Caius

i believe the Arkansas blacksmithing association will be making an appearance in Harrison on June 12, 13, 14, and 15 for a festival, also where there will be an antique tractor show. me and my pap are going to the show and bringing our unique john deere riding mower... with a 350 chevy engine under the hood. anyone here plan on going? maybe have a meet'n'greet

i shoved the rebar in there because the biggest tongs i've got wouldn't keep a-holt of it. i just got the go-ahead from my pap to start building an extension to my shop so my forge will be out of the weather. now just to keep my dog from eating the electrical cord going to my air supply (for the fourth time). it seems he only wants to chew on things that i use. i threw out a radio and he didnt even touch the power cord on that. makes me wonder what's going on in his head.

doc, that mark in the lower corner is just an extra enthusiastic blow from a novice striker. i'll be able to hammer it back out as i work the steel.

did this to get some time working with a striker, a buddy of mine who happens to be enthusiastic about smithing from time to time, and besides, when it's finished, i'm giving it to him. the steel moved nicely with alternating blows from a 4lb and an 8lb.

This is a Bowie-ish...thingamabob knife that i started on the other day while taking a break waiting on the glue to dry between slabs on a commission i was working on. Steel was some scrap i'd gotten in a bucket from a buddy of mine, i'd guess it was a piece of angle iron or i-beam, judging from the cut marks. it started as a bar, 5"x 2"x 1/4", and hammered out to somwhere in the area of 8" of blade, and about 5" of handle. Originally i was going to do a paracord wrapped handle, then changed my mind and drew the tang out so as to do an oak handle, with bolster. I ground in a large fuller, and had experimented with a crude fullering tool i hammered out of rebar, that didn't come out to my liking, so i had an abrupt plan change and will grind out the failed fuller with an angle grinder, and then grind another fuller on the other side, creating a "fuller within a fuller" design. (fuller-ception O.O) The blade is to have a sharpened quasi clip point, and probably a dark stained handle. I threw in a picture of the commissioned tanto style blade just for giggles (made from a 24" sawblade).

say what you like about rr spikes as knives, but there's no denying their popularity as novelties. I've sold two very recently and had no issues in turning a couple of free spikes into a pair of eighty dollar bills. Now, i did tell the guy i sold them to that they wouldn't be great knives, but he was just looking for the novelty aspect, and for light duty skinning knives down at the camp.

this is really cool! keep us posted as you go, eh?

So very much want. I wish I had the talent and experience to make a knife of similar design, but wood isn't my friend :| great job!

Jon, i think I know you through a mutual friend. Myself, Ceslie O'Brien and her father are banging away.

Baton Rouge? Hoss I'm just a couple hours down the road, that's any saturday you say? I'll have to take you up on that in the future :D. A friend of mine from Eunice and her dad have recently gotten into Blacksmithing, and they started with spike knives as first projects. I did mine yesterday for giggles and it turned out better than I thought.

Thanks rusty, I'll definitely check out the twister. moderator51, I know about the knife chat and the class forums (I've been on the site for a long time), just way out of practice. Thank you for the insight :D

Since I've recently relocated my forge and anvil to the little cobon behind our garage, my shop is now sheltered from the elements as well as being well lit enough for me to work at whatever time of day or night, i've been getting back in the swing of smithing (hadn't hit hot steel nigh on a year now). I figured I'd post some of my pieces and pictures from the Facebook page I created for my shop. So, enjoy (or not, that's your own opinion; I'm rather biased towards my own work). The first thing i ever made with a forge, hammer, and anvil a few years ago, and below it the knife i made tonight. RR Spike Fighter pre grind. Out of every blade I've ever made, this one is the most gracefully shaped. My buddy Wesley came by to chill a while in the shop and snapped a picture of me for my girlfriend. Final product of the RRS Fighter, decided to gift it as a display piece, sans heat treat other than water hardening. There is a weak spot at the transition from blade to handle, I twisted just a little too much, having never even held a rr spike before, much less worked with them. The finish is just what i whipped out with an 8" bench grinder with a wire wheel on one side and a grindstone on the other.

this is beautiful and obviously dedicated work. keep it up!

post hole diggers come with motors? learn something new every day...

i live in basile, about an hour (the way i drive) from lafayette, and a couple hours west of baton rouge. i sling a hammer when i can

thomas, i think your dwarvish is a little rusty, you seem to be referring to our current president as a dwarf lol "Baruk khazad". sorry, had to go tolkien-nerd on you for a minute there haha

a whole lotta want going on right now.

my arsenal, in the event of zombie invasion, is as follows: two .22 caliber revolvers, one colt, one ruger. 20 guage double barreled shotgun (i only have a few hundred shells in a couple ammo cans) my .357 lever action marlin rifle, a 52'' two-handed claymore type sword (full aluminum, but has held up under heavy live combat practice) a two foot (approx) saber, machete sharp, and in the event that my dad is not around but his keys are, a chevy 5500 diesel flatbed work truck for high speed zombie carnage.

just goes to show, all that annoying reminding my shop teacher did wasnt just to aggravate us. my hair is long, but only nose and collar length, and i usually wear a cap or my stetson when working.

welcome to the family, copper! be warned, smithing is highly addictive, so any local groups should be contacted and joined. here at IFI, we are all here to help you with any troubles you may have.

i work at a grocery store in Eunice, Louisiana. some kids that lived nearby were playing with fireworks in the yard and the street for the past few days. well, one afternoon, this elderly gent asked me if the bale of boxes near the back was supposed to be burning. i said nah, i went an had a look, and sure nuff, they were going like a house afire. i went in, alerted my manager, holly, and we went to the back. the order was given, and i SPRINTED (i weigh in at roughly 180, and always wear leather work boots) for roughly a quarter mile total: to the front of the store, around to the door, all the way to the back of the warehouse, grabbed an extinguisher, lucked out and picked the right key on the first try for the padlock on the inside of the large door, and proceeded to unsuccessfully extinguish the burning 4'x6'x3' cardboard bale. by now holly had called the EFD, so the bale was put out, and myself and a coworker spent the next half hour separating charred, burnt, and good boxes from the now dismantled bale. that was a retarded day, and in cool weather. cool weather with my asthma makes for "no extreme physical exertion weather".

this did make me truly burst forth with mirth. lol this is good, i can't write in verse at will as you seem to do. i hope you got high marks for it!

you mean you guys arent talking about me? rotfl

they make post hole diggers with engines? this is news to me.

have you tried "Mother's" wheel polish? my dad uses it on occasion on his company truck, a chevy 5500. you can dern near see yourself in the rims when he's finished.