Robakyo

Don, I'm sorry to hear your pin problem, but I find your mosaic pin issue interesting. I have not worked with them yet, but really like how they dress up a knife. Did you create enough tooth on the outer surface of the tubing? I've use coarse grit sandpaper for all pin material, but I always peen the pins down a bit while the epoxy is wet. So, I don't really know what is holding the pins more securely for sure. Of course, peening mosaic pins would be a disaster. Anyway, I would like to know how this kind of thing can occur. How deep were the pins? What was the outer tubing made of? I really don't know the right questions to ask yet. IMHO, You have a very bright future ahead of you Don! Robert

Beautiful knife. It looks like a high performance race car! Very sleek lines. Did you make your own mosaic pins? Robert

I appreciate your candid responses. My set-up is just a few steps above rocks and a hole in the ground, but I am not complaining. If you saw my recent post, where I presented the 12 blades that I've made so far, I did all that I could with what I have. I love every moment that I can be at the forge! But as others have said, post forging consumes the most time. And again, I,and probably most everyone else here learns something new every time they log-in. So I try to pick the minds of others to expand my knowledge. I find your work impressive, so I ask for clarification on points that I find myself lacking. I had to read through your reply several times to fully comprehend what you meant. Even in teaching, one learns. Robert

Those tongs seem extremely versatile. Something else I need to make. Thanks for posting that. Robert

Curious. Could it still be considered Steel if it has no magnetic properties? It is the iron content after all, not the carbon, that makes the steel magnetic. Perhaps, your wife actually found a bar of platinum. Ok, I wanted to add a smiley face here, but it doesn't seem to be an accessible feature of iPad. Robert

It sounds like Disneyland to me! Or Santa's workshop. Or heaven. Robert

What a great find! They have some incredible salvage yards in ND too. Unfortunately, I no longer live there. Robert

Mark, that is quite an achievement! Shaping a blade with an integral bolster is still just a dream for me, so, to see an integral guard is seriously impressive. What is your set-up like? Oh, yeah, your knife itself is nicely done too. Hidden tang, integral guard,pattern welded steel, and a nice blend of materials for your handle. Thanks for posting your work. More food for thought! Robert

Stormcrow, you have really carved out a style that is uniquely yours! Awesomely done. Nice to read the thought processes behind design elements. Robert

Justin, very nice work. I think that exuberant describes your Hamon's pretty well. What did you use as your "clay"? It will be interesting to see how you handle the furniture on your wakizashi. Your Bowie turned out very cool! Robert

Thanks for the timely information Phil. Thats a real shame. The colors are very striking. Robert

I appreciate your kind words Big Red. Ha. Yeah, I thought it might be nice to spice up the images with my girls' toys and drawings. They are awesome! Unfortunately, I've infected them with my metal scavenging disease. My wife HATES that!

Just an update. I tried to straighten out a slight bend in the cutting edge of my wakizashi-ish blade. Clamped the edge between two pieces of angle iron and tempered for an hour @ 425 F for an hour. After removing from the over I left it clamped up until cool. I was unsuccessful. The spine is straight, but the edge still has a slight curve near the tip. :( I really learned a valuable lesson there. I also like the oxidized color as well. How durable is that as a finish? Robert

Thanks for the laugh! As soon as I opened your pic I actually did laugh out loud. Over the top. Ingenious. Logical. I forgot how funny and creative you folks can be. I've never explored this section of the forum before. I usually lurk in the Bladesmithing section. Very interesting topics here! Robert

Steve, thanks for sharing that clip. Very powerful and emotional. That young man embodies all that is noble and beautiful about humanity. Everything else I try to write I delete, because it sounds lame and insufficient. Success will obviously follow, but I wish him true happiness above all else. Simon is who he is. I don't blame a shark, for being a shark. Again, Thanks for that clip Steve! You made my day all warm and fuzzy. :) Robert

Thanks, Able. I think Big Red answered that well. Thanks, Big Red! I've been working metal for a little over one year now.

I agree Phil. I had to fuller and flatten,fuller and flatten on the horn of my home-made RR track anvil until I achieved my objective. That caused the cold shuts I think. I should consider buying or making some scrolling tongs as well. I didn't really quench harden that area until the blade section had stopped smoking and bubbling. I think the tempering toughened it.?? So much to learn, and I can't stop thinking about the next project. :lol:

Thanks a lot Phil! I like them too. I've always wanted one since I first saw "Yan Can Cook". He really made short work of garlic with his cleaver. The bed frame steel works well for that. I found it extremely difficult to coax out the tails of the one cleaver and the chopper. I ended up with minor cold shuts in both tails. Robert

That's a really nice blade! I like the profile. I can see the patterning slightly. What grit have you taken it to? Are you using brass tubing for the pins? Really cool. Robert

Thanks Mitch, I really like doing file work. I have put it on everything but the kitchen knives. I had no idea what I was doing when I started making my first knives. I tried to maximize the available metal. Instead, I could easily have made three out of each bar. But I Do like the long one with the Ipe (sp) scales. Thanks for looking. Robert

This last group is made up of more mystery steel. The hunter is my first hidden tang knife. I actually found an acceptable use for RR spikes, as I used a portion of one to form the guard. I drilled the slot with my cordless. The small brass spacer was cut from a door striker plate. The wood is a section of a branch struck by lightning. Copper pins, poorly peened. The Seax was made from the T-beam support track for a Sears Craftsman garage door opener found in the woods. Pallet wood scales, and pins from heavy gauge steel wire used to support the grid-work of a drop ceiling. Another hunter that has the leather covered wood sheath, as well as the aforementioned hidden tang knife, were made from the same T-beam. All were edge quenched. Weak hamons. The only legitimate knife steel is the one with the black pins. I think it is 1075. I haven't HT'ed it yet. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to one of Aldo's Hammer-ins. Thanks again Sam! That was a turning point for me. The chopper is based on the Ontario Spec plus. At least that is what I wrote below my sketch. It is made from bed frame. I learned, after the fact, that I should use a lighter touch with the hammer. Pallet wood scales. Smelled like oak. Copper pins. It chops well. I made short work of my former Christmas tree. All of the kitchen knives were made from bed frames as well. So this is my dirty dozen. I actually didn't know the count until I laid them all out for the final picture. I've also made several pair of tongs. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but functional. Sigh. This has been more than a year in the making. :lol: Robert

OK, so I was able to reduce the images to an acceptable level. Here is another group of pics. These are the pics of the Japanese influenced blade. The handle is a bamboo flooring sample. It is only roughly shaped for now. I will refine the shape once I've corrected the warp in the blade. The pins will be bamboo as well. Robert

Here is my next attempt at posting. I was able to upload images. These first three large blades were made by stock removal ( hacksaw, body file, and files. Unfortunately, this was before I discovered IFI. When I learned about HT, I filed off the cutting edges until I had at least 1/16th in. Still, that wasn't enough on the Japanese influenced blade. It has a wavy section. I read about clamping a slight bend to a flat bar of steel during the tempering cycle to correct a warp. Would that work on an edge? I was also able to achieve a faint hamon on the edge. I forced the drying time of the refractory. Next time I will practice patience. I think that it would have been more dramatic. Robert

I have gained so much from the members on this site. The comments, advice, and pictures have been invaluable. Master Swordsmiths,Master Bladesmiths, and Master Blacksmiths, right on down to beginners like myself, have contributed to the community here with pictures of both their triumphs and failures. Thank You All! As a drill sergeant was fond of saying, " You learn more from failure than from success." And to use Rich Hale's buzz word: Tuition, I would like to present the efforts of my labor. My tuition, up to this point. I started off with mystery metal. It turned out that the three flat bars of iron had an appreciable amount of carbon in them. They are all flawed in ways that led me to new understandings. Hopefully, the pics will attach this time. Robert I keep getting a message stating "upload skipped (Error403) even though I've updated my Flash plug-in to 9.

Keith, great work. I really like the blacksmith's knife a lot. You put a nicely sized guard on the tail. Large enough to prevent your hand from sliding forward, and small enough not to snag on stuff. Edge quenched? The two that were obviously forged from files are nice too. The last one has a really nice flow. What steel did you use for the first and the last knives? Excellent handle/scale materials as well. I can see the time and effort that went into making them. It looks to me like you've found your style. Robert P.S.- Your sheaths are outstanding as well.