RainsFire

could alway's just paint the ends with white glue or latex paint

very cool, the two girls in the middle closest to the right made some beautiful ones, best of the group I think very cool

me neither :)

if you have an experimental blade design, you could alway's just use it to get the kinks out

you should post some pictures of your finished stuff, I'de like to see one or two nice blades!!

Right, just figured out the gallery function (awesome!!) and here are the pictures of the knife.. The picture of the J shaped peice of steel escaped, but here is the blade.. the second picture shows the hamon faintly, without etch.. It showed up suprisingly well on the blade for some reason.. I've never had one show up better when using 1080, so it will be interesting to see it post polish.. seems to be a thin wandering line, (oh, and its random btw.. with ashi)

I get it!! thankyou for clearing that up Hofi. cool story too.

theres someone on Dfoggknives that makes damascus jewlery, and he lines it with a small insert of silver, because aparently some people react to the steel overtime.

try buying aluminum powder and red iron oxide at a paint shack.. that eliminates a few variables.. and ya, use a magnesium strip.. which I think you can get at a hobby shop? or I think somewhere that deals with magnesium roofing? I could be totally wrong but I heard somewhere about that..

heh, thanks guys!! so I think this will make a servicable blade.. especially if its 1060 or something with similar I guess. cool, by the weekend I'll have it heat treated with a clay temperline.. oh, and no problem matt, I worded it really weird, I have that problem sometimes lol.

hmm, they are very similar, my peice is solid 1x1 bar in the shape of the first one there.. so thats cool, some sort of spring steel.. I'm going to try a clay temper on it to see if it takes a hamon.. you can judge things by that right? 5160 doesn't take a temperline very well.. anyway, thankyou!

right, I know that.. that's not really what I'm asking.. The j shaped peice has a much higher carbon content than the spikes.. my pics will include a picture of the spark test. I just want to know what alloy it is.

Umm, I got a bunch of Hc railroad spikes and a few j shaped 1x1 thick things which I'm wondering what are.. I was comparing the sparks to some 1082 and they were pretty similar, its not cast.. and forges nicely.. my friend and I hammered it out into stock and made a few large knives out of it.. anyway, I'll post some pictures of the weird item and one of the knives tomorrow, and if anyone could help me I'd them as far as alloy goes I'de be greatful.. Thanks guys cheers!

wise words glenn, I've been "persuing" knife smithing for a few years now and have only just learned there is a heck of a lot more to learn.. (shoulda known that from the start...) Mbrothers, try using a coil or leaf spring instead of the 1045.. 5160 is a good knife steel (what car springs usually are) and you can quench it in the motor oil like you were going to for the 1045.. plus its pretty easy to find and cheap.. most junkyards will let you take one for under a buck..

umm, 1045 might be a little soft, what kind of blades are you making? what kind of heat treat? that would make a well defined hamon if you want to go that way with it.. what will they be used for? we really need some specifics on what you're planning to use them for.. good luck man :)

wow, thats cool! Rich, where do you learn all this stuff?

yeah really, what am I thinking lol.. you're heating them up anyway to hit them right? don't worry about it..

yes, they would need to be annealed.. some are high carbon enough to be hardened, so they would need to be annealed. I just scored a 55gal drum of highcarbon ones.. that was one xxxx of a scrounge..

yes, I would like to see a picture too for reference. whats a good belt length? I think mines a 24 or a 36.. and they seem to wear out fairly quickly depending on what I'm grinding.