Cylvre

ITC-100 helps to reflect heat back into the forge for a higher internal temp, not sure how well it would work for the patching.

It does help to lubricate the cut to pour water on the place where you are cutting with ceramics and glass but I've never cut on terra cotta personally so i don't know about soaking the whole thing. Just make sure to go nice and slow and let the bit do the cutting, too much pressure can cause chipping, binding, and catastrophic destruction. Good luck!!

Carbide spade-style bit, made for ceramic or glass, or a diamond plug cutter.

Super glue, though i haven't tried it, i think would have too short of a cure time. Most stabilization i've had experience with are with a two-part epoxy type mixture. Not like your average 24-hour epoxy, as that is too thick to sink into the wood well, but a thinner urethane or polyester some such. Ariel has a couple tutorials on stabilization: http://www.aescustomknives.com/docs/tutorial11.htm http://www.aescustomknives.com/docs/tutorial14.htm

I agree, it looks alot like the actual base of an antler.

Really love that filework! Beautiful piece.

If you factor in the wind chill my shop area is -25F right now... I shiver just /thinking/ about it.

That's a great price! I just wish I could get it as a belated b-day present for my grandma.

Haha, well as long as you got 'em done that's the important part. My grandmother just turned 70 this past weekend! They're really a great set, I bet he loved them.

I've always had a particular fondness for warncliff blades. That's a real beauty, the surface texture really sets everything off wonderfully.

Vacuum caster! I wish I had one so bad... Beautiful sword, I also wish I had one of those!

I second that... and am a bit jealous.

I don't have anything technical to add, but if you are trying to add carbon to a blade you could try a case hardening process. Ariel has a good tutorial on his website where he case hardens a couple hammers by sealing them into a square tube packed with a charcoal fines/salt mixture: http://www.aescustomknives.com/docs/tutorial15.htm

What are the dimensions?

Looks pretty good. You'll want the crucible to sit a little higher, just so you don't have any air blasting onto the crucible itself (and thus cooling it) but instead blowing down into the bed of coals just underneath.

Directly on the bottom may cause problems with clogging from ash or charcoal. When I used this method the air supply was completely tangential (90 degrees) to the wall and pointing directly to the center and at the very bottom of the pot wall (pic A). If I were to do it again I would probably move the tuyure entrance up the wall slightly and then angle it downwards (pic . Also, to even the heat out even more, I would split the air supply and add another tuyure on the opposite side of the chamber (pic C).

It's Dee! This looks awesome. I'm really excited to see how it develops. ~Chris

Of all the things that are amazing about that dagger I think the way the layers look like wood grain on the handle is my favorite. Beautiful work!

Joreon makes good points there, especially about the hole potentially collapsing in sandy soil. Depending on what you're trying to melt down simplicity is a good first route. My first aluminum casting experience was with an old stainless stockpot with a hole cut into the bottom edge buried in the ground using a shop vac for an air supply and a small cast iron fry pan for a crucible, worked well enough that we could barely make the pour because the cast iron heated to a bright orange and deformed as we lifted it out of the "forge." The best advice I can give, especially for a 'one off' melt, is not to overthink it. Be safe, but don't spend too much time on something you'll never use again. Most importantly have FUN (and take pictures, we like pictures.)

Ditto for what Geoff said, pictures would be a big help, but oftentimes the most effective way to even temp along the length of a HT forge short of a salt bath is to add an interior chamber that absorbs the heat from the forge and then radiates it to the blade its self.

I think what he's talking about is what I know as a hose clamp. Image attached: The filings are on both sides of the spine only, and were originally to add some extra grip for fine control on the blade but are also oftentimes decorative.

No, he's talking about any bamboo. Bamboo of any age is segmented (and hollow) so before you work with it you need to drill out the walls separating the segments otherwise you'll end up with hollow spaces in the wood, where the epoxy could not flow, which can then crack/crush/split more easily.

Looks good to me! What material were you thinking for the guard and cap?

Minnesota. Still haven't heard anything back on my e-mail so I'm not holding my breath.

Seems like a good price, but you're definitely going to need a better picture if you want it to sell.