Eric Morgan

Awesome!

Beautiful work Gary. Quite stunning

This is looking great! Can’t wait to see it all finished and together

I’ve used epoxy putty on hidden tang knives before... drill a hole large enough for the tang to fit, then fill the tang hole with the putty, insert the tang wrapped in Saran Wrap or similar, let the putty start to set up, and remove the blade. Then I cut grooves on the corners of the tang with a file or die grinder to help the epoxy grip.

Gotcha. I’m working on making something similar

Yeah, I’d say so... What’d you use for forging the fuller in? Or did you grind it?

Biblically, Ehud was a left-handed judge over Israel that made a two-edged weapon around 18” long that he used to kill the king of Moab with... You can find the part about being a lefty and making the shortsword in Judges 3:15-16

Like I said on Facebook, I like it a lot Gary

Look forward to seeing this buddy

Amazing craftsmanship! That is beautiful

I think something like my first anvil, with a hardy hole and a small horn added could be a good pattern, or at least some of the ‘features’. No waist to create a small ‘sweet spot’, with an upsetting block (not really necessary, but handy for some of my blacksmithing projects), and a nice radius on the left side of the face there for drawing out stock. I haven’t weighed it, but it started life as a 16” circle of 3” plate I was told was 4350. I’m pretty sure it’s just mild after welding the upsetting block on, but it still works pretty well. Even just a hardy tool holder on the side would work, as you can always use a hardy bick iron in place of a horn... *disclaimer* I am at best a very novice bladesmith. I have done a lot of reading and talking to those who are not, and my reading and discussions does seem to confirm my admittedly limited experience. I will also say that I still like the attached anvil at least as much as my “new” 100#’er. How much of that can be attributable to familiarity I’m unsure of, so take everything I’ve said with a healthy dose of salt...

That price come with an evening in your shop watching a master? If so, I might just have to make a trip to MO!

I’ve done the same thing with all my hammers. Much prefer the handles without the clearcoat on them. Hammer looks great, BTW

I like it a lot

No, that is ‘mild steel’ and wouldn’t be hardenable

Those are both very nice blades. I want to attempt the stainless san mai at some point, I'm just not there yet.

Absolutely stunning!

I agree completely!

I like those a lot! Handy set of knives you've made there.

Love it Gary

Very well done, though I agree with others about the finger guard not being a personal preference for myself. Still though, excellent work sir.

Busy indeed!

Very cool! Enjoyed the read

Thanks Jeremy! Rebound is around 75-80% with a ball bearing, near as I can tell. I posted pics onto an anvil group on Facebook and they were saying they thought it might be a Swedish anvil, maybe Soderfors. All I know is it has pretty clean edges, and just needs a wire brushing and some hot steel hammered on her

Not really a progress update, but I have acquired a new (to me) anvil! My father was telling one of his friends about me making knives and dabbling in blacksmithing, and he asked him what I was using for an anvil. Turns out, his grandfather had a blacksmith shop on his farm, and he gave me the anvil! Alas, the vise, forge, and most of the hammers and top tools, etc had been sold by my dads friend’s sister. Anyway, here are some pics of the new and my old anvil. I just have to make a stand for the new anvil now.