ryanwrath

nicely done!

theres something about windex, whats in it, that accentuates the cutting action......in a tight spot you can replace cutting fluid say for drilling steel with windex w/o hurting your $80 drill bits i think it mite be the ammonia, but not sure. however, you would NOT get the same results with water.my 2cents.

about sleeving for hardy tools...say you ended with a post and didnt have pipe or it was spendy.....i have also put two angle irons (dimensions 2"long out of 3x3 angle or whatever you deem stable) 180degrees from each other so they swallow the post (sleeved) with their legs ...once again welded to a plate with whatever tool mounted on top.

first pic: post anvil. the leg or supporting members could be anything including a bucket of concrete whatever. the face didnt really need hardening, but over time it has work hardend. hehe. has decent rebound comprable to alot of anvils i have used at smithies around. only downside is i got that for free, pretty large chunk of steel, even if at scrap prices. my striking table, however i use it when i really need a longer surface for some reasaon, although the height is low for forging, more set for striking height. sorry for fish eye pics. i snapped em with my gopro quick when i saw your question, figured you could see em clear enough to get the ghist of it. as for hardy holes havnt really found a need for them on straight blade forging, although a few times woulda been handy, no doubt. i made attachments with a short piece of pipe with a plate welded onto it that sleeves over the top of the post, then with (forexample) my guiltine welded to that.....good luck.

I know im behind on saying this but i will committ to buying a set of the dvd's. heck, put it on vhs ill buy it.

Awesome awesome awseome! i have been working my way through these videos as i can and i know this: I need dvds or download, and Peters book!

hi all not sure where to post this so i put it here.... i was looking at a website atlanticcoralenterprises they have alot of hippo ivory and water buffalo horn for sale for what i deemed very reasonable....however is there any feedback on this material? what to look for , what to stay away from? also, concerning the ivory and horn, does it glue well? to itself, to wood, horn to ivory? also any general information people have learned in handling would be great... im already aware of wearing a respirator when creating dust >D. thanks much!

great leatherwork!

Absolutely to cool. over the holidays my dad and I were working on some knife designs based on the golden section..several questions arose, some of which are answered in this short vid. thanks very much.

Thats an eye catching knife, to bad you have to make any changes. Not sure where your at with making stuff from kydex or similar products, but i made a simple jig that would enable the kydex to grab that blade only no problem. Take 2 roughly 6-10 wide boards and put a hing on one end conecting the two, with foam laid in top and bottom, put kydex in kitchen oven on ...say 200 deg and keep your eye on it so not to hot.(on a towel on a cookie sheet). use gloves, its hot, slap your knife into a fold of the kydex, throw in in your jig and squish the tar out of it untill cold.....it will look like the knife was injection molded into the kydex, it will even follow the grind lines.

sweet!

hi excellent looking knife. I was wondering what you meant by overcooked the steel and dimpled it?

looks great for a skinner. good job.

i just made a waki -esqe type blade out of 3/4 round bar 5160 blade came out 1 3/8" wide, bout 3/16 spine with shallow distal taper, 22' long i left a slite up bend in it, about 3/8 of a dip in the middle from tip of blade to back of pommel. after trip. norm. and triple quench it was almost dead flat, just a hint of upward curve. after a couple tempering cycles it was still hard as nails and you can slap it sideways against a tree and it wont break shrug. love 5160.

nice chopper. i like the whole thing. however the stepped bolster and smooth/rough contrast on handle has a nice flow.

hey kevin thanks..as per request : tip of spear: i fish mouth welded the tip up simply because i wanted that particular skill...i moved the weld line off center of the tip not sure if it makes a diffence or not. body of spear ... when i had the twisted bars with monosteel between them ready to weld up it was about 6 inches tall then crunched it by hand...shortly after that i conned my neighbor into striking for me ..well not actually connned we make 3 of almost everything he keeps one i sell two. keeps us in gas and beer hehe the spear is not even close to finish grinding. the 4...sides?? of the spear, anyway the edges will be very shallow hollow grind so as to appear as a convex diamond shape in section view. thanks phil

the one i carry. made fairly recently, and a couple others in progress or as finished as they get for now. twisted bars in knife and spear head are 1095/15n20 mono steel axe 1095 w/layered wood handle thanks for showing me how mike)

thanks for the replies guys > doesnt sound to promising hehe.

awesome work.

Hi all. i ran into a pyrometer app for smartphones the other day that seemed very usefull in some ways, it read high enough for just about anything i ever do, but was wondering if anyone has played with this or can comment on the accuracy ( the maker did say it had been calibrated against some industrial machine for what thats worth) thanks

amen about the weather.

i always love your blades. great execution... co-worker was just in Rome, and since we are all ironworkers he wandered all over looking at several smithys, some of them doing just incredible ornamental work, some of it in tiny shops tucked away...I personally cant wait to see it my self.

excellent work sir and daughter) my own daughter helps a fair amount especially drifting/slitting/flatter use or to hold some work while i strike...anything to be involved and not let them get away to quick, in my opinion. that is a great idea with 3 cents on the sheath, clean excellent work on the blade as well cheers

that looks great .....i THINK but im not sure i drove by mountains of iron ore growing up....literally mountains hehe .....in AK between palmer and Eureka lodge are moujntains that are rust red i wonder if they were iron ore or something else...

i do have the knowledge to create a hamon. however im not practiced in it. and i didnt really want to refine my art on this piece if you get my drift hehe...its just such a wide body knife i thought some of the hamon artists out there would love to put thier stamp on it since it is literally going to be put on a shelf and looked at....if no one jumps, im just going to go with fossilized ivroy handle ns or ss furniture and call it a day.