Nolano

I get a lot of phishing scams from fake ebays and paypals. I generally can tell if its fake, but if Im not sure, I go to the link and type complete gibberish for the name and password. if its fake, it will accept.

Hmm... On this subject, I made a chisel the other day.... I take it to the metal, hit it once, twice, and three. And on the third stroke, it breaks. About an inch from the point. A bit dissapointing.

hooks. lots and lots of hooks. about 30' or 6 and 8 inch hooks.

On the topic of blister steel, cast steel came from a clock maker who was unsatisfied with the consistency and quality of the blister steel for making springs. So, he figured out how to cast them. At that point, others became curious about his better quality springs, and someone posed as a passed out drunk, and while said clockmaker assumed he was asleep, cast some springs, and thats where it leaked out.
By the way, how would you make blister steel out of wrought iron?

Yeah, that can be a hard one to learn. I've never actually used an oxy/acetylene cutting torch, only a plasma cutter.

Well, Im assuming its because he lives in australia, that he has trouble getting hides. There arent as many cattle herd and such in AU, I'd imagine.


Edit: quote of the preceeding comment removed as we just read it in the post. No use to quote and read it again. Save the quotes for several posts back to remind us of the conversation.

and by a gas axe, did you mean a cutting torch?

Im going to use a power hammer to turn an 8 pound sledge into a cross peen sledge....

I dont use one cause I cant afford one! That, and I dont need one at this point. My teacher, however, doesnt use one because he hasnt been able to find people. Theres another blacksmith near hear who has a half dozen, doesnt use more than 2 of them, and wont get rid of the others.

maybe gerbils would work better?

Ooh wait! gerbils are faster.... but hamsters can probably bear more load.... therefore, I give you the Gerbster!

Except I was serious.

Strangely enough, Jim also gave one to martin, that also hadn't been used... Martin suspects that he worked at a hardware store back when they were phasing things like this out, and he got a bunch somehow. But I look forward to using it, it seems like a nice tool, now that I cleaned it up a bit.

Well, a friend of my dads, builds and repairs brass instruments. He often makes tubas from scratch, and he is quite revered in the tuba world. ANyways, when my dad mentioned that I was doing blacksmithing, he handed my dad a tool, and said "Give this to him".
At first, I wasnt sure if this was a wierd straight peen hammer, or a hot cut. It looked like a hot cut, but the striking surface wasnt dented at all. So I took it to a smith who lives a few blocks from here. Martin Gabbert is his name. He says its a hot cut. And, its a really good one(it says Champion Dearment on it), and its never been used! This is a tool thats quite possibly 60 years old, never been used, and really good, and I got it for free! Well, needless to say, I am sending Jim a Christmas present (probably a few forged hooks), and I owe him some serious thank you's.

But, as far as I know, spring steel is generally high carbon steel, so it might be good.

You could always run it off a treadle with a flywheel...

I always heard it as "Longest crayon in the box"

I use one tool. Its a bent poker with a flattened end, kind of like the one all the way to the right.

Or, you could look up the sea water salt to water ratio. I dont remember what it is, off hand.

So, I decided to make a railroad spike. I followed a similar procedure to the one described in the knife section, but I use my 2lb cross peen for the whole thing, as well as I heat treated and finished differently. I have two pics, on of it after all forging is done, and a picture of it done.





Sorry if the pictures are huge.



Edit: knife images reduced in size

Its interesting how the ladels are way more expensive than the molds.

Looks like fun. where do you get the tools, ans what do they generally run for? And same questions on the lead....

Hmm. By soaked, you mean literally, took it apart, and soaked it all in 1 or many tubs of wd40? or just really saturated it with wd40, repeatedly?

Welding is a necessary tool, much of the time. I am an accomplished TiG and MiG welder, and will be trying for certification this year in Aluminum, Stainless Steel, as awell as others.

Sounds like the explaination I heard of it
Except, I heard that there is an arc of electricity going over the nozzle tip, and the air blows that electricity out, heating the metal, and the air pushes it away, or something to thaqt effect.

A few tacos short of a combo plate
Couldnt poor water out of a boot with instruvtions on the heel.
About as sharp as a bowling ball
Elevator doesnt go to the top floor
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.