KPeacock

After doing a bit of sheathwork myself, I can appreciate your efforts in a much more udnerstanding light. That is some outstanding work, Sir.

That's a mighty fine looking knife. It looks well put together and very usable.

That's a ncie collection of pieces there. I haven't thought of usning horseshoe for blades. I imagined it to be quite low in carbon. Do you know about what percentage it might be? I like the heat coloration that really stands out on them.

Hloh, Welcome to the board. Your English is perfectly understandable. English is a hard language to learn and I'm happy to see people that can use it as a second language. The knife with the gears is my favorite. I'll bet that one was difficult to make. very nice work

No compensation is necessary. The wife and I do enjoy camping though. She was raised in a family where 'camping" meant backing the 5th wheel camper into the lot and and plugging in to power. I grew up in a military family where camping meant grab that tarp and head to the woods. I'm not sure who made who compromise, but we now camp in a tent, but always at the "hike in" sites. It's still a bit commercial for my liking, but the wife enjoys it, so I'm happy to be there with her. We usually get up to the North Shore twice a year, give or take. As you're well aware, it's quite beautiful up there.

quite an impressive pattern. I prefer patterns to have wider bands and look a bit more bold, but I'm impressed with the consistency of this pattern. Well Done!

Ulrich, I am very impressed with this folder. It has such a rugged and utilitarian look to it, yet it seems somewhat "pretty," for lack of a better term. Have you ever composed a brief tutorial on how you make these? I have never attempted to make a folding knife, yet I carry at least one folder with me all the time. I would love to carry a folder that I made. In the next year or two, I hope to have developed the skills required to make something like this. Thanks for sharing with us, Kris

I'll tell you what, I don't often use my charcoal forge. If you want, take it home and use it until you figure out what you want to make. My guess is that you'll use it for a while and then start researching how to build a propane forge. Propane is a lot cleaner, and requires a lot less effort to produce consistant results. When I first started, I was convinced that charcoal was the easiest and simplest way to go. I soon realized that, although charcoal is effective, the propane is easier. If you buy everything, I'm sure a propane set-up cost more initially, but if you scrounge and fabricate it isn't any more expensive.

Matt, You've got me considering this as well. I have no specific need for another axe, but I generally fell a few oaks per months and I always have an axe with me. I use chainsaws for most of the work, but even having a spare doesn't eliminate the possibility of a problem. The axe has never failed me. A few months ago when I was digging through the scrap bin a the Caterpillar repair facility (a lot of oddball steels, but lots of large pieces) I snagged a 4' section of dozer blade edge. I'm not sure what type of steel this is, but if holds and "edge" while pushing around rock and dirt all day, I'll bet it'd work out well for an axe.

Matt, I'll try various sizes on my next runs with it. I was forced to use a .045" tip in order to get a steady flame when initially test firing the burner. I suspect that I'll get better results with it now that I have a forge to use it in. I have all sorts of variables to play with on this thing. Air baffle, tip size, pressure, also orifice location is somewhat adjustable on this burner. I'm sure it'll take a bit of playing around to get it dialed in the way it ought to be. Thanks, Kris

Randy, Congrats on the mini-forge. it looks like you're well on your way to making a marvelous sword for G.I. Joe. All of your refractory supplies can be purchased at a place right near the University of Minnesota Campus. I'll have to dig up the name of the place. They took care of me when I went up there at the recommendation of Mike Blue. As for the kaowool insulation, check out ebay. it goes by different names on ebay, but thats where I've found the best prices. typically it'll be in small sheets about 3'X6' give or take. These sizes are perfect for making forges. A full roll, while sometiems a good deal, is a tough price to pay when you aren't sure if it will even work. This weekend is a bit busy with it being Valentines day, but I'm usually out i nthe garage "playing" at least one day on the weekend. If nothing else you'll get to see a couple of different types of forges. I've got one blown forge that I built out of mostly spare parts and scraps. All I paid for was one gate valve and also the refractory. I also have a venturi style forge, but it's still in the testing phase. it's putting out CO for some reason. I have a charcoal brake drum forge I have a charcoal wash tub forge (Tim Lively style) I've aslo got the set-up for making charcoal. Nothing I have is fancy, but it was all free/cheap and it works. I'd be more than happy to share what I know with you. Please keep in mind that others know an aweful lot more than I do about this stuff.

A "borge" is a home Built fORGE. I refer to it as a "borge" until it's functioning properly. It then becomes a "forge" Either that, or these meat hooks smashed the wrong key as I was pounding on the keyboard.

Thanks for the comments folks, While still young enough be invincible....well almost still invincible...I do recognize that there are potential hazards in involved with this hobby. There is precious little one can do to take the danger out of a yellow hot piece of steel. I'm not terribly concerned about these dangers as there is nothing that can eliminate them. Safe practices work for the most part, but they can not eliminate the danger. The ventilation was a major concern to me when I first began forging, but as the temperatures droped down near -30°F I was a bit more reluctant to open the doors right away. I waited for the shop to come up to temp first. The CO detector never tripped. There is something about this forge that is putting out far more CO than my blown forge. I'll certainly be more cautious while operating this forge, and I'll do some more testing to see why the CO levels are rising. The forge was running for around 20 minutes before the alarm sounded. the last 5 minutes I had the pressure set at 15psi through a .045" tip in an effort to reach welding temps. I was unable to complete this test as I decided to get to fresh air. Fortunately, it's a detached garage, so the potential health risks are mine, and mine alone. Thanks for your thoughts, Kris

Has anyone else had a problem with carbon monoxide levels while using a venturi style burner? I have run my blown forge for hours with the doors both open and closed and never had any problems with CO. Typically, I open a window and and opposite door just to cool the air temps down a bit. I just finished insulating a borge body and installed a burner yesterday and after about 20 minutes of burn time, my carbon monoxide detector was chirping like crazy. This is the first time that this alarm has sounded. I have both CO and flamable gas detectors and I like to keep both of them silent. I have not done any testing to see why this particular forge is putting out CO, but I figured I'd post it and see if others have had similar experiences. Thanks, Kris

I nearly responmded to the same ad. I've been busy with work and would have been able to go and pick them up anyhow. It sounds like you do in fact have fire brick. As for the forge, a propane forge is very easy to build and a lot cleaner than a solid fuel forge. Where in the TC area are you from? I live down in Prior Lake and I wouldn't mind showing you my set-up and showing you how I built it. I'm no expert bladesmith. I've only been tinkering for about 6 months now, but I've gotten a lot of information from guys here on the board. Also, I've tried a lot of tools and methods and learned from a good number of mistakes :-)

the stuff I use is called "perma-blue" and i believe its made by birchwood casey. It is available at gander mountain, cabela, and similar stores. I purchased the paste version and have been quite pleased with it. It isn't as good as hot blueing, but it sure is affordable. Expirament with some test pieces to see how you like it. I like the way it looks on damascus quite a bit. On the cable I've tried it on it didn't look quite the way I wanted it to, but then again, that all depends on who's looking at it. I think the tube cost something on the order of $8.00

That is a fantastic looking knife. The wide blade with antiquing goes very well with the antler. I am a big fan of the simple, natural looking knives.

I just bought one a couple of weeks ago and I'm quite disappointed with it. it doesn;t work worth a darn for milling. you can litterally see the spindle of the drillpress flex when you apply and type of load. I abandoned that process immediately. they are great for getting holes right where you want them though.

Thanks for th info gentlemen. I was not using epoxy as this was simply for practice. I had far too much rod protruding from the scales. It appears as though I had the process correct, but was trying to upset too much material. Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. Kris

As I'm now comfortable welding and patterning damascus, I've moved my focus to finishing blades in various configurations. Last night i was practicing attaching scales to a piece of mild steel and I ran into a few issues. The primary problem is that I've never seen this done, and really have no idea what Im' doing. The second problem is that I'm not sure what tools I should be using. If anybody has a bit of free time, could you please detail the process of using brass pins to secure scales. The more detail you want to provide, the happier I'll be. I'm looking for info such as, length of brass rod protruding from scales. Ball pien side of a mallet, or flat face of a mallet? Repeated light taps, or heavier blows? Try to mushroom one side at a time, or alternate sides every 3rd,7th,20th hit? Any advice and info is appreciated. To date, all of my knives that have been finished have been hidden tang. I prefer the look of scales on a knife and of course the additional strength provided by a full tang design. Thanks, Kris

The Safest way I've cut tanks is to purge with water. I've got argon tanks for SCUBA diving and welding to purge with a noble gas, but I don't trust it. There will always be a concentration of the original gas in there. With water, I know when it's full. Water also has the advantage of keeping the steel cool when you cut it to save wear and tear on your cutting tools. I'd just remove the valve and fill with water. The cut with your favorite tool.

to my eye, the guard looks just a little bti big, but I really like the way all of the curves blend together. Thats a fine looking knife.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to finish a few pieces and see how the "client" likes the finish. The knife is for a good buddy of mine. His father in law is a carpenter, so we can get some "useless" pieces of some pretty oddball woods. I've got no idea what route we'll take, but there is no big hurry for the knife. Hunting season won't open for him for another 10 months.

My father has a stash of Ipe that he's been holding onto for some years now and he's offered it up to be used as knife handles. I've never seen Ipe used for anything other than decks and picnic tables, so I don;t know how it will look when carved to shape, but assuming a test piece looks decent, what do you suppose I should finish it with? I realize that Ipe is about as inert as a wood can get, so it likely requires no finishing, but it seems like something should be used. perhaps tung oil? If you got any experience with this or any thoughts, I'mm more than open to them. If Ipe is a poor choice for some reason, I'm not dedicated to the idea of using it. I'm just researching some readily available options. Thanks, Kris

I'm glad this didn't turn out worse for you. We dealt with a bout of identity theft a few years back and it was not a thrilling process.