Bret

I run a 2 inch stainless pipe caped on 1 end into my forge with a thermocouple and a meter. It gives me a more even heat without the hot spot from the burner. If you are careful you can adjust the burner to the required temperature and set your blade inside the pipe with an even heat all around. A piece of charcoal in the back of the pipe will also ensure a carborizing environment and help prevent scaling. Cheaper than building a new system and worth a try before you do. If you dont like it use the stainless pipe for a salt bath. (thats why I have a 20 inch stainless pipe...a salt bath never built). Best of luck man

OK so Im new to melting steel. done some alum work so Im familiar with the basic process, but the equip is another story. I was looking online for crucibles with a temp rating high enough that I was confident I wasnt gonna have a melt down, and I ran across silicon-carbide and high purity Alumina crucibles. The Alumina are about twice as much and I was wondering if anyone had tried them and had any input on the subject.

Detergent lowers the surface tention of the water considerably and keeps the water from forming a steam jacket around the steel. This makes for a very fast very harsh quench. I've gotten HC railroad spikes to 53 RC in water with detergent and jet dry. Also put a piece of O1 in by accident and snapped it in 3 pieces lol. I would have it almost boiling before I put good steel in it to help reduce the shock. It's still gonna cool very fast.

I can give you the parts list and detailed drawings of the Hydraulic set up I'm using. Tested mine at 3500psi with no leaks and the frame held steady. Then I tuned down to 2500psi (25 Tons) for a safety margin.

If you have a welder you can use and about 8-10 hours making a press is pretty straight forward. I made a 25 ton in my back yard using steel I had laying around for just over $1000. If you buy the steel cut to size (alot easier than making what you have work and designing around it), it would add about $250-$350 depending on your design. If your were to make on on the same platform as Ron Claiborne total cost would be under $1500 (minus dies). I had a blast making mine. Made a few mistakes but they were easily fixed. Now I need to make all the dies. There are a lot of resourses out there and I still have all the info from purchasing parts so if your interested in trying this avenue I can point you in the right direction.

LOL ok I figured good blades, why I grabbed em. I'll try heat treating like 5160 and see how it works out. Got all 4 springs figure 2-4 knives each easily so I'll have plenty to play with. Wish me luck and thanks for your input

Ive built alot of these burners and have run across the same problem your having. Use the .035 tip and shorten your 3/4 pipe by about a 1/2" at a time untill you get a flame that will burn in open air without sputering in the tube, Then take off another 1/2" and you will have a smoking burner. Also the volume of the forge may require an additional burner, thats a lot of room to heat

Guys across the street from my work build Custom Subarus. They just leave all the take-off parts outside for anyone to take. Saw a set of coil springs from the suspention system out there and asked the guy he said I could have em. Wondering if there was a way to determine what they are made of? or if anyone had a good idea what they might be?

Very nice.. I like the shape of the blade... been playing with that shape a bunch myself lately..elegant and not overstated

Thanks guys I actually tried to move this stuff with a hammer a long time ago and it was way too tough. Got a 35 ton Press now I'll be using some of this stuff for dies for the press. Might try to get some flat enough with the press for stock removal. I've seen dies made from this stuff cut through 1/4" steel plate cold and still be sharp enough to cut you if you touched it wrong. I'll probably wait a while until I'm a bit more experienced before I play with it though....Again thank you for your input

Anyone ever try to make a blade out of S7? I've looked at the specs for it and it gets hard enough and has the strength. Probably be hard to heat treat properly.....anyway I got about 30 feet of 1" round sitting around and was thinking of trying a blade with it. Any input would be helpful

Nice work man