nonjic

completly barking mad! I love it - cant wait to see it finished. I to am inflicted with looking at the oddest things and wondering if I could weld em up!

I would love to see that 50,000 tonner running! - I stood next to a 12,000 ton that was closed die forging (I think it was the boss that holds the rotor blades on a helecopter), Big was the only descriptive word my brain came up with at the time!, well there was another word that began with 'F' before big if im honest :D

Unlucky...... You just have to be philosophical about it, if you were the guy that phoned and agreed to buy it with the owner, and you got there and someone had driven off with it you would have been more annoyed! To be honest at $500 If I was in the same country I would have phoned and bought it the second I saw the pics! that price 'loaded' was a gift.... (if the states is anything like the UK you could spend $500 getting someone out to load the thing for you...!!)

I would say that there are plenty of tools out there, and the market dictates the price,. of course it would be nice if every anvil was available to a new blacksmith for $50, and power hammers for $500. The fact is lots of folks (and, shock, blacksmiths) have got money, and if an anvil is $500, and a power hammer $5000 they are not really that expensive. The forums tend to bring out lots of people looking for inexpensive tools (and complaining they cant afford them because of the collectors), but the reality is for every person whos doing this there is probably 10 people who buy what they need, pay the current market price, and go about their day without worrying about it. I never cease to be amazed at the number of smiths I deal with who just say 'go on then, ill have one' on a $6000 power hammer. Accumulation of tools is a luxuary we can all enjoy, and Im happiest spending money on tools that hold their value like blacksmiths kit (makes me sad to spend $1000 on a laptop thats only worth $300 in a year!), ive got 3 good anvils now, and I can only see that number increasing (even though I forge once every couple of weeks if im lucky!) buy the good old stuff whilst you can folks :D

I will be very intersted to see how your 50# machine stacks up against the anyang 20# / 33# John, All that anvil mass will be nice! What size compressor will the 50#'er need for running 40 % continuous (say 2 mins hammering in 5?)

I would use it for sharpening practice, then crack on and make another! You will be suprised at how quickly you forge the next one. If you only have a bench grinder I would forge the edge to about 3mm thick, then knock the forging bark off with the bench grinder, then draw file it flat, then sand it flat (leave the edge approx 1mm thick (as recomended by others) Once you have forged it and filed it heat evenly it untill a magnet doesnt stick to it, and let it cool completly in still air, repeat a couple of times (this is normalising, and reduces the size of the grains in the steel, and helps prevent warping when you heat to above non magnetic and quench in the warmed oil) Temper the blade immediatly after quenching (a couple of hundred deg c in a domestic oven should be fine), or give it a very quick sand to get the oil sludge off and give a shiny surface, heat a bar of steel red hot in the forge and then hold the back (spine) of the blade against the hot bar, remove it when you see the edge of the blade turn an even straw colour. I then dunk it into water straight away or the edge will keep getting hotter from the spine of the blade and be to soft. lots to learn, the best way is to keep having a go at it! :D

that just looks lovely!

jeremy, one of the problems of just telling someone to do a search is it looks pretty rude, I know you might not have meant it that way. Im pretty sure the manganese content of the steel affects the 'dark' side of the etch (ie the opposite to the nickel). Another thing to ponder is the etch is usually better (sharper, better contrast) after heat treating a knife, which does not help you much with a sculpture! Have a look at Ariel Salaverria Custom Knives - Stainless San Mai and Cable Damascus Custom Knives - Damascus and Mokume Pendants - Knifemaking Tutorials he gets some amazing contrast with his welding, and there are lots of tutorials etc on his site. Wether you can apply any of the info on there to junk steels is a different matter :D

posted reply to this in knifemaking mate.

you just need to get it hot, very hot! it should self flux, but a bit of borax wont hurt. you can wire brush the iron to get the flakey off the outside. There is a chance the corrosion has got "into" the iron (its a very fiberous structure) in which case it will probably crumble under the hammer! have fun, its a lovely material to forge.

the main problem is differing alloying elements make the welding more tricky, chrome (as in stainless) especially so. I get bi-metal bandsaw blades to weld up well, but many struggle with them. they do give great contrast though. Im afraid alot of it is trial and error.

not sure to be honest, the specs might vary a bit, but ive allways been told that silversteel is W1.... thanks everyone for the nice words about the lil knife!

you sort of 'push' with the hammer rather than a 'tap' kind of blow,. hope this makes a bit of sense.....

mick maxen, UK, for his patternwelding work,. Norfolk Nige (nigel barnett, fransham forge), just one of those who is willing to have a go at anything, and help others on the way (and I loved his 4' clothes peg at the '07 ironbrige BABA agm! )

Im ditiching the power hammers for a bit and trying to do more work by hand, This is a little blacksmiths knife I clay backed (silversteel, W1) Its my first hamon and im made up with it! very difficult to photograph. Its a mirror finished blade! all comments and critique welcome!

Very nicely executed! - its fun sticking that middle weld back together aint it! :D

Im still stuck on tfhe first few chapters of Verhoevens paper so am not even gong to attempt to chip in on the grain subject John, nice looking hooks - I used to work in a big open die shop where they used a 30cwt clear space to forge the big hooks & shackles ( some of the shackles 1ton plus weight for offshore work), they used to secure one end to a big steel table concreted into the floor, chain the other end to the back of a (very big) tractor and then drive it off down the forge to start the bend. Very nice setup where 6 blokes all knew exactly what to do (wedges, sledges and chains!) without taking, it was so dang noisy. Mooneys (glen, Australia) has done some big hooks, might be worth comparing notes if you get any more to do!

Wow, thats a real beast! I would love to see a video of it running aswell :D

Keep a very close eye on the repair, and bin the repaired die block when your new one arrives. Ive heard of die blocks failing in use, and the results have been far from pretty!

looks good to me! Make sure you put the cover back on the compressor piston the same way it came off ;)

drop me a pm and I will send you my copy of the manual for her! Its a dry sump machine, you put the oil in the oiler, a few weeks later it ends up in the sump to be drained and thrown away, so its allways on new oil!

Yup, I agree fully, Ive melted (not burnt) steel before in my gasser, but like I said if the gas is set to something sensible its very rarely a problem.

I dont think you can burn steel in a gas forge if the gas pressure is set to somthing sensible, sure, the thinner sections will heat up faster but the whole piece will equalise to the interior temp of the forge soon enough. You might get excess scaling on thinner sections if there is to much unburnt oxygen in the forge, but that is a different subject!

Chew gum when forging?

Great looking little knives! From what Ive read so far, and been told by some good makers (I posted a similar question on B.B forum recently about grinding a seax) it was very very unusual to have a 'plunge line' on your grind, ie just run the grind off the end of the blade. And its easier to do :)