ryanwrath

hey robert suter sorry i was away for a while getting ready for the river floods around here. ah, the wood carving is terrible, i tried a duck head and i came out with a blob with a toothpick attached.......on the knife end yes, i am turning out finished knives nothing earth shattering, but i put enough time and effort into them that the fit and finish is good, enough that ill actually "make" one for someone usually a person i know or word of mouth. i have been using 5160 although a order to Aldo's is in the works for some flat w2, and i have been working on acrylic handles. i love taking them to 12000 grit then finishing with Renaissance wax. it seems like you can see down into them. ill post one im finishing next week. chow. > ryan

what? its an iron post to smash shit against end of story

when i used to clean alot of animals we used a barn roof shaped edge wich without a microscope or looking very closely would seem convex, however it was 3 seperate bevels........2 bevels is what i have seen recomended alot but the 3 really cut down on sharpening. my 2 cents. also was done with a sharpening system like lansky system. took alot of guess work out.

how do you keep the copper from turning green with age? just polishing? question i have been meaning to ask for a while now. thanks.

HI. After building 1 atmospheric propane forge i scrapped it and built another. I made about 20 test knives all of which were tested to destruction and taken through all phases of heat treat and tempering. The steel i used was brand new 5160. this allowed me to get down the different steps to at least a decent competence...especially in the heat treat area. so enough about me on to the knives. The first one is 5160, the brass bolsters are from a grease bus bar wrecked out of a power plant, and the pearl looking handle is bowling ball type material with brass 1/8 brass pins. Its obviously a skinner. I have big hands so the handle is probably on the longish size. The temper on both of these knifes was 425deg for 2 hrs, 2 times. This knifes still is not polished and some finishing touches on the brass. i have been working to much. and final razor still needs to be put on it. OAL of this knife is 9 3/4 in. Blade tip to bolster is 3 1/2in knife 2 Steel is 5160, handle is palm wood treated with super glue and roughly polished The sheath was a first for me but besides decorating it it turned out great, needs a tad bit of finishing Knife AOL:7", blade 3.5" tip to wood slab This knife is my everyday carry knife so it stays forge finished and razor sharp.... I wish i was able to pinpoint the RC of the steel but i just finished a maple hammer for my leather working and carved the handle with it for about an hour the blade is still just as sharp as it was when i started. COMMENTS AND CRITICS welcomed thanks for looking. 3rd knife 2011 steel: 5160 handle wood purpleheart wood with brass pins hand carved on my belt grinder. black leather sheath hand tooled by me with a relief of blade in the sheath so it is sheathed correctly and an eagle in in the blade etch with some background distressing, and edge punching. this was a first commission peice, i had a chunk of steel left from some sickles i made for the practice then started to straighten back out a guy saw it wanted me to put edges on it and heat treat it with a sheath so i traded him 2 full propane tanks and some cash for the work hehe......he got a sweet knife and i got used to getting in a customers head as this was not what i would envision at all.......but its going along side his conceal and carry, the knife sheath is configred to be carried sideways in the small of his back and no matter forward backward slash or pierce its going to leave a mark....

ah, kk great point alan i was not sure on the cast but between that and SS i wasnt quite sure.........i cant build another forge just rite now so the horizontal is what i have for now.......the SS does not screw up forge welds does it? that is a question i forgot to throw in my last comment thanks again for the input alan

gary that was a great item to pick up on.... i have a safety mantra that chants in my head everytime i go out there.......open the door ......open the door..............open the door.......thats the single car door in that room, and the double wide in the room next to it..........i defenitely have to have a fan in there i have told my wife and kids they have to be open when the fires lit or they are going to have a dead blue daddy > . even just standing in front of the forge for a while i get some serious headaches so i started to play with having a fan blowing across me at head height, so i can straighten up inot a good oxygen stream........but as you said exhaust has gotta happen and it will thanks for the heads up very much appreciated

hi hey thanks for the feedback! very interesting fix on the anvil. your rite you will trip on it , although i have gotten used to dodgeing it. hehe. i like being able to stand just off the side of the mouth of the forge to escape some of the heat, few controlled beats with hammer, back in the forge for very short reheat, some beats, short reheat, always keeping the metal very hot, i like how easy it is to control my blows can be soft and very controlled then for the most part. but its a work in progress getting the shop to flow back and forth in the most utilitarian manner!

pics of shop : a picture of my gas forge wich is at 1 burner stage rite now, i can put 2 in there, its just not needed though unless i want longer stuff, forge length is 22 inches, 5.5 in diameter inside. the post anvil i made its 5.5" shaft material 22 inches long with 1" R400 wear bar legs for tripods.......its very heave close to 200 pounds over all last but not least the belt grinder which by the time i get done cutting parts off of it there not going to be much left hehe......although i did figure out a good way to at least get some help hand grinding my angles, i have 7.5 deg wooden wedges, 15 that i can screw on and off, it helps tremendously till i get a better belt grinder. im saving for that rite now, but im fairly certain i will get a good welding machine before i get the belt grinder i can make more money quicker with a good weld setup.....anyway heres my verrrry humble shop n tools

thats a great point dan i have been getting good at "THE RESCUE" once i make a mistake ehe.......

i just got done building gas forge with kaolwool, ludux as the hardener. works extremely well. i have tried some experiments with the welding using borax flux. not good. im going to come up with a drip pan system of some kind wether its a fire brick or a cast iron peice i put under it. i hate the thought of spending the money and time to replace the kaolwool. the flux will eat holes in the firebrick and the kaol wool instantly

i love folders. always have. cant wait to make one but i need better equipment you guys would laugh if you saw what im using right now. keep the pics coming as you finish em !

i saw a video of some woman doing this i think out of arizona, turned out some really badass jewelry pieces ah i think i found it: courtney gray http://www.courtneygrayarts.com/ i thought it was cool where did you ever find that machine at? bah i jhust tried that link off my bookmarks, you mite have to look further for her videos, but they were definetly step by step instrucions

i was a mad trapper in alaska growing up so yes its a ulu with a handle ehe i never did learn to love the traditional shaped ones........the handle material is from Rockler hardware its an acrylic that comes in every different shade and type and configuration its used for turning pens......but that peice cost 3.25 was 1x1x6in, closest i can say is that its beautiful. the more you polish it the more it looks like your looking down into a cats eye marble. i dont have the ability to take it to 20,000 grit but a guy that makes pens showed me some of his and the depth and clarity is stunning

HI. After building 1 atmospheric propane forge i scrapped it and built another. I made about 20 test knives all of which were tested to destruction and taken through all phases of heat treat and tempering. The steel i used was brand new 5160. this allowed me to get down the different steps to at least a decent competence...especially in the heat treat area. so enough about me on to the knives. The first one is 5160, the brass bolsters are from a grease bus bar wrecked out of a power plant, and the pearl looking handle is bowling ball type material with brass 1/8 brass pins. Its obviously a skinner. I have big hands so the handle is probably on the longish size. The temper on both of these knifes was 425deg for 2 hrs, 2 times. This knifes still is not polished and some finishing touches on the brass. i have been working to much. and final razor still needs to be put on it. OAL of this knife is 9 3/4 in. Blade tip to bolster is 3 1/2in knife 2 Steel is 5160, handle is palm wood treated with super glue and roughly polished The sheath was a first for me but besides decorating it it turned out great, needs a tad bit of finishing Knife AOL:7", blade 3.5" tip to wood slab This knife is my everyday carry knife so it stays forge finished and razor sharp.... I wish i was able to pinpoint the RC of the steel but i just finished a maple hammer for my leather working and carved the handle with it for about an hour the blade is still just as sharp as it was when i started. COMMENTS AND CRITICS welcomed thanks for looking. p.s. thanks to all for the info i have gleaned here. w/o this forum i would have swam in ignorance on many things, probly still do, but at least im down the road along ways from trying to figure out what a POL fitting was.............. ryan 3rd knife 2011 steel: 5160 handle wood purpleheart wood with brass pins hand carved on my belt grinder. black leather sheath hand tooled by me with a relief of blade in the sheath so it is sheathed correctly and an eagle in in the blade etch with some background distressing, and edge punching. this was a 40 dolla holla, i had a chunk of steel left from some sickles i made for the practice then started to straighten back out a guy saw it wanted me to put edges on it and heat treat it with a sheath so i traded him 2 full propane tanks for the work hehe......he got a sweet knife and i got some propane and got used to getting in a customers head as this was not what i would envision at all.......but its going along side his conceal and carry, the knife sheath is configred to be carried sideways in the small of his back and no matter forward backward slash or pierce its going to leave a mark....

wow awesom work you guys. i somehow always thought of woodcarving with tons of tools spoons, gouges, etc but thats great work by anyones defenition! since the shop is seriously cold rite now i think im gonna grab a chunk of wood and an exacto knife lol............I am just starting in the blademaking arena, to touch on the known steel, and what to use etc......i couldnt agree more with alan and others to start with a known steel, get used to it totally. i have done this, made many blades, tested to destruction after HT and tempering, comparing results to all the posts here, etc. i also found that not only the steel, but tuning my gas forge, (actually i built 2 first one sucked badly).....but lots of steps to get down and lots of unknowns to make known b4 i could get to making a knife blade and have confidence that i could take it all the way to putting slabs on with a good hardness/flexibility etc. Good luck to you once again that is some great carving!

Hi great looking dagger if you are wondering what steampunk is, i always think China Mieville, an author who writes very steampunk adventures........perdido street station is the first book of hers i read and thought it was really great im sure there are many more but thats what i think when i think steampunk...

Hi folks i was looking for a local supplier or place to dumpster dive for corian peices im not really interested in paying for it from some site.........ive tried lowes, homedepot, and a couple other places around, havnt really found any........any ideas on what or where to go for this kind of thing? also is there any material that is close to corian? are some sinks and toitlets, counter or table tops made out of this stuff? thanks

i was at a loss for words as well, and have just spent 5 hours in the shop trying to replicate just the area from the ricasso to where the bronze begins lol........that knife really hits the sweet spot for me thanks for posting

hey guys thanks for the good replies......i have mostly understood that on circular saw blades the center steel is not really that good , its just something to fasten the teeth onto. the particular band saw blade i am talking about was roughly a quarter inch thick so it had to be pretty darn long.......however, being as its L6 or similar i think i will wait on using L6. i doubt my forging abilities would be able to rise to the occasion since i am pretty new...the air hardening and all the little (or big) foilables that are involved tend to put me off for the time being. I do know that i was given a fairly large skinning knife from that chunk of steel, and i could gut, cape and quarter a Caribou in about 45 minutes with it, that includes chopping through the center of the breastbone lengthwise, and several knuckle joints without ever dreaming of sharpening it, then move on to the next animal. was excellent to use.

Hi a bladesmith i new long ago couldnt beleive it when my dad gave him a 4' long by i dont know how wide ..... maybe 2 feet? it was from a giant bandsaw.......then recently i have heard it is great for knives again......and i was wondering what type it is ie 5160, whatever? thanks

i gotta add my 1 cent here in saying that if you have no idea about welding the stick mite be a good way to go because the "consumables" ie the tips, cones etc that come with a wire feed welder. your going to go through alot of em even just trying to get the thing setup. With stick welder you throw a relativly inexpensive rod away and pull another one from your can of welding rod.......however if your past that particular point of learning all the above info is great advice. good luck

i am......agog great work

sweet is that meant to go down a hill, or being a kick sled kinda like a razor scooter, where you just kick and glide along flat snow?

just out of curiosity what would be the cost of a functional working replica of this in a tear down model with a practice blade and live blade? good steel for the blade of course, but interested in just basic furniture that would work but nothing fancy.