Mike Ward

That bronze looks gorgeous!

Start ahead of where you want it so that you have room to get it right. I made a hill-billy file guide by c-clamping a straight piece of mild to the back of the blade so it hits the platen. For the other side, just line it up at the spine and edge. Then clean it up slowly.

Okey dokey, thanks.

Got this finished, but I think it needs a choil. I'm hesitant to do so and I would like your opinions.

It also helps with mental issues like depression and anxiety by balancing hormones and other brain chemical thingies.

That would be a nope, Zeb. Humans aren't actually evolved/designed to eat grains, we just decided that hunting and gathering was to much work one day and started to grow crops. Grains like wheat, buckwheat, millet and rice actually throw off your digestive system, hormones, and brain function. We can eat grains (evidence of several thousand years) but they aren't that great for you, kinda like we aren't really supposed to dairy after a certain age but we do. I think I get carbs from fruits and what not, but I'm probably 12-14% body fat which allows me to have fat on my belly. In school because it's a buffet cafeteria, I get on average 1.5 plates of food piled high, 3 meals a day. It's too much for my metabolism to get ahead of even with constant exercise. I love food too much to care though haha. Our energy is supposed to come from the meats, fruits/vegetables and nuts that are actually compatible with our bodies. Grains have a bacteria or something like that that block our bodies from using all of the energy in the grain. That excess energy is then converted into fat to be used later, but if we don't exercise enough to burn all of the fat, more and more biulds up and we get fatter and fatter. It also helps many old people ailments. (Disclaimer: I explained that really badly and probably slightly wrong. I'm an engineer, not a doctor.) I learned all of this from several books by Dr. William Davis. He's a cardiologist who has done extensive research into effects of grain on our digestive system, brain and overall bodily functions. He has a blog that you can find by googling him. There are also other research papers and such on grain elimination. I've personally have done this for I think 4 years since July, my mom has done it for probably 7-8 years. Both of us have experienced large amount of fat loss, far more energy, smoother digestive system (provided it is unspoiled by sugar or relaspe), clear minds, better skin health and other good things. People have said it's impossible to do, so either I'm a vampire or it works. Also, my sister's boyfriend has celiac and first time he ate with us, he noticed that he didn't have any digestive issues. He is now following this way of eating and is feeling much, much better. Here's a link by Dr. Davis on ketosis. https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2018/02/be-ketotic-but-only-sometime/

I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about Zeb. I have the same weird heart stutters, I describe it as mine like skips a beat then tries hard to get back in pace, but I think yours is better. This happens every couple of months or whatever and the first time it happened I kinda freaked out too. Almost thought one of those facehugger alien freaky things had got me . It happens at the randomist times also: washing dishes, running, watching TV. I don't know what is happening, all the physicals I been to for sports havent said anything about my heart. I'm 20, going on 21 in the winter and this has been going on for years. Other than this past spring/summer, I've been very active with working out whether it was through football or track or just weightlifting. Eating wise, i pretty much cut the carbs out by eliminating grains from my diet and having a lot more meat, greens, veggies and fruit. I probably lost at least 25 lbs of fat and replaced it with muscle and have stayed at 190 +-5. Went from slightly chubby, unathletic kid to gym rat in about half a year. Didn't help my coordination at though, I still trip over air. I've always I kinda wondered if that was normal, I guess not, I probably need to go to the doctor also.

Coke is coal with the impurities like sulphur and whatnot burned out leaving just the carbon to be burned. The thick yellow smoke when you first add coal is all that nasty stuff and it will disappear when the clean Coke is burning. You're making Coke constantly when you add coal to a fire. Just make a fire like you normally would, newspaper and kindling, and once that is going slide some coal around the fire. Have your air on low now and if you have coal fines in the bottom off your bucket sprinkle some on top of the ball of flame. Wait until most of the bad stuff is burned out before heating steel. When you add coal to the fire, add it to the sides so that the heat can start eliminating the impurities and you don't have to wait as long for it to convert.

I second the grizzly if you can get it. I purchased one a couple of weeks of ago and have only used it a couple of times and am very happy I did. Switching from a 4x36 to a 2x72 is a huge difference. I decided not to go the full multiphase, higher horse power grinder because I don't make that many knives and the grizzly will work just fine, I think.

Not a clue, other than to keep things and myself away from it. Really don't want to visit hospitals unexpectedly

Made a overdue and much needed upgrade.

Just sharpened and tested it and wow! I'm in love with it, chopped through a pine bough about 1.5" with ease, stripped the branches and bark, and still shaved my arm clean. I'm happy.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Only weird thing I found was that I have a near perfectly vertical "hamon" line about a quarter inch away from the plunge line. You can kinda see it in the first two pictures, but I tell ya the difference in sanding the hardened and soft is a real pain in the thumbs. Probably caused by too short of a fire and tube when heat treating.

After a stupid amount of time and a restart, this is done. Started with a blade of 1084 that worked just fine up until the point where I decided to do the heat treat again because I wasn't satisfied with the first one. Bad idea because it was too thin by that point and the edge looked like it was Lake Michigan on a windy day. Restarted with some 80cvr2 cause some people *cough cough Vern cough cough* seem to love it for it's forgiveness and ease. He's right about that, I like it. Anyway, the guard is 1084/15n20 with 12 layers twisted. The handle goes tiger striped maple, wenge and bubinga with a length of 4.5". It is finished with several coats of Tung oil and I will be putting wax on there also. The blade is 8 3/16" long by 1 3/8" wide and 1/8" thick. Thank you everyone for your suggestions. My buddy loves it so I think it's a job well done.

Brilliant, thank you!

Alright, got a chance to work on it again. Took the guard off and heated it up in the forge and tapped it with a hammer. That right there took it to where it is now without any more filing. Then worked on the guard getting it narrower. It's not finished yet still need to get flush with the handle. Refinished the blade and guard and I think I'm set to go for glueing. Any other words of wisdom?

I was gonna do pretty much exactly that but with some modifications. I was gonna drill some holes for hidden pins, starting with with the middle piece of wenge. Two on either side of the tang hole that I would then use as guides for the top and bottom pieces. Then glue all the pieces together. What do you guys like better for this application: wood glue or epoxy? To be able to hold the handle, I was going to shove a piece of wood shim in the tang hole and use that to clamp in the vise. Finish shaping and sanding the handle and put the first coat of Tung oil on. Meanwhile, I'm going to remove the guard and refinish the blade. And work on getting the guard to a better fit. I will use JB Weld this time around instead of solder to get a clean joint. Does this sound like a good plan going forward?

Oh iy get what you're saying, flush across all the pieces. I was just going to glue all together on the tang and finish it there so that it is all flush. And I took care to make them all flush with each other at the faces and took the precaution of putting black cardstock as spacers to hide any thing else. Right now just pinned it quite tight with the smallest of wobbles.

Here's the thing, I did all that. I peened it with my ball peen and then turned it on its side and smacked it my hammer. This was done on my anvil so it was solid underneath. The gap was maybe .001" or .002", personally I think it was because I put too much solder on. I put a bead on both sides and then thought 'thats probably not enough' and added more, so it ran down too far. I did etch the guard in ferric chloride and instant coffee but when I went over it with 1500 grit paper backed by a file and it didn't turn out like I wanted it to. This pic might show the joint better. I like your JB weld idea, Jake. Why are you guys emphasizing that I should do that handle as one piece beforehand? What's the reasoning behind that.

Huh, guess I never noticed. There's barely a 1/16 on each side, but it's those small things that make then better. Thanks to both of you

Hey y'all, Been slowly getting this one done...like really, really slowly. But before I glued everything together and did final sanding on the handle, I just wanted to know your opinions and suggestions. Here's the specs: The handle: Tiger striped maple Wenge Bubinga It has black spacers between all pieces. And is 4.5" long Guard: 15n20/1084 at 12 layers twisted 2.75" x 7/8" x 8/16" Blade: 80crv2 Normalized 3 times, mineral oil for quenchant, tempered at 380 F. 8" 3/16" long 1/8" thick 1 3/8" wide I know that it is thin for a blade this size but that was on purpose because my buddy wanted it to be for slicing. Also, I am very aware of the fact that the solder in the guard joint is messy.

That was almost exactly my thought process when I ordered it. I know that I do too many welding heats, so I knew that my carbon content would be lower from diffusion and from evaporating out. Just trying to get a better carbon content. I was thinking more along the line that because 1095 has a different makeup of elements and not just carbon, that's what makes it more difficult. Please correct me in any way.

Thanks Jerrod, I am using a muffle pipe for HT.

So I think I have made a newbie (noobie?) mistake. I have experience using 1084 both by itself and patternwelding so I thought getting some 1095 from NJ Steel Baron thinking it would be a nice little step up. Ordered that and some 15n20 to primarily use as patternwelding material in future projects. Now beforehand I knew that 1095 was a slightly more complicated steel to work with. However, after deciding to do some belated, more in depth research, I realised that 1095 is a hyper-eutectoid steel that requires a 10 minute soak at 1500F. And typically, patternwelded parts should be heat treated for the steel with more desirable properties. In this case, 1095. I have coal and charcoal forges so can't exactly do that. But I also know that I can get acceptable results by doing 3 normalising heats at decreasing temps and then quench in ~130F canola oil. I kinda want to get better than acceptable. Over this summer, I will be building a gas forge out a 20 lb propane tank. So should theoretically get better heat control. So after all of this rambling, I guess my question is: should I hold off on doing any heat treatment on any 1095 pieces until I have a gas forgewith better temperature control? Or just forge on?