BM454

Sweet all together. The mill would save so much time as far as finishing goes. I was thinking about buying a surface grinder but, this has me thinking. Scott

Good looking knife all together. Keep in mind when twisting, you have to keep the billet very hot. Just takes some time to twist it tight from one end to the other. Depending on the size of the billet it could take up to 4 or 5 heats to keep it from splitting or delaminating. Scott

I would be very happy with that anvil. Would be even happier if I didn't have one. :)

Beautiful all over.

Where's he located? I'd like to get some tips as well. I'll have more time in the next week or so. Well I hope so anyway. I expect to see you at the forge meeting on the first Thursday.

I had a Ruger pistol taken from me several years back and the sad part is it was one of my (friends). If him or his family would have been sick I'd have taken it out and sold it myself and given him the money. Instead he took the money and bought drugs and liquor with it. Scott

My wife's Great-Uncle was a smith many years ago. She was going through some of her things the other day and found a few of his old books. This was in one called The Anvil's Ring from June 1979. It seems like it would be a handy thing to have. Just wanted to share with everyone. Scott

If you have a welder and a way to cut/drill holes into each plate, you could plug weld them together and then weld the sides as well. It would help though if you put a bevel on the plates before welding the sides. I'd cut/drill say 5 holes in each say 3/4 dia. or so and weld them together. You will need to keep one uncut/drilled so you will have a base to weld to. As well you could hard surface it too. Just keep in mind by the time you do all that, you would be well on your way to buying a quality anvil. Scott

That hole could have been a pocket in the casting. It will not hurt it what so ever. I'd buy it if I had the chance. I'm in need of a Fisher Anvil myself. My Hay-Budden is a bit loud for where I live. I try to keep the peace between the neighbors and I so out of respect I don't forge any later than 7 at night. Scott

That it is. Very nice indeed.

That's a fine looking blade and sheath. I'm looking forward to building me a new one when I get some time off from work. Just don't have much time when you work 6 and 7 days a week 10 hours a day and driving 1.5 hours each way per day. Scott

Looks like a Southern Crescent. They were made in Chattanooga Tennessee. It may not be one but, it does look like one and having southern on it, it's a good chance that's the case. Scott

Nice work.

Nice anyway. I've had the itch to build one myself just no time.

Thank you Iron. Very proud of it.

Sweet!

Made a sheath for the knife last night. It turned out rather nice as well.

Sweet!

Thank you Darren I'm going back to the forge tomorrow and do another billet. Just not for sure what yet. I have a neighbor who's in need of a large blade. 1.5" x 10". I may do a latter pattern with semi high layers. Say around 300 or so. Just not sure yet. Any ideas would be great. Not really done a pattern welded blade that size. Scott

Thank you switchjv

Charles You're so right there. I had never had the pleasure of working iron wood before. It took me most of a day to get them like I wanted. The biggest thing was it had several knots in it and I would have to work around them. Once I got one out I'd find another. It came out rather nicely though. Just took some doing. I almost scrapped the handles at one time though. My friend told me to try one more time before I did and I'm glad I did. Scott

Thank you Rich. From what I read it's called a whirlpool pattern unless I did it wrong. I did 244 layers, squared the billet up and did a very tight twist. Once I got it twisted I squared it back up and did it like you would a latter pattern. I got the idea from The Pattern-Welded Blade by Jim Hrisoulas. I may have not went deep enough on the groves though.

I just finished this one. It's a whirlpool pattern welded blade and Desert Iron Wood handles. Brass pins and brass tube for the lanyard eye. Sorry for the poor pictures. I think it came out rather nicely though. The knife has a great feel to it as well as looking good.

A couple of years ago I was at a weld test shop in Chattanooga. I was looking around and seen a milk crate full of half round files. I ask about them to see if they were good or if they were going to be scrapped. Not much was said until I was getting ready to leave. The instructor ask if I wanted some of them and I was like oh yeah. Well come to find out they were all (old) files. It was well over 75 lbs of Nicholson files and some other odd files. Needless to say I've got plenty of files and have even given some away. Either way that's still a great score.

You have enough of a billet now to make you a nice blade. I expect you to use it! :)