Ryan Hobbs

Wow, wonderful stuff all around! Like you, I'm very impresses by that heavy duty railing. Most interesting to me (because I love the period), is the boat! Sheeting a boat in lead?! Never heard of that! 1. How did they not sink? 2. Why didn't Carthaginian Environmental Protection Agency express concerns over possible heavy metal pollution in the Mediterranean?

Yay! I scared my wife with all my hollering and jumping when I saw this. I've watched the making of this knife many times, so it will be awesome to actually hold and use it, despite any "terrible flaws". Happy new year to all, and thanks again to Niels for putting this on!

I'll fight y'all for it. Every man brings his best seax.

Sweet, shared! Granted, your videos are the ones I always turn to when people ask about blacksmithing!

Awesome, that is some amazing work!

I couldn't pass it up, I told Zeb that I fell in love with it right when I saw it! She'll be going to nice, loving home, so no worries! I'll probably post some more pictures and maybe a video for two once I have it on me and have some time.

I'm really interested in trying one of these furnaces out! I have the resources for a smelt, but not enough space or time. Seems a lot more feasible for me right now.

Sweet, PM sent!

Wow, that's awesome! What are the dimensions?

Ah, yes, tempering, my bad. There were no cracks after the quenching, and I heard it crack while I was trying to straighten it. Maybe the cracks were formed in the quench and didn't come to the surface until I tried to straighten it? I have a few more knives that I've forged to shape, I'll have to try a lower quenching temp!

Interesting! I've been meaning to put up my results, but the Army is great at keeping me busy and away from my forge. I came up with results very similar to you Caleb! I made a 14" blade Frankish seax. I put it through three normalizing cycles and then quenched blade section in cool water and got a messy hamon out of it (I left the top half of the blade out of the water). The steel hardened very well, same as you. I annealed it at 450 for 3 hours, and then tried to fix a slight warp that formed during quenching. Unfortunately two cracks formed, each about 3/4 of an inch long, lengthwise down the spine about 3 inches from the beginning of the tang. One began where the other ended. The spine at that point was about 5/16 thick and didn't get quenched, so I was surprised that a crack started here. Perhaps quenching the entire thing or annealing it differently would help?

Great looking sword. I've always been a fan of the"less is more" mentality. Also, interesting choice for the scabbard cover, I rarely see anything but leather. Is there any historical evidence for this? I really like the look of it!

Great looking sword. I've always been a fan of the"less is more" mentality. Also, interesting choice for the scabbard cover, I rarely see anything but leather. Is there any historical evidence for this? I really like the look of it!

I own three of this man's knives, and they're great! Solid construction, awesome welds, and BEAUTIFUL when you get them in your hands!

Howdy! So I've been blacksmithing off and on when college allows for about five years now. I have a nice big Centaur coal fore with a hand crank blower that I saved up for, a 190 something pound Arm and Hammer Anvil, and a small post vise. However, I just got commissioned into the Army this past May, and the fiance (she'll be the wife in August ) and I will be on the move for the next eight years or so. So now I'm trying to put together a more mobile setup than I have now. If yall can offer any advice that would be great, as I have no experience in moving around a forge and I don't know what would work and what wouldn't work. I was thinking of this: A propane forge from a medium sized tank. My dad and I will work on that and make it a pretty spanking forge. I would use my post vise that I have now, it's only a four and a half inches. And I can get a good used 77 pound peddinghaus anvil for $500. How does that sound? I have a 2X72 large belt grinder that my dad built for me from Polar Bear Forge that's attached to tool chest , and idk yet how I will transport that. I'm mainly just going to making knives, maybe an axe or spearhead, and crosses and artsy stuff for people at church and to keep the soon-to-be wife happy Any advice would be great!