Jose Gomez

This is a 352 layer 15n20/1080 rock pick that I just finished forging for a cousin of mine. He is a geologist and had asked if I could make one for him. Shortly after asking, he was diagnosed with cancer. So off he goes, in for the fight of his life, and the only thing that I can do to help is try to give him a smile the only way that I know how.... Damascus. It worked, not only did it put a smile on his face, but it left him speechless...perfect! Since that day he has made amazing progress, so it looks like he'll have plenty of time to show it off.

Thanks for all of the interest. I think that the coolest thing is that he knows that I fully expected for the knife to be used hard, and actually uses the heck out of it! He shoes 15 horses a day on average, and the knife gets to meet every hoof that he does. Just the other day he brought his son by and I ended up giving him (the son) the knife that I made from the remaining chunk of damascus that I made the hoof knife for his father out of. Here is a link to that knife's thread. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f14/375-layer-utility-knife-13069/#post121988

I made this one out of the leftovers from the 375 layer hoof knife. It's 15n20 and 1095 with mokume guard and pommel and a walnut handle. The friend that I made the hoof knife for (see 375 layer hoof knife post) brought his son by my shop, and I thought that it was only fitting that he (the son) had the brother of the knife that his father uses every day to earn his living, so, I ended up giving the knife to my friend so that his son can have it when he is old enough.

This is a 375 layer 15n20/1095 hoof knife that I just finished for a very good friend of mine. Simple, but made to be used.

Here is how I do it. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/how-i-forge-leaf-6178/

If you let us know where you are I am sure that we can set you up with a smith in your area.

The Master. YouTube - Master and Apprentice Striking Demonstration YouTube - Tom Clark tribute Blacksmithing in the Czech Republic

This man was absolutly amazing. It is humbling to think about how many lives will be changed each year due to his generosity and honest living.

Sounds to me like your anvil is a Trenton. They are very nice anvils, and will last a thousand years if used properly. Resist the urge to grind on the face of the anvil in order to "true it up" because the face is actuallu a thin (+-1/2 inch) layer of tool steel forge welded to a wrought iron body. If you grind the face to thin it will end up cracking, delaminating, or chipping. So be carefull!! Treat it well and enjoy learning a new trade!

Here is a link to more info than you probably wanted. http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf

Your best bet might not be arc welding. You really should concider forge welding a tool steel bit into a shalow cut in the front edge of the mild steel axe body. This method is tried and true, and has been in use for hundreds of years. Here is a link to a step by step how to on axe making that includes this technique. How to forge an axe

SGropp, you are right on both accounts. If you will notice, on the small transportable hammer there is a series of holes on the vertical post that the hamer pivots on. These holes allow the user to adjust the hammer to strike the anvil flat at its lowest setting, or up to 10 inches over the anvil at its highest seting to allow for the use of tooling. The larger hammer, on the other hand, is fixed. It is specifically designed for use by a bladesmith, so I set the hammer to strike paralell at 1/4 inch over the anvil face. By doing this the hammer can be used to draw or flatten blades, but when used on thin sections, the hammer face strikes at a slight angle which works perfectly for forging the bevel on a blade. nealj, to attach the head on the small portable hammer I first forged a piece of pipe down to where it would fit through the eye of the sledge hammer head. Then I took a good heat on the pipe and drove it into the sledge head. I followed this up by trimming the part of the pipe that was sticking out of the other side of the head off and welding the pipe to the hammer head. On the large hammer I used solid stock for the handle. First I forged the solid to the shape of the eye then took a high heat and drove the bar through the hammer eye. Before the bar cooled I turned the hammer over, stood the hammer up on it's handle, and forged the portion of the bar that stuck out back into the head of the hammer (like a giant rivet).

Thanks All! Ted T, the handle on the small portable hammer is about 26 inches long and is made of pipe. The handle on the larger ollie is about 38 inches of 1 inch solid round. Both handles are measured from the pivot point to the top of the hammer head. Frosty, I like the idea of puting the adjustment at the hammer head, but on both of these builds I was stuck using whatever "junk" my friends brought with them, or whatever we could dig out of the scrap pile. The only things that were purchased just for these hammers were the springs and a short length of chain for the bigger of the two. I think that in total we put less than 40 bucks into the set.

It took me a second to get it uploaded but better late than never!! ollie hammer - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

Recently I built a small adjustable/transportable olliver hammer for a friend. During construction of the first hamer another friend stopped by and decided that he also had to have one. The smal ollie has an 8 pound head and the large one is 16 pounds. Both work very well and were easy to build, so I thought that I would post a few pics and a video in case anyone was interested.

You can use regular old mig wire (ER70 S2 or ER70 S6) and 75% argon 25 CO2, or even straight CO2, if your not concerned about corosion resistance. just weld it like regular steel,but with one difference. You need to be sure to shield the back side of the weld with shielding gas, or backing paste, if the stainless is thin enough for the weld to penetrate all of the way through the material. If the back side of the weld puddle is left unprotected (if air can get to it) and the weld penetrates all of the way through the material you will end up with a brittle (contaminated) weld that will not stand up to any abuse.

Give them a call, they often have some in stock. Or you can call Scheffield Knifemaking supply, they have this. NICKEL 201 SHEET 99% Nickel DESCRIPTION CAT. NO. PRICE CAT. NO 5+ PRICE 5+ .030 X 6-1/4

You can get nickel sheet from Jantz Supply texas knifemakers supply OnlineMetals Or like was mentioned before Nickel welding rod

Catch up with us at any meeting, or PM me if you want to come up any time! Here is a link to the SWABA page : ABANA (Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) affiliate.

Glad that you finally decided to join us!!!!

How did you know???? Thats great!! Chris is right, I have one and love it. They are outstanding little machines that hit suprisingly hard for their size, hardly take up any space at all, and are low maintenance. I use mine all of the time for stuff like punching, hot slitting, detailing, and texturing. The dies are huge for such a small machine, and it's easy to make tooling for. It is a strong and simple design, just remember that, like mark said, they are not like a traditional power hammer that will strike repeatedly as long as you keep your foot on the treadle. But more like a pneumatic treadle hammer, striking one single blow each time the treadle is depressed. The faster that you depress the treadle the harder the hammer hits, and with this hammer the ammount of controll is respectable, and consistant. One other thing to consider is that the compressor that you will need to operate a KA-75 is big and expensive, so be sure that you have enough compressor to supply the hammer with a ton of air. The more air the better, This hammer is air hungry, and operates longer and better when well fed. I also have a Big Blu 155 and love it. Both hammers hit very hard but serve very different purposes. The big blu is wicked when you want to move a bunch of metal, but it gets a bit sketchy when you are trying to deliver single full force blows. So it just depends on what you are doing, how much space you have, and how much money you want to spend. Here is some more threads with discussions about the KA http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f57/power-hammers-6123/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f57/power-hammer-test-6127/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/info-ka-hammer-6287/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/ka75-7178/

The key to brazing is to get the parts to be joined as clean as possible, take the extra time to make sure that all joints are as tight as possible, and ensure that the parts will not slip, shift, or be bumped out of place during brazing. Once you have made it this far heat the piece gently with an O/A torch, while at the same time heating the filler metal that you are using. for torch brazing I prefer LFBFC (Low Fuming Brass Flux Covered). Which is just like it sounds, a brass rod with a thin flux coating (meaning that no additional fluxing is necessary). Heat the base metal evenly keeping the filler metal near the flame. As the base metal approaches dark cherry red melt a small droplet of brass off of the filler rod allowing it to rest on the heated base metal as you continue to heat it. When you see the droplet of brass flow into the base metal you have reached the appropriate heat, and can apply the filler metal and begin traveling along the joint. You want to keep the heat as even and as low as possible to prevent the over heating of the brass (800 degrees F). When brass is heated in excess of 800 degrees the zinc that is contained in it is burned off and can have the same effects as welding on galvanized materials. Here are some pics of a name plate that I recently made out of a 3/16 inch thick plate, letters made of 3/16 welding rod, and a ton of braze. The letters were arranged on the plate, tack welded in place, and then I applied a layer of brass over everything. once the brass cooled I ground it flat to expose the steel letters encased in the brass,polished the face, trimmed it with twisted 1/8 in welding rod, and called it done.

Yield strength is measured in PSI, which is pounds per square inch. So all yield strengths listed relate to a 1 square inch sample.

It's called under-bead cracking, and is very common when attempting to weld any kind of cast. Cast metal does not have the ability to strech and absorb the stress generated by the weld as it contracts while cooling, so the only way to try to avoid cracking is to pre-heat the entire part to be welded to 400-450 degrees F, then weld the part with preferably nickel, or stainless rod if nickel is not available. Peen the weld between passes to relieve some of the shrinkage stress, and ensure that the part remains evenly heated during welding. Immediately after welding re-heat the part to 400-450 degrees F and pack it in vermiculite, or do what ever you can to ensure that it cools as slowly as possible. Another method that is typically sucesfull is to braze the part together using a torch and brass filler rod. If you chose to braze the piece remember that the slow cool is still part of the secret to sucess, and that the repair will be gold color when completed (kind of cool but sticks out like a sore thumb).