Doug Lester

There's nothing to not like about that sword. Love the fluted handle. Doug

Cable damascus so early in your carrier, Good job. Doug

That seax class seemed like it would have been fun. Great looking knives. Doug

Very nice work indeed. Doug

Yes, decalesence and recalesence are tell-tale signs that many of us look for when heat treating. It doesn't matter how hot above decalesence that you heat the steel or iron. It will still go through recalesence if allowed to cool enough to go through the phase change. It's the phase change, up or down, that's the ticket here. Doug

What Wes said. Doug

Did you just heat set the pommel to the tang or was that just getting the hole in the pommel fitted to the shape of the tang? Doug

I'd call it purdy. Doug

A fine selection there. That D-guard big knife/short sword does grab the eye. So does your Scottish dagger. Doug

Very nice lines on it. I hope you get that warp out in the next temper so we can see that blade finished into a knife. You're off to a very good start. Doug

Lucky man. Lucky man. Doug

Even if it is made from a good steel, and I'll go with Alan's opinion that it's not, most of the mass is not under where you need it to forge blades. Just a guestimate that at 66 lbs over half of the weight is in the horn and the heal of the anvil. You would wear yourself out trying to forge a blade on that, though I would have to admit that smaller anvils have been used. Doug

For anvil stands I have a stump, the problem is finding one the right height, and some 4X4 spiked together. Look at Old World Anvils. They have a 4X4X4 block of 4140 with a spike on it that would be a good starter anvil. They will also cut the 4X4 stock to order. You could also look for a block of steel. I found an 86 lb block of H13 on Ebay. Doug

Absolutely fantastic. Love the damascus pattern and the detail of the handle. Doug

Eric, I think that I would have made life a little easier on myself, just in case the race was from something like 52100, and cleaned it up before heat treating. That way the steel would still be nearly as soft as possible. You can still clean it up but it might take you another belt or two and more time. Joel, you can drill your holes before or after heat treating. One thing that you can do is not to harden the tang when you harden the blade. What I do is to use spade tipped carbide bits to drill the holes in the hardened tang and then use a carbide bur to enlarge the holes slightly if needed. Doug.