Karn3

I was going to follow the blueprint for a gas forge that's on here but apparently the page is broken at the moment. This is my first build so I'm not really up on everything yet, I didn't know that the flux reacted with the blanket for instance. Not that I've ever used flux for my firewelding, I was always told its an unnecessary extravagance. I've never really had any problems welding so I've never bothered. Also that's more money What sort of thing would you recommend I coat it with? On the off chance that I ever actually use flux I would like to avoid the cotton candy/water scenario.

I'm in the initial planning stages of making a gas forge mainly for fire welding, and I was wondering what temperature the blanket lining needs to be able to tolerate. I've found a place that I can easily get some from and the max temp theirs will go to is 1400 C. Is this enough or do I need something a little more heavy duty? If that is enough which one would be better because they come in different densities. Many thanks in advance!

you set the rivet hot, and this inevitably locks them up. However, once you have the rivet in place the way the way you want it, heat up the plates and rivets again. Holding the reins work the tongs open and closed again and again. This loosens the rivet.

While sanding down a handle I've come across some voids and cracks in the wood. Is there anything i can use to fill these, that will still look nice on the finished product? or is there some other method for dealing with these sorts of things? thanks in advance!

I was wondering how you go about making attractive looking sconces like the one here. I got sort of a rough idea i think. but I would love for someone to show me some proper how to photos or just a step by step sort of thing. Thanks in advance.

This, right here, is what I aspire to be able to make. I am incredibly jealous, it looks amazing!! If you have any WIP pics that would awesome.

I've tried this and the result have been pretty good. It hardened and tempered fine, I've just got to put a handle on it. I like the way your pattern has come out. I wrapped mine up differently and the pattern came out all swirly.

New stuff! A simple little beam hook, a coat hook, and a alternately twisted rail. The twisted rail has a couple of dinks in where my twisting wrench dug in, I didn't quench it properly . I like the effect though so I'm gunna try and do it again, a little bit more evenly as well.

Awesome thanks for the answers guys!

Tried my hand at a russian rose today, I'm really pleased with how it's turned out actually. Maybe not as clean as it could be but not bad for a first attempt I don't think.

I knocked this up today. Its a bit of a prototype atm so its still a bit rough. I'll make another to refine it some more, I shamelessly stole the idea from a photo of something similar I saw on here . Its a candle holder in case you didn't get that .

Hey everyone. I'm a pretty new smith, the last couple of years on and off but I've been able to do a lot in the last few months. I tried my first bit of knife making here and I've found a need for a decent pair of tongs. I have been using a pair of vaughans flat bit tongs but I really hate them so I made this pair. There were a lot of firsts in this piece: first pair of tongs, first riveting, first time I've had to match something precisely. Getting them to match up nicely was a little fiddly and I had to do a bit of altering to make sure they fitted smoothly. I did the rivet with some rivet snaps, it didn't work out very well the first time. It was all lopsided, so I cut it out and managed a much nicer one on the second attempt. I'm pleased with how they have turned out, they are so much more functional than the vaughans pair I was using before. I want to amke some square bits and some scrolling tongs next. I also made a hook out of some flat to christen the new tongs .

Thanks for all the advice and info. I think I might just grind it to avoid the additional hassle of heat treating it. Thanks again, you're all super helpful :D

Hey everyone, I recently picked up one of these second hand but barely used. Unfortunately it is too big to fit in my anvil. Obviously resizing it is no big deal but I was curious about what heat treatment I should give it once I'm done because heating it to resize it will ruin whatever heat treatment it currently has. I'm a fairly new smith and heat treatment is one of those subjects that I only have peripheral knowledge about so any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance. EDIT: terrible spelling :/

So should I be looking at metals heat treating requirements rather than the composition or are both things important?

Yer maybe getting a little ahead of myself But I'm easily excited!

Yer, I realised as soon as I started thinking about the handle that I had forged the tang in the wrong place for what I had in mind. I wanted to have a flush guard with a centered blade, but I obviously cant do that so I'm having to rethink. The tang positioning is the major thing I will change on my second attempt.

Blade is now hardened, tempered, polished, and etched. Heated it to a dull orange colour which is when it became non-magnetic, then quenched in oil. This seemed to be a success as the file skated across the surface of the metal and didn't mark it. I did two quenching cycles; the first at 200 Celsius for an hour and the second at 220 Celsius for another hour. I used the household oven for this . Spent a good few hours polishing it up with increasingly fine grades of sandpaper before etching it. I got hold of some Ferric Chloride which I mixed with water at 4:1 water:Ferric chloride. I submerged the blade for about thirty seconds to bring out the pattern you see below. I resized the image this time as well.

I'm not sure if this should be in the alchemy section of blacksmithing or not, but here goes. When people talk about making pattern welded blades the go-to steels seem to be 1095 and 15N20. The reasons people give for this choice is that they weld together nicely and they have the different colours when etched. I can't really get these but can get plenty or other different types of steel, so I was wondering how you can tell whether or not certain steels will weld well and if there will be a colour difference once etched. I'm also thinking about trying three metal pattern welding as well. Does it come down to the chemical composition? If so what goes well together, and how can I tell if the steels will end up giving me the properties I need for a blade? Many thanks in advance. I really need to brush up on my metallurgy...

I've had a pretty good look for some metal suppliers in the UK and so far I've been unable to find a supplier that stocks it. I've found a few that stock mild steel and have used a good one near me a few times, but I haven't been able to find one that stocks different types of steels. I'm looking mainly for 1095 and 15N20 or something analogous to them to use for pattern welding. It would also just be useful in the future to be able to get different types of metal should I ever need them. I live in the UK, so that's where it has to be. I'm not averse to driving the whole length of the country if I have to. I actually live just over the border into Wales, directly west of Shrewsbury. Many thanks in advance.

I've embarked upon my first knife making project and I'm getting to the point where I need to start thinking about a handle. I have a vague idea about guards but would appreciate some additional advice. I only have limited access to tools, the only big tool being a pillar/press drill, so I was wondering if you knowledgeable chaps had any tip for how I should go about making it and what I should make it from. The actual grip I'm fine with, I'm going to use some walnut root. The thing I was wondering is what goes on the end to cap the whole thing off? Is it just as simple as having the tang finish inside the wood or is there alternatives or other methods I could think about? Many thanks in advance, and I'll post some pictures when I'm done. If you want to see how the blade is coming along you can check it out here: http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/21947-first-attempt/

Finished the the grinding and finalized the shape. The edge is smooth now where it was a bit wavy before, and the top curves have been refined. I'm going to heat treat it tomorrow so I'll let you know how the chain works out. I actually have minimal woodworking experience but I know that walnut root is a really attractive wood and I have easy access to it so that's what I'm going with. This whole process is pretty experimental as I've never actually made a knife before so I'm fully prepared for the whole thing to go horribly horribly wrong. It seems to be going remarkably smoothly though at the moment.

I've started to grind and clean the blade now. There are just a couple of pits left to get rid of. Should I refine the edge now or after I have heat treated the blade? At the moment it is still 1-2mm thick.

@ RaggyRead There was a big walnut tree in one of our fields that fell over, I was thinking I might try and get a chunk of the root to make into a handle for it. @ ThomasPowers Yer, I think this might require a reasonable amount of grinding so I'll leave the edge as it is. I'm going to start cleaning it up tomorrow, I'll post some pictures so you can see how I get on.

Hey everyone. Here is the "as forged" blade of my first ever attempt at knife making. The billet this is made from was forged from a chainsaw blade. I first spot welded the chain together then fire welded it into a cohesive bar. I folded it a couple of times to make sure I got rid of any gaps that may have been there, and then forged the tang followed by the blade. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out so far, as a whole it's 23cm long. Both the tang and the blade are 11 1/2cm long. The edge is currently about 2-3mm thick and I was wondering if I should forge it down smaller before I begin cleaning and polishing it. Once it is heat treated and fully cleaned up I intend to etch it to bring out the pattern created by the different metals in the chain. What do you guys think?