dragoncutlery

well im not familer with the jflex per say but a butt joint is were the abrasive butts up to its self and a lap joint the abrasive over laps its self and makes for one hell of a bumpy ride and should be avoided at all costs there used to be a few places that sold a like graphite covered strip that you could cover your platen with that had enough give to maybe deal with a bit of bump and reduce running friction i have been running a 01 platen unhardened for about 15 years now just needs to be trued up from time to time

are you getting butt joined or lap joined belts?

auburn instruments is were i get my pid controllers i got one off ebay/amazon to save a bunch of money and used it to control a toaster oven to dry wood and almost burnt the oven up it was over 100deg f off and i could not get it to adjust to correct never had that issue with the auburn even with other suppliers thermocuples

when it has dried a bit the bark will be easier to chip off and some of the burl guys use pressure washers to remove bark .......not sure if after its dried for a bit or when its fresh tho if you have the ability or can get them to do it cut one side flat so you wont have to lean in to the anvil as much as if its left full round ... if that makes sense

you obliviously did not get to see my early work every hammer mark was visible when done

weld your billets with a press and the weld on the handle will hold a ton better

that point on the bolster looks like it was supposed to be a guard

i remember reading about some one doing a line in ss might have been 440 but its been maybe 12 years since i read about it but it would be beyond a coal forge

you can have hamon or you can have stainless or you can have easy heat treat you can pick one but you cant have it all thats why there are so many metals are used in knife work

well for a chopping knife i would do a much smother guard thats going to chew up the hands pretty quick and with the handle tapering off the pommel it will interfere with the retention and you usually want a flare or a kick out on the end to keep the knife in hand wile swinging a bump to pivot the knife off your pinky wile swinging can add oomph to a swing https://acc-cdn.azureedge.net/accliveimages/0008667_gigantic-ceremonial-kukri_550.jpeg https://images.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/condor/images/CN3915133n.jpg https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0019/0948/9729/products/Fiddleback_Forge_Machete_Duo_-_1_400x400.png?v=1528867446

thats some good looking cable

grind the weld off the top of the bar and lay a piece of that tube all the way across it and stick weld it to the frame 20 tons will bent flat bar easier than tube also the stick weld has a lot more potential for strength than the flux or mig welding when building a press its go big or go home

heres a bad image of a simple jig that can help establish angles for your bevels move it in to bring the grind back on the blade move it out to leave it higher on the blade

mild will not snap like that

i literally got kicked out from a knife makers forum on Facebook for answering this question i may have been a bit more expressive on how i felt about 43rc for knives tho i was cable tv safe it wasn't enough