Joshua States

I always thought the 6 basic processes were tapering, drawing, fullering, squaring, rounding, and drifting. Maybe there are 10 basic processes?

Moral of the story: Get the whole thing hot before forging.

Looking spiffy!

Just had time to check this out before my Wi-Fi time expires. I love the finished product and am very grateful for the WIP

This is wonderful. Thanks for posting.

Now for you bronze-age guys, I also visited a museum at Marsala where they uncovered a Punic Wars era boat that had been covered by sand for a couple thousand years. No weapons unfortunately, but there were a bunch of lead and bronze nails and a couple of lead anchors. Evidently, the wooden hull was covered with lead sheet and riveted on. I have a couple of better pics of the boat on my camera, and can update when I get home.

City of Cefalu at the Norman Cathedral (12th century) Notice the iron fence and gate (original installation!) Here are the close-ups of the joinery.

On vacation in Sicily and toured Palermo yesterday. The ironwork in the old part of town is truly formidable. The traditional joinery was especially well done, and there is a lot of it.

Ahhh, Sir Longmire. You are so eloquent in your discussion. Well put sir! And Mr. Boggs. You are so darned practical!

It has occurred to me on a number of occasions, that many of the smiths whose work I admire use "mystery steel" in their blades all the time and we often praise them for doing so. After all, what is that stuff that folks are cooking up in their back yard in those smelters or in those little crucibles? It certainly isn't a homogenous alloy. It's bloomery, and quite possibly, of unknown composition. Unless of course, they have each bloom and biscuit sent out for analysis.

Yay! I love using scrap tool steel for stuff and I used lots of it in my early days just to get used to how forging tool steel differs from forging mild. I always took a small piece off the bar and played with the HT to see how it worked and figure out what didn't.

My brain hurts just looking at that. I agree with Alan. A most formidable endeavor, but I'm certain you will persevere.

Yeah buddy! A week long class?!? Sounds great. I hear you might be head out west next year?

Another thing is using patinas. Some metals (like copper) take patination very easily. Others, like NS, not so much. If you have a great interest in doing Mokume, get Ian Ferguson's book. It covers a lot of metals and their compatibility, bonding temps, patinas, pattern development, etc.

I think that it's the Bird's Head heal that is giving you the problem. On a full size handle the pinkie wants to nestle in the bird's head. On a 3-finger, the ring finger does this. Your handle is probably too short for 4-fingers (causing the cramped feeling) and too long for 3 fingers (makes it feel sloppy and loose). Most of the little ones I see have a handle shaped more like an arch or a long oval or a wedge. As for the one with the guard, I agree with the modification to the guard and heel that Steve posted. A small knife gets a small guard. Cleaning game is messy work and for safety sake, you really need something to keep the hand/index finger from sliding onto the blade at the choil. I kind of toyed with your drawing a little. My draw options stink, so it may not be clear what I'm trying to say.