What did you do in your shop today?

[Alan Longmire]

What does that look like when it's assembled?  I am not familiar with those...

[billyO]

@Joshua States, @Gary LT, @Gerhard Gerber - Thanks guys. 

This was a fun one to finish.  I kind of like the raindrop pattern, I just don't like all the material waste from drilling.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by billyO

[Joshua States]

7 hours ago, billyO said:

I just don't like all the material waste from drilling

Collect them all and join the madness of remelt?

Bloomers and Buttons - Bladesmith's Forum Board (bladesmithsforum.com)

[Joshua States]

13 hours ago, Jeroen Zuiderwijk said:

I've been busy re-restoring my antique cargo tricycle

This is going to be a cool project!

 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Cool projects!

The kid riding that chopper bike will be the coolest kid on the block, and he should have some seriously strong legs as well! 

[Jaro Petrina]

It takes shape. Slowly.

[billyO]

23 hours ago, Joshua States said:

Collect them all and join the madness...

While that sounds kinda fun, I don't need another time consuming hobby.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Pieter-Paul Derks]

I have been quite busy doing commission work, for some reason I am getting more requests than ever. My plan was to make some stock for knifeshows that are coming up and to work towards my ABS goals but I just can''t find the time.

The latest project completed was a major challenge but also a real cool result. A pair of damascus wedding rings with silver liners and inlays.

I had done a signet ring for the same client with the same inlayed damascus, so I thought making these rings would be fun.

The thing I didn't account for is how tiny the inlays on these are, the lines are only half a mm wide. 

 

[Jaron Martindale]

Still trying to figure this fighter knife thing out, lol!  Way out of my league with the blade and sheath, but its been fun to be uncomfortable and grow with it.

 

And I've been enjoying exploring the realm of kitchen knives too!  80CrV2 K-tip I'm finishing up for a friend and former co-worker with some neat alloy banding (and maybe dirty etching, I dunno lol)

[Jaro Petrina]

[Gerhard Gerber]

I had a productive Saturday at least, did some of the last touches on a knife that's been waiting forever, my dad's busy with the sheath now.

During a visit at a fellow knife maker based at the coast, he gave me raindrop damascus billet that I'll start a new thread about soon, and a damascus blade that he'd burned in half in by accident.  He likes big knives, asked if I wanted to do something with it, and I immediately had an idea.

I generously cut away the burned steel and forged out the blade as far as I could, there was more material in the tang than the blade so my idea was to forge it out and make a blacksmith knife.

(this is getting long winded)
For some reason the tang kept delaminating and eventually cracked, change of plan.
I managed to grind out a nice little blade, and my new plan was hidden tang with a pinned brass bolster that's open at the top.
I needed to move the tang so the forge was lit, moved the tang without messing up, and finished of a 52100 blacksmith knife and ulu.

Fitted the brass guard and bid some last grinding, on to heat treat, had the damascus blade and a big 52100 butcher's knife.

I asked the maker of the damascus but he couldn't remember the mix in that billet, so I normalized once at 870C and quenched at 840C in 60C canola oil.

 

So here's my question, and yes I promise to update the post with a pic, but that blade came out of the quench looking so pretty I doubt I could equal the finish when it's done.  I don't have much experience with damascus, but I don't think this is normal?
Didn't look special after the normalizing....

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Gerhard Gerber

[Garry Keown]

Have got these handles all prepared for final checking of the inside faces to make sure they are perfectly flat and it will be a glue up for them all but with needing 2 clamps per knife will have to do that over 2 days.

[Gerhard Gerber]

I feel like a dog that caught the car it was chasing, picking up a 2kg can of 1085 powder (and a few other goodies) after work, and me sans press or power hammer

[Garry Keown]

Busy day with 8 of the handles on so just the steak knife set to do tomorrow before I can set into the handle shaping.

To finish out the day I cut out another couple of late order blanks to make a batch with some cut out last week. Got them all profiled and the faces cleaned up ready for pre heat treat grind.

 

[Jaro Petrina]

[Conan Dunlap]

I hand sanded and etched this mistake damascus.  It didn't work out like I hoped, but I still like it.  I also etched this piece of mystery steel ant it turns out it was an end cut of an old piece of damascus that I had lying around.  I kind of like it for the guard.

[Gerhard Gerber]

I did first grinds on two forgings, and on both I have to get them back in the forge to fake the finish where I ground to far or touched by accident.

Finish ground and etched the little damacus blade I've been busy with.  I chose a style of guard that's completely inappropriate for the layout of the blade (already on ver3.1), faffed around with that and finally got it soldered in place.

Wanted to use Afromocia for the handle, had the slots for the tang milled, long story short I cracked then.

Due to the compromised layout I'll have to be very good or very lucky not to break through to the tang slot while finishing the handle, pity because it's a pretty little blade, just got away from me with all the problems.
 

Sit down before you hurt yourself weekend.

[Bill Schmalhofer]

Finally finished a prototype I've been working on for what seems like forever.

 

 

So many new things to try on this one (posted questions on a different thread).

 

[Alan Longmire]

15 hours ago, Gerhard Gerber said:

Sit down before you hurt yourself weekend

 

It's been that kind of year for me so far.

[Garry Keown]

Getting the finish on the Curly Macrocarpa handles of this cryo quenched  NitroV kitchen set.

[Alan Longmire]

3 minutes ago, Garry Keown said:

Curly Macrocarpa

 

Ooh, pretty!  That's a nice set, Garry.

[Welsh joel]

No pictures yet...

But got out in the forge for the first time in months.

 

Got the "scrapmascus" blade I made last summer- ground & profiled, with a quick test etch... just to see what happens when you forge weld 30-40 some 3/8" x 2" pieces of scraps together.

 

Wound up grinding most of it off, lost alot to scale.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Welsh joel

[Aiden CC]

 

I guess it wasn’t technically my shop, but I got to use a press for the first time yesterday! I mostly just worked down some wrought iron anchor chain/wagon tire for pattern welding/shear steel. It was a lot of fun, especially after so long of bashing on things with a hand hammer. Got a bit carried away when I first started as you can see on the rough end of the big piece of chain 

[Alan Longmire]

Fired up the forge for myself for the first time in a while. Turned some 1.25" round wrought into 1.25" x a fat 1/4" flat bar, then forged a hawk head.  First one in two years.   No pics, it's just a rough-forged head at the moment. 

[Faye]

I made some red neck gravers out of some cut masonary nails and tried my hand at some caveman engraving on the end of some copper round stock. Spent maybe four minutes on it is all. I'm signed up for a bit and spur ordamentation class in a few weeks and they are gonna teach silver/gold inlay and soldering, among other things. I got an email saying to bring my hammer and chisels, and somehow I didn't think they meant my rounding hammer and hot chisels.

I'll play with these over the next week and refine the graver shapes and sizes. I think I'll use my notebook and pencil more at the class though.