Jeff Amundson

These are my latest. They are wrought iron steeled with O1. The iron came from a bridge in Iowa. The cutting edge is about 3” long. They are both rust blued. I left one brown. The other I took to black. I chose this blade shape, reminiscent of a tin snips, to show off more of the iron. The iron wouldn't tolerate any punching or twisting, so the shanks and bows are pretty plain. One blade has a square hole. The pivot screw has a mating square. The nut is used to set the 'tension' between the blades. The square assures the nut rotates with the screw. I peen the end of the thread so t

I bought a few number drills and metric drills to get the fit I want. Jeff

Thanks for the comments. Jeff

A friend asked me to make him some wood carving knives. I didn't know how to make it an interesting project until I saw R.H. Graham's sharp pointy sticks. http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=30120 I used old 6” files. I rounded the corners and knocked the teeth down lightly on the grinder. The teeth still have some grip, but they aren't sharp. Thanks for the inspiration. Jeff

Here's another view of how Tom Latane does it. I took a class with him last year. The starting stock was 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 12. I'd use less than 12 next time. I posted my axe here: http://forums.dfoggk...l=&fromsearch=1 Jeff

Thanks, Bruce. It does look like the black 'bled' into the gray across the line. I learned about carbon migration in another class, this one with Mike Blue. I wondered if that's what I was seeing. Can you tell me more about that? Can I see the extent of the migration? Maybe a better question is at what point (concentration) does it become visible? Jeff

I need some help understanding what I see in this axe I forged in a class with Tom Latane. I did the heat treat and final shaping at home. The body is mild steel. The bit is W1. Prior to hardening I normalized a few times, quenched in water, and tempered at about 450. I ground the bevels and hand polished to 1500 grit. At that point I could see a fine line near and roughly parallel the edge. I assumed that line to be the weld line. In the photos the axe was etched in ferric chloride for a few seconds. The W1 turned black, the mild steel is lighter gray. The line I saw before etching

Greetings, I made my first knife in college about 35 years ago as I was learning to be an industrial arts teacher. I ground knives in my basement for a few years, trying to supplement a teacher's salary. I left teaching, which gave me more money to pursue the craft, but less time. I gradually outfitted a smithy, including homemade coal and gas forges and my great-grandfather's anvil. I knew I could grind a knife, but I wanted to use forging to do things I couldn't do with a grinder. I've forged very few knives, mostly because I wanted to learn how to forge well first. I'm semi-