Joshua States

Describing a personal experience or expressing how you felt about an experience is not "bashing". It is a healthy and normal reaction on the road to recovery. However, let's not take the OP's question and turn it into a dog pile. For every negative story about IFI you can come up with, there's probably at least one positive one. Good luck @GPrimmer with your foray and I wish you the best responses.

After cruising through the first 20 minutes of the vid to see what you wanted to end up with, it looks like you just try and remove the taper and make it a square again. (correct me if I'm wrong about that) So, if I were to do this with a press, I would do it is a succession of graduating length heats, maybe 1/4inch increments and squish (that's a technical term per Dave Stephens) it vertically. Squish the first 1/4", then a 1/2" then 3/4" etc. straighten as you go. You could probably achieve the desired end result in about 4 or 5 heats. Work hot and I mean HOT! Ray Rybar did a similar version of this and he didn't upset the point at all. He bent it over and used it for the beard.

Do you want us to send a PM? I thought I sent you a couple already.....but if you want some others, I can oblige. Never mind, I scrolled up and read the directive. PM sent. Oh yeah, while I'm here...…..would someone please pin this sucker?

I'm a work-rest grinder, which means I grind all my blades on a work rest and use a push stick to apply pressure where I need it. As for the file-jig with the carbide faces, those can be pretty pricey, so if you primarily set your plunge cuts with files rather than a grinder, or you can be pretty careful with a 2x72 running at slow speed, you can make your own file jig from hardened O-1 like I originally did. And for those of you who are not familiar with work-rest grinding technique: https://youtu.be/il88qhfoJnQ

If it would get down to 96 degrees around here, I might actually turn the forge on! Great WIP so far Gary.

I think what you have there is the oil burning and the wool getting charred. Oil splashes on wool. Hot steel is introduced to environment. Oil ignites and the flames char the wool. Was there any time when the hot steel, or a spark, or a glowing ember contacted the wet wool?

Nice one Lars.

Another step down the path on this amazing journey! Thanks Tucker.

Cool idea. I usually just use super glue to hold them together. Them I can put them in a file jog or my file work clamp

That is how we all benefit.

Just for clarification on sharing that PPT. Emailing (via Gmail) will present the only option of posting to Google Drive. I have done just that and made it available to anyone with the link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QQ4NLkfXFWwMeYxNq-dCa81iDRbpdo7T/view?usp=sharing I sincerely hope this works...…….

And that is why I said just thoughts for the next one. There's nothing "wrong" with what you have already done and I know how you feel.

This is our own Salem Straub demonstrating his bar twisting rig and Big Beaudry hammer. I thought it was pretty cool. @Salem Straub

Brian, I think you might have almost answered your own question. So what is it about the paring knife that you like? My guess is the short, thin blade to get into the tight spots, but you know better than I what you like. What is it about the paring knife that you would change or what makes it not do something well? Kitchen knives are heavily dependent upon personal taste and how the person uses them, holds them, cuts forward and/or backward etc. I have more than a couple of sharp objects in the knife drawer and I use different ones for different functions. Believe it or not, the knife I use to cut pork loin into chops gets used because it is the right width to create the perfect thickness of chop. Lay it on its side, stand it up and cut. Perfect chop thickness every time. If it were up to me, I would leave a bunch of meat on the bone for making soup stock and use what ever knife got the job done with those limits. I sort of rambled off there a bit...….

Is that 13 inches over-all length or just the blade? I would suggest one of my favorite methods, the inverted strap it to the back pack shoulder straps. The sheath is similar to the horizontal lumbar carry with two loops that go around the belt, but they attach to the shoulder strap of the backpack instead. I carried an 8 inch blade Kabar style knife that way for 7 years doing back-country SAR. This disregards the "I don't want it to draw a lot of attention", but then again, it's kind of difficult to conceal a short sword You could do something similar where it attaches to the side of the backpack body, that would make it less visible, but getting it back into the sheath can be a little tricky. Something this size makes you have to choose between easily deployed and easily seen, or somewhat concealed/hidden and somewhat difficult to deploy or stow,