Doug Lester

I guess that it could be that you only got the edge of the blade hot enough to quench harden which would give you a martensite edge and a pearlite spine' Doug

I question that you are getting an auto-hamon on high speed steel. The alloying will make it too hardenable. Unless you edge quenched I think that you are seeing something else, though I'm not sure what it is. Doug

If I remember right nitrated cellulose is basically gun cotton that used to be used as a propellant in rifle cartridges. Doug

Very nice job all the way around. You did well, sir. Doug

Great video, Jake. Even though I don't read or speak Russian I could follow everything that he was doing. Love the way that he put a curve in the side of the blade to be able to file the fuller. I'd be a little too slow to figure that one out on my own. Doug

Thank's, Alan. I never even knew about that. Not that I'm planning to work with any aluminum but it's nice to keep that warning in the back of my mind. Doug

If you leave the tang the way you have it it may provide a little extra leverage. I'd say it's looking good. Doug

I agree that you knocked it out of the ballpark with that knife. Nice figure in the handle. Doug

Abruptly stopping Prednisone can cause Prenisone withdrawal. You need to wean off it. Doug

Very nice pattern. Makes me think of a fire above a bed of coals. Be interesting to see when finished. Are you going to do anything special with the handle like flutes or something? Doug

How long it takes for wood to dry depends on things like species (some woods just dry faster than others) and the thickness to which they were cut. The general rule is one year for each inch of thickness plus one year. Also that Minwax product is not even close to stabilizing the wood. Doug

No it doesn't need to be annealed. The pattern of the etch will be caused by slag inclusions in the iron. Stock removal requires nothing special but if you want to forge it you will need to take it up to near forge welding temperatures and work it yellow. How much problem you will have with the iron crumbling will depend on the grade of the iron and how thin you will try to take it. There's a learning curve in trying to work with it. Doug

Great looking knife. Job well done, sir. Doug

And you were worrying about what to do with that horse head casting. Great job. Doug

Great job on that knife. Love the handle. Doug