Lodestone25

This one is 0.5" high and about 1" across.

My buddy made this for me on the CNC he has in his garage, the L is for "Lodestone Forge" Photo attached of it stamped into a piece of O-1 Steel I've been working - I think it turned out great! Lodestone

hahah, glad I checked! Thanks for the input gentlemen, Lodestone

This anvil is on my local craigslist for 175$, I'm interested in it but I have a feeling it might not be of good make. The owner wont tell me who made it, so that makes me even more suspicious. Any of you experts have any input on this deal? Thanks for your help! Lodestone

Thanks guys! The Cherry is finished graduated to 1500 grit sand paper. 6 coats of tung oil applied with a 1500 grit sanding session between each. This was my first attempt at a bevel. I did it very slowly and carefully by hand on my belt grinder. It turned out "ok", but I would like any advice you guys can offer on how to make a nice, straight and consistent bevel. This one is pretty straight, but you can definitely tell if you look closely that it isn't perfect. Lodestone

Took me about 6 months to finally get it done, but here she is! O-1 Steel with a Cherry and Brass handle. Any constructive criticism or thoughts for my next one? Thanks !! Lodestone

I love this forum. You guys always offer great advice. Thanks so much for all your replies!

Now that I picked up a little MIG welder, I've recently started making larger ironwork pieces such as grilles and plant-stands and such. I've found that I now spend a ridiculous amount of time with my grinder and wire-brush attachment cleaning up each piece after forging. I'd really like to spend less time with the grinding/cleanup and more time at the forge - does anyone have any suggestions for faster ways to perform this step? Are there chemical ways to do it that involve leaving the piece in a bucket of something overnight or anything like that? Thanks for your help in advance ! Lodestone

Thanks fellas! Getting my first one complete just makes me want to get back out to the forge and make some more!

Hey all, I finally finished my first blade! Took me 2 months worth of weekends, but I'm very surprised how well it turned out. Just wanted to share some photos - It's hidden tang, 8" hardened O-1 steel blade, a carved cherry handle, and brass guard. Any input and constructive criticism is very welcome! Thanks, Lodestone

Hey guys, I came across this article the other day and ended up making both of the blacksmith puzzle designs in it. They turned out great and have been a lot of fun for the family and our guests. Does anyone have any other blacksmith puzzle designs they'd like to share? I find these things very interesting and would like to be able to make a bunch more. Thanks! (link in case the above doesn't work) http://habairon.org/...h%20Puzzles.pdf

Hi Rich, thanks for the quick reply. I haven't actually epoxied or pinned yet, the handle is just snugly-fitted to the steel right now and it can slide on and off at this point. So I can still easily take it off to do whatever it takes to install a guard. I'll have to look into picking up one of those knife books... so far i've just been going off posts on here along with trial and error. Thanks again, Lodestone

Hi everyone, I recently carved and fitted a cherry handle on my first O1 steel forged blade. I'm really happy with how everything is turning out so far, but I am stumped at how to transition nicely from the handle to the blade. As you can see in the pictures, I left space for some kind of guard or shim or filler or something, but I'm at at a loss at what to do at this point. I thought I'd post pics and see if any of you experts had some suggestions. Thanks in advance for your input fellas! Lodestone

Sorry to be the new guy here, but I was reading this post and was curious if you could explain to me what exactly the file test would be?

Here are some better pictures. Thanks for all the input guys! Lodestone

Yes I can but I have to borrow my buddy's camera... I'll see if I can post some better pics tomorrow. Thanks! Lodestone

Ok, good to know. Thanks again for all your help! Lodestone

Wow. This place is great. Thanks so much for the info! Do you think I paid a reasonable price for it or did I overpay?

I cleaned up the front of the foot as best I can. Some numbers are clear and some are very faded, so my best guess is this - On the left side of the foot I can clearly see "1 5 0" On the right side of the foot I see what appears to be a 6 digit number split by a space - "2 0 4 _ 8 6 5" The 2 could be a 3, and the 6 could be an 8, but my best guess is 204865. Thanks again for the help! Lodestone

Hey all, first post here, but I've been around reading a lot of posts for awhile now. I've just started doing blacksmithing stuff in the last couple months, and I love it. So far I've just been tinkering around in my backyard using the brake drum forge design I found on here. (Picture of my forge attached) I've been using a section of railroad track and a 45lb bench press plate as a sort of makeshift anvil. Today a guy answered my want-ad for an anvil and was asking 250$ for it. The pictures are attached. He didn't know the make of the anvil but I brushed off some dust and stuff and can barely make out "Rex__" or something like that. Does that mean anything to anyone? The Anvil weighs just under 150lbs, and there aren't any cracks or major dings at all. The guy said he's had it for 25 years or so and he got it from one of his buddies who was a crane operator in the 80's. I bought it because I thought it was a pretty good deal, but I acknowledge that I don't know much about it. What do you experts think? Thanks for your help guys! Lodestone