Countryboy39067

Hey friends. I just wanted to give y'all a report on a DVD I bought. I've been looking at YouTube videos on smithing for over 3 years now. I came across a great narrated video of Walter Sorrells forging a modern steel katana. I visited his website and decided to purchase the first video, Forging Japanese Style Swords. Its a 2.5 hour Dvd on forging tanto, wakizashi, and katana length blades. He demonstrates stock removal and forging techniques. I'm pleased to say the sound and video are top notch! Understandably it doesn't show every hammer strike, but it does give great detail on what is needed to create a great blade. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm not getting anything for posting this. Just thought someone might like to know about this.

That's exactly how I plan to use it. I'll post results when I have time to experiment.

Yes I understand the principle of your statement. I'm thinking of heating up the end of the shaft just to see if it will harden. Tempering it correctly should give me a longer lasting tool, right?

Thanks I'll give it a try.

I recently acquired a piece of conveyor shaft approx. 30 inches long with a diameter of about 3 inches. I was wondering if welding a piece of grader blade cut to fit the end and sunk into a bucket of concrete would suffice as a portable anvil?

How about this. Instead of destroying historic useful tools, donate them to blacksmithing schools so when a student completes a acceptable amount of courses they get an anvil to practice what they learned. Not only would this save anvils it would help budding smiths and keep alive this awesome craft we all enjoy.

I haven't seen any blacksmithing items in the trade papers. My cousin says it's all been taken to the recycler yard he works at.

Staged and edited. Did anyone else notice the fake looking explosion graphic and the fact that the explosion miraculously made the light come back on that he turned off for better visual effect? Lol

Thanks. I had thought of that but didn't know about the blade. I'll design a jig to make all the cuts. Thanks again!!

Once you get the coal burning, wait till you get a good solid clump of orange coals. They will stick together as they coke so take your fire rake and break it up. You simply need a good bed of coals equal to or larger than the piece you plan to heat. Your fire is ready to use when most of the smoke stops and you have a bed of coals. Have you ever grilled hamburgers using charcoal? It's the same principle. Best of luck!!!!

I understand. I just can't seem to cut a straight line with a hacksaw. I'm designing a way to mount my 4 1/2 grinder like a table saw for more accurate cuts.

I did a similar thing. My firepot is approx. 22" by 8". I only use the front 8" in lenght to forge. I have the back section of air holes blocked by a plate and buried it under coal.

I never said high carbon. My spikes are marked MC which I read on here put them at medium carbon. I don't claim to know the carbon percentages. I'm just making crosses.

Just go to the search box on this forum and type in crosses from rr spikes.. There is a great tutorial on here somewhere.

Do you have any estimation as to how many spikes you can cut with one blade? I've been making one cut, hammering the head flat, then bending it for access to the long cut, then annealing it in hardwood ashes overnight. The annealing didnt seem to help the cutting so I won't spend the time doing that again. I tried using a metal cutting blade in a jig saw but it failed miserably!! Thanks for all the suggestions guys!