What did you do in your shop today?

[Gerhard Gerber 171]

Saturday afternoon was experimentation time, wanted to forge a blacksmith's knife in search of something cheaper I can market.

I started with half a large bearing race, flattened I started with 180mm.

Drawing out the tang was relatively easy,  cheated and user a grinder to fix the plunge a bit, but didn't struggle too much with the rest....took about 2 hours.

My neighbor Mike joined about halfway through and started the same process on a halfround file.

We had a laugh because while he uses technique, I just use brute force  Due to lack of practice I switch from brute force to technique once I start getting tired, and the stupidity of this will probably hit the day I injure myself......

My knife has a few issues....

The handle is too small for me, which means it should be okay for most  people.  The blade on the other hand is a bit of a monster, probably still around 180mm even after forging out the tang.

First lesson learned, start with 1/3 of a bearing race.

Secondly, I have a few great ideas for pimping the handle a bit, but the idea is to make something cheaper, so I need to apply the KISS-principle.

Which brings me to the blade.........nothing I can't fix and make look very nice on the grinder.  Problem with that is do more than grind in a basic bevel and leave the rest, you have to do all the normal F&F......

This is a real struggle for me because my instincts tell me making cheaper knives is not the way to go..... 

[Charles du Preez 310]

How about a photo Gerhard?

4 hours ago, Gerhard Gerber said:

This is a real struggle for me because my instincts tell me making cheaper knives is not the way to go..... 

Simple = fast (especially with practice). Fast = lots. Lots @ cheap = profit. With a steady flow and as you get even faster, you can make higher end pieces in between. 

[Gerhard Gerber 171]

@Charles du Preez I will have to get a lot better, a lot faster.......but for today it seems I need to choose between this and a J-O-B......got an offer today that would mean pressing pause for the foreseeable future.....

Neighbour Mike is the hand model.....needed to catch the last light.....

 

 

[AndrewB 150]

Got everything glued up, hopefully by tomorrow I can start sanding the wood down.    Not sure exactly how I should do this handle quite yet.

[Conner Michaux 107]

My second knife is coming along waaaayy faster than the first, I quenched it this evening, and its currently tempering at 400 for an hour and a half twice.

Edited March 20 by Conner Michaux

[Joshua States 872]

I had the day off and after domestic chores and a bunch of errands, I had a few hours of shop time to make some dust. I am working of a group of 6 knives all at the same time. I'm seeing if I can make a group more efficiently by working in stages. So once I get my tooling set up to do one step, I do all six. Today was starting the finish grind. The little full tang job got to 400 grit on the 2x72 (flats and bevels) the rest are at 220 on the flats, 150 on the bevels. Still a lot of dust to make.

[AndrewB 150]

Spent some time grinding down a base plate for my Guillotine tool almost caught my work bench on fire because of grinder dust OPPS lmfao.  Make sure all WOOD dust is out from UNDERNEATH the grinder before continuing.

[Daniel W 40]

Yesterday I had a little time, did not want to start up the forge but found some stuff laying around to try. 

I got out my cutting torch and am giving a try at reforging an older 'Warren" axe head that I destroyed some years ago.  The spark test on the axe head was pretty good - it looked to be made of a higher carbon steel, once I'm done with it - it might be very low or just junk.

 

A locust tree proved to be a little tougher than this blade. I believe it chipped out because someone years before me hammered on the end of the cheek and caused a stress fracture. 

Yep that's one heck of a trim and I'm thinking about using what mass is left to make something from it.  A friend of mine said to give this process a try to make a bearded axe, so I'm giving it a quick go.

To be honest, the best thing would have been to just cut across the whole length and make a smaller felling axe.  Then reheat treat it.

I also cut away a chunk off materiel from my recent axe drift I found to lighten it up and make it a little more handy.  Still have a lot of grinding to do on it. 

[Alan Longmire 1,594]

Interesting...  I'd draw out the beard and thin the blade all over.  Bearded axes being very thin little buggers, you know.

[Conner Michaux 107]

Finally got around to forging out this tang a little bit more, and making it round-ish, once I file the bevels I’ll figure out what I want to do with it.

Edited March 21 by Conner Michaux

[Troels Saabye 30]

Nothing blacksmith related - renovated the farm basement, removed 25 years of gunk from the floor- found a bunch of beer, cider and soda - expiration date 2009 and 2013 O.o some how I don't want to drink then

[Ron Benson 41]

1 hour ago, Troels Saabye said:

Nothing blacksmith related - renovated the farm basement, removed 25 years of gunk from the floor- found a bunch of beer, cider and soda - expiration date 2009 and 2013 O.o some how I don't want to drink then

Let your mother in law try them. If she survives, then you're good to drink them. 

[Zeb Camper 538]

@Conner Michaux that's a good looking little blade! I really like the profile. 

@Gerhard Gerber nice blacksmith's knife! They look more handsome in my opinion the thinner the handle taper gets. Around 1/8" toward the end with the edges domed looks really good, uses a little less steel and keeps plenty strong. 

@Joshua States thats an impressive bunch of blades! 

 

[Troels Saabye 30]

Ron - Not an option that would require  for me to get married in the nearest future - I think i'm going to "give" them away to my neighbour,   

[Jeremy Blohm 316]

Trying to get this ice out before it thaws and I'm battling water.I need to figure out why the drain isnt working properly. 

 

Edited March 22 by Jeremy Blohm

[Alex Middleton 186]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd say it's because it was plugged with ice! 

[Jeremy Blohm 316]

I set myself up for that one. 

[AndrewB 150]

Some boiling hot water should do the trick that would save the headache of using a long pick and sledge hammer lol.  Or even better yet a propane weed burner.

Edited March 22 by AndrewB

[Conner Michaux 107]

I was curious to see what would happen if I stuck a knife into an orange for the night, here are the results 

[Joël Mercier 340]

That's seriously cool!

[AndrewB 150]

That’s from the acidity of the orange.  Interesting effect.

[Mike Ward 66]

Spent the weekend making these. A holding block for a knife out of curly maple and walnut. And a big 12x18 cutting board that’s glueing right now.

[Charles du Preez 310]

Love that cutting board Mike. What wood did you use?

[Gerhard Gerber 171]

I feel like crying, my shop that I just recently spent about two months cleaning out and setting up is looking much worse for wear.....

Two weeks of welding and grinding has left a complete mess, and I'm not near done yet.

What really kills me is I have to shutter everything, find somewhere to store my belts etc, and there's no time.....

[Mike Ward 66]

@Charles du Preez, on the top piece from left to right: walnut, maple, Padauk, walnut, canary wood, and walnut again.