Woody

I haven't been around IFI for quite some time. Just dropped in today by chance. I am devastated to learn of Glenn's passing. I remember when IFI was just starting out. I had many on line conversations with Glenn, and I will always remember his call to me when my wife Candy died. He was a great guy. Some of the Good has gone from the World with his passing. "Eternal rest grant to him O'Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he Rest in Peace. Amen."

Eternal rest grant unto her O'Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her, may she rest in peace, Amen. Dear Lord please comfort the family and friends of this dear lady.

Split the spike down the center about half way from the point, twist the un split portion to make the handle, insert a piece of high carbon steel into the split and forge weld back together, then forge your blade.

316L is the mild steel of stainless materials, 304 is also a mild steel stainless. Not enough carbon to be properly hardened into a blade. That said, it could be used in canned Damascus to produce some interesting patterns. If something with a higher carbon content were used as the cutting edge and the 316 kept to the spine area you could end up with some great looking cutters

Junior, Cheryl (Baby Anvil) and myself in Junior's shop a few years ago when I made a trip down there to give Cookie my late wife, Candy, oxygen concentrator. I will always remember that visit. I had a great time seeing a few of the tools that Junior made. A spring pole lathe, a treadal powered jig saw. Japanese hand saws that cut on the pull stroke, these were made from scratch. He cut out the blade, cut the teeth, beveled and set the teeth and constructed the handle. They cut like a hot knife through butter. If you were never in Junior's shop and the basement of his house, you missed something truly worthwhile.

Cookie posted this on Facebook last night. "Last night Junior passed away. Ending his long battle with back pain and recent battle with aneurysms, he is at peace." We have lost one of the most talented and creative artists who worked in metal and wood. Eternal rest grant unto him O'Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace, Amen.

Junior's wife Cookie posted this on Facebook this afternoon. "To my friends and family my husband Jr. Has turned for the worse. Family are coming from out of town, arriving today. We pray Jr. is as comfortable as possible and that God will give peace to his loved ones through this time of their lives. God has touched my life and given me peace and I am so grateful for His love. May everyone know the joy of God's love to the fullest as I have since November." It doesn't look like we will have this wonderful man and great blacksmith for much longer.

Last fall we had a garage sale. I showed a guy a knife I had made for Jackie. He asked what the handle was made from and I said Desert Ironwood. He said I have a piece of that and I told him I would buy it from him. The next day he showed up with a hunk that was almost a foot square and tapered from 2 to 3 inches thick. When I asked what he wanted for it, he said you can have it. I kissed his boots all the way back to his car. There was another guy there at the time and he said he had some wood pieces I could have. He came back with a piece of Bubinga that will make 4 or 5 handles, a piece of Ebony that will make 6 to 8 and a big hunk of Walnut and a small piece of Purple Heartwood. A few days ago I saw this post on a yard sale page about some beautiful slabs of Elm. A local tree service guy takes the trees he cuts and makes them into slabs about 2 inches thick and sells the lumber instead of just taking it to the dump to be made into chips. I asked if he had any small pieces with knots or good figure and he told me he had a bunch to come over and take a look. I think he means anything shorter than 10 feet when he says small. He gave me several real small pieces with nice grain and figure and a couple of first cut slabs with the bark on one side. The are 6 foot and 8 foot long and taper from paper thin at one end to 2 inches at the other. He said he also gets olive wood and other stuff and he will call me if he comes across something that he thinks I will be interested in. I think I will have to make 2 knives a day and live forever to use up all this stuff. It sure has been my lucky season. I may turn some of that Elm into a butcher block table top.

I just got this message on Facebook regarding Junior "Woody, J.r. is in the nursing home now permanently. He is in HOSPIS Care. I am living in the house Melissa moved her family here to help take care of us. We are having a card shower for Junior's birthday if you would send a card that would be great! Falls City Care Center 2800 Towle Street, Falls City, NE 68355 _funny is great. Please pass this information on to other friends you have in common The date is February 27. I pray you and your family are well." It would be great if he got cards from all of you Jr. Strasil (Irnsrgn) Falls City Care Center 2800 Towle Street Falls City, NE 68355

A while ago Jack, a Metallurgical Student at the School of Mines, and I were making up a Damascus billet. The next week when he came over to do more work on it he handed my a plastic ice cream bucket of white goo. He said here is your borax, we had left it out in the rain for most part of a week. I had mixed some Roach Killer into it, Boric Acid. I told him to go put it in a metal pan and put it in the oven at 200 degrees to dry it out. After a while we looked at and it was thicker but still gooey. We poured it back into the plastic pan when it was cool and left it. It got hard as a rock so we used a chisel to break it into some big hunks. Now when we want to flux a piece we just grab one of these chunks and wipe it on the hot metal. It melts immediately and flows nicely and there is no waste or over fluxing. Might not work for anyone else but I sure like it.

Johnny is home now and doing well but he has about 3 months before he can go back to work, thank you all for your prayers. Woody & Jackie

Johnny is doing better, his pain level is down and he was able to set up in a chair for 2 hours today, also watched the Football Game on TV with a couple friends who came by, he was a trainer intern with the Packers a few years ago and he is a big packer fan, the Huge Packer win today gave him a real boost. He will be in the hospital at least another week if things go well. It will still be several months before he is able to go back to work. His boss Dr. Frank Patino, Physician and Author, is setting up a benefit dinner for Johnny as he has no health insurance. I am donating a Damascus Knife and it will be one of the lesser prizes. One prize they are auctioning off is a appearance on Peter N. Neilsen TV show Peter Principles. Thanks for your prayers. Woody & Jackie

Could you please say a prayer for my Brother in Law, John Bray. He had a brain bleed last week and is in ICU at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Michigan. He is doing ok and should have the drain tube removed from his head tomorrow. Please pray for his complete and speedy recovery. Thanks Woody & Jackie

my prayers are with him

most planer blades I have had experience with were M-2 the M is for miserable and the 2 is for squared. They are air hardening and have a fair amount of chrome in them but not enough to qualify as stainless. Also contain some molly and vanadium and are about 1% give or take carbon. As Steve and Tom said the flux needed to weld this stuff contains fluorite which when heated off gasses Hydrogen Fluoride, you don't want to breathe any of that stuff with a lot of emphasis on ANY. You can make a good knife out of them just using stock removal being careful not to burn them with the grinder. You will have to hot punch holes to rivet on the scales for a handle. I am sure they make drills that will drill this stuff but nothing like that resides in my tool box..