John Smith

Folks I have been away for quite some time, and I have been super impressed by the amount of Hamons I am seeing. I plan on being back in my forge very soon as I just bought a house and need to get my old shop moved to the new location.

What does the RR Anchor look like as there are several rail ways where I love

Well JPH has it and I hope that whom ever ends up with it enjoys it as much as I did crating it

Damn sexy

Yes it can be done, as I have see the geometry of the blade and if your careful you can adjust it purely by the stones.

I love it Jeff and sorry been super busy, how is the Wakizashi going?

I am truly sorry I missed today Sunday, as the wife woke with a Migraine headache so I decided to stay home to watch the kids. It was good to see old friends and I made a lot of new friends, so cheers to everyone. Hope to see everyone next year.

Hey quick question, parking? Where will we be parking at? And if I missed it some where my apologies.

That's how I started I wanted to understand steel first and foremost before I attempted any Japanese Style Blades. Then i started with several Tanto trying different steels and heat treat methods.

The blade looks fantastic, and you did a great job forging as with all things in life this one leave very little room for error. Like I stated earlier you can always take away from a blade, you just can't add back once you start filing.

Well today was a great day forging with Jeff Fogleboch, he brought with him a deep desire to want to learn how to forge new sugata types, and he ended up forging a nice Hira-Zukuri Wakizshi, as I am sure he will post some images of it very soon. We talk and laughed and he watched, and listened and applied this to his blade, I helped when asked or when I heard the hammer hitting wrong. Overall Jeff you did a fantastic job and I really want to see progress pictures of the wak before you bring it back for heat treating.

I have tons of known steel, these were free and I really just wanted to know if any one had any working knowledge of the bars as to whether they are decent carbon steel, Like I said before the spark test says medium carbon maybe higher. I apologize if this thread came off as a noob question, just was looking for a little more info. I actually think I can make a very good blade from it, I even think I can water quench the steel as well. Well worth a try at least.

Post Hole Digging bar The link below is just for image purposes the one I have is antique, but the look is simlar http://www.amleo.com/digger-bar-all-steel-70in/p/0469/?kc=amlshop16n&mkwid=sSTRijs4V|dc&pcrid=51228666952&pkw=&pmt=&plc=&kc=&gclid=Cj0KEQiA0sq2BRDRt6Scrqj71vQBEiQAg5bj00ROe9EIpXxa4Qar0flIDHcMXIIvvHVN38QhHO8-ihIaAqE58P8HAQ

Ok I have access to several old Digging Irons, and I was wondering what type of steel are they. I spark tested the bar and it sprayed like Medium carbon steel in the 1050 range, and each bar did not spark test the same one looked to have more carbon, than the others. Any thoughts on this and on the type of steel they be. Oh when I say old I mean back to the 30's maybe earlier, they do not have the look and feel of a newer bar.

Everything they just said, however I have had a 50 / 50 on quenching 1095 in water, I found that no matter that I did I could not get above that ratio and I believe it is the batch of steel I got. I have a 90% success rate quenching W-2 in water, my method is I heat the water to around 120 degrees this help prevent shock to the blade and yet allows it to get under the curve in the few seconds it takes to form martensite. But every now and then I live on the edge and quench at room temp. Now something that some of you have failed to mention is brine water, I will say no more other than for you to go read up on it as every one has their methods so best to get a base knowledge first. Last but not least I use Parks 50 for a lot of my work as it is very fast and very stable and yields a 100% success rate for me.