Alan Longmire 2,713 Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 I was supposed to be fixing the porch, but it was supposed to rain so I worked on my copy of the Culver slipjoint for KITH instead. It's ready for final assembly and I am a bit nervous... Coal forging, Josh? I make my watering cans to swivel on a fork with a row of holes up high on one side under one end of the fork. Much less messy, plus you can easily replace the can when it rusts out. A modification to the "Tennessee Valve" in Francis Whitaker's Blacksmith's Cookbook. I have since met the guy who invented said "valve," Paul Lundquist, and he said while he thought my innovation was an improvement, he's still a little miffed that Francis didn't mention him by name. Link to post Share on other sites
SteveShimanek 112 Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 I bought a regulator for my shop air project, but it didn't come with a mounting bracket, so I had to make one from some scrap stainless steel, and fabricated a nut 1 3/4x12tpi on my lathe from a PVC plumbing cap, that screws onto the regulator body. In a place where things are hard to come by, it is good to be able to make your own parts. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, Alan Longmire said: I was supposed to be fixing the porch, but it was supposed to rain so I worked on my copy of the Culver slipjoint for KITH instead. It's ready for final assembly and I am a bit nervous... Coal forging, Josh? I make my watering cans to swivel on a fork with a row of holes up high on one side under one end of the fork. Much less messy, plus you can easily replace the can when it rusts out. A modification to the "Tennessee Valve" in Francis Whitaker's Blacksmith's Cookbook. I have since met the guy who invented said "valve," Paul Lundquist, and he said while he thought my innovation was an improvement, he's still a little miffed that Francis didn't mention him by name. Yes indeed. It's about time I put this into use and this dreadful beast won't fit through the door on my welding forge. I don't know why, but I feel as though I must continue forging it out in the futile hope that it will become a less-ugly duckling. The can on my watering thingy has pin holes in the bottom. I do not have Whitaker's book, and I'm not really visualizing the contraption. I guess I could put the holes up high on the left side of the can and accomplish the same thing. I made this snug enough to hold the can well, but not so tight that it cannot be removed with a little wiggling. Maybe I'll switch it out the next time I open a can of olives. Edited June 23, 2019 by Joshua States Link to post Share on other sites
Joël Mercier 525 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Completing this 7.5" blade kitchen knife. I tried a simple handle design consisting of the reversed egg cross section shape and a rounded butt. It's very comfy but i am not sold to the style. What do you guys think? It's micarta and black walnut. 5 Link to post Share on other sites
jheinen 41 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 I glued the scales on this yesterday and started shaping the handle today. Someone on another forum suggested to do most of the shaping before gluing them, which is the way I normally do hidden tang knives. I hadn't thought to do this on a full-tang. What process do you all use? Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 351 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 @jheinen on full tangs I leave the scales slightly larger than the tang before gluing, take off the extra on the belt grinder once the glue is set, rough shape with a file and the sand paper. I have a medium size halfround file that I use for most of my shaping, and recently I figured out you can use the file in the same motion as draw filing during the shaping to even things out. Next is sand paper, 220 then 400. I use 1" wide shop rolls which allows you to use that (sorry my words are running out) shoe polishing motion when sanding, that really rounds things off nicely.... That said, looking at your knife you should give advice rather that asking for it Nice......... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 511 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) Made this one the other day With a friend and its for him. Simple boys axe made from 1 inch square mild steel with a spring steel bit. The odd color was from the acid etch to make sure the bit was centered. I should have dipped the whole thing. This one I made this morning. A little birthday present to myself. Made from 1 1/2"x3/8" mild steel wrapped eye with.a spring steel bit. I had a little delamination by the eye from driving the drift too cold. But it's for myself and I can live with it. Edited June 25, 2019 by Jeremy Blohm 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 473 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Happy birthday Jeremy 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 511 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Thank you!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 On 6/23/2019 at 1:39 PM, SteveShimanek said: I bought a regulator for my shop air project, but it didn't come with a mounting bracket, so I had to make one from some scrap stainless steel, and fabricated a nut 1 3/4x12tpi on my lathe from a PVC plumbing cap, that screws onto the regulator body. In a place where things are hard to come by, it is good to be able to make your own parts. That's the real deal right there! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 351 Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 Yesterday was Amateur Hour in my shop.... Busy with 2 chef knives 50mm wide 6mm thick 5160 stock....no ideal I know. Full flat grind. Followed the wonderful advice I got here, started with a hollow grind and then took it to FFG on the platen. Great advice, saves a lot of time. Did draw filing through my 3 "grits" to get everything nice and flat, but while sanding yesterday I realized that even with the fear of de-card on my heart, the edges are still to thick for what I will need to do post heat treat then.... This means back to the belt, then the files, then sanding again. Link to post Share on other sites
Troels Saabye 41 Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 I made some more charcoal and started building my 1800 liters charcoal oven Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 On 6/26/2019 at 2:52 AM, Troels Saabye said: and started building my 1800 liters charcoal oven got ant photos? Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 351 Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Impromptu heat treat afternoon/evening 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 351 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 11 hours ago, Gerhard Gerber said: I was thinking last night, I actually really enjoy forging these blacksmith knives, the grinding has been very basic and trouble free. They sit great in the hand, if my plans with the handle work out they'll look good, and 52100 is about the best steel in my arsenal. My initial idea was they would be a budget offering which was unrealistic, but if I can get a good price for them I'm seriously considering churning out these for a while. I have a bucket full of bearing races left, one of which gives me 2 of the one or 3 of the other knives, and the handles will wood instead of micarta. Fresh out of temper and all I do is put on a handle and sharpen......no sanding, no struggle. Cop-out? 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,713 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 If it sells it's not a cop-out. Unless you just can't live with yourself afterwards. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 @Gerhard Gerber no such thing as a cop out. If you make it, and people will buy it, that's called "success" in my book. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Troels Saabye 41 Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Josh - not yet I have to finish the preparation for the farms 25th anniversary, but will start next week on cutting the tank open when the dry ice arrives 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jheinen 41 Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Making some more progress on this one. Rough shaping of the handle is done. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 7 hours ago, jheinen said: Making some more progress on this one. Rough shaping of the handle is done. Nice job tapering the tang. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Zeb Camper 780 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 Didnt get much done. Piddled around with the power hammer, and wound up picking on my Pawpaw's (grandfather's) old banjo. I dont know how to play, but I think I'm gonna learn. I was very entertained making my own little rhythm just with open strings. 1,6,1,6,4,5,4,5,3,1,6,1,6,4,5,4,5,3 repeat. After that I asked if I could borrow a guitar off my sister to learn on... Any tips for a newbie? Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 351 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 @Alan Longmire @Joshua States you guys (the odd girl) and this place is what makes me think it's a cop-out, with unemployment looming I can't help but think that the only answer is better, higher priced work. I hurt myself a bit with the draw filing and sanding, and with a funeral on Saturday I could only get myself to start putting a handle on a very silly Assegaai I have no hope of selling, should make a very nice if somewhat deadly toy 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 8 hours ago, Gerhard Gerber said: with unemployment looming I can't help but think that the only answer is better, higher priced work. There are two schools of thought in the knife making world. Production work: Making something simple and utilitarian, that almost everyone would buy and use, at a price point that almost everyone can afford. Make them fast and sell a bunch of them. There are a lot of makers that do this and make a good living at it. Early work by D'Alton Holder comes to mind. Custom Work: Generally higher end one of a kind things that people are scared to use because they don't want to damage/devalue it. Takes a ton of time to produce and you make only a few in a year. Smaller market as the price point is much higher than production knives. Before you pick a path, it is best to know what type of buyer is available to you and where you have to go to put your work in front of them. I cannot help but think that your circumstances would lend themselves to a mixture of the two. Develop a couple of models that you can reproduce quickly and efficiently (even if they are done stock removal for the most part). Small utility EDC type blades, hunter/skinner, etc. You could probably buy a couple of rolls of paracord for the handle and not have much invested in materials or time. Knock them out and sell them to buyers or see if a local outfitter will buy a few and put them on the shelf. Then you take one or two custom projects in a year that you want to make. These are your "progress" knives. These are the ones that you take chances on, push your skills to the next level, and sell at the higher price point to anyone who can afford it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,710 Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Oh. BTW- Those three knives in the middle look a lot like Lin Rhea's X-Rhea knives. These sell really well for him (then again, he IS Lin RHea!) Link to post Share on other sites
AJ Chalifoux 57 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 Got two dirks and one dagger forged, straightened, normalized, and ready for heat treat tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites
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