Drq

My friend just got a tiny little hobby lathe, I was bugging him that we could chuck it up in my little shop lathe, and then chuck mine up in the small one at work and then chuck that in the big one.... lol I figured you might get some sort of fancy optical allusion if you had them spinning opposite directions. :D

So I have been looking around at information on etching solutions, and I was wondering if anyone had any idea of the actual concentration of the formulas they're using. I see all the time that one should mix one part acid "A" with three parts water. Well I'm going to guess that very few people etching pattern welded steel have access to pure acid, which means that its already mixed with water. So what is the actual end concentration ? I just bought some reagent grade nitric acid, which is 70%, but it can also be purchased in many other different percentages. I've also seen that people say etching formulas work better when diluted.... ? So basically people are saying that a lower concentration etches faster ? Or is it just a better looking etch ? Or does it smell prettier ? Thanks for the help, I've tried finding the numbers on my own with no avail, maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place.....now where did I put that chuck wrench again..... Drq

My main forge can't heat less than full lenght, but I've still got my "Pile o' firebricks with a burner stuck in it" forge that I use every once in a while, so yes, I guess you could say I have the capabilities. I've been trying to figure out something for heat treating, I'm not planning on doing anything completely crazy, but I would like to do at least a 36" blade. Last time I tried to HT something like that it involved the burning coals left over from burning a 45 foot wooden cow....but thats another story...

I would take a look at the new digital thermometers they have for roasting meat. They're getting pretty accurate these days and then you wouldn't have to rely so much on the oven temp gauge, just play with your temperature knob on your oven till you get the right temp on the digital thermometer. If your doing smaller chisels in a gas oven I might think of building a heavy wall steel box to put them in just to slow down any big temperature swings if they exist.

The biggest problem was first catching the slugs. Usually beer in a saucer was employed. But of course fine high quality anvils came from the finest of slugs which had different methods of procurement. The Peter Wright slugs were usually lured with a nice Dom Pérignon and perhaps Brie and crackers.

For a quench tank I've got a solvent tank that's about 14" diameter and 40"ish deep, I'll have to fill it up to be able to quench the small seax I'm hoping to make for my first largish blade. Any have any experience using hydraulic oil for a quenchant ? We've got tons of it kicking around work. Hey Ed, what exactly is a sen scraper ? I've been thinking about fuller scrapers, I've got lots of slightly used carbide inserts from work so I think I'm going to russel something up that will hold a nice radius insert for me. If anyone wants to try one I've got tons of inserts. I like the drift idea ! I like the look of punched and drifted holes on more natural blades.

Just wrap them in paper. Then you don't have the stick mess when it spins in the tape or shrink wrap. And if you use pretty thin paper (rolling papers) it will actually be pretty concentric to your drill chuck.

Just starting to think that making longer blades would be fun to get into and have been wondering what equipment do you have in our shop that you use specifically for making swords. For clarity I'm talking forged blades here. I already have most of your basic material movers; #50 Canadian Giant, #6 fly press, and working on a rollling mill, and I can heat 12 inches at a time in my forge. I'm also building a kmg grinder clone, and have a modified 4x48" sander that I stuck a 1.5hp motor on. Is there anything you would add to forging equipment ? Or material removal ? I've heard that you need a 4" wide grinder for grinding swords, but is it really necessary, or just nice to have or not worth the money ? (a 2x72 seems to work fine...) Any special little jigs or toys that you've found unexpectedly helpful with the longer stuff ??? Thanks Drq

I'm really starting to enjoy making pattern welded steel. I'm still just figuring things out so I haven't really made anything out of it except the odd trinket, but I really love the moment when you pull a piece out of your enchant and you have an amazing pattern on it when it was just a plain looking piece when it went it. I also love building my own equipment. Right now I'm just finishing a treadle hammer, have a rolling mill half done, and am just starting on a belt sander. I usually run a linebore set up at work so while I was waiting for a cut to finish on the boom I was boring out, I spent the 20 minutes cutting time working on belt sander pieces on the near by mill. Boss doesn't mind, it means I get all the shop work for the day on the mill done sooner so I can work on my own stuff . Nothing better than working on your own toys on company time.

We've had quite the mean streak of weather up here in Northern Alberta too, its been below -35 and snowing for the last week or so, -40 this afternoon. I don't spend much time in my poorly insulated shop in weather like this. Even with the forge going full blast and feeding the wood stove more wood than I really enjoy chopping it doesn't really ever warm up. Good for the pine beetles though. Need weather like this to kill them off.

I finally got my flypress set up ! Its been sitting at my work for the last two months. I wrecked my back two days before it came in, and seeing as my boss bought it on the company credit card he said I couldn't have it till I came back to work. Well I'm back part time and a couple of my friends decided to put me out of my misery and came with me to grab it and set it up for me. That was a bit of a treat seeing as its on a gravel floor with no room for a crane or hoist, but with a whole bunch of 2x4 shorts and some good friends we managed to get it up on its stand. Thank god for good folk.

I had a horse rear up and go over backwards on me when I was 14. I learned that people are supposed to be on top, not horses. While wheeling myself around "Pioneer Days" at the local museum in a wheelchair, one of the old folks that I have known my whole life gave me a book on blacksmithing. Figured I might find it interesting. After reading it cover to cover I wondered if there might be anything left of my great grandparents old blacksmith shop. Went out the next day and sure enough the forge was still there and so was an anvil. Its all down hill from there...hehe. The coal dust and dirt never did come out of my casts. After that my grandparents never did seem to mind me coming in black from head to toe. They said at least they knew where I was and that they figured if I was going to burn it down the fire probably wouldn't reach the barn. Been out in that shop for ten years now. Its funny how life comes full circle though, when I was really little my cousins and I used to run in to the scary dark old shed thats now my shop, steal the few remaining tools, and throw them back into the shop through the windows.....

Thanks ! I was trying to find something like this online and wasn't having much luck.

I've heard a lot of people use harness leather on their clutches. I kept mine dry for the longest time until I got a set of DVDs from Wild Rose Forge, which mentions that you should keep them well oiled. It sure does make a difference in being able to feather your clutch. Drq.

Could someone tell me in plain english what QT, AR and T-100 plate are, what they're comparable to and what uses a blacksmith might have for them ? I know they stand for qenched and tempered, and abrasion resistant, I know that all three can be horrible to drill through or machine, and that I couldn't get QT-100 to harden worth a darn. Thanks in advance, Drq.

Another idea looking at it from a completely different angle would be to take it into an engraving place and have them do it with a laser. They're getting cheaper all the time.

Got a little shop up here outside of Beaverlodge just north of GP.

I've. . . used a two up to pull logs out for firewood, used a block and tackle to get bales into the loft ( though I'd have to look up the formulas in my seventh edition machinery handbook), used a chain hoist to pull out a straight six out of a kb-3 used a post hole digger to fence in half a quarter, squared beams with an adze started an engine by getting the fly wheel going fast enough by hand (and finally made it run smooth by forcing a 2x4 into the flywheel "to make it work") I've helped thresh with a steam engine cut grass with a sickle mower and a scythe I've been excited when I finally got power to my shop got birthday presents as a youth that included a rifle and an axe of my own I've moved from a dirt floor to wood to cement in my shop I know that getting a power hammer doesn't make you a better smith, and that getting a second one doesn't do much either and that no matter how many tools and toys I buy I'm always going to be looking for one more. (anyone have a cheap small mill they would part with ? ) I know that chinking a cabin isn't racist, that John deere made a really handy little bulldozer, and that there's not much you can't measure with a piece of string. I'm 23. If you walked by me in a mall I'd probably look like any other young punk. I'm not bragging about my experience, nor I'm I exaggerating any facts. Just thought I'd ask all you "old guys" not to give up on the younger generation just yet. There's hope for us yet. They Young People have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They overdo everything they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. | -Aristotle

Would a fast flowing river or stream work ? Find/make a place that you could control the flow running over/around the anvil ?

You'll be hard pressed to find anything better than a 1040 in cylinder rods. As Grant said, its whatever the manufacturer could find cheap. 99 % percent of repair work done in my neck of the woods is done with 1040 though so if you could find a re-rod you might be able to find something a little better than horrible. That being said they do make good anvils for projects if you can weld something a little more resistant on top. I've got 20' of 6" rod lying out back that I'll find a use for eventually. (Though I did use some 8" and 4.5" rod for my treadle hammer anvil and hammer weight.)

Much easier on a mill. I've tried to turn a couple super high leads on a lathe and its just not worth it. Started with indexable carbide, its broke. Moved to brazed on, it broke. Moved to HSS, it broke..... Because it ends up being such a deep thread the clearance you need on your tooling is just insane. One of the ideas I tossed around was to mount a milling fixture to the lathe with an appropriate end mill in it. This would at least let you cut square threads on the screw....the nut on the other hand ? Drq

Hehehe, I tried the exact thing a few nights ago. I cut off about an inch of 1" ti round stock I had and tried to forge it down. No big white explosion or anything, it was just a pain to try to hold on to. It forges somewhere between hot stainless an cold aluminium. Its weird stuff, doesn't sound right and is always lighter that you expect. It looks the exact same as any steel in the forge other than the occasional white spark that shoots off.

FINALLY ! I got a chance to play with my forge for a little while to do a preliminary test of this theory. I made a little pan about four inches square with half inch sides, dumped some flux, slag, steel shavings from my lathe, and a little dirt for good measure and then I waited. And nothing happened. This was not a long term test, but it was in my forge for a good hour at welding temperature and other than congealing into a mess that was hard to get out after, nothing much happened. Will have to see what happens on long term exposure, Should be running my forge a bit more in the future so I'll just leave it in there when I can. Pictures to come. Just got a bunch more ti plate (1/8th ish) pm if anyone is interested in some. I'm open to trades. Drq.

I havn't had a chance to try anything, apparently one of my customers needs his 988 loader bored than I need to play, but I just wanted to say it warms my heart a little to find others that find a night experimenting with whether they can light titanium on fire a normal evenings activity. Cheers !

Well here's what I'm going to do, I'm kinda in the middle of things at work and my own shop (moving in a new to me 1915ish heald surface grinder ) so I'm not really forging anything lately, but ill make a pan out of ti, throw some slag and flux (I'm just using straight borax) and whatnot in there and fire my forge up for a couple of hours. I'll take some before and after pics and we'll see what happens. Sounds fair ?