petersenj20

Very nice holder. How do you make the pillow looking swell in it?

I lak it a lat

Equal parts: Wax, Turpentine, Linseed oil, and a small amount of the Japan drier. And recommends using toilet rings. I remember reading somewhere before that they are beeswax too.

Look how well the left and right guys hammer at precisely the same time. Imagine most work sites today. "You're telling me I have to work how many hours today, aaannnndd I have to be perfect at what I do?"

That's what I call a Christmas party. I especially like the kid staring down the gullet.

My local Publix grocery store has bamboo cutting boards that are real cheap for the mall ones. Would make a quick knife handle

That's a knife! A beautiful one at that.

All my questions answered. I should have learned how to straighten this but couldn't come up with anything. All my time reading on the site just hasn't sunk in I guess. I think I'm going to leave the curve in place on this knife. I will try the tips on the next one. It was a fairly small file and made a blade about 4 inches long. Much smaller than I would have guessed. My estimate at the handles didn't turn out the same length. I'm going to turn some oak handles in the next day or two and post some pics.

I got the blueprint for the drawknife (Many Thanks Glenn) and I gave it a try tonight using a Nicholson file. It hurt to ruin a good file but I picked up a few for a dollar each at the flea market this weekend. I have no forge so I am using my Al furnace. It is not efficient but does the job. I drew out and shaped the handles OK. Putting the bevel on the blade...Not so good. It took a while and the complete edge is curved like a banana. I understand this is normal with drawing the edge, but I have a few questions. How do you hammer the curve back straight without flattening the edge? When do I sharpen? Before or after I harden and temper? I had a hard time hitting the edge of the file at an angle. Would this be easier with a much thicker piece of metal or do I just need to get it right? After I flattened the whole piece out I left it in the furnace when I shut the fan off to slowly cool. That way I can sharpen in the annealed state unless ya'll tell me to do different. My thinking is to sharpen final edge, heat and harden, then temper in the oven.

If you preheat the sheets there should be no problems with moisture or anything. However, the sheet will most likely flex and deform and you won't be even close to a flat plate. Aluminum has too much surface tension to settle flat in an open mold as is evident by any ingots you have made being somewhat bubbled over. A big reason you use closed molds when making actual items. Getting set up with green sand is fairly easy. Lost foam is a very cheap starter way to make items for the cost of a bag of sand. I don't think you will get the results you are looking for though without a little investment. Believe it or not a hole in the ground can suffice as a mold, again most likely with unsatisfactory results. That's how pig iron got its name. The open molds cut in the sand at the base of the furnace resembled a mother pig and suckling piglets

Does anyone have a copy of this blueprint they may have downloaded before the high numbered print feature went down? I would like to have a look at it if possible.

Small items of wood can be dried with very satisfactory results by using a microwave. I have a link here somewhere and will try to post that describes the best way to do it "perfected" by wood turners. Here's a good one. Never done it myself though. http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rhaslip/Rex/workshop/microwave/microwav.htm

A lot of people use coke cans and like for their casting. It works just fine. As long as you have the patience for the time it takes to crush and melt enough to have a substantial mass. You will have a lot of dross to scrape off, but like I said patience. I use almost strictly cans with the occasional oxygen cylinder(that'll raise hollers from the crowd I know, but I am safe). My furnace is large enough I can use it as a scrap melter placing metal right in the fire and tap from the bottom. Also, I use wood exclusively in this furnace and is totally free.

Now you just need to make sure and use it. I've wanted one of these for loading logs in my truck.

These are cool. What are the holes in the middle for? I saw a set of this style fork on 3:10 to Yuma and have wanted a set ever since. Nothing to do but do it! Nice setting for the picture too.

What's the weather like in the mountains? Welcome to the board.

I think this forge was designed to be cheap, easy, and efficient. Hence the use of lump charcoal. You can make it in a hole or BBQ it's so easy. I have used lump and briquettes to melt aluminum and brass in my furnace. They both work but the briquettes take longer and throw a mess of ash. I have melted brass with wood. It's all possible. My understanding of the Perlite mixes is that it melts out and leaves air pockets that insulate. Red clay, fireclay, modeling clay should all work to one degree or another. Perlite seems to be the new age of homemade mixes. My furnace is made of 1 part fireclay, 1 part sand, and 1 part grog (crushed firebricks/cintered clay). It's not indestructible but it works. As do all these other mixes. I live in Georgia and have the red clay to end all red clay. I just made a batch of lump. Maybe an experiment is in order. Dig a hole, lay a pipe, pour the charcoal on and see what comes of it. I found a railroad spike in the middle of the road I been meaning to do something with. The long weekend would be good.

Would these skillets have been mass produced by spinning on a lathe back then? I'm sure they would have had that technology. Understandably not in the field, but if they were issued with their gear, I can't imagine making that many by hand. I really need to get into this market.

Yep. The Foxfire Fund, Inc.

Hofi- How do you make the finished bevel on the drawknifes?

Shaping the outside isn't the problem. I can use a rasp or file like mentioned. I need to carve a tunnel in the handle so a metal shaft will lie in it. I will try to get pictures today.

I have a hatchet from my deceased FIL that I would like my son to have one day. It isn't a real nice hatchet or anything, it just has sentimental value. It's a one piece steel job and there is an oversize tang at the end riveted to the but. I need the handle to match the tang. It originally had leather rings. I want it to be wood from a red oak I milled for lumber with my son. So far I have split a 2x4 section of oak and started channeling to let the hatchet handle fit into. I finished one half today and will do the other tomorrow. It has been unpleasant to say the least using chisels. I have a router and thought of it after I had finished the half, but I got to thinking, how would it have been done in the old days. (Probably no one piece handle/ax in the old days) I started a machete a long time ago and stalled on the same thing. I will file and sand to contour the outside when all is done. Any input here? Also, I want to rivet or pin the halves. What would look good with the red oak? Red brass?

It is 30+- years old so I would say there are a lot of pictures. By today's standards maybe not. It has all black and white pics which I have always thought were great with all their detail. Like Don said it is less instructional, but it is a great archive. A lot of these type of stories I have heard from my FIL, but since I'm not a recorder I have a hard time making since out of some of it. The last time we went to his hunting shack there were 6-55 gallon drums of corn in the bedroom, and he tried to tell me it was for the chickens and wild turkeys. I am enthralled by this kind of stuff.

This isn't really a blacksmithing book but I have found it quite interesting. It's a series of 12 or so books based on an English class project here in North Georgia. The class started a magazine and organization still existing here The books were supposed to document the dying stories of self sufficient Appalachian folk. Anyway, I have had a hard time getting anything on blacksmithing at my local library until I figured out how to get books from other libraries in the state. Then one day I happened on this whole series in the back of my library. I checked number 5 out and was instantly hooked. I have read every word so far 243 pages into it. It is all about the north Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina mountain community. A lot of names and places I recognized, like the Cooper Furnace with a picture in it just like I took of my kids a couple years ago. They interviewed 5 blacksmiths at the time each of which made a project, a fireplace poker, a cowbell, froe, forge shovel, and a pair of horseshoes. The best part is when they interviewed a man from Cleveland, Tennessee (My home town) Arthur McCraken. I called my father-in-law of 60'ish who lived his whole life there. HE KNEW THE GUY AND WHERE HE LIVED! These were written 40 years ago. This history being so close to me was shocking and exciting especially after looking for a good book all this time. The section on rifle forging and rifling is beyond comprehension. I can hardly believe people did such advanced things with such "basic" technology.

These can be downloaded by going to SaveTube - Save YouTube Videos In the box paste the link to each video. It will create a link to download the actual file, You lose quality when you capture streams so this is the uploaded file. Download the file and then convert with a program like SUPER found at http://download.videohelp.com/download/SUPERsetup200824.exe it is free and has pretty good quality. Send me a PM if you want a disk.