basher

The copper is a great idea. I straighten on a flat anvil at a red heat. and then again at normalising temps. or by bending in open vice jaws (gently). its often a case of a little bit one way then a little bit the other and on and on. I try not to hit any carbon steel cold. there are lots of different ways to straighten blades.

My personal limit by hand is a lot smaller , somewhere in the 1 inch square area (30mm max) by whatever length you need. Any bigger than that and you are much better off welding up smaller billets and combining them to get your layer count up. The billet size you mention would be a standard one for me to put under a 50lb power hammer. This is one of those cases where more is not better. you will work 2 x 2lb billets a lot quicker than one x 4lb billet. The same is true for power hammers although the size will be bigger .

Was your blade straight backed when you hardened it? It looks to have a little negative sori, but it's hard to tell without seeing the blade pre quench.

If i was hardening a steel I did not know too well and trying to get hamon to a specific depth by oil quenching with clay on the blade I would do the following. Take best guess at oil temp and blade temp . Normalise the blade. Harden the blade. As soon as its cooled down and before temper I would run it over the grinder at 36 grit. You can often tell the depth of Hamon looking at the blade obliquely at 36 grit. If its where you want it . Then temper and clean up as usual. The reason I would do this immediately is that I could then re heat treat the blade Try and move the Hamon up or down the blade by changing the blade temp , oil temp and clay thickness/ position, edge thickness. Remember that if you multiple normalise and then multiple quench you will be reducing the hardenability of the blade each time you do this. This can be beneficial in a deep hardening steel as you can literaly chase the Hamon up the blade by multiple normalisations/quenches. If you want to etch you will need to be up past 120/200 grit to see the Hamon again , any lower and the grit marks will show more obviously than the Hamon. You may not see fine detail untill you are up in the 800 to 1000 grit range. Hope that makes sence.

Hi Chance, I am using a few steels in this blade and wrought iron for the spine. If I remember correctly, the teeth and bar they are connected to are 15n20 the edge is probably w2 and wrought iron. The twists will be mixed 15n20 and en42j ( British spec 1080) and probably wrought iron the spine was wrought iron..... Kind of a trixy mix. All the best owen

I see no problem with running a 5hp grinder. the only reason to go for less in my opinion is if you want to run the motor from a VFD with a single phaze input. I have grinders from 1.5hp to 4kw (5.5hp) Grinders defiantly work better with more power. Basic Industry minimum is 1hp per inch of belt width. perfect world would be something like the bader spacesavers and I think they are 5hp variable speed. its worth remembering that a lot of modern belts are designed to run fast for optimal removal of metal and belt life.

Here are some great photographs by Peter Rebac of Amber Studios, Edinburgh of a Sword made by Paul Macdonald of Macdonald Armouries. The sword is a reproduction of the Gilling sword in Yorkshire museum. I made the blade , the commission and the rest of the work was Paul Macdonald's. Blade is en42J and 15n20, 7 layer twists with high layer edge (700 or so) . the handle is wrought iron stabilised bog oak and silver. I really love the look of this piece and the photographs bring out the visual texture briliantly. there is an underplay to it all that I really love. I get great satisfaction when a blade of my making is brought to life in this way in someone else's hands. hope you like it . All the best Owen

Those prices sound reasonable and are much cheaper than around here. I was given good advice when I went to blacksmithing college and that was to keep my overheads as low as possible. ask yourself what you would gain by being in a commercial area? you will get much better cash deals from farmers. I would look for galleries and the internet to put work around in the winter. when I did that kind of work galleries before xmas were a great source of off season income.

nice swords Marius , I am particularly drawn to the two handers.

Percentages aside . one think you can be sure of is that a scrappie knows the value of his scrapp. I have been lucky enough to work amidst a few scrap yards and watched the dollars (or pounds ) rolling in and rolling out. In Se London there are a lot of " independent workers" who pull your dumped scrapp apart and re sell the stainless and copper and motors and Ali (or ALU) to the yard. the yard doubles up on their paid price so basically they are getting people with hammers and hand axes to seperate their scrap for them. their work is more basic than ours.......

​Yup pretty much to all of the above. After 20 years grinding towards myself I fine the idea of doing it the other way odd . however its just habit, a bit of hanging on as oposed to pushiing against may even me up a little. I have all the air "stuff" that I would need to rig a nearly weightless seat, it could be as simple as a pulley and a (medium) anvil!! the "cross" that I use enables me to grind as I "normally" would , with just a quick switcheroo. the next step is a whole different machine. I think for the couple of days to do it it could be worth it.

Even in the UK the price for small anvils is rising , up 50% over the last year . big anvils are still cheap as chips though, possibly cheaper on a weight for weight basis .

here is another similar thing.

great link I have seen that vid half a dozen times and that did not click.

I have been grinding blades a while now and find that I am good and quick at it , (relatively). I am heavy and strong and good angular control of my hands. However I find it hard on my body, the constant force applied through wrists locked in a very controlled manner leaves me in pain , wrists , elbows forearm the whole power train so to speak. Now that is not too surprising really as I have been grinding and smithing for 20 years and have pushed myself a little too much in the past. however I have had a growing suspicion that we (us modern folk) are missing a trick or two that the "old time" grinders of yesteryear did not miss. and slowly a realisation has grown upon me .. sheffield grinders apply pressure by putting the work under a board they sit on, using their body weight (thanks Josh for bringing that one to my realisation.) French Bill hook grinders use a kind of board that fits over their lower leg and lean into the wheel, using their body weight. and I have seen another (black and white) vid of sickle grinders using a levered arm that applies pressure to the steel using their foot power. In all these cases , especially the modern sheffield grinder they are doing super fast work, using their body weight to apply force to the blade and there hands to guide the blade. They are using stones......but can a grinding stone be as good as modern ceramic belts? probably not? So I have been experimenting . I tried using a foot lever to apply pressure but found it did not have the control I needed and just ruined work and threw belts. so I went simpler. I grind sitting down. so I made this..... Basically a wooden cross, with a space to put my knees (i wear knee pads when using it in anger) and another cross to hold a blade , with a couple of screws in it to keep the blade in place. I ride it a bit like a motorbike. applying force by leaning my body weight through my knees and shins. and moving it side to side in an ark, I get a 12" pass before I have to reposition the blade. Its a very basic set up , I adjust the angle of the board to the platen by moving the board back and forth. I have found that I do not need it fixed to the floor , although that would be the logical thing to do , either with some adjustment or locating holes in the floor for a pin at the base of the board to allow the pivoting action of grinding side to side.. I can easily adjust it to give me an edge biased grind, of full grind or spine biased grind. I have been amazed at the difference in my grinding effort and output. I have done no quantitive tests as I do not production make the same stuff. However My belts bite in deeper and last a lot longer (about 4 times as long) . grinding is much much faster and easier on the arms. I do not think that under normal circumstance I can put enough pressure on my steel to make my 36 grit belts work to their optimum and this way they seem to be doing that. It may be that I am finally getting the ceramic belts to break down at a rate that self sharpens them (like the manufacturers talk about). So far I would not use this method for finish grinding , but for hogging it has changed my grinding life. there are no doubt dangers and associated risks with putting more force into a grinding belt and I would urge any of you that think this is a good idea to take your own steps to make sure what you are doing is safe.

I think the problem in the Uk currently is that blacksmithing apprenticeships do not currently exist until the college course that underpins the apprenticeship is redeveloped. Unless something has changed recently that I do not know about.

I make up sets of examples , step 1 to step 10 etc . and find the constant visual 3D references much better than measurements . and if efficiency creep improves what you are making then I would change examples . most of the repetitive work I have done has improved with repetition as the piece finds its form at the anvil.

200 quid a year to be on 3 phaze ....Jump on it. grid electrics are 14p to 21p a kwhour (what I have paid last few years)....modern efficient generator 70p a kw hour.....(from internet) other figures as much as £1.20 to £1.50 kwhour. Its a no brainer.

If I were you I would try and rent out some space in peoples forges who own the hammers you are looking for and get hands on experience so you can make your own decisions . 3 hours in 3 shops at shop rate+ a beer or two would tell you all you need to know and a few hundred spent could save thousands in a wrong choice. having said that most people love "their" air hammers so you will probably be happy with whatever you settle with.

I have seen but do not have pictures of black country crews using double and tripple handled sledges . I have a couple of chain makers anvils including one that is the same as the one in the picture with the oliver attached to it. The black country museum is on my list as I want to remake an oliver for my anvil.

Hi Carl, you are lucky to be in gods own country as far as anvils are concerned . A decent 200 or 300 weight anvil especially a double bick'd anvil (sometimes known as yorkshire pattern) should be have-able and local to you and not too expensive. smaller anvils are getting ridiculous in the UK. I look forward to seeing what you get up to posted here. all the best Owen

Hollow grinding is one of the quickest and easiest types of free hand grinding to master. I would really try it before going to a jig.

That is avery impressive press Freddie. I bought the basics to get my press reciprocating like that with a solanoid valve block , but never got around to it. You have made me think it is worth persuing. what are you using as a depth stop for the top and bottom of the stroke.is it a microswitch?

great first sword , I particularly like the guard. good job. All the best Owen

Too true , its a calling, not a lot of choice at all.