Michael Stuart

Nice to see what one of these looks like complete. I have the dogbone-shaped anvil base from one that eventually I'll get around to making the rest of the hammer for.

Nice!

Depending on the time of year and kind of tree, the bark may come off quite easily. When it's freshly cut in the summertime, I've been able to peel off the bark with my bare hands from black walnut and a few other species. This is very handy when making bows.

Nice work! The nock reinforcement can be a real pain but these turned out quite well. I'd be curious also on the weight of the points and finished arrows.

I think you'll get plenty of air, the ones I made back in 2004 with around those same dimensions had 2 four-inch round holes and seemed to deliver plenty of air. I used a heavy commercial awning fabric that's essentially heavy waterproof canvas.

First, a big thank you for volunteering! I only had to deal with a couple days without power from Florence, which was bad enough, but nothing like they got hit with out at the coast. In my experience, a Hobart electric chopper works great for this kind of thing, and is far faster than hand chopping. It's the kind that has the bowl that rotates, you drop fist sized chunks in one side and after 2 times around they are chopped (4 or 5 times through nearly makes meat paste...). Inside the back covered side there's a vertical rotating blade that chops whatever comes around in the bowl. Drop in chunks, wait a few seconds, scoop it out and add the next chunks. I've personally chopped 800+ pounds of pork in just a few hours with one of these; it's a heavy machine that I can barely lift and that's likely older than I am. That said, I've also watched a whole roast goat chopped into portions in less than 20 minutes using a large cleaver on the end grain of a huge stump, so it definitely can be done by hand, but I think once you have more than maybe 50 pounds or so, it would be faster using electricity. For pork loin, I would think it also could be chopped like pulled pork is, and that might be faster than slicing. A meat cutting band saw might also work, though I've only seen these used on raw/frozen meat.

That is both unique, and really well executed. Love it!

Nope, I bought it and am happily making big pieces of metal into smaller ones whenever I get the chance Thanks again Thomas!

Hi Thomas, if no one else has spoken for it, I will take it. I'm in Charlotte. Not sure I can get up there today, but possibly tomorrow or definitely during the week. Thanks, Michael

If you must use recycled steel...try a crowbar. Flea market is cheaper than the hardware store. Look for a big old one that someone has bent. A 3 foot hexagonal bar will be enough to make several knives. A flat one would work too. If you can't find a crowbar, look for an old lug nut wrench, the kind that's mostly bar with a hex socket on the end, and it will likely work OK too. But new steel usually will cost less than the fuel you use to heat it up.

Dirt floor is cheapest; bricks over dirt are a step better if you can get them free somewhere, though it's a lot of labor to clean and lay them down.

Gerhard, it could be worth asking if they might have a torn or dropped bag of the coating; sometimes one falls off or gets bumped or something.

What Alan said...people were drilling stone beads by 3,000BC, as these stone drill bit finds show. https://www.harappa.com/indus5/21.html

For a tiny Viking-travel-sized anvil, cut the bottom corners off a wood splitting wedge, then mount it into a hole in a stump as shown with the much larger one in the link posted earlier. Not a tremendous rebound, but it should be less than $10 new and you can hammer on it all day long.

The portaband works really well, and takes up a lot less space than a full size saw if you're only cutting small stock like half an inch as you said.

Looking good Don! I would like to build something like this myself someday, so I'm watching with high interest.

It's been a few years, but I've welded bandsaw blades like this with pallet strapping or mild steel; in flat layers it seemed good for decorative pieces, but I didn't have much luck getting twisted bars of this laminate to weld to each other. I also used some pieces plain (teeth ground off) to make splinted armour and it worked fairly well for that.

I We've really enjoyed the series, though the armor mostly has to be ignored.

Nice! I like the ring/dot motif on the handles. Can I ask what it is you filled them with (the black color)?

I really like the shape and textures on this.

It is a car part, though I can't remember which one. I made a mace out of an almost identical part a few years ago, though it didn't occur to me to make the other end into a knife.

There's a Metal Supermarket in Charlotte that has a fairly good selection, and some drops in big blocks that looked like they might be good as anvils. I don't think they had any 1084 but I was able to get 1018 there for a project last year. The drops on a shelf in the back are a lot less expensive than cutting from a new piece and they will cut to size for a fee.

Amazing overall effect. You've really captured the essence.

What a great thread. Seeing people figure out historical processes and then explain them is one of the biggest reasons why I love these forums.

Those are impressive; I find it especially nice how well the pair go together without being identical.