Don Rooker

Nice grab!!! Hopefully I can get up there soon to check it out.

That will be great! Can’t wait to give that one a swing. I finally got a chance to try mine today. I just played around beveling some mild scrap pieces. I refaced it twice to get it where I wanted it and by the end I was beveling without any marks it just ran together smooth. Odds I’ll reproduce that when I get a blade under it are probably pretty slim but I’ll try.

Those are amazing! Genius idea and beautifully executed.

I made it from 1” mild steel that I upset to get the face 1 3/8”. I am planning on this being primarily a beveling hammer down I don’t think the mild will be a problem. I could be wrong but I didn’t want to waste good steel on my first attempt anyway. I want the face flat but could someone suggest how much beveling on the edges I should have? I’m not sure how to properly face it.

I didn’t even notice the background but my wife sure did when she saw it! Lol I’m hoping to try it later today, I’ve got a busy Saturday. I’m afraid the head is going to break off with that small eye. Some fingers shall be crossed...

I made a dogs head hammer yesterday, my first hammer ever. Pretty much eyeballed it and it turned out decent. I will find out later when when I fire up the forge. It’s roughly a pound and a half maybe a little more, my scale ran out of batteries. The eye was made with a 3/4” drift. I tried enlarging the eye a bit but I didn’t want to loose the handle angle. Anyway it’s a first shot I don’t plan on making a lot of hammers but any advice/critique is welcome. Have at it!

What are you planning to use it for? What is more important for the build function or form? I like the top one here, you get a bit of both.

It was an amazing feeling! I remember stepping back thinking “HOLY SH$! Its working!!!”. Blew me away

I would use it as a spacer for sure. I may use it again as bolster for a kitchen knife. I don’t think I’ll use it again as a bolster for a working knife. Also Allen, a while back in spring you explained decalescence to me. I have experimented quite a bit and played with different temps, thickness of the muffle pipe and lighting. It took a while till I really saw, as opposed thinking I saw, what was happening. It’s been really helpful and a good experience.

Yes... this could become a problem

I’ll try turning it down and running a lighter bead, makes sense. The bolster material is some type of acrylic I picked up at the exotic wood store here. It seemed very tough, I smacked a dull chisel into it and not much happened but then when working it sanded very easy. I guess I’ll see how it holds up. i also used blue construction paper between the bolster and the walnut but it doesn’t stand out as much as I hoped.

I can’t tell you all how excited I am about this. I want to thank everyone for all the posts and information I have been able to learn from on this forum. I have been working on my forge welding here and there and in between projects. I finally felt I was ready to give Damascus a try, just a small billet. I did 8 layers and folded it once leaving the 15n20 on the outside. Everything was going great until I tried to twist it. I didn’t clean it well enough before twisting and I should have twisted it tighter. To save what I could of the billet the twist is now in the tang and beginning of the blade. I ended up cutting and grinding to shape so that I could make sure the rest was salvageable. So it’s a first attempt and salvaged from a mistake. Let me know what you think

Not really, but I will let you know as soon as I do.

Personally I prefer a much smaller anvil with a broken horn.

Absolutely beautiful!