bottle shape besides a few minor issues, less than the previous knives though. onto the next !

Pretty dang happy how this turned out, I'll be changing my forging of the next on to start above ACM to get a more wattered pattern but for my first time I'd say it's pretty good.

Took a little family portrait at the local guild meeting yesterday.

And even more. Slowly getting better at ending up with a cladding somewhat symmetrical between sides. Forging them very close to thickness to get the cladding close to the edge has had me sweating in the grinding room about actually finding the core steel

Well, it has been a few years since I've been on the forum, but here is my latest. The blade is a bad ladder pattern, mokume gane bolsters, mosaic pins with stabilized ambonia burl handle. Thoughts?

And just to add for posterity: This should be taken into consideration when selecting alloys to forge weld together. Do not combine an air hardening steel and a water hardening steel, for example. There are of course exceptions (like possibly an oil hardening steel as the core of san mai, with a water hardening alloy around it). Just make sure it is considered before mixing alloys, that is my point.

Thanks for the vote, guys. I'll put it in the Tools and Toolmaking section, there's more than enough pinned topics in the Beginner's Place.

After soaking in vinegar for 2 days, got the scale off and ground this down to 0.125" for a friend. 4" x 12" 300 layers 1080/15N20. Here it is ground to 400 grit and 15 min in vinegar

Not huge... but a little bigger than you might think is what you want. If its just big enough to fit a flat bar in- it'll work... but you're going to be replacing bricks, refractory alot sooner- from smacking and poking the walls with steel trying to get it in and out. We're human, its really hot stuff, with fire. It will happen. Anything you line it with- ceramic wool, refractory, brick etc.... always remember to double your thickness when figuring out internal space- there's two walls, a top & bottom to every forge. So 1" is going to be 2"- 3" will be

Whoa, now that's an old thread. Much has passed, blades were made, fun was had, shop was closed. I may be back on track in a little while. In the meantime, I found this thing on marketplace that was advertised as 102 pounds. Lucky me, I paid the 102 pound price for a 102 kilograms(224 pounds) top shape JB. It'll be sitting in the shed until I build a new shop.

This could also go in the Fiery Beards humor thread, but I figured I would post it here in case anyone starts thinking about doing this. So there I was sitting at my table at Blade when this couple comes up and he starts talking knife making. I always entertain discussions about the art, especially with younger makers, but this guy really set me off. He wants to show me his work and share his processes. OK. I'm game. Then he starts telling me about multiple quenching cycles for 1095 and I'm like, huh? Didn't we go through that 15 years ago? So I ask him why he does this and h

In my experience, there is no tool of less use in a blacksmith shop than wolf-jaw tongs. They're actually more useful if broken, as then you can use one half as a poker. I'm convinced they were invented in the 1990s as a way of separating newbies from their money, as you never see them in old smithing books. They can be made to work if you reforge the jaws to fit the specific stock you have (and indeed you're supposed to do that with almost all tongs), but they're sold as a one-tong-fits-all, and often made from 4140, which makes them picky about being quenched. /oldmanrantmodeo

Well... the mail man made some deliveries today. Got new wheels for my grinder, and some quench oil that took a month to get after I ordered it.

For those who are interested: I realised I never shared the end result in this topic. So here it is. not the best photo but you can see some activity on the blade. A couple of days ago I visited my friend for who the knife was made and the little activity that was on the knife disappeared completely, haha. I recently finished another knife in 1075 and wanted to give it another shot. I used ferric chloride this time. Sanded the knife to a 3000grit finish. Then dipped it in the ferric and cleaned it with 3000 grit sandpaper and fine steel wool. Repeated that proces a couple of t

One of the reasons to have a decent radius on the edges of your anvil is to use those in combination with the a corner of your hammer to mimic fullers on both sides of the bar. Something like this: Not sure what your forging experience is, but here's a picture I got from another old thread that does a good job explaining how metal will move under the hammer:

It's been done for at least 1000 years, so yes, it's possible. No tips from me, though.

... she has not been to the hairdresser for a long time!

If it helps you at all, i too am not the most mechanically inclined and a couple weeks ago i was dead set in buying a forge, but after reading a TON of posts in here, it was pretty clear that building one was the way to go. Not only would it be the same price or cheaper (even with having to buy a small welder and economy drill press) but id get a better forge, a better understanding and it would be easier to repair. Plus I’d be 2 tools up lol. anyway my point it even though i was dead set on buying a forge, a lot of patience and reading helped me from making a hefty mistake. Your cas

There is no reason to put Metrikote or Plistix on the blanket if you are going to cast over the blanket with Kast-0-Lite or a similar product. Check out the Build a Gas Forge and the Ribbon Burner attachments on the Forge Supplies page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. Let me know if I can help you. About $100.00 plus the hose, regulator and burner using a 20# Propane tank.

Mine's only about an 8" internal diameter, but about 16" long. I fire on a single forced air burner. Run around 2-3psi to forge, up to 10psi to forge weld. I went this route for the same reason- lower fuel use. But its a little more versatile being a bit bigger. The first picture is during a re-line with mizzou refractory.

I'm not sure how much of a real worry this is, I've never had this problem with any of the ribbon burners I've had or used. What I did was weld brackets onto my burner frame and forge shell and then bolted the ribbon burner to the forge. However I have not had to remove this in the 11+ years of regular use, so not sure if this is a real worry, either.

I don't know for sure, but it seems like a less than good idea to put it on both sides. I think it's for the flame face only.

After you get a few hours on it you should start a review thread in the Tools and Toolmaking section. Then update it after a few months to let us know how it still stands up. Hope it kicks ass for you!

All he knows how to play is the opening chords to Stairway to Heaven........

Thank You, I have the base from a table saw. Was thinking a sheet of 1/8 steel to cover. But, that's a bit low. So will use blocks for extra height. Thanks for the reminder about fire safety. Have done a good bit of 4x4 Fab and welding over 30 year. Hot work gets done outside on gravel, 5 gal bucket of water close and 10 lbs ABC extinguisher with in a fast grab. Leather boots and fire proof shirt and apron.

Does this guy know you will be giving him heat treated high carbon steel?

First of all, welcome! Anything that is stable and non-flammable will do nicely. Some key things to keep in mind: You want the forge at a good height so you aren't bending over too much all the time. Your forge body shouldn't get too hot, but it will definitely get above room temp. There will be flames coming out of your forge as well as a lot of very hot air, so keep the immediate surrounding area free of things that won't tolerate this well. Burning of propane creates gasses that can kill you. If you run it indoors make sure there is good ventilation a

It's forging out nicely, had time ti get it to somewhat blade shaped yesterday, I'll finish this today then I've got another crucible charged with 4x more material so hopefully that turns out even better! Next time I'm paying better attention to where the top of the ingot ends up, I didn't plan on it being the face of my blade...next time, all learning process

Found some in Finland! http://www.terasrenki.com/en/product/a203e-c-0-1-prosentti-ni-3-5-nickel-steel/ Congrats on the sale.

Speechless.

Thanks for all the advise everyone. I REALLY appreciate it! I went for round 3 with a stack of 1095/HD special/80CRV2/HD Special/1095 and got it to weld. I forged out a blade expecting it to blow up in the quench but it didn't. I had to heat it so many times to forge out the blade that I basically lost all of the 1095 outer layers. The 80CRV2 core didn't stay perfectly straight but the weld did hold up. Even though the blade isn't really usable, I am very happy that I finally got it! I'll try again with some longer bars so I don't have to hammer so much next time and hopefully keep the

Looks to be closer to 150C to me, and keep in mind pouring temp is going to be a bit above the liquidus temp, probably about 100C (we often go 150C above for steel pouring). Looks like 40% Cu would get you mostly epsilon phase (Cu3Sn), whereas 30% Cu would get you nearly completely eta-prime phase (Cu6Sn5). Fun info from NIST. Now, I can't believe this is the case, but NIST actually looked into the physical properties of these phases since these intermetallics occur in solder joints (important chart copied below). Long story short, no, 30%Cu is actually harder than 40%

After a few days away from the shed was able to get back in there and finish the hand sanding on this order of NitroV kitchen and fishing knives. A new one 3rd from the left is primarily for peeling a piece of fruit or taking a slice or two from biltong and should go down well with my main customer base.

I would say that you brought that off rather nicely. I love to see WIP photos to show a blades progress from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. Doug

Made this as part of a makers challenge on facebook. Got a little carried away. 1075, maple, steel and copper: Not quite finished in this pic, but you get the idea. build album is here let me know what you think...

Great good job . i am just starting my self .

You may have something there!

Very nice gal who requested a specific knife I made before wanted the same for her father as a wedding gift for her wedding. This was a pleasure to complete this and deal with a rather nice person. Rather simple design knife.... nothing elaborate. Gary LT

Managed to get the blade profiled, and almost all the way done with the bevels. She's definitely a bit on the thin side, right around 3mm, but it'll make for a wicked sharp little blade. Here's a snapshot of what it looked like after profiling. You can see some of the sketches I used to get it symmetrical. It's a bit hard to see, but I found that if I scribed the centerline from both sides, and continued it all of the way out to the tip, it gave me a good idea of the symmetry, even without the sketches. After roughing in the bevels on the grinder

Been doing some more san mai blades and have finally gotten around to having stencils done to actually mark the blades I make. Pink ivory and ebony for the handle on this one. I like those tropical woods mostly because all you need to do to get a nice finish is just sand and polish

DL: I tried SS hose clamps like 25+ years ago..the idea does work but I wind up welding the clamps to the bar...which can be a nasty problem with some projects.. I have been wiring stacks together from my start 50+ years ago..never had any problems at all..but I really get the wires tighter than a Scotman's purse string..that is the key there..get it TIGHT..especially when you are welding shim stock and sheet like I do.. JPH

I think they've all hit the nail on the head- not hot enough. It's notoriously hard to get a photo to show your heat colors... but in your 4th pic, your forge doesn't look anywhere near hot enough. You wanna wait til she's good and heated before starting. Just an example of color differences for forge welding heat. You want the forge looking yellow, almost white in color. And any time you do something... and you learn from it, what not to- and what to do.... its never wasted. Because it will be useful knowledge for years to come... versus those f

Hello: Hope no one minds.. not heated through..IE not hot enough where it counts...that is what it looks like to me anyways...heat soak it for what you THINK is long enough and then wait an additional 30 seconds or so at temp.. That should help a bit.. JPH

I repeat my offer!

Well, got this finished up and feel a little underwhelmed. Might have needed some dragon heads or something

The weight for forging was fine. The real issue is that all of the other massive pieces of iron and steel Jeremy has drug home over the last couple of years have created such a large magnetic anomaly it was causing the "little" anvil to slide across the shop in the middle of the night.