Alex Middleton

I have only ordered from Jantz once, just recently. I was pleasantly surprised when they processed my order and shipped it out the same day. I've ordered from Aldo several times and have had no issues either. Everything has always come in reasonably quickly, and exactly as advertised. I don't think that you'll go wrong with either.

Much appreciated Billy. I'm already realizing the need to go a bit larger with the can, even if it's just to be able to fit more saw chain in to it. The billet came out at roughly 3/16" thick, maybe a touch over, so it may be as simple as having to take a few more passes at welding heat before peeling the canoe.

Played around with my first attempt at a canoe/canister this afternoon. It was almost even a success. Lol

I decided to try my hand at doing a canoe with some chainsaw chains. Since I'm doing it by hand, I started by making a quick canoe at work out of 304 SS. Measures 1"x5"x3/8" deep on the inside. I cleaned up the chain with acetone and packed everything with fine 1084 powder. Welding up the canoe was a bit of a cluster. I ran out of argon for the TIG welder and tried to finish it using the wrong rods for the stick welder. Obviously this didnt work the greatest and caused me some problems later. After 5-6 passeshammering at welding heat I cut the end of and was pleasa

Could be simply because it would be easier to pack in brown sugar and have it stay in place without falling out. Just a guess though.

One quick tip on hand finishing is to use a hard backer (piece of steel, glass, etc) behind your sandpaper. That, and a bunch of practice, will help to keep the transition lines crisp an clean and avoid some of the washout effect you get with a softer backer.

Nothing wrong with that as a first. Certainly way better than mine! From a critique standpoint two things jump out at me. Firstly, I'm not a huge fan of square inside corners on a knife. You can debate all day whether or not it makes a structural difference, but for me it just doesn't look as sexy as having a radius at that point. After that, I would push you to be extremely anal about your hand finishing, especially when going for a high polish. A couple of errant lower grit scratches that don't come out will really stand out and be noticeable. All in all though, good job! Welcom

Lol. I'll wear them if I'm doing light forging. The perfectly round scar I have on my left foot reminds me that they're not a good idea when doing anything with heavy amounts of scale though!

Haven't had much shop time lately. I took a half hour or so tonight to straighten out the tang. I also cut the tip off and reforged it to get rid of a delam at the end of the billet.

Looking good! I was wondering how you were going to tackle the handle without sandpaper. Too cool!

This time I remembered. The overall picture isn't the best, but you can get the idea. Its actually 3/16" thick instead of the 1/4" I thought it was. I couldn't find the little one-handed one, but if you google fleshing knife you'll see some images pop up.

That's kind of the way I was leaning. I can see it having more use for a blacksmith than a bladesmith. Thanks for the input guys.

Heck of a nice set there Josh.

This cool little foot pedal operated vise came up for sale a few miles away from me. I'm just trying to decide if it has enough potential uses to make it worth anywhere near the $200 the guy is asking. I can see it being very handy for straightening a blade during forging, but I'm struggling to come up with a whole lot else. Thoughts?

Just realized that I completely forgot to snap pics last night. I just set a reminder for myself to make sure I do it tonight.