Glenn1022

Hey, Have not been on the last few days. I have been out locating spalted wood for knife scales and such. Out of all the wood I gathered I was able to gather enough spalted wood to make allot of handles. I have already placed a few in the vacuum chamber and they are drying now. Figured I would give it a few days to dry well. I had found a rather large piece of spalted wood and took it to a lumber company to cut it for me as it was too large for my saws and in the process of talking to the guy and getting to know each other, he gave me several huge chunks of exotic walnut and a old saw blade. Both are about 3+ inches thick 10" wide and 30" long. What a score that was... beautiful pieces with a lot of character! Both pieces had been sitting in his shop for 15 years or so and so I do not have to worry about drying/curing them at all. He is also going to save any old band saw blades and circular saw blades for me for the next time I stop over. Great guy! All the hot weather we have had over the last week or so since you came over to visit has not let me work on the forge at all till tonight. Shaped up several blades. Gets that hot again and I will grind them up a bit and set them aside for a rainy day. Once I figure out my new phone, I will take a few pics and post them. I was able to locate those two knives I had thought stolen....come to find out, my buddy had stopped by and was looking at them and had left them on his truck seat. They had slid under the back of the seat and he found them when cleaning his truck. He brought them to me the next day. I feel allot better now that I have them back. A lot of work went into those knives. I can not wait till we can hook up again and maybe we can hit the forge together and see what we can learn from each other. I enjoyed the visit as I have no one around here that shares my interest in forging blades. Talk to you later.

That is a nice knife! Can wait to see the others you post.

Finally was able to polish up a section of a Damascus billet I made from chainsaw blades. I forge welded it on a coal forge. This is my third billet I have made from them but it is the best one yet. First two had several inclusions and rough areas (mostly around the tip and near the back of the billet) but this round I tied up my blades evenly as I could before tack welding the edges. The results were much better. Keeping the chainsaw blades immobile as possible seems to be the trick for me. I will forge it down a little further and make my tang later this week if weather permits. This has been rather fun making Damascus from scrap stuff. I have used lawnmower blades to make Damascus to start off with and they worked out fine to odds and end bearings mixed with drill bit shavings. Amazing the things you can use....except 5160...this stuff is hard to forge weld...at least for me that is. Can not wait to see what the finished knife will look like. I think I will make several more billets and set them up for a rainy day or during the winter months when I cant get outside to work of the forge. Sorry for the crummy picture....my camera is not the best for close ups.

Steve, I did not see your sticky. I had prowled around looking and found contradicting/incomplete information and one that was beyond my capabilities to perform. It was also very complicated for a backyard smith. I may have not entered the right phrase or word to locate your sticky. I will look again. I enjoy reading as much as possible on a subject then trying my hand at it but some things require tons of cash and equipment. I had seen one sticky during my searches that said to treat chainsaw bade Damascus as 1084 steel and again I found incomplete explanations or over the top info beyond my abilities....lol...one extreme or the other. Marksnagel... I took (3) 16" blades, stacked and tied them together with wire keeping them as even as possible into one long strand. I then tack welded the edge (tooth side) every 2" (give or take) to make it a little more manageable. I used the wrong wire onetime that had copper in it I think and ruined my welds so I tack weld any Damascus I make. After I finished tack welding, I cut it in half and laid the one on top of the other and tack welded them in place then removed the wire. This gave me 6 layers of chain in a neat row. I welded a 3/8" piece of re-bar to this for the handle. I had used gas to clean my chain earlier, then got it up to a low red heat in the coal fire and tapped it a few times to remove some of the crud. Once this was completed I got it up to a nice red heat and started fluxing it heavily. Brought up a 3" or so section to welding heat and tapped the link side with my hammer to set the weld. I do this a couple of times as I am only a beginner at this to make sure I had secure welds. Then on the 3rd heat I start in on the tooth side. By the time I get to my 5th heat, I start pounding it hard into about a half inch thick 1" wide bar. I brush and flux it before putting it back in the coal every time. Not sure if this helps the welds at this point but reduces scaling. This is my third chain that I have welded but this is the first time I will make a knife from one. The first two I pounded thin (1/8"), sanded smooth and etched to see how my inclusions I had. My fist one was the best but neither was bad. My inclusions were on the ends about 1" from the front and 1" from the back but the center 4" were all flawless as far as I can tell. I used them for inlays on a jewelry box lid for a giveaway. Thought about making a couple of door handles out of some of the rejects next time. This is fun stuff. This is just how I have done it so far and it might not be the correct way but works for me until I figure out something better. I tried wading up one chain and forge welding but that was a disaster. It works out better for me if I line everything up on the chain. This explanation was a little long in the tooth but hope it helps you. I will take pics next time before I start forge welding so you can see what I had done. If the rain holds off....cant forge my blade until these evening thunder storms settle down a little.

I just forge welded a billet out of chainsaw blades. I did it on a coal forge. It seams to have worked out fine and I am going to forge the knife blade tomorrow. Question I have is this....how do you harden and temper Chainsaw blade Damascus? I have not found any clear answers so far in my searches. I am a back yard smith without any fancy tools to work with so my method of doing things has to be with simple tools with a little trial and error. I was thinking of simple preheated oil quench (full dip or edge quench) and 3 cycles in a oven at 400 degrees. Dose this sound correct?

I live in Hiddenite, North Carolina. Sorry but forgot to mention that. Used to profile showing where I am from. Thanks for all the input guys.

Hey guys, I have newb question. I just finished the shell to my forge and added the Inswool (I have not added the ITC-100 to the wool yet) and I installed the burner that I picked up from Ellis knife works. The lining is two layers thick and the burner flare stick into the wool about 1 layer. I formed a funnel shape into the liner to help hold the flame. Once I fired it up, I closed the back with soft fire brick and it started heating up. At 5 psi, it got the flat steel up to orange heat rather quick. I then noticed that the flare was at a orange heat as well when I looked up into the burner. Is that normal? Even in the videos of the burners being tested, I did not notice that the flare was that hot but mine gets red hot quick. If this is too hot any suggestions would be appreciated to correct the problem or am I just worrying over nothing?

Found a couple places that have all the plumbing supplies needed to make a burner except for the Stainless steel flare. http://www.mrsupply.com/ has everything to make propane burner. http://www.drillspot.com/products/670441/anvil_international_inc_0310067202_wye has the Wye connector to make a burner similar to a burner I saw on another web site. Took forever to dig the parts out that I will need but they are there. Hi Temp and Ceramicfiber online sell in large quantities only it seems. To much for the small projects I am working at. Maybe in the future when I have more money at my disposal (if that ever happens).

OK, I have been looking around the web for forge making supplies. Zoeller Forge is closed for awhile due to medical issues and Ellis custom knife works is out due to severe shipping problems (Took 5 months for my last order). So where can I find suppliers that carry items to build forges such as refractory, gas fittings (hoses, gauges ext...) Prefer places that let you order online via Credit card or PayPal but will work with others. Basically a one stop shop for all my forging needs (if any exist) but will go with multiple vendors is necessary. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking for a little hands on guidance in smithing. I have tried locating a smith close to my area here in Taylorsville North Carolina but have been unsuccessful. I used to do a little forging about 20 years ago on the family farm. I want to do a little blade smithing and forge my own tools. Long drives are hard for me due to work so the closer to my area the better. I am constructing my own coal forge and collecting the essentials for getting started up again. I want to make my own Gas forge in the near future but I have never seen one in operation. So, anyone who would be interested in helping me out, give me a shout. I would be in your debt.

Thanks for the welcome. I was planning on editing my info later today. Time got away from me last night. Never seem to have enough time anymore :/

Hello all! New to the site and wanting to get back into forging. I used to use a forge in my youth for making horse shoes and bush axes with my father. Now I want to start making knives again. Going to make myself a wheel forge...cheap Have a large selection of deer antler that I want to use. Information is now readily available now with internet and I can