Dave Stephens

I love the coloring of this piece. It's like a living artifact from a black and white picture. And the PW imitation of inlay is perhaps the best idea I've seen in damascus since Mick's explosion patterns. I agree with Alan, I think the ancient smiths would have approved and then stolen that idea.

The whole thing is gooey. The belt seemed fine, but it was torn when the wheel exploded. That cup (long gone) was just filled with water to dip the blade in while grinding a fuller. Nothing is stored below the grinder.

Always great to see your work, Richard!

It remains a mystery. This 8" wheel was the one that was left on the KMG by default. I have a lot of other sized wheels but I only put them on for a particular job, then put the 8" back on. The other wheels were sitting in a drawer a few feet away all summer and none of them are sticky and melted looking like this. To the best of my knowledge, no liquid has ever touched that wheel. Oh well, it's 2020. If my kiln gets taken out by a meteor I'll probably shrug and just say: "What next?" Dave I don't think so. And if it was that, the contact whe

Thanks guys. Wish you all could have met her. She was such a forge dog. She had a bed in my shop ever since she was a pup. No matter what bit of equipment was being used, she could sleep through it and not even flinch.

Hi all: Today is a sad day, we put down our beloved dog, Mouse. Many of you will remember her from this post nearly 12 years ago, and from her frequent appearances on the Arctic Fire videos. She lived a very long life for a Mastiff. She was loyal, brave, loving, and gentle. We're gonna miss her. Just thought I'd share. Here are some pics of her over the last few years. The last one is of her sleeping last night. Dave

. . . don't it? Just back to the Florida shop. Left a 120 grit belt on the KMG. Fired it up for a minor job and all of a sudden it was Iwo Jima. BAM! Luckily, the shrapnel missed my head. Not sure what happened. I left the AC on at 75 degrees all Summer, but the rubber on the wheel is all "gooey" like it was left out in the sun. Cheers! Dave

Here's my first "sword." I made it when I was about 13 years old from an old file. Not forged. The copper wire on the hilt is from telephone wire that I stripped the sheathing from. The pommel is a large brass nut that I filled in with braze (hence the bubbles). I think the guard was a bit of brass from a backing plate from an old boat. And here's another short sword I made a couple years ago. Long road . . . many miles left to go.

The funny thing is, I used O1 for years and never knew about this. I'd quench, set aside, and get around to tempering whenever it was handy. I can't remember any of them ever cracking post quench. (Not suggesting this isn't good advice. Jerrod and Alan know their stuff. Just sharing an "ignorance is bliss" story). I also did pattern weld in a farrier's forge that had no airflow choke to produce a reducing atmosphere. No one told me you couldn't weld w/ a farrier's forge, so I did it anyway.

I draw my billets out to this kind of length, so grinding hot isn't really an option. I do "pop" the scale off with a final heat and edge tap on the press before the cut and stack, but it's still a major pain. And, yeah, I have a 7" angle grinder and use cup stones on it. I also crown the billet.

Grinding the scale off of billets between draws isn't my favorite.

Those are really nice. I love the lines.

You know who I miss on the forum? Dick Sexstone. That guy was the coolest old artist ever. I loved how his sense of humor was captured in his work. He built model spaceships out of copper that looked like they were straight out of a 60's Buck Roger's comic. His folding knives were some of the first I'd seen that had illustrations in pattern welding, and really elegant ones too, not the gaudy over-the-top mosaics you sometimes see. I meet him at Ashokan and he gave me a German book on patternwelding that is one of my prized possessions. What a cool cat. I seem to remember he could

Ah. LOL. You got me. I was google searching and scratching my head. Nearest I could tell it was an Asian term for yams.

What's a "doya?"