ThomasPowers

not unusual at all I see modern versions quite frequently for woodworkers doing pole lathe work at historical demos.

A strip of brass on the back of the blade is a well known item for Bowies---supposedly the original had one for catching the opponent's blade in while parrying. Low temp solder is the way I would go too. Use one that is below the tempering temp of the steel and you will have no problem with mucking up the heat treat of the blade if you are careful! Here in America (hint adding your general location to your profile helps!) a lot of the hobby shops carry small brass stock in a variety of forms and you might be able to find channel that would be perfect for what you want to do---or remember that chanel is only Sq tubing with one side ground off...

I'd suggest putting that in your profile so it comes out on your posts. Quite a number of folks from TX here and I'm one state over in NM!

Can you make them cheaper than you can buy them?

Prayers for *both* of you! Thomas

I highly recommend you attend a meeting or two of the local ABANA Affiliate or other blacksmithing group! Save you a lot of frustration getting started. I tell folks that one Saturday afternoon working with someone that knows what they are doing can advance your learning curve by about 6 months on trying to do it all on your own.

At some point it may become cost effective to get a plastic trash can and fill with water and a couple of gallons of muriatic acid sold as brick cleaner at hardware stores---you can dilute it way down and have a slow de-ruster but cheaper than 20 gallons of vinegar. As always RINSE THOROUGHLY afterwards and oil *immediately*

At some point it may become cost effective to get a plastic trash can and fill with water and a couple of gallons of muriatic acid sold as brick cleaner at hardware stores---you can dilute it way down and have a slow de-ruster but cheaper than 20 gallons of vinegar. As always RINSE THOROUGHLY afterwards and oil *immediately*

Lovely job especially the finishing! The curve on the spike seems a bit deep for use as a spike but great for use as a hook to draw things closer.

BGD; about 15-20 years ago there was a website with 2 different takes on using a jackhammer in a frame for smithing. As I recall one of the issues was that the jackhammer has a very short stroke and so you need to be able to adjust the depth easily to get the most from it. Another was that the jackhammer was not made to be in a rigid frame and does not do well in one but needs some give in the system---or to paraphrase how they put it "something to act like the 90 pounds of belly hanging over it in use...". They used heavy duty springs if I remember correctly.

Welcome and let me put in the usual plug for you to put your general location into your profile so everytime you post it's there for people to see and say---"why he's just down the road from me! I wonder if he would like to carpool to the next meeting..."

Having spent some time in a 3rd world country I can attest that safety is a very low priority and if you complain; well there is another million or two people who would be happy to have your job and feed their families without complaining! Looking ahead I can say that some of the countries that are currently eating our lunch are going to run into *major* problems with pollution and the number of people sick, deformed, etc from pollution and bad working conditions. Unfortunately dealing with such problems are much more expensive than preventing them!

when it's *HOT* I work mornings and evenings and if I have to work during the heat of the day I work 1 hour on, 1 off in the house cooling and resting, (reading blacksmithing books under the swampcooler vent works a treat!) Drinking plain water makes me feel bad too; I cut it with gatoraide 1 part to 3 of water usually. I try to take a big swig after I put the metal back in the forge to re-heat and so have it coming in in smaller doses. When I lose hammer control something is WRONG and it's time to make a bee-line to the house! (I'm diabetic also so dehydration is a big issue) If it's overheating go stand in a cool to cold shower! (wearing your clothes if you are too woozy to take them off!) No deadline is worth your health or LIFE!

Well not too many folks switch around the 515# anvil mounted to the 8' long timber baulk in my shop; but I tell folks visiting to move things to suit themselves and then replace when done. Safer if they are using what they are accustomed to! OTOH my anvil has a hardy hole at either end and so tooling could be at either end. I've seen quite a few "one book wonders" tell me that the anvil *must* be set level with the knuckles and as I tend to do blades and not stuff using large hammers or top tools I tell them that the higher anvils help my back as I'm not crouching over to work. Also I have an uncle with very short legs and extremely long torso and he's a living indication that one rule does not cover everyone!

I don't have a horn with Brihgid; but I do have a horn with Weiland (Wayland) carved into it and have drunk mead from it...but Saint Dunstan is more my line "St Dunstan, as the story goes, Once pull'd the devil by the nose. With red-hot tongs, which made him roar, That he was heard three miles or more."

John; have you ever used a cast iron ASO? I have and when working coilspring on it *at* a good forging temp for that alloy it would leave deeper dents in the anvil face *under* the coilspring than the hammer would put into the coilspring. A large hunk of scrap metal made a MUCH better anvil and was much more pleasurable to work on. However that anvil could be the bait to lure others into his grasp for it has been noted that once you have one the others seem to be easier to find... Scrap price for cast iron is so low I doubt you would get a hotdog for it; but it can go on to be used as a shop sign out front or for pressing flowers or for glueups or for holding tooling in the hardy.

*buy* dirt when we have a lot of it just lying around the yard! What kind of a cheapster do you think I am??? (More likely I would try to get it from an old adobe structure they are tearing down locally...I wonder if I could convince them to pay me to haul it off...)

Prayers sent; also be aware that once you have 1 autoimmune issue you often get more so be on the lookout for others! Thomas Hyper glucose and hypo thyroid and some arthritis...

Ric; will you be at Quad-State? I asked Terry if anyone else still had any and he suggested talking to Paul Ailing, which I can do before Q-S and if so we could arrange delivery at Q-S---if he had any and would sell it for a good price.

Well it depends on what you usually do and how you do it!---(which you haven't mentioned.) In my shop I have anvils that point right, left, straight away, straight towards me and on odd occasions *down*! If you use the bic a lot you may want it to the right to be right under your hammer hand when you face the anvil. If you seldom use it you may want it to the left so your hammer hand is over the sweet spot on the anvil. Or you could simple get an anvil with no bic or with two bics and sidestep the problem. (most anvils in the world are not london pattern anvils!)

It's so *cute*!

Mortschlag!

So while you were at the library did you ILL "The Complete Bladesmith, The Master Bladesmith and the Pattern Welded Blade" all by James Hrisoulas. Even our small town library here in New Mexico can ILL almost any book for me including rare ones from university libraries. Inter Library Loan is one of the great tools for people interested in odd things and living in small towns! (And lets here it for Ben Franklin and Andrew Carnegie too!)

If the edges withstand normal use they were done correctly. If they chip off or are much harder *or* softer than the regular face then they were done incorrectly. So use it and see!

In those videos the strikers were dead on rught over the sweet spot. I would not trust a poorly trained striker with a sledge in the same room as one of my small anvils. What about giving them brass hammers? Emmert Studebaker of SOFA used to tap out "shave and a haircut, 2 bits" on the anvil with a small ballpeen and I watched and practiced so I can do it in his memory. (And at least the rock video they were actually hitting hot metal! and at least one person was wearing safety glasses at the grinder...)