Hoy's Forge

They all look good, but that langsaxe really has potential .

I'm with Alan, Everything is show worthy...even the harpoon, however the market for harpoon heads is probably a bit down these days LOL

The knife is a beauty, but other than the file work on the bolster I don't see any checkering ? Did I misunderstand ?

Awesome looking Display .....puts me in mind of Kid Tercio's . My shop never looks like you could eat off the floor ! Thats a neat work space well organized. Im a slob, I get manic and after I finish 3 or 4 projects I have to stop and reorganize or my shop looks like a hurricane disaster.

I had a little pile of billet ends by my chop saw that I hated to toss in the junk bucket, so I cleaned the up and mig ed them onto a piece of 15N20 , then capped it off with a piece of 1095. After two folds this strange little beast emerged. Wish I had paid more attention to how those pieces were arranged since I like the result but like some of my cooking experiments , adding this or that without recording what you do means you proabaly wont remember the recipe . Handle is Mexican Katalox wood with a moko game butt cap, Copper guard, brass and blood wood spacer.

Nice little hunter finished off with some Buffhorn and bone spacers and Pink Ivory wood handle , brass fittings. 240 layers 15N20, 1095, nickle sheet Random pattern

Ok , so everybody's done RRspike knives at one time or another. They paid for a couple of my Christmas's in years past . I got to thinking what if I had a Damascus RR spike ? Maybe I can take an old favorite and amp it up a bit? This was my second attempt . The first attempt I didn't use enough steel and tried a last minute addition of a chunk of W-1 in the middle of my last fold. It didn't weld up well and split apart when I forged out the blade end. #2 here help together good, although I did have some mig wire get mixed in . The biggest beef I have with it is the two steels I used are too close in alloy to show much contrast. Bandsaw blade scraps and 15N20 . Next time I will do some Nickle & 1095 with those saw blades and I should get a eye popping RR spike . I have included a "real" spike knife for comparrison

Great looking blades ! I really like the look of that osage orange and horn& spacers. I'm kinda a fan of Buffalo horn, but not the smell LOL

Like the contrast of the wood and brass on the guard and cap . Nice work !

I love a good long haul project, sometimes slower is better. If you get frustrated , or lose the love for it you can get careless and waste all the time you put into into it by some dumb carless mistake. Looks like you got your mojo back on this one . I love it, Keep us posted. Good to see your work again . Got any inspiration for the handle like a spiral fluted ebony.... Well I won't try to color you with my ideas LOL

My press is a 15 ton ram wood splitter made in 1984. It's frame is a 6x8 x3/8 tube that doubles as the oil tank. It has a 220v 5 HP electric motor . Not sure how much force it generates but it does all I want it do. I made the stop out of a 3/4 " plate backed by 4 heavy gussets of 3/8 plate. changed it from horizontal to a vertical configuration. I do need to redo my die holders since when squeezing edgeways the lower die can shoot out. Otherwise I'm all good. I bought it for $650.00 ( the splitter) and probably have about $300.00 in material to convert it . https://www.facebook.com/HoysForge/videos/976316369738744/

Heres a little job I finished up . 1095/15n20 blade Ebony handle, silver set abalone shell and twisted brass wire wreath pommel. Ivory and Buff horn spacers. Alligator inlay scabbard. I screwed up the plunge grinds really bad so I put a brass Habuki ( I think thats the right term ) to "fix" it . Soldering the guard componants was beast , I think I make three before I got it right. Thanks for looking.

Depending on its age, it could be a steeled edge on WI, or edge hardened , or even case hardened on the edge. Iv'e never seen a socket arrangement like that before, not that I'm any kind of expert on cleavers either. Thats a beautiful handle !

tightly tooled, great looking sheath !

I 'm not sure what the shrink limit is on rawhide, most of my experience with it has been tight while wet drum heads , lacing, wrapping binding. I would assume you'd need a tube size a little smaller than you scabbard , or at the least the same size. The hide will want shrink more along it's length as opposed to its diameter. I have never skinned a cows tail LOL so I can't say why the smaller part of the skin is tearing. You might let them ripen a bit and allow bacteria to break down the connecting membrane between the skin and flesh. Skin is hard to decay, usually the last thing to rot on a carcass . I have worked deer hides that were left green in trash bags for weeks unrefridgerated, and the dermis of the skin was fine. I don't reccomend you go that extream, I was a lot more hard core as a kid. The smell is very discouraging LOL but yeah if the tails were frozen that seems to make skinning harder too. try letting it ripen a bit, or look into getting you some deer , sheep or goat legs. Hope it works out !

Thanks Joshua !

You won ! Assuming this was one you were fighting with the cracked ironwood scales. Looks great !

Love them ! How well do they throw ? Have you tried ?

I've considered attempting this everytime I clean up my grave yard and think if I could just chunk all of these into a cruicble with some glass maybe they could be recycled ! I have a bit of hoarder in my blood. Are you using black sand exclusivly ? Or do you have other materials in mind?

Aiden, Hydrated lime I don't know about , however what you need is lye ( I think thats potassium hydroxide ) Drain cleaner . Wood ash and water make a lye ( strong base / alkaline) solution. So a diluted lye would do the same trick in slipping the hair off the hides. Unfortuantly I have no idea how much dilution you would need. Since Ive only ever used the wood ash tech. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes !

Black walnut hulls . just use an experimental piece to see what level of patina you want. Partially rotten hulls seem to work better. Walnut hulls will stain anything organic a nice brown . including your hands . Be sure you dry off the antler before you grip it or your hands will be stained for days. I also usually char all my antlers with a torch, then buff thru the char. Not sure if that is the look your seeking. I have ruined pieces sometimes they crack if I get too hot too quick.

LOL I understand that completely !

Very cool, love the antler/leather combo. You said you "found" this blade LOL is the grinding dust alive and reproducing in your shop or did you lose track of a blade for a while ?

Thats different! Well done it could pass for a museum piece .

It always happens after your heavily invested in time , forcing you to start over.