Kendall P

Try finding a south facing window and popping the board close to it -mid afternoon - a high noon sun through window glass is better than any studio light, if it doesn't work right away stick something under the board to angle it in a preferred direction and you'll get the light you seek for the best shot possible  Also if the  light is only dim from one side cover a small board with tin foil and use it as a reflector to "bounce" the light to the other side of the piece and even out the exposure of the shot.

Hope that helps

that looks a bit like a hay budden - if its got a nice clean face and throws the hammer back at you like its putting up a fight then sounds like you got a nice seccond anvil coming home with you

Just beware of the tool collecting desease... it is incurable

Found this Anvil hanging out at a friend`s barn. Its not very large, very worn and had some repair work done but from the looks of it a long long time ago. Ive not seen anything like it. The horn is small and stubby but the face is almost as broad as mine and it`s hardy hole is the same size as mine. It throws back a hammer really well but sounds a little muted. I thought it might of been for blade work vs farrier stuff as the face was broad but the horn short. lots of signs of use for drawing out as its really worn down on the face.

Sorry for the poor pic quality - only had time to snap these before i had to dash to work - the underside had a hole in the bottom in the centre and one in the neck. Id say it weighed roughly 20lbs give or take 

I have the same problem with some mystery steels that i use when i am making knives out of old files - the last one i did was hell - i tried anneling several times, the only way i got it drilled was by hot drilling one hole and then annealing the blade something like 3 times for the seccond before it grudgingly went through not without breaking the bit. for two pins and my utter stubbournness it took a week of various things attempted.

So my two cents -

If you know what type of steel you have you can often find out the very accurate specifics of what temperature and timeing of cool down you will nead to anneal that particular steel.

If you dont know what type it is then use a slow speed - carbide bits - cutting oil and patience with a solid anneal and a helper bar (nice red hot lump in the vermiculate) when you try your anneal, If it doesnt work and no matter what you do if failing you can try a hot drill - get it nice and cherry red and it should drill.

If it still wont drill consider a pinless hidden tang design ;)

You also plucked on my heart strings when you spoke of the stress of steel not drilling. I wonder how many other knife makers have had that particular bad day?

Weirdly enough as i had this thought  for the first post in the thread Ive now found this campaign thats been started up check it out if you havent already! link removed

I was chatting with the wife and she showed me a fantastic program for veterans that was art based that helped veterans cope and come to terms with their experiances, I dont know about the rest of you but working out in the shop has always been for me at least very theraputic, I thought WOW this could be great as a therapy for vets so i decided to log on to IFI and open the floor to other folks. What do you think? does anyone think they could handle starting something like this up? maybe it`s already being done by some of you guys. Their might be a thread ive missed? Please feel free to chip in with thoughts and ideas.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to post and sticky this thread, perhaps others here can learn from my ignorance. :) have a lovely day!

Maybe if you had read the post I made that is now a heat treat sticky you would have avoided this entire problem, as well as this thread :)

Thanks so much steve, its so good of you to take the time to post in my thread.

You might have to - easyest way would be to anneal it again and leave it insulated for 24 hours then when youve really annealed the whole thing well - drill in your pin holes after ward you can concentrate on heat treating without the worry of buggering up a temper with haveing to anneal bits of the blade again.

Just my 10 cents.

looking good so far

Made this from an old engineer file with a brass guard, ebony and antler handle.

Its made out of an old lawn mower blade!

Here is a kitchen knife i made for a friend as a trade in exchange for some lovely ebony he had stored from his days of guitar making.

Im looking for a decent company located either in the uk or europe that produces reliable and affordable belt sanders - specifically for knife making. Does anyone know of any such companies and has anyone used them? could really use some solid advice for this as i dont think im looking in the right place or know enough to make a truly informed purchase by myself.

I forge welded a chainsaw chain together....

I have no pics yet... but I've been trying to forge weld something since my last post here.... and im so excited right now that all i could think of was to tell you guys.

My hopes and dreams are to make it into a knife. I will probably fail at that part... but. ..............

I forge welded a chainsaw chain!!!!!!!!

/happy dance :lol:

beautifull knife sir.

thanks everyone for your comments, the paper trail was started off the bat, sask mark has it right, but when i told the parents about the principals call he and i took a trip into the school and spoke to her in person, im still gone from school but it is abbolished from my record and the other kid is suspender for as long as i am, good enogh for me

Alec's mom had an artical in our local paper on alec`s journey out to see you folks, was nice to read about your work and see brian`s name mentioned in the local paper - not sure if ive still got the clipping. hopefully alec will bring a copy out with him.

was really nice to read!

Just as an update - got the vermiculate and heated a chunk of steel to pop in with the knife - annealed perfectly and drilled really easilly, thankyou so much guys :)

What heat do you allow it to cool from? Maybe you are not getting it to the right temperature before annealing

Kendall maybe it woul dhelp if you let us know how you annealed the iece you are trying to work with?

My thought exactly!

Now if you are just not familiar with the material mentioned: Vermiculite is often sold at garden centers, it's an expanded mica product used to lighten soil and hold water. For annealing it acts as a good fireproof insulation and we want it DRY DRY DRY---it should be kept dry too!

Other materials used as insulation for annealing are: dry lime powder, Kaowool, dry sifted wood ashes or my favorite---bung the piece into the gas forge at the end of the day, let heat up and then turn off the gas forge and block off the opening to let it cool slowly over night.

In general you would like to stick the piece in the annealing insulation say at 7pm and have it still faintly warm to the touch at 7am. Most times I don't achieve that; but still get a good anneal.

If you have many small items you can sometimes group them together to provide the heat reservoir---I was once consulted on how to anneal some modern made traditional nails being used as rivets on a viking boat project. I stuck them all into a stainless steel creamer in bunches, and stuck the whole thing in the insulative material.

LOL funny you say anneal in your first post, but then ask about Ciladog's described process, which happens to be annealing LOL.

If it is oil or water hardened then I would soak at critical and burry it in vermiculite. .

Dear agony aunty/uncle knifemaker supremes..
I keep breaking 2mm drill bits trying to drill some nice small pin holes through a fresh peice of anealed tool steel ( a file mark removed old file) It's being a tough nut to crack. Sometimes i can drill easilly through these things, however this time it seems to just want to eat all my drill bits :(.

Should i
a- anneal it several times?
b- hit it with something heavy untill the forge gods allow the holes to appear by magic?
c- cry into my hot coco?

Please advise...
Yours sincerely
A befuddled noobie "knifemaker" (knifebodger) (hobbyist)

Best regards
Paul
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