Maillemaker

geez, the guy is only trying new things with a powerhammer. I'm sure some people think that little sculpture is a desirable piece.  Art is what you make it.

Well, what do we know or can relatively safely assume?

-Made in New Jersey, in a town that ends in -ton
-Made by a company or person whose name ends in -rinslade
-Most likely drop forged, so there should be others
-Meant to be used on a hammer-style handle

Anything I'm missing?

Layout dye?

is the stamp any better/ contain any other information on the other side?

Excellent. By 14, most scouts will have the height, strength, and dexterity needed for forging. Also, thank you for playing by the rules and requiring other adults to be present.

I've been in the same position.

My curriculum has been: a tempered center punch made from coil spring, a drive hook and a riveted candle holder.

I'm not sure how you're working this, but it is an awful lot of work to teach the entire badge at the forge in one go. The requirements that demonstrate soldering, work hardening and annealing can easily be done at another time, especially if you have a small anvil to bring with you.

I've found that I can teach terminology better in a classroom setting, as you will be able to address the entire class, instead of two or three at a time.

How old are the scouts you will be teaching? Some of the younger ones will not have the manual dexterity or strength to use a 3lb hammer. Also, the height of your anvil is most likely incorrect for some scouts. I would recommend having several stands for your anvil to compensate, rather than having the scout stand on a block of wood or a milk crate.

Be careful with how many students you have at a time. Not only for space issues, but it is extremely dangerous for anyone to be inattentive at the forge. In my experience, one scout at a time is optimal, two is acceptable, three is a hassle.

Also, go over basic rules,
- When in doubt, a piece of stock is hot. Always use tongs to handle stock.
- Proper tool usage. If you don't know what a tool is used for, don't use it until you ask.

Come up with a list of possible projects, and don't be afraid to let the scouts design their own. However, my rule was absolutely no weapons.

Shoot me a message if you would like more info

See if you can track down a local smith, or take a class and get some hands-on experience. We can talk on the forum and post videos until the world ends, but there is nothing that replaces live, in-person time with someone who knows their stuff.

Making a quality knife requires proficiency in many blacksmithing skills. You need to know what steel you are working with and how hot to work it. You need to understand how metal moves under your hammer, how to efficiently work the steel and not leave hammer marks. Then you need to have at least a basic comprehension of thermal cycling to harden and temper the blade, as well as various techniques for fit and finish.

Granted, anyone can grind an edge on a piece of scrap, wrap some leather or para-cord around the handle and call it a knife. A quality blade, however, requires skill, patience, and attention to detail, and the end product will usually beat the pants off any poorly made knife-shaped-object.

Mild steel is a poor knife material. It doesn't have enough carbon to be hardened. As for mounting a handle on the tang, what kind of tang do you have? Attaching a handle on a full-tang knife will be different than a hidden tang.

Look at the knifemaking stickies for valuable information.

It sounds like you have little experience with metalwork. There are many experienced smiths that will advise you to start with basic blacksmithing and metalwork, and then learn your way from there. Knives are finicky for even the most seasoned smith.

I've taught most of my scout troop blacksmithing, and they demonstrated the "wimp" at times.

"Hit it like you've got a pair! We don't have all day!" It's all in good humor, but it helped.

I also would strike for them on the other side of the anvil. Gets more work done, and the scouts would usually try to match me.

"Iron Burns" by David Greathouse. good stuff.

http://www.reverbnat...davidgreathouse

etched in Pepsi ehh? How long does that take? What prep did you do?

I ground the surface on my belt sander just to expose the steel, then hand-sanded with 400 grit. Poured the Pepsi into a glass bottle, capped it, then shook to remove the CO2. Set the steel horizontally in the soda, and let it sit for ten to twenty minutes. Gives a pretty good etch, but you've got to neutralize quickly, or the steel turns brownish.

Thanks for the advise. I'm working with a coal forge, and there were a couple times that the billet threw a spark or two, but it never went fourth-of-July-sparkler on me. I'll try to slow down next time and work more methodically.

I took three heats on the initial weld, then each fold went through at least two, making sure the weld areas overlapped. The diagonal void opened up when twisting, and I tried at least three or four times to get the weld in the center to stick.

I did quench after I was done, but I've seen other pieces of steel on IFI that have very similar surface texture which were diagnosed as an overheat problem.

I had the fortune to go home two weeks ago and do some smithing. Regrettably, I can't forge at all where I'm enrolled at UW-Stevens Point, so it was a wonderful experience. Having nothing else to do, I grabbed a strip of mild and an old file, then welded and just kind of had fun with it. After sanding with 400 grit paper and etching in Pepsi this is the end product.



As you can see, it is a rather poor example of a two-bar twist billet, about 5 inches long, 3/4 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick.

Red means a crap weld/weld delamination. I've been welding long enough to notice poor welds when I see one, but I tried several times to re-weld without success. Used plenty of borax, and reached proper welding heat. Were the surfaces simply not clean enough?

I noticed that even though I sanded the entire bar and was sure not to touch the surface afterwards, one part etched darker than the other, indicated by the yellow line. Any conjecture as to how this happened?

The sections outlined in blue are areas of file steel that etched lighter than the same material elsewhere in the billet. Upon closer inspection, these areas have a "pebbly" texture. Is this caused by overheating?

I want to branch out and expand my smithing horizons, and I think p-welding is something worth diving into.

If you have a desk lamp and have/could make an overhead brace, you could clamp the lamp onto the beam and work the night away!

Pictures!

I've had success with ferric chloride and white-out. Design your image with white-out, then soak in acid.

This is a scene from the Germanic myth of the Nibelungenlied. The sword had to be used to slay a dragon. The first two had shattered when struck upon the anvil. Everyone knows that dragons have a whole mess of gold, so yes, the dwarf is lined up for a fortune.... until he tries to murder the hero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied

Edit: added wikipedia address.

There is an two schools of thought about starting to forge with blade projects.

Some smiths here will tell you to start with simple things like pokers, leaf keychains, and s-hooks to build your skills. Others will say try it, and learn as you go. It is your decision.

Steels that are known for hardness (edge retention) are usually high-carbon, like 1095, 01 and W2. However, due to their hardness, they are more difficult to forge than a tougher, lower-carbon steel.

Another option might be stock removal. Stock removal is less efficient than hot forging, but you probably have more experience with that particular technique.

Welcome to IFI.

Read the knife making stickies. There is a huge database of knowledge here, and most of your questions have been answered already.

What are your abilities? How long have you been forging? Do you understand the thermal cycling process?

You can know a thousand things about knives and not have a clue about how they are made.

What will the knife be used for? There are hundreds of different knife designs for at least as many tasks.

Please don't be put off, but bladesmithing is a difficult and demanding skill. Everyone here likes to see other members flourish, but smiths can be blunt at times.

I have had the great honor of being able to work with my great-grandfather's forge, anvil, and tools. It feels like he's there forging with me. Don't be too quick to sell the objects that connect you to the past.

if you live in an area that has been used for agriculture, small family farms usually have a scrap pile that has useful material. Be polite, and offer to make the owners something in appreciation.

Choose a simple symbol or combinations of letters that appeals to you.

My mark is a Jerusalem Cross, similar to my profile picture. I like the look.

Does it make the noise when the blades are in it?

I had a similar problem this summer. I solved it by tightening this bolt.



The slack was causing the fan to rub against the inside of the housing.

I had to take my blower apart about half a dozen times before I figured that little tidbit out....