Ted Stocksdale

I always let it cool on its own, just sitting there

To drill holes in the tang, I just heat the tang with a small torch until it turns just begins to turn the slightest bit red - you want to stay well on the cold side of critical. Best to have the blade in some sort of heat-sink so the heat doesn't travel up and ruin your hardness, though. This is really just a super-high-temperature temper, but it will knock the hardness down far enough to drill even with stubborn stuff like O1 as long as you have a good sharp drill bit. I like cobalt bits, they're a lot sturdier than pure carbide and I can re-sharpen them with my Drill Doctor.

I've joined the North Texas Blacksmith Association. Their focus is on things that are a little less pointy, but I've already learned quite a lot that of course transfers to knifemaking too. I just finished this project for the next meetup on Saturday.

No, sorry: I was not able to finish an entry this year.

I have had both Wusthof Trident and JA Henckels 4-star... they are just not good knives. They can't take an edge well, and what edge you can put on them doesn't hold. Unrelated to the steel, the handles on both are also oddly shaped and uncomfortable to use IMO. But it is very true that they don't rust, even if you leave them dirty in the sink with onion juice or run them through the dishwasher.

The frame being in the way has made me need to have multiple dies that I have to switch between. I haven't personally had anything so wide it wouldn't fit at all, but I could see that happening, especially with the smaller presses.

Still alive, and envious of folks who can run their forges without heatstroke. Great to see all the amazing things y'all keep producing! I'm sitting things out right now: most days this summer it seems like all I need to do is stick the billet outside in the sun for a minute for it to get hot enough to work.

I agree, the "Beat Ben Abbott" episodes were really interesting to watch, and yeah: I'd have liked more detail too. Wish he still posted here, he seems nice on the show.

I’ve been working on a set of kitchen knives as a housewarming gift for my daughter, who’s moving to her first apartment. 52100, stock removal, handles are ulterex,brass, red g10, and black fiber. I’ve learned a lot in the process, but I’m proud of these

1. Alex Middleton 2. Jaron Martindale 3. Francis Gastellu 4. Geoff Keyes 5. Aiden Carley-Clopton 6. Brian Dougherty 7. Eric Morgan 8. Don Abbott 9. Doug Webster 10. Alan Longmire 11. Ted Stocksdale

Or google confirms it with less math FAQ - Vyper Motors

Huh... 50 Hz is the European spec - I'm pretty sure US standard is 60 Hz. The RPM difference would really only make sense if it's 50/60 Hz, not the voltage. And doing some math... 10 hz is 20% of 50 20% of 1430 is 286 1430 + 286 is 1716 Which I would think is quite reasonably within rounding distance - I'm quite willing to bet it is neither precisely 1430 nor 1720 I think that placard might be trying to show too many things at once, to be honest.

I was going to originally, but the replacement cylinder arrived before the hydraulic fluid did, so I ended up not. I didn't bother with a pressure gauge since even if it's a bit undertuned the larger cylinder is powerful enough. I am quite happy with how it is now, and if you aren't careful it will merrily move hot steel faster than you might like. I have become much better at controlling it and these days I am very happy with how it goes. I would say that with the WEN, it is slightly overpowered for the tiny default die size, and happily flattens and draws with double-width (3 inch) homemade dies.

Not sure what your budget is... I reviewed Coal Iron's smallest offering here: Coal Iron 12-Ton Press - Tools and Tool Making - Bladesmith's Forum Board (bladesmithsforum.com). They do have financing available. I love it, and it is great for small-sized projects like you're describing. And if you can weld at all, you can easily make your own dies for lots cheaper than they sell them.

I made a seax inspired thing. Handle's not done yet and I'm not claiming any particular authenticity, but I'm happy with the blade so far.

That's a really nifty effect on the blade!

I finished my wife’s Christmas present: a Damascus garden knife - basically a sharpened hand shovel.

I ended up going with Square. They've got integrations to most storefront packages, decent rates, aren't picky, and you have the option of getting a reader if you want to do shows. They do have the "no weapons" stuff, which is on pretty much everyone's TOC these days, I don't know what options there are if you want to sell things like swords and take credit cards. I'm selling garden tools, so I just wanted somebody who wouldn't freak out at the word "knife".

I have a small store that I started only a little while ago. But I haven't done any sort of marketing, so I have only had one sale to a friend-of-a-friend, so I can't really speak to how well it might work out.

Early Sept/late Oct is good for me.

I've made my own heat-treating kiln. Had to adjust a few things, but today I was able to do my normalizations, heat for quench, and temper on 2 different batches of blades. I'm thrilled!

I like the ScotchBrite belts a lot, myself. But yeah, they'll beat you up if you point the edge the wrong way... those things are thick.

The cart really isn't as bad as it looks: it doesn't wiggle while pressing and there only a tiny bit of movement while rolling it around, so I haven't bothered reinforcing it. And yep. I made my own width-drawing die out of a 2-1/2 inch 1045 round I decided I didn't want to make a hammer with after all, so that's not a problem anymore. I've made five different sets of my own dies now (seven if you count two that didn't last). I tried A36/1018, but the dies on the 12-ton are so small they get destroyed almost immediately, so I've been using hardenable stuff at least as a surface plate.

Finished my first damascus knife. It isn't perfect, but it makes me very happy to have finally completed one.

That's really nice, Alex. Love the lines of the handle.