Nolano

Apprenticeman, the heat is one of the main issues for forging Tungsten. Its used for TIG welding because the welder simply will not get it hot enough to melt, while its easily melting steel. Tungsten has a higher melting point than any other element, and it doesn't melt till about 6,600 degrees F, if I recall correctly. To contain a fire like that, your forge would also need to be tungsten!

Woo! I fit in with all of those! Edit: After looking, I decided I agree with you. That IS quite a bit of money, but its not too much for the piece of art you get. If you put that sapphire into a really nice necklace or something, it would probably sell for that or more, and I'd rather have a beautiful thing like that then a necklace.

"Quite well indeed" is an understatement. Thats fantastic. Whats that going to sell for, if you dont mind my asking?

Ah yes, well, this stuff is not burnt, merely old stuff that has been changed out after its recommended service life.

Hmm, its working fine for me, so I must be doing it wrong. Of course! But yeah, I am going to get a few gallons of veggie oil soon.

Its sad. In Australia, they have all but banned guns, claiming that it will reduce crimes. Currently,you have to have your gun registered, and they are just hurting legal gun owners. THE PEOPLE WHO USE THEM TO HURT DONT REGISTER THEM! I'm glad I live in a state where our second ammendment rights are well protected. No registering(except for special weapons, like full auto and silenced, you need a special license), and none of that BS. Only a background check, which I fully support.

Tyler, Ive never found automotive oil to be a "too slow quench", I've made plenty of tools with it. At my local Costco(Huge warehouse store that sells in bulk) I remember you could be an extremely large bottle of soybean oil(I'd guess 2-4 gallons, it only measured it in pounds, strangely) for $13.

It seems to me, that if you want a tool for hot work, it should be hard enough normalized to do the job, because thats usually how it ends up, unless you are using specialty steel.

Well, mostly I use old car oil, stuff thats been changed out already, and I usually get it for free. However, I would prefere vegetable oil for blades, as it doesnt leave the blackened finish you get with auto oil. I despise the smell of oil quenches, though, using automotive oil makes it smell like your cars transmission went out, and using vegetable oil makes it smell like your local mcdonalds burned down.

Wow, solid tungsten tools cant be cheap. that stuff is really expensive.

Yes, a low grit flapwheel moves wood very nicely, and is also useful for taking off scale and for polishing work. Ive used a 26 grit flap wheel in a bench grinder for taking scale off of knives, works like a charm and saves lots of money on belts.

It all depends on the steel. Machinery's handbook has an excellent section on tool steels and their heat treating. I reccomend getting one, I got my 19th edition for $11 shipped.

Ahh yes. Thank you, ed. Thats what I was talking about, and its nice to have someone who knows more about it say something. I did some carving on that chair leg, and now its very comfortable. the "knob" on the end makes a nice pommel sort of thing, and now that Ive carved the handle a bit, its quite nice.

Yes, when a benchgrinder becomes too packed with wood or a soft material, it can crack during use flinging large chunks of grinder wheel at high speeds.

Thats a nice looking knife. I like it.

Yeah, the handle is not finished. And its a bad idea to use a bench grinder much on wood. And I also need to use my beltsander to smooth off the face and peen, cause thats just rough work with a 9" angle grinder, and it looks a lot rougher than it is. And you dont really want the face to be flat, you want it to be crowned. The handle and head arent actually attached yet, I just put them together for the photo.

Well, after having a hammer I made crack on me(yes mike, it was that ball pein/rounding hammer we worked on ) I made another one. This one is about 2 pounds, 13 ounces, and was made out of a torsion bar from a car of some sort. Yes, that is a leg from a chair.

Woah... Thats impressive, I like them.

Right, and I agree with you, Hofi. But for someone who is unfamiliar with working tool steel, it might be a good idea to make the first chisel or two out of something cheap, to get the idea of how it works. I agree with you totally, though.

Railroad spikes are a bit small for hardy tools, also too low carbon, really. My old anvil had a half inch hardy, a railroad spike went into that all the way to the head. So, RegionalChaos, is bear doing his open forge every week? He was saying that he might only do it every other week.

Definately. I used to have many junk swords, just for decoration, the hamon on one was perfectly the same enough that at first I though the blade was serrated.

Yeah, oakwoods got it. It basically keeps the edge super had, and the back softer.

Nice knife, I like it.

Even the daggers that ARE made for combat against armor often were basically spikes with edges, for getting between armor parts. But that is excellent work, dont mean to be critical or anything

Well, I made a cold chisel out of 1 1/4 inch jackhammr bit. Quenched it in water, no tempering. Hasnt cracked or dulled yet!