R.H.Graham Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 I wasn't sure where to put this, but anyway, i started adding a sorta tutorial thing to my website and I'd appreciate feedback from ya'll if ya feel like, or not if ya don't, it's all good. I'm upgrading lighting and stuff as I go, so it's a rather rough start, and I'm outta practice too. Anyway, check it out if yer bored... www.rhgraham.com/mycraft.html Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGentile Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Randal, your tutorial is good... very good to be honest simple, easy to understand and short enough to actually being read... keep up the work and I believe many will be happy with it cheers daniel... PS: got my broad band internet connection back yesterday... now I'm heading for the shop for some heat treating test sessions (my weekend workout)... I'll share some pics... FERRUM - Daniel Gentile custom knives & forging classes http://www.ferrum-d.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Vanspeybroeck Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Good stuff, Randal. Documentation is always hard to do well...whether it is writing or photographing there is always a tendancy, IMO, to either over do it and try to capture too much detail or under do it and not make the point very well. Yours is about right IMO. Â :cool: New press? Looks good, Dude! I'm amazed at how accurately you can squash that stuff. I can barely get that kind of accuracy at the grinder. Well done. I can't wait to see the rest of the tutorial and the finished blade. Stay warm. Brian "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein "The innovator is not an opponent of the old. He is a proponent of the new." - Lyle E. Schaller http://home.mchsi.com/~hermits/BrianRVanSp..._Edged_Art.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Thomas Obach Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 cool that press is a dandy... Super Greg North Shore Forge & Ironworks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert washburn Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 very vey nice. Thanks Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 same old press, finally got off my ass and made new dies. There will be an article devoted specifically to the press later on... I'm re-tooling it and after really procrastinating for years and years getting it up to it's potential. I bet I'm only using about 10% of it's true potential at this point. Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frankl Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Randall, I would really like to say thank you for all the time and effort. It really helps other people and we all understand that it takes time and effort for which you are not (directly) compensated. Without sounding too selfish, keep it coming John Frankl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OleyFermo Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Hey, Ra Excellent tutorial... and I thank'ee kindly, good sir, for taking the time and effort to write (and photograph) it. Â When you write about forging, or even about such esoterica as lamellar platets in lower banite or body centered cubic structures... by some mysterious process, some of the information actually filters into my ossified brain and stays there. :: I owe ya one... or several. Not Worthy Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Blue Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Hey Randal, nice lessoning. Did you ever make the trailer so you could haul that press up and down the country teaching bladesmiths? Kind of a Johnny Appleseed sort of thing? I can hear little kids right now, "Daddy that looks like your log splitter but something's funny about it." "No kids, that's Randal Graham, you watch out now, he infects everyone with the disease of steel whereever he goes." There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. Will Rogers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giuseppe Maresca Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 You have done an excellent tutorial. Congratulations! Mourir pour des idées, c'est bien beau mais lesquelles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 24, 2005 Author Share Posted January 24, 2005 Thanks guys, for havin a look... Mike, i got a chunk of tube to make the axle from, just gotta find somethin in the neighborhood I can kife a couple of wheels off of... ...actually, i've given some thought to the idea of putting the shop into a truck and just travelling wherever... follow the warmth, migrate like a goose or something... Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Thomas Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Good idea Randall, come on down here to Florida for the winter. (North Florida that is! I've still got my doubts about South Florida!) It's about 50 degrees Fahr. out today. Nice tutorial by the way, I'm looking forward to the continuation of the tutorial where you hand-forge the sunobe! (I really liked the tutrial you did for Swordforum magazine as well, are you planning on putting that up on your site at some time?) Guy Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardn1 Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 You're a good teacher Randal. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge. Ward Nelson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 27, 2005 Author Share Posted January 27, 2005 I put Swordcraft002 up, have a look...gonna take a while to load... Guy, this will all be the "updated versions"... they serve a dual purpose actually, I'm putting them online cause they are kinda cool and will help me business-wise, I hope, but they are also sort-of "online story-boards" for stuff to come a little later on. In any case, as always, feedback appreciated, and I hope it's of some use to somebody. http://www.rhgraham.com/mycraft.html Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giuseppe Maresca Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Excellent tutorial again... You will share also heat treatment pics in future? Mourir pour des idées, c'est bien beau mais lesquelles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Thomas Obach Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Hi RH I think your onto something....so far this is one of the best tutorials I've seen on it. by the way.... nice hammering.. I see you do a good job of hammer polishing.... rather than letting the grinder fix all the bumps ... Super Super Greg North Shore Forge & Ironworks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 27, 2005 Author Share Posted January 27, 2005 Thanks Adamas... yes, next one will have normallizing, filing and shaping, and clay... perhaps the same one will have the heat-treating as well but I'll have to see just how many pictures I end up with, I may have to divide it up. Clean-up and polishing will be included with the Katana article. Later on I'll ad European sword making with fittings, hilt, and furniture as well since I actually do that stuff. Then knives, tools, forges, etc... Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Thomas Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Nice Randal! That's a wonderful addition to the swordcraft section! Really looking forward to the next addition. I like the hammer you are using, is it one you made? It's not a modified double face hammer is it? (One end sliced off?) You might notice a LOT of pre-curve in this pic, if you are "in the know" so to speak... it's about 7/8ths inch sori at this point, I'll want it 1 inch or more in the end.... and although it's being quenched in water, only a bit more curve will be added... you'll have to figure that out for yourself for now... :0) Awwww...you're not gonna make us wait to figure this out are you??? Gee whiz, we never get to have any fun! Seriously, I have a large tanto made from 1084 that I precurved quite a bit so that I could quench it in oil. I've been tempted to try my first water quench but that would require me to take the precurve out first...or so I thought! Guy Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Makin Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Fantastic tutorial so far.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 27, 2005 Author Share Posted January 27, 2005 Guy... mebbee it's a three, mebbee it's a five... it's all in the count... time n temp n time n temp n time n temp...... Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Wow wow! Awesome. I'm at the beginning of the Tanto phase (done few blades to understand and learn the basic process, now in the polishing phase, then mounting), so it'll serve me as a reference (mmhh make that "grailic goal") for many years to come I'm sure! Thank you much Sir! Oh and if you want to take your show on the road, Los Angeles has got complimentary food and lodging for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean McKay Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Randall, the tutorial is awesome, I just visited and I am hooked. Not Worthy When are we getting instalment 3? Super Manu Forte With a strong Hand Dean McKay Stoneman NT Yard'n Ape McKay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 28, 2005 Author Share Posted January 28, 2005 Next one should be first of the week, pics are on the hard-drive but I gotta sort it all out... I'm going to try and add something to Mycraft pretty regularly, once a week or every ten days or so... that's the plan anyway. Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Frank Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 That's a fantastic tutorial! Super I am waiting in suspense for the next installment :: Rósta að, maðr! http://jfmetalsmith.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.H.Graham Posted January 28, 2005 Author Share Posted January 28, 2005 Guy... I can arrange for you to get one of those hammers :0) It's old, and was made that way, it used to be a lot bigger when i started using it, it's probably lost a good 3/4 inch off the face over the last 20 years or so..... christ... i'm gettin old... Well listen, thanks alot for the encouragement you guys, that means a lot to me, but nothing I'm doing is all that special, it's nothing ya'll can't figure out yourselves by doing and seeing. IF it speeds some things up some, that's cool, I hope it helps. A lot of what i learned came from some guys here too, Don Fogg in particular. THe swordcraft articles with the kat are not as detailed as I'd like it, it's really just a pictorial essay, eventually I want to back-track and get more solidly into the mechanics of forging and stuff like that, but it'll be with knives and tools, smaller projects are a lot easier to expand into greater detail. And with other folks as well. I gotta get up to Mike Blues soon with the cameras... that'll make your eyes pop right out :laugh: In any case, don't just tell me the good stuff... let me know what you think I'm doing wrong with any of it too. This is a family thing, were all family. Randal www.rhgraham.simpl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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