Eric Morgan

I love it!

That’s absolutely gorgeous!

Turns out the guy had a couple more...

Here’s an example of one I pulled from google images

I've seen people use ground down hacksaw blades, jigsaw or reciprocating saw blades, or even files that they'd ground large teeth into the side of.

Nice!

Absolutely amazing work Gary!

That’s gonna be absolutely gorgeous Gary!

I’ll be sure to, thanks for the advice! Yeah, I shoulda forged the struck end down like the drift, but I guess I forgot to like a dummy. The slitter is a hair narrower than the drift at its widest, but it really does look a lot wider

So I made a hammer eye drift and a slitting chisel, both of which were my first... then I put my hammer blank into the forge to heat up, and it makes it to cherry red and I start running out of propane So, gonna just wait til tomorrow after I refill my tanks, and get after it then! And it turns out that the key stock was indeed mild steel. At least as far as I could tell via a spark test

Thanks Alan! I forgot to add that the guy said he might have more, so I’m going back this weekend to see if he does or not. *edit* also forgot to add that both side edges of these files are smooth.

I’d say you’re right... it’s a shame about the heavy rusting on these, as otherwise they seem new or very close to it.

Found these files at a yard sale (technically a roadside sale ) and I’d never seen a file with a double tang like these... I bought em figuring they’d make decent drawknives if they aren’t case hardened. They're stamped Simonds USA, and 4070 on the reverse side. Any of you guys ever seen files like these?

Oh I most definitely can’t wait to see how this turns out!

I hope mine turns out that nice!

Yep, that’s about dead on. I’m gonna cut a bit off one end to get down to the 2lb-ish mark. Plus, that’ll give me something to test heat treatment on if it is in fact a steel with enough carbon for that.

Thanks guys. In the case that I need to weld a face on this body, would 1/4” be thick enough, or would I really need something thicker? (1/4” HC stock is as thick as I have on hand) Jeremy, I was thinking about drilling a cheater hole at each end of the eye to help keep it straight. This will be my first hammer and I don’t wanna screw it up

Hey guys, I’ve been wanting a dogs head hammer for a while now, just never really had gotten around to it... Anyway, I was in the machine/material shop at work the other day, and they had some big key stock (1-1/2” square by a foot long or so) that the machinist told me was ‘tool steel’. Anyway, the machinist said I could have a short section (6”) that had been cut off of one of the bigger bars since it was basically scrap to him anyway. They get most of their stuff from McMaster-Carr, and their website says it could be anything from 1018 to 1045 to maybe 8630. I haven’t spark tested this piece yet, but even if it’s just mild steel, I could forge weld a piece of high carbon onto the face to be able to heat treat it. I guess one of my questions is this: is a 1-1/2” square face too small? I don’t make very large knives, yet at least, but that’s still a decent bit smaller than the hammers I’m currently using (3lb’er and a 2-1/2lb’er). I’m shooting for around a 2 to 2-1/2 pound hammer, so I’ll have some material to test heat treatment with if it acts like it’s got enough carbon to bother with that. Thanks in in advance for any advice/insights you guys might have or be willing to share

So you’re telling me there’s hope for me?

Absolutely beautiful! I should probably delete my thread now lol

I just put the oil on the handle, but here’s a little kitchen knife I made for my wife. She has small hands (she’s only 4’11” lol), so it is a perfect fit, though I think I might get my own fair share of use out of it. I forged this little guy out of 3/4” O1 round stock, 304 Stainless bolsters with 316L stainless pins, and red fiber spacers. The handle is Black Walnut crotch. This knife is by no means perfect, but I intend to use my mistakes, and whatever I did well on this one to further increase quality. For some unknown reason, when I was cutting the pin for the bolster, I went ahead and put them on before I finished sanding the front faces. Since the pin was bradded already, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to drill it out to redo it. I also have some scratches near the plunge line that I didn’t get cleaned up. Anyway, here is...

Gorgeous

Those look fantastic

Gorgeous as always Gary

Gorgeous!!!