KPeacock

I'd much rather be PRO-active than RE-active, but i nthe mean time, this seems to help. I need to get out and try some full faced safety shields. That should offer more protection than safety glasses and I'm assuming I can find one that will accomodate the respirator.

I'm not sure exactly what category this belongs in, but I figure it will be seen here and those new to this can learn from it. I'm assuming I'm not the only one that uses an angle grinder to rough shape and remove scale. When using the grinders for long periods of time, I find that when I blow my nose, there is a lot of steel dust. Sometimes I can smell the rusting steel for a day or two and occasionally I find my sinuses irritated. I've stumbled across a way to prevent...well at least cure this. Twice in the last 2 years I've had to go to the ER to have small bits of steel removed from my cornea. Both times I was wearing safety GLASSES. Now I wear nothing but splash proof GOGGLES. but wrearing those makes my respirator fit poorly. I value my eyes more than my nose so I opt to work without a respirator unless chemical/fume problems require it. This has resulted in the black buger plague. At any rate, one of my wives friends came over and asked what I was doing last night as I was working on a new knife for hunting season. She commented on the smell of metal in the air and the it might not be good for me to be breathing it. After some conversation, she let me know about a product called a "neti pot." This is basically a small vessel to hold water and you pour it into one nostril and out the other. To say the least, I thought this was rediculous and some sort of crazy hippie nonsense. I checked it out online and apparently is fairly popular. After a $12 investment at Walgreens, I've got one of these little devices and I'm loving it. You simply mix together a small packet(contains sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate) into some warm water and flush the sinuses. I had quite a bit of black nonsense coming out of my nose. Afterwards I was amazed at how much better my head felt. I was definately a doubter and a skeptic, but after trying it, I give it my endorsement....for whatever that's worth. Feel free to disregard this post as nonsense, but if you've had any type of irritation of your nose/sinuses as a result of our hobby, it's worth giving a shot. Here are some likes to info about this. Obviously I'm not affiliated with any of these links or sites they may take you to. I'm just sharing something i've found that makes me a bit more comfortable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_irrigation http://www.webmd.com/allergies/sinus-pain-pressure-9/neti-pots http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nasal-lavage/MM00552

Tim, Glad you got a chance to see them in action. As I said, I'm not one to be easily "shamm-wowed" into buying something. The guy selling these could have easily sold them to me with nothing more than showing the bit drill right through that file. The rest of the demo was just icing on the cake. I hope they work well for you.

No kidding. Every time I visit this site I learn something about one aspect of knife making, or another. Thanks for posting this pic.

I'll have to level with you and publicly state my ignorance. I have never heard of "an Indian style Khanjar" and I have no idea if you even came close to making one, but I can certainly tell when I see a knife that I like. I like it.

Wade, The look of the "backward knife" is crazy. it really does look like you mounted the handle backwards until you look at it more closely. Nice work. The other one is nice for a whole different set of reasons. I'd be happy to carry either one of them. Congrats on a couple more knives entering the world.

Cost increase might be due to inflation, or overhead costs, or simple desire to make money. either way, I thought it was enough of a deal to buy. John, You bought two? Hoe many rocks do you have to drill? They'll send you a new one of you wear out the old one. I am inteested in hearing how they work for you.

Joe, You damn near killed me. I was eating some sunflower seeds and watched this clip and managed to laugh/choke at the same time after seeing a Peep crushed in th power hammer. Thanks for sharing, Kris

Tim, I sure do. If you head from the animal area towards the East along Underwood St. it's just a hundred feet (give or take) past the infamous "pork chop on a stick" tyrailer on your right. The building is something dairy related. "Dairy barn," "Dairy depot," Dairy information station" or something similar. If you head in the North facing door you'll be walking straight towards a "Flitz" demonstration. Take 90° right (pointed towards the Mills Fleet Farm display) and then a quick 90° left. About a dozen paces at 45° to your left you'll see the display for it. Definately watch the sales pitch. It's pretty amazing. The set retails for $130, but they are selling it for $90. If you pay full retail, they give you the round saw, a few different reciprocating saw blades, the sharpening stone, and a pretty neat vice/clamp that can be used for securing drills to a work bench. If it were up to me, I'd have spent the $130 for the whole shooting match, but the wife was with me and she calls the shots. After seeing this display, you're going to be amazed.

I vaguely remember hearing of the company name a few years ago, but I never really looked into them. I simply hadn't found the need for crazy drill bits. After making ym first full tank knife that was pinned, I quickly realized my set of cheap drill bits was not up to the task. For others who missed the info, The company is "Rodman and Company, Inc" and their site can be viewed at www.rodmanandcoinc.com I was also impressed with the rod saw. The gentleman at the demo effortlessly cut through ceramic tile. Since the rod saw is circular, it can cut in any direction. Curvilinear lines seemed very easy to cut. I suppose this would work well for cutting hard firebricks.

I was at the MN state fair over the weekend and while wandering around the product demonstrations I saw a file with about 50 holes drilled in it. I walked over to investigate and was amazed at the set of drill bits this sales guy was demonstrating. He drilled through ceramic tile, keystone retaining wall block, a brick, then straight through a nicholson file, he then drilled into a 4"x4" and flexed the bit to about 15° of deflection to show it's break resistance. The bit got hot enough to readily burn sideways through the wood. The guy immediately drilled through an automotive brake rotor while the bit was still hot. I typicaly don't fall for the sales pitches, but after fighting to drill the tang on my last knife I've been putting off a set of carbide bits. Seeing these in action was pretty amazing. They come with lifetime replacement if they wear out or break. You just send the pieces in to them and they will ship you a new bit, so you're only out 44cents. I don't work for these guys, or know anyone that works for them, but I'm guessing other folks have had a hard time drilling through knife steels as well. The 13 piece set was $90 at the fair. I think normal retail is a bit higher, but I've ruined about $100 in drill bits in the last year anyhow. I figure these will pay off in the long run. Here is a picture of a new nicholson file that I drilled through so you can get a visual of it. http://www.rodmanandcoinc.com/rodmanandcoinc.com/item04c5-2.html?UCIDs=1307321%7C1307323&PRID=1492961

Yes it is that skinner. Thanks for the compliment, BTW. That was the first knife I've made that I was proud enough to put the mark of the family on. I'm a little bit disappointed that I could have possibly prevented this rust issue. I've clearly got plenty left to learn, but it's safe to say I'm solidly addicted.

Alan, Thanks for taking the tiem to respond. The leather is vegetable tanned, so I doubt that is the cause. I've also trated it with a waxy product inside and out. I think i may not have properly neutralized the ferric. I rubbed a bit of baking soda on it briefly and then rinsed it off and that was that. I'll have him play with some vinegar and hope for the best. Thanks again, Kris

I made a hunting knife for a good friend out of 1095 and 15N20 and he's quite pleased with it. What was suppsoed to be a hunting knife is now an everyday knife. He called and let me know that he's seeing very fine surface rust. He claims to be oiling the blade, but I don't know what he's using for oil, or how well he's applying it. Do you have any tips or tricks to prevent run on an EDC knife? The knife is carried in a full grain leather sheath. Thanks, Kris

I totally agree on the charcoal vs gas line of thought. I started with two different charcoal forges and they worked okay for moving metal around, but I had a hard time getting to welding temps and I spent more time tending the fire than I did tending the steel. I know a lot of folks run coal forges with great success and I think it would have a more "real" feel to it, but after building my first propane forge, I'm hooked. I've got another one built, but it's with a homemade venturi style burner and it puts out too much carbon-monoxide. I'll get around to straightening it out at some point, but I'd rather be pounding steel with my first forge than tinkering with different one. I'm glad to see that it's working out for you.

Mike is right on. When I built my forge last year, he told me you could tune them by ear. at the time I thought that perhaps he spent 23 hours a day in the shop and experience allowed him to do this. I't s quite easy to do though. There is a particular sound that they make when they're running right. I'ts sort of like a jet engine. It's tough to describe, but you'll be able to hear it. I'm not sure what everyone else does, but when I"m done forging, I turn off the fuel supply and open the valves that restrict air flow. this cools the forge down a bit faster, but means I have to re-adjust the mixture every time I want to forge. I find it easier to get dialed in if I run it a bit lean for a while and build heat up, then I dial it in where it needs to be.

Alright, Back at work and able to resize photos. The rectangular piece was heated from only one side. You can see at the very bottom of the stack, there is a bit of a void. I tried prying the layers apart and they are quit solidly attached, but aesthetically this is not desirable. On the larger stack, I did flip all of the quarters over aftre working on one side of the stack. It seems as though this works a bit better. This is done with MAPP gas an a small 16oz claw hammer. I"m not sure if a bigger hammer or hitting harder would be better, but I'm guessing probably not. Perhaps ball pien hammer and start hitting i nthe center and slowly taw in an expanding circle? I'm not sure, but this seems to work fairly well considering I have no idea what I'm doing :-)

I don;t have image software on my PC at home, but I think I can link to photobucket and not eat up all of Don's bandwidth. These pics might not turn out so well. The camera is used for long range photography <ahref="http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/?action=view&current=P8150043.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/P8150043.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <ahref="http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/?action=view&current=P8150042.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/P8150042.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <ahref="http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/?action=view&current=P8150041.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/u4ia4/P8150041.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>well that didn;t work. I'll get them up here tomorrow at work.

My lovely bride is of the mind that my digital camera is HER digi-cam. She was out with the ladies last night so I was unable to get any pics of it. I'm taking one of my work cameras home so I can be sure to get a few pics for you.

I can't remember which section I sw a recent thread on mokume in, but apparently folks are having a hard time making it. There is some debate about how it may/may not damage a forge and render it useless for suture ferrous metal welding. I don't know anything about any of that stuff, but I did make some mokume last night. I had to buy a new propane torch to replace one that was damaged after years of use. Bernz-o-matic has some new designs with "swirl technology" that claim to have better mixing and higher heats. I figured I might as well get some MAPP gas for it as well and see what it can do. I easily welded up a stack of 4 U.S. Quarters and also a stack of 6 U.S. Quarters. I used a wire wheel on each of the quarters to clean them up a bit and the n used my leaning chemical of choice (Automotive wax/grease remover for paint prep.) and set in a stack on top of a hard fire brick. After about a minute in the flame, molten bubbly metal can be seen and I simply tapped the stack a few times with s small hammer. Rotate the stack 180° and repeat. I then flipped the stack and did the same on the other side to make sure the welds were solid on that side. I hammered the small piece out into roughly the shape of the guard and after a quick bit of sanding and then just touching on the the buffing wheel reveals a nice pattern. Anyways, if ya'll are looking to make some mokume, this seemed pretty easy to do and didn't take a whole lot of equipment. I"m not what success you can get with propane as I haven't tried that out yet, but I figured I'd share what I do know in case folks want to give it a try.

Good thinking. I was planning to set the blade in the tube and let it come up to temp. It probably is a better idea to keep it from contacting the pipe. I'll scrounge around my scrap bin for some larger pipe. I'm sure I've got something in there that will work for me.

Fuad Accawi was on Talking about the history of steel and it's uses. I believe it was the History channel that he was featured on. Perhaps on "Modern Marvels?"

Tate, Thanks for sharing your results. I've got one of teh test blades in ready for heat. I too added a bit of satanite to it to reduce scaling. I was planning on using 1" pipe to do the same thing you did. I'm glad to hear it worked for you. I'll hope it works for me as well. I plan to make 4 test blades. I figure after trhee of them, I should be able to get it pretty close to where I want it for the heat treating....the 4th blade I want to see what I can get i nthe way of a differential hardening line. My gues is that the result will be poor at best, but I'd like to give it a try and see what happens. Thanks again for sharing your results.

you're doing something that I havent quite been able to figure out. You seem to get a VERY good contrast between light and dark. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm on a quest to figure it out :-) Good work.

well, that's one more style of knife that I have to add to my already long list of future projects. That knife is simply amazing.