JimCrawford

Oh, good. Admiral is where I got the steel from.

Hi Don. It's "virgin" 1095. I don't believe that I was hammering it too cold, having done the forging in the bright orange to yellow-orange. I did normalize it, post forging. I did some basic grinding and annealed it afterward. Clay coated, heat treated, and then quenched. There are other cracks at the tang-blade juncture that I can explain by uneven heating in a 1 brick forge. It's that oddball crack in the well-heated area that makes me question things. Also, is there a maximum number of anneals that a steel can take before turning into scrap? -J

I noticed that the blade I was working on had a stress crack IN THE BODY OF THE BLADE. Not extending to any of the edges, just this little curve, all the way through the blade. Has anyone seen that sort of thing before, and is it possible to salvage the knife blade? -Jim

Hi Leb. I don't know about smithing in Melbourne, I just miss the place. Is Leo's Spaghetti Bar still in St. Kilda? -Jim

Peyton, Thanks for the invitation! I'm definitely going to keep track of your events as I progress down this new road that I'm on. Ted, Thank you for the welcome and the advice. I'll probably do precisely what you suggest as I get closer to dealing with the two blades that I have annealing in the shop right now. I'd hate to waste good W-2 and 1095. -Jim

Hi, I'm Jim and am learning more about smacking hot metal from BGOP in Northern Virginia. Ultimately, my interests will focus on knifemaking. It always ends up back there anyway. Best, J