Cody

Thanks, I did do it again already! I did anneal it and then rehardend and tempered it. Sanded it down to 400 and re etched it. It did come out looking better, I'm sure it will hold an edge better. I'll post pics after I get it handled.

Thanks Rich, You might be on to something! I did have to sprint across my shop to get to my quench tank that was out side. As spectacular as it was, maybe it was too long. Is there any reason that I can't do it again? Thank for the help!! Oh, by the way, I just got the term watering from Jim Hrisoulas book The Complete Bladesmith and yes it is the pattern.

Well here is my first cable damascus made form 8" of 1" EIPS. I'm pretty happy with it, I wish that the whole thing looked like the riccaso, or even the spine. Any ideas why the watering lightens toward the cutting edge? My only thoughts are that there was more carbon migration or something like that where it was thinner? I quenched it in warm drain oil, and tempered it in toaster oven at 350 for an hour. Etched it in 50/50 ferric/water for 3 rounds of 10 minutes, then was and sand with 1000 grit and back in. I knew that the watering would be faint, but I had hoped for it to show up a little more. Is there any thing i can do to it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not disapointed, but I always want more!

I had a Future 3 and thought it was pretty good, but I did trade it in for a Emerson 100 lb. They are nice because of the large face for the weight, they are quite, and don't jump around to much. THey do steal some of the rebound. The future 3 has a horn that isn't real round and that I didn't like, but the Future 2 is very round. Good anvil for mobility, not the best shop anvil. Good Luck!

Well it aint 1850 but I cut mine out with a hot cut. One pair with a striker and one pair on my own. The 1/16" cut off wheels on your 4.5 angle gringer works fine to, especially if annealled. I used cut off wheels to cut in the shank for the rowel also. They were great fun and turned out really cool. Have fun

Thanks for this thread! Your workmanship is awesome and that you where willing to stop and take so many pics is really cool. The blade is amazing and the handle screams "pick me up". If I made that I could die a happy man! Well done.

I have used high temp RTV to stick my wood handles to my eyed tools like punches and hot cuts, It has some give so that the shock and vibrations don't break the handles as much. I fit the eyes lose and guper up the handle and slide it in. It really don't have to have to be that strong, and if you let some ooze out the top, it seems plenty strong. Others I know just use a inner tube from an bike and just drive it on snug, but I seem to like the RTV.

Very nice, the texture they have are great. Are your handles wedged like a regular axe? Does anyone know how they were done "in the days of old" Or where they like a hawk and slipped in from the top?

Yesterday I picked up 20' of 3/8" x 1" for $17 and 10' of 1/4" x 1 1/2" for $8.10 both hot rolled. It's pretty cool, most of the time I can trade shoeing for steel as the office lady is a client of mine. Not sure how that works come to think of it, but it works out great for me!

No sweat Joe, not sure where my terminolgy was wrong, but no matter. As far as using something still servicible, just find a farrier and he should have a pile of rasps that not worth using, at least for him,under a horse. Most farrier go through one a week, Some one a month, I know one guy changes it out every morning, a waist in my opinion, but whatever. I have nno idea if mine are case-hardened or not. They are Heller brand.

Thanks guys. I reallized last night that there would be no reason to keep the eye in water, just don't let it get too hot....duh!! I think that I will try 450 degrees on the next one. Good tip on the veggie oil instead of the motor Oil! I have heared that some put better steel in for a bit, I just thought I would try it without first. I don't know what steel rasps are made out of.I have heard that they were better years ago. I know that they are very britle out of the factory. It is possible to break them into several pieces if you whack them on something. I think that I will try one with some other bit sometime, maybe some leaf spring or 1095 or something. Here's a pic. One handled and one ready for handling. I like the size of the unhandled one better. The handle is just a "Boy Scout" hatchet handle that I burned and linseed oiled.

I made some pretty cool hatchets out of old farrier rasps. I was wondering how hot to draw the temper to? THe only one I tempered so far, I put it in the oven at 500 for on hour or better. The wife wasn't real happy with me because i couldn't get all the oil out of the eye. The fine side of the rasp is left in the eye making it hard to clean out. Anyway, I found a toaster oven at walmart for $18, but the thing only goes to 450. I can find info on knives and such, just not much on axes and hatchets. The other thing I was wondering about is should I be leaving the back soft and just hardening the cutting edge. If I put the back in water and heat it with a o/a torch, then I could oil quench it. That might be better. Any advice? Thanks in advance Cody

Thanks Dan, I see that I'm not the only one that has thought about this "problem". I might get some 1/8" bolts and try that, or the super glue will be plan B. I'll post some pics when I get some time.

So I'm making a full tang chainsaw damascus knife (It's in the oven now) and was wondering how/when you fit the handle. I have made a couple before, and that was the part that i didn't like how it came out. If I etch it first, and then fit the handle, when I am sanding the scabs, I shine the tang. My questiion is how do I fix that problem? Does the Feric Cloride affect the wood and or finnish? Do I have to temp. fit the handles and then etch? That doesn't seem like you could hold it perfectly in place and then get it back in the same spot. So any help or advice would be great. Thanks

Just looked at my plans and that is changed in pencil form 2 3/4 radius to 3 3/8" radius... Also, on the pic below that, the 1/2" square says that it is 22" and that is crossed out to 6"...... There is also some additions to page 7. Do you have those?

Howdy, Good to hear that someone else thinks that they can handle it also!!! After I got the prints, I got alittle overwhelmed. Then I started looking and it looks like they spell it out pretty well. I went to a couple of scrap/steel suppliers today. One had 6" solid in surplus ($35 a ft) and 5x5 new ($11.50 a ft) I forgot to ask about base plate.

I have made two. I have pics of the first one, although I think that the second one came out better. I don't know if it was the different brand of chain or if it was in the etching. They were both done similar, but i think that I might have over etched the first one. I think that they were about 8" or 9" long made from one 20" chain. This one is an "Oregon" brand. The one that turned out better was a "Stihl" I think that the the Stihl is a better quality chain then the Oregon brand. I'm not really sure though. I etched it in Ferric Chloride (about 25%) for about an hour. P.S. This was my first knife I made as an adult. I had tried to make some when I was a about 14. That was quite a while ago!!

Wow, NICE JOB. Where can I learn more about doing something similar? I have an anvil that the top popped off of. Well most of the top anyway. I was thinking about tring to rerface it but didn't think it was posible to turn out like that. WHat did you (or should you do) for a pre heat/post heat? How thick should the stooty be? Did you just use a grinder for the final finish? That stoody is hard stuff!! Would it just be dead if you just used 7018 or some other "regular" rod? Thanks P.s. I hope this hasn't all been hashed over before, I just found this site a little while ago. Cody