Bruno

Yep, made it a while back. Lesson learned. This is all being done after the fact. The twine and leather might work... Not looking to make it a blade. Just want it harder than annealed. Likely gonna end up doing it in sections. And see how close I can get. Hmm, maybe a piece of angle iron might work ?... Yep. Would do it that way if I thought about it when I made it few years back. Will on the next one. This is mostly a repair. Can't really braze on it now. Thanks though. Looks like I'm gonna have some fun experiments ahead of me

Hello Everyone, Hope everyone has been well. Finally got some time to fool around with some work I've had sitting on the bench. And I can use some advice. I want to install some Langet's on an existing piece I have. It's a relatively long piece, which I foolishly allowed someone to attempt a slice with. Too kind, I know. Long story short, he immediately proceeded to baseball bat the target with the side of the blade. Joy. Caused a crack in the wood handle. Not super upset, as it was a weak point anyway, and gave me the opportunity to repair it better. Now I want to add some Langet's on the piece. The wooden handle is structured in a stacked manner (Not the best method, I know) over the tang that goes all the way through to the bottom. About 2.5' long or so. The Black line is where it is glued and stacked.: So I want to add something like this as a Langet on both sides. My plan is to chisel out the wood to embed the langet and epoxy. Traditionally, I guess they would then be riveted through the wood. As this is a sword and not an axe, there is the tang that goes all the way down through the wood. I Do Not want to drill through the tang to rivet. Screws may be an option, but I am concerned I don't have enough meat in the wood to be effective. The Tang is about 5/16" thick. I thought about doing a collar of some sort, but I'm not sure if that is the best way, or even how to do it well so as to look good while being functional. Should I add langet's to the front and back as well ? Do you guys have any advice or options ? Would screws be strong enough? They may only reach in 1/4" or so. Is chiseling/embedding a bad idea ? I do abuse the sword. I don't want the langets to further break the wood during an errant strike. What are some other Options? Second Question: I have a long piece of Leaf spring I've drawn out. It is about 1" wide, 1/8" thick, and over 5' long. It is currently fairly annealed. But dang is it a wet noodle when heated up. I want to harden it up. Not necessarily to blade specs, just harder than it is. Don't really have a container deep enough for an oil quench. May only be able to do half at a time. Is there a way I can Air quench or some other way to harden it up and keep it straight. I'd be happy if I got it to 45 - 50 RC. I thought I could keep it straight by wiring/welding it down to a 1" square stock and just heat the whole bar. But then the quench becomes even trickier. Am I thinking about this the right way ? What are any other options? Thanks Guys, -Bruno

Good Replies here and a good video too. I've taken a few commissions. Don't like them at all. Not why I got into knives. Certain events caused an influx of commissions for me at one point, and I found I enjoyed finishing 6 knives of my own design one weekend was way more satisfying than doing anything anyone else wanted over any period of time. Even for money, which as we all know, I'm sure, is never enough or even adequate for the effort, time and sacrifice involved. And dangit the most annoying thing in the world is giving someone a blade that they will never use. It's a waste. Don't care how much it cost, if you don't use it, it is worthless. I Value my time more than your money, and usually your money was no where near enough to make any difference. That's just a personal view. I recently had a request for a commission. Guy was real excited and everything, but of course doesn't know what he wants. I wasn't really interested in doing it. So I showed him some blades, some plain, some damascus, and couple big ones. I set me price point steeper than I usually do, and showed them. Guy wanted a sword or big bowie, so I showed him a 20ish inch modern seax I had completed and set a $1000 price point. Around $250 for the smaller plain blades. Successfully scared him away. Super Glad. Just cuz you want a sword, doesn't mean I want to make you one. Go get a Cold Steel. I read once somewhere, here or elsewhere: "Cheap, Fast, or Good. Pick two". If anyone bothers me anymore, I'm sticking to those words, and probably adding a zero. Finishing a blade up now, sitting in the coffee. I loathe making sheaths... I just dang hate sewing. Pretty much Done with commissions after this one is done, unless you can make me care. Lol, Good LUCK! And the pile that sits on my bench can collect dust for the next 20 years, or until I get my big sword done. Delam on the last big one , had to cut it. C'est La Vie.

Wow! Beautiful work!

WOOT! Time in the Shop! The Target.... The Aftermath.... The Grain... The LoL...

Nice!

Update: Here are some pictures I didn't have before, which prevented any sort of police report as I had no proof.. Got them now. She's a beauty, no ? Anyone ever seen a motor like this before, or know anything about them ?

Have not posted any pics in a while. Had a few commissions I've made along the way. Nothing special, still struggle on handles and sheaths. Just a spring steel kitchen, cats claw handle. A Little damascus paring knife. G10/Rubber handle. Nice stuff. 13 Layer. G10/Rubber Handle. 300 Layer Rain Drop. Deer antler, manzanita. 300 Layer Raindrop. Double Edge. Walnut Handle. Calling the Blade Shape a Viper Pattern. Just a fancy push dagger that can double as a skinner. Slight Rant... To Follow. Smiths and Knife Enthusiasts BEWARE!. I made made this knife a guy. He Paid for it. A design I'm playing with. Works nice as a double edged blade. No Problems. If you run across this knife in the wild. Beware, It is owned by a Liar and a Thief. Don't trust the guy. No legs below the knee, generally miserable type. I made what I thought was a Gentleman's agreement with a guy I did business with previously. Former Co-worker btw. I asked if he could make me a gear for a motor that I needed for a machine I have: The so said "bad verbage" agreed. I stupidly, gave so said guy the gear and motor to match and machine so said gear from bronze. Guess what, I got neither back. After several patient months of waiting, with no results, former co-worker gets new job. Ghost. I'm upset. It's not like I can't get the machine to work without out, just got screwed by a guy you thought you could trust. Hate when that happens. Can really sour a guy. Life goes on. Wish the miserable sorry S.O.B. lives forever. So, to finish my public service announcement. If you see that knife anywhere. Well, I made it, so it's as badass as I could make it. Second, Don't trust the holder, or the knife as I have put a VooDoo curse on it. #!/usr/bin/change #!---------------------------------------------- Some good news, you might see the squarsh growing in there

Sorry Guys. Hate to do this for the second year in a row. I have to bow out. Been busy fighting off the world coming apart around me. Throwing every thing I got at it. Those poor unfinished and now rusted blades after the monsoons, might just rust away before I can get to them again... Amended List. 1. Alex Middleton 2. Jaron Martindale 3. Geoff Keyes 4. Aiden Carley-Clopton 5. Brian Dougherty 6. Eric Morgan 7. Doug Webster 8. Ted Stocksdale 9. Chiyo Razi 10. Joshua States 11. Robert D 1

привіт Nazar, Welcome. Nice blades by the way. I searched google for "Forges in chicago" and found a few listings. You can try calling them and see if they want a helper. Google can be immensely helpful for finding things in an area, so long as you know what you are looking for. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-lm&tbs=lf:1,lf_ui:2&tbm=lcl&q=forges+in+chicago&rflfq=1&num=10&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlzrXT9qb5AhURGDQIHVFHApwQjGp6BAgJEAE&biw=1280&bih=558&dpr=1#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:[[41.9806466,-87.6115401],[41.6231252,-87.8747659]];tbs:lrf:!1m4!1u17!2m2!17m1!1e2!1m4!1u3!2m2!3m1!1e1!1m4!1u2!2m2!2m1!1e1!2m1!1e2!2m1!1e3!2m4!1e17!4m2!17m1!1e2!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2 Depending on where you are and what you have access to, you might be able to find a shop that you can use for forging of your blades, or might be easier to setup shop yourself and sell what you can on the internet or a Gun Show and the like. As far as work, if you can't find a forge to work, I would look at maybe machine shops or mechanic shops where you may be able to apply some skills. There is that or the service industry where so many of us toil everyday. Never a shortage of jobs here in America, just can't say many of them are any good. Never work for less than the minimum wage of your area. Plenty of people out there looking and willing to take advantage of people. All I know about Chicago is that the news says it's dangerous there. Keeps your head on a swivel. And don't worry about English, you can just make it up as you go along. Seems to be what the younger generation does. Good Luck to you. Я не хочу займатися політикою на цьому форумі, тому кажу вам. Слава Нашій! Героям слава!

Greetings Alex, Listen to the metallurgists on the forum, I'm not one of them. But, I seem to recall reading something about chromium in steels like 5160 negatively affecting fire striker performance. I could be wrong. But as everyone has said, a different steel may be a better choice for this project. Something simpler in the 1070+ range, perhaps? But if you wish to keep trying this particular piece, maybe you can try and obscenely long soak time before the heat treat. Maybe get it up near welding temp and hold it there for a while, maybe 5-15 minutes? But that is also likely to cause a lot of decarb, which is not great for this application using 5160. This might help increase the grain size. Then maybe leave the striker surface a bit rougher, instead of so flat and polished. Might give something more for the flint to bite on. I mean the whole reason the thing works is because the flint is cutting off pieces of steel. Maybe try a sharper piece of flint ? Also, "coil spring from my mechanic", does not definitively mean that it's 5160. Coil springs can be made from all sorts of stuff across different countries. Like 9260 for one. Which I'm not sure is a good material for a fire striker. I wonder if doing a blister steel kind of cook canister on a that material would make a difference? But most likely not for the expense, time and effort, versus buying a small piece of the appropriate steel or just an old file. As far as hardness testing. The old file skate test to a good indicator. Just be sure that you are not hitting scale when you are testing it, because that stuff is way hard, and could give you a false reading. Also, if you are suffering from decarb, then on the contrary, a deeper grind might present some of the better high carbon material. I'm not sure on how deep decarb can go. If you got a good old knife you don't care about, that you know is good and hard, you can try using that knife to shave or cut into the fire striker. If you can cut pieces off, or make and indentation with the knife onto the fire striker, then chances are the fire striker is not hard enough. I believe strikers are supposed to be in the 60+ Rockwell range. Again, could be wrong. Good Luck

I like it. Think you are heading in just the right direction. Orange juice, Sunlight, Exercise and shear stubbornness makes the covids docile. At least that helps me every time I catch a bug... or the bug, depends on where you're from seemingly Keep on Keeping on...

Always something new to learn. Those channels are good. I get the shutting off the brain bit. Though sometimes I wish I was resetting passwords or fixing the email servers again. Still code a bit, when I'm not exhausted. You can only dig so many holes before you just stop giving a *bleep*...

A few from one of my favorite bands. Woot Ukraine! Enjoy!

Hadn't kept up with the show much these days. Don't watch much TV and too busy to sleep most days. But, I managed to catch an episode the other day. Think it was season 9, the Blackout episode. First I've seen in a while. My favorite part about the show has always been seeing the forging, triumphs and mistakes included, and learning something. And the chaos and destruction is always a plus. Seeing the smiths go back to roots using just hammer and anvil and fire was nice to see. The last few episodes of the show that I've watched felt rushed and more focused on the end result than the path to it. Education, hitting hot stuff and destruction. I'm easy. But I'm also weird and can dr00l over blacksmithing and knife videos all day. So I guess it's possible that all the viewers at home don't necessarily feel the same way. Wish them the luck with their new season. Spread the craft.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Nice work on the knife Faye. I totally understand about the distasteful part. Sometimes, I think it's about knowing your customer, so as to avoid unnecessary effort in widdling wood when a leather wrap would have been plenty. I think the guy copied this knife... https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-fex90914pb/images/stencil/2048x2048/products/390/2564/wps-clinch-pick-2.0__54743.1649429806.jpg?c=2 Here is an interesting vid on the theory of the design, for those interested. It's a very purpose built knife. No hijacking intended. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwNFvOaqh94

https://www.dhmo.org/facts.html Uhhhm... LoL :p Nice one Alan!

That is an awesome idea! --->Searching instructions on building a small induction forge now...

Yeah, not my cleanest work. I'm calling it a prototype. My forge is not exactly big enough for the whole thing with the flanges opened up. Kind of had to rush the heats. Really wish I had a coal supply for jobs like this. Wanted to see if it could be done without using a welder, before I tried it with spring steel. ... Had an unfortunate incident on the side of the road the other day. It was stupid and unnecessary. Tried to walk away at first too. The Golden Rule is a simple rule. Wish people cared. Or at least come to the conclusion that it's not worth starting something with a stranger that may have very different "Red Lines" than what they may be accustomed to. ... But fortunately, I got the opportunity to do some strength testing. So I picked on an innocent rock. Lemonade from lemons and all that... I bent the handle at the top pretty good. Need to make it thicker I think. Maybe forgo any twisting. Stayed true along the length of the handle though. No idea if the scales split or separated without undoing the leather. Feels solid. Having tested all sides, the weld on one of the flanges came apart. Flange is still there and solid, lol, just slightly bent. The Broken weld. The grain structure looks decent to me. Probably, just didn't have enough surface area where the weld was, or just a bad weld. I did super quench the entire head. Very little deformation on the flange edges against the rocks. Took quite a bit of force to get that flange to turn sideways like it did. Overall. Pleased with it's performance. And learned a bunch for the next one once I get the forge built... Here is one I built 10 years ago. Still alive. Just missing a couple flanges/rings and spikes now. This one was made from leaf spring and Sucker rod.

Lol. 10 points Alan!

A Flower for my people. Made of Mild steel. Pinned oak handle. Deer and Couch hide for the leather. 10 points to anyone that can guess what the flanges are made of...

1. Alex Middleton 2. Jaron Martindale 3. Francis Gastellu 4. Geoff Keyes 5. Aiden Carley-Clopton 6. Brian Dougherty 7. Eric Morgan 8. Don Abbott 9. Doug Webster 10. Alan Longmire 11. Ted Stocksdale 12. Chiyo Razi 13. Joshua States 14. Bruno Good excuse to get more forging in. So many options... Maybe we can start an idea thread ? For those undecided on what to make...