WmHorus

Personally I would have tempered it at around 450 for about 2 hours and gone from there, depending on the thickness of the piece. It sounds like you got it to hot from the heat treat judging from the grain size.

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”

Dennis will get it to you, I ordered a forge from him when I first started.

Great Post, lots of stuff there I didnt know Thanks

Ya I know a production knife and sword maker from the midwest that is willing to take them to the shows he goes to over the summer so I may try that. Or see what else crops up. And thanks for the compliments, I started to feel really down about them of late.

Well as promised here are pics of the 3 I recently finished and have up for sale, its sad that the only place that would show them semi locally is charging me 25% consignment. I will probably pull them since when I went in the other day they are sitting on a cluttered shelf in the rear of the store and barely can be seen unless they are pointed out.

Well bro, weather patterns are shifting and the Tornado Belt is widening. Just glad you and yours are safe.

Yes it does make cool patterns, it just takes a while in some cases to get the forgewelding down...read read read up on it here. Do web searches on cable damascus and learn all ya can about the process, for some folks its easy for some folks its hard. There is a learning curve with it just like anything, but learn to control your hammer and fire... I almost exclusively make my own steel from cable, eventually I plan on smelting my own.....Just make sure you read read read first.

I have a buddy that has a 90 lb anvil with MHS and the words JAPAN under it in a circle. I obviously not familiar with this brand of anvil have decided to ask here since most guys here know a fair amount of anvil makes and models. He was askin what he should ask for it and I was guessing about 100 bucks. No I dont have a picture of it, since its sitting in his studio and he asked while I was visiting.

Looks good enough for a mob of kids to throw :D, almost thought you were making the wide headed close combat type made popular by Shaka. You had fun they had fun its all good.

Ya I was thinking about using a double boiler kinda thing, but I have a feeling it will take me a while to figure out the correct ratio of material to beeswax to remove the brittle issue, so till then I will just stick with the basic epoxy and wedge/cap to cover the fact I used epoxy and then artificial sinew wrap to cover that. I started the heavier bladed version of this already and am using a caribou antler for the handle. Just wish the dang rain would stop so I can do a few things outside that I need to so I can get these ready for sale. Also started a long spearhead or dagger the other day, trying to decide how I wanna do that still.

I hate to ask this but where do you get your hemp twine in that color? I've looked around and can't seem to find places that sell other than the tan. I am thinking of using it to form the knots I want to use on my knapped work.

I am thinking of natural products like copal or amber for resin but like you said add beeswax to give it some flexibility and remove the brittleness. Question is how best to heat it gently and how much to use......

Justin: I was thinking long and hard about the HT lastnight and decided that I will go with the normal method, just because I dont want to accidently put a sori on this blade. And as far as Mr Bells class went we only did Yakiire once with no follow-up reheat or tempering. But as I said I will do the normal HT and temper method after all.....I really dont think a sori would look good on this blade. Oh no I dont think a hamon would show through the bluing process, the only way it would I think is if I left that portion of the blade without the blue, and to me that ruins the attempt to make it look like knapped stone. Bigfoot: I am starting to think along the lines you suggested using resin, so I will see about looking around to find some....Do you know how long the curing times are by chance? Or is that dependant on what type of resin you use.

Maybe they used it to start a bend in something.

This project started the moment I picked up the antler handle at the local bi-annual Packwood Flea Market. I had been fiddling around with a piece of Cable I had worked earlier in the week and started drawing patterns on the steel trying to figure out what to do with it. Yes it is a piece of cable damascus, I almost exclusively work in it, anywho, I picked up the handle and said BINGO!. I went home that afternoon and started shaping the steel out and grinding away to prep it to knap. The next day I sat down and it took about 90 minutes per side, then laid a couple coats of blue on it, and started opening the tang up more to fit it. No its not finished yet, I am trying to decide how I want to HT the blade still, I am stuck between a standard ht and temper or do it in one swoop by yakiire ( not that you would see a hamon after bluing again but more to not have to worry about tempering later on ) then ofc finish sanding and putting on the tang. I am thinking about just using wedges driven deep to hold it in place rather than the standard epoxy method. Then using some deer hide to make a knot to hide the tang sticking into the hande as well as provide the stop a guard normally would. This is a thinner blade roughly 1/8 inch thick and it is longer than 12 inches by a smidge. I do want to thank Tom Sterling for his work and inspiration as well as time for showing me how to knap steel. So what do you guys think?

Interesting, maybe someones hallmark?

And if you do Lawyer up, remember they will find anything you write on the net about this incident and try and use it....so stop posting about it. Just a friendly reminder to anyone who has done something.....

Ask Sam Salvati to relate the tale of what almost happened to him one night grinding....scary things can happen. Thanks Ted for the post.

I say use what works for ya, I use anhydrous borax from the local clay art store, it works well for me, others swear by other things. If it aint broke dont fix it sorta thing.

I woulda used the word plonkers

Cool work Dave

Anvil pricing is an old argument and has been discussed here quite a bit. take a look on craigslist see what turns up. also look outside your immediate area,

what did you have your regulator psi set at?

Nice work..