Alan Longmire

Usually you just clamp the (clean) stack and watch it closely. When it looks sweaty, pull it and squeeze. Brazing first would add another color to the mix, though. Might be an idea. Try it and see!

Hmm... So, uneven cooling somehow. Is it a thick chisel grind? Those can make interesting warps... For any low-alloy steel a normalizing cycle or two before hardening can't hurt. If you're using your kiln, be sure to protect against decarburization.

That's a common thing on post vises, especially lighter ones that have been used a lot. Since the body of the vise is wrought iron, it does bend more easily than you might think. Years of use favoring one side of the jaws will cause the vise to twist away from that side, tightening the other. To fix this, you just twist it back. That's where it can get interesting. The moving jaw is almost always the one that gets twisted, usually down near the pivot. But it's a long twist, and hard to see. It can also be the pivot itself, or the holes in the tabs the pivot sits in. Or, it c

Since it's not hardened yet, just bend it back straight. Hot or cold. If you do it hot it reduces the chance of it warping again. Did you put it down while it was cooling?

That is quite complicated! But well done.

No issues at all. Rock solid. But then that blade is only two inches long. This jig can take blades from 1.5 inches up to about six inches or so. Of course, the bigger the blade the greater the force, which might cause issues with the support arm. If I run into issues like that down the road I'll let you know.

I had that worry as well, thus the rough surface and broad screw head. I think the bolt in the tang also helps. I also used a fine pitch screw, since thise provide higher torque than coarse threads. So far so good! Once it has a little rust it'll hold even tighter. Well, the support thing is stainless, but the angle is not.

That looks great! And how does it sound? I know those blowers are very quiet, but I imagine there is still a roar.

I made this:

This title may surprise some of you, coming from me as it is with my constant emphasis on learning to grind freehand. And I still think freehand is the best way to do large blades, and the only way to do certain complex historical grinds. Folders, however, are another story. They have to be precise, and it's darned near impossible to grind folder blades while holding them in hand, since they have extremely short tangs and get too hot to hold very fast. I was bumbling along with a make-do extended handle thing (basically clamping the little blades to a chunk of 1x3/8 flat bar),

That will probably work fine. You could even go up to 1300 F and not cause problems

Still working on that. If all else fails we can use a 220 generator setup, one of the guys here has one. We're working with a couple of possible locations to see what we can do. But, I'm certainly not going to turn down a volunteered hammer! We'll keep y'all informed as we learn more.

Indeed it is! Go to this thread: Lots of good info there. Your block would be great in the Paul Lundquist anvil-vise combo thingy towards the end.

That's more of an Imperial 80/s Barleywine APA, dang... I personally don't get the overhopping thing, but I know a lot of people love 'em. You know what the IBUs on an actual English IPA are? About 35-40. Ordinary bitters are about 25-30. Yet another reason the English think we Americans are crazy.

Looks great, Rob!