metalmangeler

Thank you 2TIM215 that sounds interesting, and fairly easy. I will try it on an experimental item that I can destructivly test first. Thanks again. Mark

I guess I may be missing something here, I thought that a pin in a bolster was basicly a rivet upset into a countersink then ground flush, this leaves the pin exposed. Soldering might work or the blind pinning mentioned by 2Tim215. speaking of which where can I find out more about blind pinning. I tried the search here and either did something wrong or there isn't anything to look at. Thanks again for the input. Mark

It looks very nice. I would expect that your buyer will come through.

Praise the Lord.

Thomas I have never tried to solder anything other than some of my plumbing. How do you keep the excess from showing? Thanks for the vote of confidence Justin. It is hard to say without actually giving it a go, since you saw someone actually do it I will deffinately give it a try as soon as I can get my regular orders and inventory issues under control. Mark

Thanks Justin it is good to hear that someone has done it, that makes it seem more attainable. I have made some integrals like these. I want to add something to the bolster that I can not do with my present skill and knowledge set. I am thinking that the welded on method might work I do not expect to have time to try this until after Christmas, but wanted input so I can think it through when before I try.

Thanks for the replies. This gives me a little more to think about, I had been thinking of steel that was compatable, I have made integrals before and that has worked out well. I had not thought about adding the welded on bolster onto the out side of an integral but that might help with less distortion to the tang or blade. What I want to do is add a mosaic piece to my blade. Rich I have been looking over the knife chat after the fact, I plan to continue to learn from you with more experince as it shortens my learning curve, so thankyou and Steve for taking the time to put it together. Mark

I have been wondering why this is not a common practice? Especially with damascus as getting pins to match is not likely. If anyone has tried this or knows much about it I would be interested before I commit a bunch of time to something that has proven not so good for some reason I don't yet see, thank you.

Very nice. Bryan I think you want to do a different thing than what I think this is, I think this knife has a wrought core and a hard steel outer circumfrence for the blade.

Different types of skinning benefit from different knife shapes. A deer is a type of animal that I would think of as being really easy to skin, with in most cases not even skinning the face (caping). This knife would be fine for the job. For skinning bears or beaver, or an animal that the fat tends to stick to the skin a knife with a very rounded edge and blunt tip works well.as you are less likely to knick the hide with the tip, this may be the classical skinning shape since it is not considered that universal. For doing faces especially around the eyes a knife with a fine tip works well as you are being more percise this is what I would think of as a caping knife. both of these are speciallized skinning knives that are really different from each other. I expect the preacher will be happer with your knife than he would with either of the 2 knives I just mentioned. Nice job.

Sometimes I am pretty dissatisfied with my own demos. Not hard to immagine other who think I should do better in my public relations. On the other hand at times I know I have really helped out some in need sometimes other vendors sometimes pedestreans. We do ussually have the best set of tools on the grounds.

It is nice to see you actively working to avoid pounding scale into your blade. I have a stool near my anvil to set such tools on so I don't need to pick them up off the floor. I suppose it an old age deal.

I like the flow of your knife. very nice.

Split the end of the spike, weld the bit in the center.

I am learning also. On the integrals that I have tried I started with a thicker bar and then forged the blade and handle down, rather than trying to thicken the bolster area. This would be a good place to use a guilotine tool I think. I have gererally used fullers and spring swedges. In general forging if you keep the cross section in a 1:3 raito the bar forges more into the center, as you get more into 1:8 type ratio like you might have in a finished blade it wants to become an I beam type cross section when you forge on the edge. I am not sure how most blade guys look at this, but I try to wait until I am done doing other things (such as pointing the blade, forging the tang,and making the reverse bend)before I spread my blade, this will also reduce the steel that is exposed and more subgect to changing carbon content. I really like the way you blended the handle into the blade, this looks gracefull.

Hello Lone Forge: I have a box of mystry wood as well. It is nice wood and I am thankfull for it but sometimes it would be nice to know what is what. I thought that an integral had a bolster that was part of the parent steel of the blade.

Interesting him giving you a nice knife. Get him started making a style of tongs or something you need.

Looks good to me, definately a time reducer.

Hey Trip I just got around to reading through this, so I don't know if you are even still monitoring or not but a lot of the really good content here is addressing custom work such as a railing, and it appears to me you were asking about pricing speculation work such as I am making these hooks to sell at such and such a show. This has been a problem I fought with for years and still do to some extent. The best advice that I ever got here is to sell at the percieved vallue. This came from Grant. In other words get as much as the market will allow, when you go to the store this is what you are paying. if you charge differently that the stores you buy from you are working at a disadvantage. After you find what the market will bear then decide if the product is worth your time to make or needs to be dropped. If you need the item to make youir display complete, but can not make enough on it to justify making it you may need to have a few that you do not sell as the price drives away the sale but the item brings the cuatomer who then buys the items that you can make efficently. To me an item is not really a good bet unless I can make good money on it selling it at 1/2 the price it will sell for, this is likely the wholesale price, you will end up spending near this amount selling it yourself if you count the lost oppertunity of what you could have made had you not been at the show selling. I do not think that it is wise to put a number such as I need X per hour for a shop rate. As your tooling increases and your skill increases you would need to drop your price per gidget as your prodution per hour should go up as well, this takes away the incentive to get better, it also makes your investment in say a powerhammer pay dividends to your customer rather than you the invester. You do need to look at the x per hour to decide if the product is worth you time, but some things are going to make you more per hour than other things. If the cusomer is happy and you gave them a better option than they could get elsewhere then the fact that you did really well on the sale should not be a concern.

Thanks for the possitive coments guys. Carefull what you say Frosty or these poeple will realize I really don't know much about knives. I do try to improve, because the alternative is not that great. :rolleyes:

I like the way you used the natural joint of the antler for a guard, I have some antler tines I am planning to do something similar. I am not so sure about the functionality (if that is a word) of the knapped steel knives, they do look cool though.

Thanks guys.

I personally like small knives, there is a place and time for the large ones, but this one is not that way.

The price I mentioned was for a hook with a head forged in the end. I put animal heads on lots of things. The price is mostly up with other items, I put them on steak turners, towel bars, T.P. holders, door pulls ect. I normally put a number of the same item on the table, I am not sure which method of presentation works best sometimes people want to buy when there are lots of the same item. Sort of like not taking the last cookie, others find that the idea of one of a kind even if it is an illution helps. Might be worth experimenting, I expect that it will very depending on the people and event.

Smaller items are a good way to go. You will have to find out price by trial and error. I sell twist and leaf hooks here for $7.00, most of the ones with animal heads go for $24.00. I expect that some will tell you that is not enough and others that it is to much. I would recomend that you try to find what price things will move at and then deside if it is something you want to sell based on your time to make. Triangle dinner bells are also often a good seller. Hinges normally are pretty slow to sell for me and I think it is because the customer needs to be hanging the right door, suffolk latches are the same way. door / gate pulls sell better. Alot depends on your forging abillity, and even more on your sales skills.