gypsy

THX! guys, I didn't think ya could but I couldn't remember :)

I was wondering, can you forge cast iron or will it just smush into a mess? I got some really neat old machine blades off some type of mower/mulcher/harvester circa 1900ish & they are riveted to some cool little cast iron arms that would make awesome fantasy knives if I can hammer them flat but I've never actually tried to hammer cast iron and I don't want to ruin one trying to figure it out. I realize they will always be brittle cast iron & all that but hey they were tough enough to go on whatever type machine they came off of & their going to be fantasy knives not survival knives right? :)

Thats what I was thinking, but i was trying to do the project on the cheap, I may just hafta try it, not like a plumbers torch & solder is that big an investment & will prolly use it for other things later on.... i mean if it was some kinda tool i was making i wouldnt even consider it but for a butterfly thats gonna stick in the ground or hang on a fence i thought it might be ok. does anyone have any tips on types of solder & flux or tips on technique being the most soldering i ever did was low temp silver bearing solder on knife bolsters about 15 years ago, usually i just weld & grind everything whether it needs it or not :)I really appreciate the input :D

I am in Asheville N.C. & my tools are in storage in Ohio, normally I would weld steel but I don't have my tools so not being too experienced at soldering I was wondering before investing in a torch, solder etc... whether it would be possible to solder say a clean r.r. spike to say 24 gauge sheet steel to make say butterflies & dragonflies for ornaments (like yard art)I could ship my little lincoln 110 gassless down here but hate risking it getting damaged or lost anyhow thx for the input!

there are many good sword steels, 5160 is great for swords, but is less forgiving on heat treat, welding & forging than 1065-75-85-95 which is what I mainly have used as it is extremely forgiving in these things however rusts a lot more than almost any alloy steel. in destruction tests and over the years I found I had better results for live steel combat & reenactment swords with 1075 oil quenched & triple drawn to between 50-53RCc . swords for these type of activities are not the same as "real swords" in that they are made with the focus on durability, not on aesthetics & edge holding ability.... I believe that overall though regardless of the type of tool or weapon you are making that proper design, forging & heat treating is far more important than the absolute best steel, I have used everything from jackhammer bits to Hammered out angle iron that had been super-quenched (wont hold an edge or spring well but they came out just short of 50RCc & were tough enough to damage other swords on the field, made me a believer in super-quench) to make swords for reenactment depending on the cost & who I intend on selling them to.

I was hoping we could start a thread on what old tools are made of being I have seen a few posts concerning what type of steel this or that old tool is, I know that jackhammer bits are s5, good crow & digging bars are 4130 unless they are pre WWII then they are more likely 1045-1065, leaf springs are 5160 unless pre WWII then likely to be 1045-1065. ball bearings are 52100 & I believe most good files are w2? (not sure on that but I think that's right) and old carbon steel butcher knives like old hickory & green river are generally 1095. I had seen a discussion on "what steel a hoe is made of" & it got me wondering what steel are they made of... or spring furrows? or old scythe blades? so if ya happen to know what steel a particular tool is usually made of please reply :)

Most old American made pry & digging bars are 4130 in the post WWII era, pre WWII they are usually 1045-1065. As with many used steels I agree with "normalize, normalize, normalize!" & after hardening "temper, temper, temper!" also I learned the hard way with old jackhammer bits (s5 steel) to hammer used alloy steel only in the high forging range & also to stress test every blade made from old tools as pre-existing micro-fractures may exist that you can't see but will cause a blade to fail. any time I use used steel for blades now I lock it in a vice after heat treat, put a cheater bar on it & give it a flex in a quiet shop listening carefully for the tell-tale little crackling noises that shouldn't be there. its worth the time & effort to not have a blade come back from a customer broken.

How come everyone seems to want to do things with swords that they were never meant to do? Swords were never meant to cut stone, steel, cinder blocks, other swords,, car hoods, anvils, etc.... even heavy swords "back in the day" that they actually used them were meant to cut FLESH! Yes they bounced off armor sometimes but with the expense of steel at the time & the fact that your life was placed on the weapon, the warrior truly tried to hit nothing but flesh if possible. I blame this obsession of hitting things with swords on Hollywood & youthful vigor as when I was younger I made a lot of swords for "live steel fighters" & other reenactment groups. and these folks do lot of stupid things with swords that swords were never intended on doing... fact is as previously stated swords are a refined tool that is not for cutting stone, however you may refer clients in need of such an item for I excel at making "crowbars with edges & cross guards" :)LOL

I've had all the little HB anvils, 12#, 25# & 55# and while I wouldn't actually call them real anvils they are a cheap, quick fix and are ok as long as you never hit anything cold on them. I do agree that r.r. rail & pretty much any large chunk of steel is going to out perform a cast iron anvil shaped object. worse come to worse the 12# makes a great doorstop or paperweight :)

I now try (sometimes I forget or don't have rubber gloves) to were not only leather gloves on both hands but also commercial latex gloves under the leather gloves to keep dirt & grease off my hands. It works well to keep hands clean & soft but your hands get extremely sweaty inside the latex. Also the rubber can compound a burn if you don't get them off quick enough.

wondering if anyone has done any serious metaphysical studies in smithing & if so is there any written text?

hey guys, i just got a good paying job rehammering jackhammer bits & until now i never even knew what steel they were & no one at work knows a darn thing, seems thier old smith wandered off & never bothered to tell anyone how. i found only one relevent page on the web so any input would be apriciated. THX!!!:)

thx i woulda worn myself out trying to grind that stuph off!

hey i got a question.... i been making some horse shoe coathooks & candleholders but i got a bunch of shoes that have these bumps welded onto them & whatever they welded them with is extremely abrasion resistant anyone got experiance with this stuph? even with a fresh 9" 24grit wheel on a right angle grinder its too tuph to grind! :(

LOOKS GOOD! keep it up, theres $$$ in blades every now & then, i managed to scape by on 'em for like 10 years. to be honest i like your horseshoe knife better than the ones ive done :)

one of the tricks that has saved me lotsa greif & time is the mounting bracket & saw table i made for my 9" right angle grinder. just a peice of 2" angle iron mounted to the right side of the grinder with a bolt in the hole were ya screw the handle on & a hoseclamp around the body & now the grinder can be mounted in a vice. add a flat plate with a bolt in the other handle hole & a couple nubs welded on to keep the plate from turning & now its an abrasive tablesaw. (be careful its alot easier to run yer knuckles into that 24 grit rock when yer holding the work & not the grinder!). OWWW! that & the $20 "weed burner" from harbor freight. its a big propane torch used by roofers & stuph but if ya look at it right its not only a big tempering torch for swords & stuph but also can be modified into a forge burner, its 6' of hose w/fittings, needle valve, jet & a half finished ventury all for less than $20! :)

I've had good results with different oil over the years but I really prefer to use vegtable oil (most everything I make is 1050-1095 or 5160) and the real benefit for me isnt metalurgical. I usually harden 10 or more sword blades or 20 or more knives at a time so by the time I'm done I'm covered in it. Petroleum oils stink badly and are hard to get off you & your clothes, the veggie oil just smells like you've been in the kitchen & washes off easy. It also makes a nice black finish for wrought iron stuph. For me the "big thing" isn't so much the hardening, its really the tempering that makes the difference. I'm a firm believer in "triple drawing", like with alot of things the old timers knew their stuph & the old tools that really impressed me were the ones that had "triple drawn" stamped in the steel. It didn't take many destruction tests on my own peices to see the difference between other methods & triple drawing.

sounds kinda like my first forge, i called it the turbo-hibachi. it was an old cast iron habachi with the vents chipped out to fit 1" gas pipe wich was then ran together & to a 2" pipe that held an old hairdryer for the blower. nowdays i just use the standard tube gassers, you know, big pipe wrapped with ceramic wool. i generally build them outa the little military oil drums or any metal bucket.... ive even made miniture ones out of a coffee can & a "turbo-torch" brand plumbers torch.

it's good too be here i make everything from swords to jewelry. more later. gypsy