Alex Middleton

Fairly good analogy, assuming I mixed it right anyway.

It's just got a rougher texture to it than I thought it would. Depending on what it's like after it sets up I may just have to adjust some future plans. Not really a big deal.

I got the first coat of Satanite on the inside of my new forge. I also cast the replaceable floor for it. I've never used Kastolite before, the texture is not what I was expecting.

I really like the profile of this model Garry. It should work well as an all around field knife.

Gorgeous!

Thanks guys. I guess crappy cellphone pictures work in your favor sometimes.

The video was great! The pattern visualization was cool, my geek mind wants to know more about the process you use to do it though. I really liked the way you showed the phase change in the material too, I was surprised at how pronounced it was on such a large blade.

This is the knife I made for the challenge project that @Joshua States put up in the Beginners Place forum. I just finished up the sheath this morning. It's made from reclaimed spring steel and has a 6" blade. The handle is African Blackwood scales with mild steel fittings. A family friends son is graduating from basic training in a couple of weeks and this will be on it's way to him. I want to say thank you again to Joshua for posting his challenge projects. There's a few firsts for me with this blade that I probably would not have done otherwise. As always comments and critiques are very welcome.

Theres some pretty good how-to's in the Tools and Toolmaking subforum. With a little time spent reading you have all the information you need at your fingertips.

If it's not exactly what you wanted, it's a least a good proof of concept. I know that seeing you do this has validated some ideas that I've had floating around in my head.

It'll definitely do the trick. Personally, I'm considering building a heat treat forge like this one: Cheap to build, and I think it'll be more consistent and much more user friendly. For steels, you can search this site and find all kinds of threads discussing the "best" beginner steel. I think the general consensus has been that 1080/1084 is arguably going to be the simplest to heat treat accurately and yield good results. There are definitely other options as well, 5160 is another one, with a little research you can find the best one for you.

Pretty cool idea Frank. Any objections to someone else giving it a try?

Lol, Thanks! I think I view it more as self punishment for missing something obvious, or doing something dumb when I knew it was a bad idea in the first place. My hope is that someday, when I'm sick enough of forcing myself to do things the hard way, I'll learn to do it the easy way from the beginning.

Thanks. I'm not sure if this one really fit the challenge that you put out there, but I know I learned a lot while I was doing it. I do want to thank you for proposing these projects though. I think it's a great way to help guys like me to open ourselves up to different techniques and try new things that we otherwise might not do.

I can't wait to see how this one turns out. Out of curiosity, do you plan on forging this one to shape, or grinding it complete to minimize distortion?