jason0012

Get a copy of Alex Weyger's book and do ALL of the filing projects. That's how I learned precision filing. Filing to a line is largely about getting a feel for how much metal is coming off, and where. That comes with a lot of practice and sore arms.(power tools are wonderful) On the upside, working by hand you have much more extensive control over how much material is being removed. I always found I tended to leave too much steel on blades when filing and cut too deep when using a grinder. After 23 years I still have to watch very closely when I start aproaching those lines.

I'm not 100% sure I'm right in this assumption but as I understand don't tire hammers use a Little Giant style arm arrangement? Assuming that, you want the horizontal arms level. If they hang, the spring isn't holding them and some of its travel is wasted in picking them up. Much tighter and you are adjusting travel out of the spring and choking the hammer. Did that help?

When I started out I demo'd at a few fairs. After a while it got pretty rough hauling all the tools, watching the crowd and keeping an eye on my tables of goods for sale. I did make ok money and after a while the show promoters usually wanted me to pay for the booth. When I had to pay I simplified quite a lot. I quit demonstrating. It made shows a whole lot easier, actually helped sales too. Since I wasn't messing with the forge the whole time I could pay better attention to customers. A good book of photos seemed to be an acceptable substitute . The best demo alternative I have seen was a video demo a fellow at one show had. I never got that sophisticated. In the end I put a rule into effect- I'm in business I can demo and get paid for that, or I can set up to sell and pay some fee for that. When a show promoter or organizer got confused on this I would politely remind them. One should get paid for demonstrating. You really cant make much that's worthwhile while showing off to the public, answering questions ect. On top of that most of my production items require tooling I could never take to a demo so I'm loosing shop time when I set up at a show. Shows where I would sell and not demo would generally bring in a minimum of $2000 a day. I would be lucky to make $500 when demonstrating. Now I haven't done a show or fair since about 1998 so the economy may be different now.

5160 might have some chromium but it moves pretty easy under the hammer and doesn't tend to red short, or seem succeptable to thermal shock like some higher alloyed steels. Heat treating 5160 is fairly easy, it machines well and is easy to find in scrap making it an ideal starter material for a beginner. And if one insists on using new material 5160 is pretty inexpensive, just call some spring shops. Oh, and it can make a first class blade ! I never found 5160 to be a bear of a steel to work. Ok, perhaps I have gotten stock that was too big to work by hand , but that's not the steel, just my being stupid trying to forge 1 1/2 round ! A beginning knife maker will at some point have to learn to work alloy steels. 5160 is a good place to start as it is very forgiving. As cuttlery steels go it is exceptionaly easy to forge. I always considered 5160 and 4140 the "easy" steels in my tool steel rack.

I would fall behind the recommendation of coil springs as a starter material. When I was just starting I made most of my knives from lawn mower blades and old files. Simple high carbon steel is really easy to forge. It moves well under the hammer and the end result will make a good blade. Seems silly to work at making blades and not get something useful in the end. I would suggest starting with files. You will face far less material resistance working a blade down from a 3/16x 7/8 file of 1095 than you will forging it from a 3/4 square of mild steel! Spring steels and simple carbon steels are usually not all that resistant to forging and not worth being afraid of. I have recently been forging blades from high chromium(52100) and its a whole different story! Just wait until you try some stainless, ATS34 is loads of fun!

I have welded with table salt before, if its a stand in flux you need. I found it flows at a much higher temp than borax so the welds have to be hotter. I have also welded without flux( the parts must be hot enough for the scale to be liquid) . The weirdest welding flux I have used was clinker! ( that was on a dare)

"The complete blade smith" by Jim Hrisoulas, "The craft of the Japanese sword " by ...well the name escapes me at the moment, but included some good photos of the process. I was really hoping someone here had tried this. I am really baffled by the strongly negative response this subject received. I have seen some pretty absurd ideas discussed by smiths over the years, but don't see why experiments with a flux that has been used for over a thousand years should elicit such venom. I will simply explore this on my own and quit making such waves!

Are you trying to make a thread that is one turn in 4 x 4 lead? Like a gun barrel only inside out? A lead that extreme would probably be easier on a shaper or mill than a lathe .

I have asked about this in numerous forums before. I have never encountered anyone with any experience in the subject. Just to help anyone who has missed any reference to straw ash as flux, Jim Hrisoulas made reference to the practice in "The complete blade smith". Most texts on Japanese forging processes will make cursory or passing reference to the rice straw ash flux. Not all such descriptions are written by smiths and sometimes the authors seem baffled by the very procedure they describe. I have seen photos of it being used in nearly 1/2" layers applied with a spatula or as a liquid bath. Both look very questionable to me, though must obviously work. I had hoped that the forum might have someone familiar with the process present, or someone who had actually studied Japanese forging. I am rather shocked that there are smiths who react so negatively to such an inquiry. Why does this question offend so? And why would one assume I don't know about borax? I wasn't asking how to make a weld but rather how welding with straw ash would be acomplished.

I have read and seen some photos of welding with straw ash. I don't think I have heard of anyone actually using ash. I was wondering have any of you tried this. How is the straw prepared and then aplied?

Of course its worth messing with. Why a shop without a lathe is like a shop without an anvil!

I wont touch the wisdom of this project. I don't know your skill level or how careful you are. I can say something about square threads though. Square threads are cut either on a mill or in a lathe. Thread milling is something I wont get into. Suffice to say it is a fast process in manufacturing used to produce repeatable threads on many many parts fast. The tooling involved is beyond most small shops( but not impossible) Square threads are also cut on a lathe, just like 60* threads. Big difference is, they are square( I know, thats not real helpfull) I would recomend a basic lathe or machine shop text for a full description, square threads come up often and are included in most machine shop classes. They can be aggravating, esp internal threads, but aren't unmanagable. Square threads are very seldom cut with a tap. Tap cutting a square thread is only possible in a through hole, and requires a set of three taps. The first tap is standard form, the second roughs the thread to final depth, and the third finishes the face of the threads. Oh and the three piece set is VERY expensive. I would recomend using a lathe, or trying to rethread the barrel to a more standard size. If you use that route please consider the strength lost when reducing the chamber diameter. Proceed with extreme caution.

For me it was the flame blade inside the cover of " the master bladesmith" that got me into making my own sword. I still haven't tried one like it though.....

I used to some breaker points from time to time. It never was very big business here, most rentals just send the dull bits out over and over! I had a few good customers who would send me a few hundred chisles a year to repoint, but they are all out of business now. For the last few years when I have aproached any contractors about tool dressing they have expressed a preference for simply replacing dull bits! I have worked on a few of the bigger ones too, up to 5". Those big points are a huge pain, just for the weight. These big monsters come in the shop so seldom as to not be worth the trouble. I have to locate a die I haven't used in 8 months and rearrange the whole shop to get the crane in....= barely worth the hassle.(The money on those is pretty good, but I see such bits so rarely ) Tool dressing is really good work, I would like to do more, there just isn't any demand around here. Is there any way to scrape up more of this type of work? Ive been through foundries, boiler companies, paving contractors and rental companies. The local utilities seemed promising but have a contract with someone else that has him working at about 20% of my cost!( $1 per point!) A few things I haven't seen mentioned is those bits that aren't worth sharpening. I did work once for a boiler company. Their previous experience with a tool smith was with someone I happen to know and trust did a first rate job for them. They complained quite a lot about his bits breaking and being substandard ect. I knew better but took the job anyway, about 400 chisles 5/8&78 size. About 120+ were so badly cracked and stressed that i clipped and clipped and could not find sound material in them. These bits i brought to the customer and explained that they were unserviceable. the customer would not accept that this was not my fault or that of the other smith. I should mention that many of these bits were bent past 20 deg, and almost all were mushroomed quite badly. I have no idea what was done to these bits in their service life but by the time they came to me they were pretty much done. That customer was one of only two who I ever found truly angry with the service I rendered. Frustrating since there really wasn't much I could do.

Never seen this? Wow, you all have worked some pretty upstanding places that actually believe in doing things right and probably fit parts properly for welding! I always called this abomination a hillbilly tig. I have had to fill in some pretty monstrous gaps using this process. Sometimes even with 3-4 rods! In field welding I have often encountered gaps over 1" and with a foreman getting all pissy about the time you do whatever to get a passable weld. I also want to add that this works best with a rod that can cover its own flux like 6010/6011. I have a deep and personal hatred for 7018 ! I have been certified in globber rod for more than two decades and hate 7018 more every time I use it!( I have often wondered why it seems that every job I go on insists that we use 7018 when there are so many better alternatives?)

The working peculiarities of Ti aside , I would think the low weight of a Ti blade would make render it some what ineffective.

I have been forging iron since the late '80s. I ran my shop full time for most of the '90s . My business always made some money and at the very least was able to support my forging habit. In 1999 I got married and went on the road doing the journeyman thing. After a few years my wife and I returned home planning to settle down( by then kids were involved). I was unable to resume the ironworks business until 04. 2004 was my best year ever, but sadly my bills exceeded my income. I had to shut the forge down a second time and seek outside employment. For the last few years I have been millwrighting , traveling to do repair work on turbines and such. I have been laid off since June and kicking around the idea of getting the old shop up and running again. My problem is one I hadn't expected. All of the old contractors I used to work for are either out of business or near to being out. This is the first time in over 20 years I have come up completely empty! Is the economy THAT bad? I haven't even been able to pick up any tool dressing, which used to be my stand by emergency work. Zip on welding, machine work, and architechtural work is just absolutely gone. Has anybody else run into this or am I doing something wrong?