edge9001

the technique you describe, wrapping the mild core with HC, was used at one time to make katana in japan. it was used because it does act exactly as you have described. the only problem is as phil said, eventualoy you will sharpen through the highcarbon steel. the 3 layered method phil mentioned would allow the blade to be sharpened till it was worn away without this issue. but yes you design would have its place in blades. just my 2 cents

I am once again searching for the elusive london pattern anvil. I found this one on the dreaded list http://nashville.craigslist.org/grd/2259752510.html is it worth the price they are asking how about this one http://asheville.craigslist.org/for/2205964385.html

it sounds like one side of the link will be flattened and punched the other side would be bent at 90 degrees and then stuck through the hole that was punched and the upset it to rivet the connection closed like this then peen the post sticking up to set the rivet

of all of the places I found evidence of mice in my shop, before I moved I found a mouse nest in the tuyer of my solid fuel forge, right where the horizontal pipe connects just above the ash dump. My fan wasn't getting enough air into my fire so i thought maybe i had ashes blocking it, i took apart the pipes and found a mouse nest being built. since i moved to my new shop site i haven't seen anything. and i doubt i will. this building has been here for generations with no noticable rodent problems. to fight mice... the cheapy traps work great. A scoped .22 rifle with the ratshot rounds work great too. Thats how i cleared my old house of rats when the exterminator with his poisons, traps and all of the advice he could give, failed...after 3 months of the exterminator's help doing nothing to eliminate the few rats I had. I started with 3-5 and it became 25-30. So I gave up, concelled my contract and then got the guns going. I shot the adults, about 15 of them, and then used mouse traps to contain the little ones...in about two weeks I was rat free. The gun and ammo combined with a set of toy night vision goggles from walmart(they actually work better that the gen 1 NVGs). These things were little more than a IR sensative black and white camera on the outside and a small video screen on the inside of a wierd looking helmet, but they worked great!! I was amazed at how well they worked. traps poison and environment modification may work for some, but for me it failed miserably. Now the army's way of "throw enough lead at the problem and it will go away," worked very well. lol

well if you have used it and testify to its validity then i will take you at your word. but it just hit me when i saw this video it seemed a bit fishy. of course at the same time everything has its place if its not a scam, right? thanks for the insight.

it looks to me like the process of using this stuff just quench hardens the steel. what do you guys think? I mean all comments have to be approved so you cant even bring this to public opinion unless they want you to.

I've run into a similar problem with electrical work in my town. ther require all electrical work to be done under a license. I found a way around it. find a license person who will come out and inspect it and be willign to sign off that they did it. some of these professionals are more than willing to take say an hour or twos pay to let you do the work and supply all the material. then the licensed person can get it inspected and passed by the local GOV. types. we paid a electrician $45 to inspect our work and claim it was his to the inspector. this gets around paying him materials and hourly work to do what I already can. the inspector was more than happy to do it this way. i got cheaper work, govermental types got a license on the inspection sheet and the electrician made about an hour's worth of money for looking at a few things and standing around for 20 minutes. I will stress doing this with gas or electrical work is dangerous so only do it if you have the proper knowledge of how to do it. DON'T GET YOURSELF HURT OR KILLED JUST TO SAVE A LITTLE MONEY!! nothing costs more than your life or health

paint jobs like that, for me, fall into the same category as nail polish and clothes on dogs. in other words its all unnecessary(spelling??) window treatment. and embarrasign for the one wearing it.

I would say that if a rock can be an anvil then so can a piece of cast iron some person though to shape like a london pattern anvil, just not a very good anvil. I see that an anvil is more of a purpose and less of a shape or material.

how do you make the screw section of a corkscrew? is it as simple as it looks to be, just wrap a long thin tappered section around a small rod or bolt? or is there more to it? I have an idea for a corkscrew i just haven't tried it yet. also what is the best material to use will mild steel work or should I use something hardenable?

an anvil is an anvil, because an anvil by any other name would still weight as much.

I can offer not critisism on your sword. I love the design, how did you get that pattern? Do you have any WIP pictures?

vwey nice! I've been meaning to try a sword out of a piece of scrap mild steel i have...just to attempt it. I might try something similar to this. once again, Very nice work.

I have one issue with the idea of leaving a HC RR spike at full hardness, and not tempering it. The first spike knife i made, broke, since then I have tempered them all. I have never had another on break on me. this might me a coincidence, or an odd, higher Carbon than normal, spike I had. I don't really know, but I'm taking no chances as most of my free material is RR spikes.

I am not familiar with this exact product but it seems to me that it is just a jam nut of sorts. by adding the second nut on top of the initial nut and then tightening it down. neither nut can move as they are jammed together. it is good for those times when you want to put a nut and bolt in a project without relying on the base structure to tighten and hold the nut and bolt together. essentially it it a mechanical version of locktite. nice bit of info Glenn

black vs white, a black smith works in black metals, steel and iron. while a white smith works in white metals, silver and pewter. I'm sure theres more to it than that, but that is the basic idea that comes from the names

while watch weapons master i heard a japanese saying about swordsmithing. the english translation "a minute to learn a lifetime to master" This is, I believem What we are all here for. Am I correct? we have all been bitten by the blacksmithing bug, and have spent our minute to learn the process, and now the lifetime ahead to master it. I only have on though, and it compares blacksmithing to highschool. how many of us will master the subject at hand and how many will drop out of the race. only time will tell. as for now I am in this for the long haul.

it kindda has a "elvish" look to it. PLEASE post pics when done and along the way

it really is impressive how just the friction of the hammer hitting cold steel is enough to get it that hot. at least I've always been impressed by it.

it lo like a traditional style of diggin tool used similar to a hoe, or an adze. given the spearpoint shape and the spine he is obviously leaveing down the center, I would imagine that it would be sharpened for cutting roots

as it turns out I moved to the bigger shop and withthe weather last night it seems it was a good idea. my old small shop was rickety at best so when it snowed last night, the roof collapsed. Snow is not a tipical thing here in georgia but last night we got 6 1/2 inches in a few hours. oddly enough it isn't even as cold now as it was last night before the snow. i guess that is due to all of the humidity being on the ground now.

I've been toying with the idea of making my next hammer, I got a cross pein hammer from lowes...the face cracked, and now I'm looking for a suitable replacement while I use my largest ballpein hammer.

I am by no means an authority or probbably not even a good person to answer this, but. IMO it seems to me wooden handles are a matter of convenience compared to other handle types. fiberglass and metal handles are harder to replace if broken than wood. also if wooden handle breaks then all you need to fix it is a cutting tool(pocket knife, draw knife, tomahawk, ect ect) and a piece of firewood. even a poor choice of wood will still make a useable handle. metal handled hammers are a lot harder to rehandle. and in my experience all handles eventually need replacing.

when i was a kid, 12 years old, my neighbor/computer mentor/gaming buddy and I decided to find a handle for me online and for gaming. after a few minutes and failed attempts we decided I have a fascination with bladed weapons and thanks to his job keeping our gaming systems "on the cutting edge" as he put it we chose edge. unfortunatly that wasnt available so we looked through the given options and edge9001 was one of those options. I have gone with edge9001 or edge90012 as my handle/sign in/user name ever since.

I have seen several who want to know how to make tongs. while this is not a new topic or even one ive seen on IFI in the last couple of months I do remember several people asking how to make them. I found this 2 part video on youtube, it shows how to make a set of tongs. not the only method, but one method.