Ron Benson

Your wife looks a bit less than enthusiastic...

You can buy them on Amazon...

Thanx Alex. If I decide to go down that path, I will do a lot of research.

Thanx All for the comments. I don't know if I will go in this direction, but it does look like makin' a forge is not as complicated as I thought. And with help from the people here, it might just be doable.

... for a total newbie? I had no plans for getting any type of heat treat equipment, but I ran across this video today. Simple to build and very cheap. But as a newbie, I'm concerned about controlling temps. But maybe there are some beginner friendly steels that might work for someone like me? I'm not talking about forging at this time - only heat treating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifTIuNt3aNY Thanx for looking. Edit to add that once you view a topic on you tube, they send you more videos on that subject, so I am now getting other similar videos - including coffee can forges. These just add to the confusion...

Thanx! You have given me an idea. An African rosewood blade with an ebony handle. I'm thinkin' maybe adding a rosewood end cap and maybe two rosewood spacers separated by an ebony spacer. It will be an octagonal wa handle tapered from blade to end.

I was talking to our son yesterday, (he's in TX and we are in VA), and he asked for me to make him a letter opener with a fancy wood handle as a Christmas present. That should be no problem because I have a ton, (maybe a half ton literally), of wood from when I was heavy into woodworking. The question is what steel? I assume that it should be stainless, and I am hoping that it won't need heat treatment, (since it won't have a sharp edge), because I have no heat source. Suggestions appreciated. I know I can buy a bare blade, but I don't want to do that unless I will have to heat treat.

Remind me to say out of MI if 6 year olds are drivin'.

When I worked at Jack In The Box maaaany years ago, we did the same thing with lettuce. I still do it today when I buy iceburg lettuce. It's supposed to last longer if cored.

If you want to start smokin' meat, I suggest you take a peak at amazingribs.com. They have unbiased reviews on a ton of smokers of every type. Tons of recipes too. And they go into the science behind cooking and smoking so that you understand why this or that works or not.

If you continue to pay $3 for a bottle of Smart Water, it's not working...

Thanx John. I already have an angle grinder. I use it for cutting the blank to rough shape. Then I go to the grinder for final shaping and the bulk of the stock removal. Ron

I wish I could like this more than once.

Thanx Jerrod. That's not the one I remember, but there is a lot of good info in it. And thanx Alan. This is not the one either, but more good info even if this is way beyond my capabilities. The one I remember was built from acrylic if I remember correctly. At any rate, I now have something to go on and will probably build an enclosure with plywood. Should I line it with sheet metal?

I'm not sure where this actually belongs, but this channel seems like the best fit to me... Some time back, (probably earlier this year - I think), someone posted a few photos of how they enclosed their 2X72 grinder to reduce dust floating in the air. Their reason was that other people had access to the area, and the OP didn't want them to have to put up with all the metal dust. He enclosed the grinder and added some dust collection ports. I'd like to d o something similar, but have been unable to find that thread. I have searched numerous times over the last few months, but I don't really know what search terms to use. I'd really like some guidance so I can start working on knives again. I am also considering getting some metal ducting and some vortex type fittings to shoot the hot bits of metal into a water filled bucket. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.