Richard Furrer

Dave, The press will wish to lift and tilt back on its hind legs under pressure so maybe bolt the press and new outer anvil to the same baseplate. But you may have covered this in the above list and I did not notice. Maybe these guys could help? http://www.factoryhu...es&TabID=202700 Ric

Wanna ship some back to Wisconsin? I had hoped to get more when I stopped by Terry those years ago in Ohio, but the truck only held so much. and I still have room to store more outside the shop. Ric

Or, if I may be so bold, wait till December and get this video by this guy on blister steel: http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Steel_Making.html adding carbon can be very rapid if you do not mind grain growth or are reforging the material after. Thomas...I think your areas of interest are wide afield and deep. Your iron will show prominently in the video. Ric

Dave, Nice! What is that thump sound when the ram is not moving? Ric

The yield on that particular batch was a bit low, but all the bloom was steel..every bit we recovered. Ric

You may find this concept interesting: new listing in "From Dirt to Dagger" in the steel making page http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/From_Dirt_to_Dagger_Video.html video coming soon I may be over early next year Strider to see some pieces at the British Museum. Ric

Maybe a welding blanket?...they are Kevlar or Nomex or similar Aramid fiber. Ric

Ok, So a hot tar silicone epoxy and rancid skunk urine mixture around all the anvil parts is best then...I'll be sure to get right on that then. Bigfoot...I have heard rumors of this technique...I believe it is called... "Cleaning". I have heard of this, but am not sure it is for me. Last time I swept I could not lift the shovel to the basket. Ric

Hello All, I just had Karl Goebel, an Anthropology student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison come by to learn how to smelt. This was his first try ant anything like this. Here is the first part of a two part video on what happened: http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Steel_Making.html He did well. Stay tuned for part two to see what was done with the bloom. Ric

Hello All, So what is the thought on scale around the anvil on a twi piece hammer? I have nothing blocking falling scale from collecting around the anvil. I never gave it much thought till a New Zealand smith said that the scale can work under the anvil and cause it to shift. I assume this is when the base wood compresses under load and then "jumps" a bit with hard use. Grant, John N...any thoughts on this? Should I silicone the area around the anvil and cover it with a shield? Ric

Good job Steve it shows command of the materials and an interest in moving into new areas where the comfort zone is not there..this is the way we learn and progress. I look forward to seeing your next piece. If you care to look I have a space rock blade as well: http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Star_Facet.html made by a slightly different method than yours. Ric

Craig, It is simpler to tell you where to go once we know where you are. As Ron said..find a local smithing group..you can learn far more with a weekend gathering than in most books. I would urge you to begin slow and build on the skills. If you aim for the mountain top to soon you may find your wearing the wrong boots. There are also a host of schools out there which have smithing and even knife making classes. Ric

Frank, I am curios...would not the heating to austenite after tempering do the same as the heating to austenite and quenching for another go? Once the structure forms austenite...its austenite and prior crystalline structure..be it martensite or pearlite..matters little. I can not think of any metallurgical reason for what you have said. Minotaur: A few thoughts: 1)Was the steel new? If it had been a spring in its past life it may have gotten micro cracks then. 2)It may have cracked in the previous quenches and then let go on the third..as you have suggested BUT then you usually see a black crack where it had heated in the forge in the second or third austenizing heats..I do not see that in the picture 3)Reference 2 above..if it cracked in the temper then you would see the temper oxide in the crack..I do not see that either...no blue crack. 4)The grain is small and good looking in the broken piece so I do not think you are overheating the metal...that or there are rather good grain refiners in it (i.e. vanadium)..in either case I think it is safe to say your heat is ok however 5) I see a darker border around the broken bit and unless that is due to oil or some other artifact of the photo my guess is that you have removed carbon to a rather large depth and this is why you needed the higher austenizing temps. Since you have nothing to loose with that hammer head I suggest you grind 3mm off all the surfaces on the other face and do your normal austenizing soak and quench it and see what happens. Lastly 6) Sometimes you can do everything correct and still have it not work. Ric

Your message box is full. irnsrgn, I think these pulls would work and I can do matching hinges....did similar in Florida for a huge set of garage doors..all hardware was for show, but I have done functional ones as needs be. Have a look at the "Door Pulls" on the bottom of the page. They are mortice and tenon and riveted..no modern welds. All parts textured..wax finish. http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Furniture_and_Home_Accents.html Ric

HURRAY! Dave, This may make it simpler for folk to see your hard work. Ric

Hello Don, The reason the videos are so scant on information is because I will be producing a "how-to" soon...these are for general information on the gross steps involved in the process and a tease for the full-length video. In the next video I will have comparison tests of many carborizing compounds so you will be able to adapt the process to what you have available in your shop/area. Cooking times and temps will be shown as to their effect on the carbon penetration as well. How to repair the grain growth from the carborizing and equalize the carbon as well as how to gage the heat treatment to the new material you have just made to yield a good edge. That said, You can use just charcoal and a mud "can" around the metal/charcoal...this was done in parts of Africa. The lower the temp the longer the soak must be...minimum temps are about 1500F. Ric

Hello All, Earlier this week I had a visit from Robert Rossdeutscher from Illinois and he wanted to make up some Blister and Shear Steel for his reproduction work of Colonial Trade Knives. He has done a tremendous amount of research in this time period and the only remaining item to get to a true re-production was the steel for the blades. To that end I nudged Bob in the right direction as he did all the steps to get the final steel. http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Steel_Making.html Enjoy and Learn, Ric

Forge: A 12" round pipe with 1" of 2300F inswool and then a satanite wash. The blower is 150cfm and run at about half open. I use 5PSI LP which is choked to about 1/3 open..no limiting orifice. The ends of the forge are blocked as needed with firebrick and inswool. CAUTION: the fibers from the blanket refractories can cause silicosis over time and as such should not be used uncoated..especially when there is abrasion which put the fibers into the air you breath. I will soon be buying the "lung safe" variety which can be broken down by the body and poses little health risk. Heat up time from a cold start to billet ready to forge is 50 minutes....18 pounds of steel cube takes a while to get to 2250F and it is poor practice to forge without the center of the billet being hot. Ric

This project was done for another as a special order and I can not share that information. I am sorry. HOWEVER in the past I have used 304 and AEB-L for my own pattern welded stainless knives. Most any stainless grades will work..it really depends upon your end goal/use. Ric

Thank you HW. I had a day visit from a smith in Illinois, Robert Rossdeutscher, and we made some blister/shear steel today...I'll paste together a vid of that and as per Sam's request a bit of a shop tour as well...the shop is and will be in transition for some time. I like to say it "has promise", but at this point is not set up to deliver. I always seem to be working toward the "nextest" thing, not the thing I am doing now and as a result many of the tools are in place, but not workable. I find this completely unprofessional and rather inexcusable, but it none the less...is. I fear a shop tour will be a bit like walking into a Jackson Pollock painting....chaotic, but perhaps you can learn from my short comings....so I will do a shop tour as a cautionary tale. Ric

Bryan, Hammer: When the shop footings were dug (below frost line) I had them did the hole for the hammer. I had 6" of concrete poured and leveled and then block put in for the walls to keep back the dirt. When it came time to pour the hammer foundation (i.e. when I bought the hammer and knew its size) I broke out the block and placed 1" of closed cell foam insulation on the outer walls and then a rebar cage and a weighted plywood box for the anvil depression (2'deep,2x4 length and width) and let it cure. I set the anvil on wood base with a forklift into the hole and marked the holes and drilled and epoxied 1" 4140 all thread and locked it down. I had a template for the hole pattern on the hammer and drilled those holes and epoxied those threaded rods in place and then had a larger lift come and set the hammer in place on 1 1/2" oak boards. So the short answer is that the hammer and anvil are sitting one wood which sits on the concrete. The anvil sits in the ground and is separate from the hammer, but there are wood wedges around the anvil as is proper. Stainless: The billet is pattern-welded material which I am sizing down for a client, so in a sense, I am the supplier one would contact to purchase such material. Otherwise...not particular reason for doing so. Ric

I'm not hammer expert, but Not sure about a sow block as those usually have two dovetails..for the anvil and the die...but it may be a die in and of itself. The face of the round is pretty chewed up which may mean it is "soft" and it would need a double dovetail to key it into a standard anvil under a hammer. Most likely its a bottom die for a specialized hammer...never seen anything quite like it. Ric

and a drop over lid for the oil to keep the rain out and smother a flare-up when quenching large things with a lot of mass as the surface of the oil will catch fire. Ric

Hello Cody and welcome. I live just North of the boondocks myself. Ric