Rashelle

Thank you Dave. It is a show and there is a lot of editing, of course, but in the end we make what they want. We are then judged, it is a competition, someone will be first another last, the others will be inbetween. It's all good and fun. The best way to improve, for myself at least, is to push my boundaries. The show done, done that for me. I'll keep on entering competitions, periodically. Push your boundaries and challenge yourself.

Thank you Mr B. and Mitch. It was a fun experience. I'd do it again and I encourage others who are on the fence about it, to try for it, as the only way to succeed is to try.

Thank you Gergely. Glad to be here. One thing I want to say to others contemplating entering competitions is that ..... "You can't win if you don't enter, you can't succeed if you don't try." This goes for anything you are interested in,learning a new skill or craft, sparring, competing, having fun. Everything you dream about to get there you have to go for it.

Thank you Nate. All I think I'm at liberty to say is that I enjoyed the competition. I'm rather competitive. To the point where even though I'd probly not last a fraction of a second I'd step in the ring with Mohamud Ali for the enjoyment of competing and tell him to bring it. You get an adrenaline rush from the challenge when competing with your peers. Or at least I do. Especially when it's something I enjoy. If it wasn't something I enjoy I'd not want to compete in it. I respect and like the other participants and have no issues with someone other then me winning. After all there can be only one. Congratulations James! I don't have TV so haven't seen it yet, work plans on having a viewing tonight for me, as long as I don't embarass myself somehow I'm good.

It was fun, Anvil orientation doesn't really bother me much though I usually point it to my left, for the usage it's getting. I move around it as needed. If I really need it on my right and can't move around I'll switch hands then it's effectively pointing the other way, heehee.

Thanks Aus. Every once in awhile I get a wild hair. It'd been awhile since I'd made a cross pein so thought it should be celebrated. Matto I had a coworker take the picture, I'm rather technically challenged, will see if I can remember to have him take another one, when we're both in, in a couple days. The tree and brush going around the bottom of the handle are wood burned on. Couldn't find my tips or even the wood burned so used a butane solderer with normal soldering tip. Thank you Adam.

Thank you D.C. and Matto. It was either 4140 or 1045 I forgot which. Caleb picked up the stock and we used what he brought in to teach him to make a hammer.

Thought I'd share approximately 2.7 lbs crosspein with a little file work across the top. Sitting next to a hammer blank.

NC tools. I just got some more for the classes as well as more class friendly forges. I'm not sure of the TOS for videos so I haven't put the little cutting demo video up. But every time I watch it I smile.

monkey tools.

Here is a pic of an almost finished gladius I've been working on off and on. I still need to clean up near the soldered on guard and where it was held in the vice when I drove on the handle and pommel. I also need to put an edge on and sharpen it though I have a video of a unsharpened cutting test, heehee. She was made of 5160 weighs 2 lbs 2 oz. POB 4" forward of guard, overall length 28" blade length 20 3/8", width at broadest point 2 1/8" hardened in oil vertically tempered to 450F. Handle is oak stained dark, fittings are brass patina'd, need to redo the area near the guard on the blade though. I call her Imperatrix.

LOL yes steak is the example I use when explaining that to them. That and the phrase "by then you might have stopped cooking."

Stuff like that happening to youth is about the most scary aspect of my job. Those little circumstances happen to everyone like you pointed out. Burns happen, cuts and scrapes happen, so do bruises. I had one week camp I started calling burn unit camp. They were so bad the first couple days with touching hot metal. By the end of the week though they started figuring it out and we actually had a day without so much as a hot wax burn. I was kidding the youth calling them cooking camp ... roast kid for lunch. No theatrics on my part normally means no theatrics on their parts. The girl took it well .... it is an outdoor survival school. Minor injuries are expected. Her father took it well also. Will leave a small scar for a little while but should be good. First rule of Trackers: no one dies, second rule nothing that doesn't heal in 4 days .... well we push that one a little bit in the blacksmith and bladesmith classes as burns tend to take a little while. Cold running water is your friend. I make them keep injured parts under the chilled drinking water fountain till the cold hurts more.

A couple of things, first welcome. Second not long ago...... a couple of weeks ago a youth student picked his hot metal up off the anvil to admire it, stepped forward while swinging it down, stumbled, punched the hot metal right into a young girls ...... face ......... missed her eye due to ........ glasses. They deflected the metal enough to just graze the cheek resulting in a minor burn as opposed to the loss of a cauterized eye........ Good thing glasses are required and the students are told to hold their metal down.... not that that part was observed on the one students part. Takes just a moment and things happen. Last observation. I do like has been mentioned above stand in close over the anvil. So I don't stretch, when at a too low anvil I spread my legs further apart thus dropping my body down without bending over. Sometimes even bending knees.

If it's a one shoe horn does that make it a shoe horn?

Carpenters, chisels, log dogs and smaller versions, peevy's, froes, different axes and hammers, chest hardware, etc. Black powder stuff: the word Thomas can't say xxxxx, worm for cannon or swivel gun, lin stock, stand, strikers for flint and steel, screw drivers, patch knife .... patch knife screw drivers, etc. Other demo stuff, strikers, spoons, colonial candle holders, swedish candle holders, forks, bbq stuff, bottle openers,J hooks, S hooks, Y hooks, different finials on all of the above with different twists, such as a leaf version. Etc. I even made for myself wile demoing at one of the places a set of L brackets for shelves, plant hangers are more good things, snails, seahorses, rings, bracelets, faces, wizard head thingies, gnomish things, etc.

I go over rules and safety in the beginning, followed by short safety talks at all breaks and beginnings of each day. Even so far as to warn the students as to what happens if they pee on the toilet seats..... class gets shut down till said seat is clean, etc. First offense is verbal, second is verbal and sitting out, third verbal sitting out and guardian called. Note safety trumps those. They can go from 0 to sitting out with parent called at any time. Parents are talked to at end of days and beginnings of next days. I have the numbers on a clipboard available. Each kid is different, do what you have to to shut down safety issues. I also do written reports of behavioral and safety issues. With talking with the office staff to let them know to discourage or not let back if needed. I've had ADHD, Aspergers, ADD, Autistic, and "learning disabilities and behavioral issues" in my classes/camps. It is really nice when the adults tell you about issues before you figure it out on your own. Note they don't very often. I ask if there are any such issues I should be aware of.

SReynolds, number of visitors depends on the site. I rarely volunteer anymore but used to have 250 a day regularly, a couple thousand on a special event. Back on topic. Find out what the volunteers before you used to make as well as what the location produced. You may find yourself doing the actual historic reproductions as opposed to more modern things. At the above mentioned site where I used to volunteer we were set in 1845. So it was Fort Vancouver Hudson Bay Company 1845 type things a lot. Though there were a lot of small, use the technique, type demo items as well. I made an awful lot of J-hooks. But then we were not limited to only fast items so I did hammers, axes (with forge welds), utensil racks, stuff for the carpenters and the black powder program, etc. Whereas the demo I'll be doing at a different location next weekend will be more quick items, plus whatever they ask me to make as I always seem to make things for the carpenters and location.

You're welcome Aus. Good luck and enjoy it, I'm sure you will. Take your time, make each stage. I took a Japanese chef knife class not long ago from Arnon Kartmazov, Nitzan Lilly was there assisting. I've been meaning to put what he told me in the quotes section, he said: "To put it all in one sentence, What we do is make clean lines." I try to keep what he told me in mind, no matter what I'm doing. "What we do is make clean lines." Keep it clean as you go and in the end it'll take care of itself. Enjoy the class.

It's better then some of my students first knifes. I'd suggest not sharpening it before hardening on the next one. Bring the edge down to not less then a quarters thickness prior to hardening. If I may make a couple more suggestions ....... Though I'm far from an expert. You can compensate for the recurve of the blade caused by hammering out the edge bevels either by prior curving it the other way or gently straightening the curve out as you go, or both as needed. The other thing was (and this is just the way I show to do it) when shouldering in a handle transition, I do the handle before the blade. Holding the blade section in tongs, I shoulder on near side edge of anvil, thus gently narrowing the handle to flare out towards the rear. Giving a reverse taper and dividing the material for further forging. OHHHHHHH do I hope that made sense and helped.

There are also (I don't remember them being mentioned) "From iron ore to iron hoe" and "Ore to axe". The first one available on you tube the second is a DVD.

I like it. Nice flow and clean. I think I'll try having some of my youth students try their hands at something similar for prep for knife handles.

You just missed the NWBA conference. It had a Friday in it.

You can look up maraging steel.

Here is the axe head I was demoing along with a couple other things done in about the same time period. Caleb should be done with his soon to put in here also.