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You're welcome. :cool: Bruce, don't know why I didn't think of doing that with the circular blades. Makes perfect sense. If you can find the maker, or even the seller, they should tell you what kind of steel it is. The trick with the seller though is that he COULD just tell you what he thinks you want to hear. I've run into this with sawblades that just did NOT hold up under normal everyday use.

Play with it? NO, you're testing it for functionality! Very interesting blade. Khukuri blades only slightly hold my interest at the moment, but that is a good looking piece of work. It looks like one mean chopper. I'd love to see the youtube vids but with my dial up connection it takes forever to download. So maybe later (sigh ).

Guys, a coworker just returned from Ohio. On his way back, he stopped off somewhere in West Virginia. He told me that he saw spike knives there for almost $300. I nearly dropped my teeth! I thought $300 was steep, but now I realize what a bargain it is. :D

Great find!!! I have no way of telling you how to heat treat it, but I hope it will work out for you. I'd love to have something like that or a rr track anvil to replace my HF anvil with dinged up soft face. As for retirement, enjoy it! I'm a long way out of retirement yet, but Lord willing, I'll be there one day. Where is Grover, NC anyway? I'm over near Louisburg, northeast of Raleigh.

Hi banjoe, For what it's worth, I've worked with 36'6" X11" and 30'6" X 8" bandsaw blades five days a week for the past seven and a half years. My duties as a saw filer are to level (get the lumps out of a blade) tension, correct any problems with the back length and tire line of the saw blades. I also am responsible for buying new bandsaw blades. If it's not 15n20 I don't want it within a hundred miles of my filing room. Every salesman who comes into my shop only has one steel to offer- Uddeholme 15n20 wood cutting bandsaw blade steel. L6 is generally reserved for the large circular saw blades like the ones you say you've picked up, but circular saws are outside my realm as a bandsaw filer so I won't say for certain what you have there. Hope that doesn't sound arrogant but those are my credentials. Look at the bandsaw blade you have. Somewhere there should be a brand on it that says who made the steel. I would almost bet it is made by Uddeholme. If so, it would be 15n20. But still, it wouldn't be a bad investment to have it tested.

The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. . . I don't have a problem, therefore I don't need to recover. :p

I like it! I've got plenty of old half round files laying around. When I use up a file at work, it used to get thrown away. Now I bring them home for odd projects around the forge/house. Several of these of differing sizes just made the top of my "to make" list.

Really good question! I am working on a knife right now that started out from about a 2"x9"or10"x 3/16" piece of saw steel. After rough forging, the resulting knife is around 13" long. Also really good answers. I'm more like John N - in the matter of disorganization, not in skill (I love that feather damascus John). I am going to try to discipline myself to keep a log. aprayinbear: Welcome aboard and thanks for an excellent and helpful thread for one who is not so experienced himself. PLEASE!!!! Show your work. No matter how bad you think it is. You'll find that you are harder on yourself than others are. And you will get some very valuable advice here.

Drako, I laughed pretty hard at your post because like others said, I've done everything on your list except set my fuel dump on fire. I've come close to that though. Before I started typing I took a good look at the fading 2nd degree burn on my left forearm that is shaped like the end of my RR spike tongs. Ya, Mrs. Pain let me know about that one. Keep at it and follow up on the post. Being fairly inexperienced at blacksmithing successes, I like to see another newbie's insights.

Hi Steve, the fact that YOU asked the question is exactly what drew me to this thread. You're the reason some of my saw steel will soon go to be tested - thanks for that. Anyway, can't help with ID, but I sure hope you post as you make the blade.

Jerry, Jim and the rest of you - his family - will be in this vet's prayers.

If you go to your user cp and give a general idea of where you are, there could be an accomplished smith in your area to help you first hand. You're using what we all call mystery steel. I've used it until I'm about to take it all to the scrap yard for lack of success. If you get the chance to get your hands on some good steel - 1095 or something you can identify - then any number of people on here that can tell you exactly how to work it. Don't know if this helps, but I hope so.

Hehe. There's a lot of truth in that!

Thanks for the positive input for a gut hook. We were becoming a bit one-sided here. What I can gather is this: It is best to make some knives with the gut hook, and some without. Then everyone is happy.

The problem that I have is that I have never been a hunter. So I've never been around those who were dressing a deer. If all goes well, that will change this fall though. Dodge, that's a pretty helpful tutorial. I'll certainly refer to it as I get started. I'm giving serious consideration to doing some filework on my next knife. Now it's off to try to resolve some issues between the computer and Picasa.

Thanks John. Actually I agree with you. I don't really care for the gut hook either . . . But if it'll sell to those few who won't buy a knife otherwise, I have a choice: Let them get their knives elsewhere or accomodate them. Sigh, so I'll start working on one soon.

I searched this site. Thank for your help.

Hi all. I searched for this, but couldn't find it anywhere. I have made a couple of skinners now - one is finished and in a consignment store, the other is ready for final sharpening and polishing. I'd post pics, but my computer isn't getting along with picasa at the moment. Anyway, I asked several hunters what they would add to the knives to make them better. The majority of them suggested a gut hook. I know what a gut hook is, but I'm not too certain as to how to make one. I suppose I could practice on some mild steel until I get it right - probably the smart thing to do. But I thought I'd ask here and see what some of you do to make a gut hook.

Hey Oakwood, good looking spearhead there. I'm not ready to try one yet, but for future reference, what thickness is the material that you started with?

That would be a great idea. Just the pics given in this thread are pretty helpful to me. So yeah, if there were the pics in a sticky like you mentioned, it would be a big help.

I think it's wrought! I cut it with the angle grinder. The long streamers found their way down onto my sandalled foot. . . Okay that was dumb. I had ear plugs and goggles on, but was wearing shorts and sandals. That was soon remedied. Anyway, there were no sparklers indicating carbon. After cutting a little more than half through, I flipped it around in the vise and bent it. Looking at the bend, it tore past the cut and was very fiberous. If I can work out some issues with Picasa, I'll try to get pics and post them tomorrow.

Well, didn't spend enough time at home today to check out the bars. But we're not going anywhere this weekend and I plan to spend a good deal of time out at the forge. Though that time could mostly be spent laying out the floor plan of the smithy, barring any weather events, the forge WILL BE lit at some point. I suddenly have incentive for getting out a few knives and things. But that's a topic for another thread.

Thanks for the answers guys. Tomorrow I'll have to decide which of the bars to sacrifice. One is shorter than the other so I need to determine the size of the doors that will be on my new shop. But only cutting an inch or grinding a small piece of the stuff won't make me lose the whole bar. Maybe tomorrow I can tell you the results! I'm pretty excited about finding out what it is.

Hi all. Haven't been around for the past couple of weeks. Computer problems. :mad: Anyway, about 10 years ago I got permission to start tearing down an old store that was built in the late 1800's to early 1900's. I came out of the deal with a lot of heart pine that was mostly bug infested- though some of it was good to use. But I came away with two sets of doors that I am keeping as patterns for doors on the shop that I hope to build one day. With these doors came two bars. They are both pretty thick. I plan to use one of them on the new doors. But the other will be used most likely for knife fittings. I can tell by the way the pieces swell around the holes in the end that they were drifted by a smith somewhere, probably local to the area where I found the store. Anyway, how can I tell if these are wrought iron or not? If anyone is interested, I'll take pics and get them posted pretty soon. Thanks

That is really nice!!! I couldn't tell that you had upset the end so I was going to ask if you had until I read all the replies. I like the sheath a lot. It looks like a very good way to carry the hawk. I'll have to try a couple of my own hawks if I can light the forge next week.