Alan Longmire

Dunno, like I said it's all I've used. I'm totally happy with it, though.

That's been my observation as well. I use it as the sole glue for leather-covered wooden handle and scabbard cores (no sewing), and once it's set and the leather is oiled or waxed, it's basically permanent. If it was good enough for Stradivari to use on his violins, it's good enough for me. The only variety I've used is Behlen 192-gram dry flake, because that's all I could find when I wanted some. Carpenters and luthiers use a heated pot because they work with large quantities, and as long as you keep it hot (130F - 190F) and moist it won't start to set. I've done a longsword handle and scabbard just using an insulated cup. With the water hot, just stir in dry glue until it's the consistency you want, use, and rinse. Only takes a couple tablespoons of dry glue in about a cup of water to do a handle and scabbard. I like it thick enough it's not runny, but not so thick it's gummy.

Hotter than that, yes. Just off the boil, say 190 F. Stir in as much glue flakes as will dissolve, use within five minutes. To polish horn, wet-sanding up to 1500 is really all you need, but if you have a buffing wheel you can wet sand to 600 and buff.

I just use dry hide glue flakes. You don't need a traditional glue pot either. For small batches just use an insulated coffee mug and hot water. That works really well for tiny batches. Keep some hot water on hand and it'll be fine.

And his first name's not Tod, either! . Nicknames and so on. But he's a great guy. Hardest working guy I've ever met.

For some reason I am reminded of one of my favorite photos: Owen Bush's house, spring 2011, I don't remember who took the picture. Maybe Grace Horne? Left to right: Peter Johnsson, Tod of Tod Cutler (his last name is not cutler, btw), I don't remember who's holding the camera, maybe Eli Sideris? Jeff Pringle, Petr Florianek, Jeroen Zuiderwijk, Josh Burrell, and me. Hard to believe that was 12 years ago...

Leave it as rough as you can. Most adhesives don't stick to horn very well, and anything you can do to increase surface area will help. Using organic glues that do stick to horn is also a good idea. Either hide glue or casein-based glues. When you hollow out the back, be very careful not to let the bit grab. I'd use a Forstner bit rather than a router. And welcome aboard!

That is the video linked above.

If you take that brick off the floor it'll get hotter faster, and cool off faster when you're finished. Just add a little more Satanite to the floor to resist scuffing from tongs.

If you're doing a gravity cast you need a lot more runners and sprues, no sharp corners in the sprues and runners, and a much larger cup on top to keep weight on the cast. Somebody will no doubt produce a doctored phot of how they'd sprue it soon. The voids are probably from bubbles caused by the sharp corners. Did you pour while the plaster was still hot from the burnout oven?

This. Tod covers it pretty well in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r8cmUUz-m8&t=1s

Great stuff! I wonder what the people passing by out on the street thought, if they even noticed. Some guy heat-treating a bronze sword, not your everyday sight. In cities around here, if you smell charcoal you follow your nose in anticipation of good grilled food. I guess in your town you find a homemade forge and quench trough? Am I correct in thinking that most European bronze tools were in the 10% tin range, sometimes with a little arsenic to make it harder? Thanks for the phase diagram as well. That makes sense. I know most nonferrous metals are quenched to anneal, I just never thought much about the phase changes behind that idea OR precipitation hardening. I have age-hardened sterling silver by holding it at 500F, though. Only because a jewelry handbook told me that would work, no idea of the science behind it.

Had the forge lit for something else, used the remaining heat to HT a hawk head.

Sure! In my opinion, signup is open until the day before the deadline. And that deadline will be extended, because I'm at a hammer-in on September 30. Maybe say signup is closed on September 30, drawing to be announced?

Shade 5 is way too dark. Shade 2 or 3 is good for forge work, or, just don't stare into the fire...