GregDP

A guy I welded for went to FBCreguarly. I've never been but if you like motorcycles, freedom and Christ then perhaps it is your cup of tea he raved. Or you're always welcome to come eat dinner with the family and talk shop, but the Raleigh is a trek :P

I like the lathed handle and fitting.

I'm really glad you appreciate my taste. I've yet to complete anything out of riveted mail yet; although I have been amassing rings and would like to eventually. I haven't finished sanding and polishing either cutlass they're both soaking in vinegar at the moment. But I have some progress pictures. I've been working on both between heats on another project. So I'll toss a teaser of it up if anyone is interested to see more I'll be happy to oblige. Before going in the oven: Before going into the forge. I wet the blade and then paint in with a charcol dust, wood, ash water and clay slurry. I use wet paper to hold and mold a thicker mixture along the fuller and spine. Then I drop ash and charchol dust over the paper and shake off the excess till it's coated. You should be able to feel the edge of the blade through the paper. The idea is to have the whole blade in the forge while not hardening the entire blade when quenched to make it a little less 'tempermental' while preventing scaling. Still in the finishing stage. Thanks, and a teaser.

The hand guard was loosened during the hardening process. I wasn't surprised and it was an easy fix with two nails cut down and two holes on either side of the hilt peened into place and a few galvanized wire cold forged to wedges. Had I done this before they'd have been loosened too. Pictures later. Thanks for the tile tips, you can see the green counter tile I was referring to under the cutlass and sand paper for those curious.

Looks like you've worked very hard. Hope you enjoy your knife when finished.

So I can work in my lap not standing at my workbench. The surface is smooth enough to hold the sand paper firmly with a mist of water and it's nice and flat. A note on the mail hand guard it makes for a nice dead blow sort of effect when you swing it. Kind of like a wiffleball bat filled with water.

Aye if I had a dime for every tool I wanted.. well I then I'd probably never run out of tools or money. Always a new toy am I right? I'm going to try a piece of 'marble' tile and sand paper any tips? I keep going back to the angle and belt sander at the moment as hand sanding reveals imperfections. I prefer hammering and forging far more than grinding but I break up the monotony by splitting my time between several projects at a time.

I would say "primitive vigor" describes most of my work; I'm no master artisan but I've made great strides and hope to continue. You're absolutely right about the weight it's forged from a horse shoe and railway spring clip and is a bit thicker than it will be finished. I feel the hand guard is a bit sloppy although solid. My original concept was to forge weld a twisted hand guard to the bottom of the handle bent bladeward. The weld was poor though. I've never put a decent edge on anything over 8 inches. I'm ashamed to say creating a consistent edge is far from easy for me. Thanks for the taking a look.

Looks like he'll have some nice garb. My niece and nephew love weaving when they stay with us, they're machines.

I've been working on a pair of cutlass. I'd love some feedback. Thanks.

Thanks Mark.

Ahoy I've been smithing for a little over a year now but haven't been very active in the community. I'm self trained and the internet has been an invaluable tool and I hope to share some of the things I've learned along the way eventually to give back. But for now hello me mateys. From the crows nest is it the legendary Kracken on the horizon.. or is it a ... Bunny?