David Einhorn

In case anyone is looking for quality bargain-priced knifemaking books. This is a great book from a 4 volume series that is available as a remainder book from Edward R Hamilton. It contains 100 custom knifemaking and knife related projects, with over 1,500 original high-quality color photographs. THE ART OF MODERN CUSTOM KNIFEMAKING: 100 Custom Knife Related Projects in the Making. Projects in the Making, By David Darom Hardbound. 252 pages Published by Chartwell Size(inches) 8

Pieces a foot or two long go into two buckets. Shorter pieces of angle and stubs I make into jigs. I tend to use up most small pieces. What I can't use because it is smaller than 1/2 long, I toss.

I used high grade white marine lithium grease in my Champion 400. Works fine for me and does not leak.

All of the cutting plates I have seen people use have been a piece of steel, either a simple plate sitting upon the anvil, or a stem that fits in the hardy hole, or edges that wrap around the two sides of the anvil.

There is a series of books by David Darom (I have four of them. He keeps putting out more books) where just about every two pages of each book is a different knifemaker discussing a technique they use. These books have spectacular photographs of a lot of remarkable inlay and other detail work. So far the books I have by this author are: - Custom Knifemaking - Custom Folding Knives - The Great Collections - Custom Fixed Blade Knives Of course the other wonderful books are too many to list here. The emphasis of this author, according to one book's forward, is to have very high quality photographs. And in that I believe he succeeded! Great books for inspiration.

There are websites with free woodworking plans. Here is a site with plans for bedside tables. Let us know if any of the plans seem appropriate: Free Bedside Table Plans, Nightstand Plans and Miscellaneous Bedroom Furniture plans http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/sb_lg_plans-lg-5.jpg

How thick does the plywood have to be so that the boards will not bend? I made a bellows many years ago from plywood, about 1/2" thick and the plywood bent severely when I tried to pump it. The bellows looked nice, and the valving worked nicely, but otherwise it did not work well because the plywood bent.

Here are some plans for bellows BP0127 Bellows Construction BP0141 Bellows Construction Guru - Bellows Bellows

Here are some plans for bellows BP0127 Bellows Construction Guru - Bellows Bellows

I was at a yearly ironwork conference years ago and received an unexpected education on authenticating "antique" ironwork. There was a collection on display and a gentleman there showed me how to identify ironwork from the "Arts and Crafts period" that are commonly mistaken for colonial ironwork. He also took me to his truck and showed me a piece that he "counterfeited" for a shop in Gettysburg. When I said that his piece looked just like the forged iron stuff in relic shops in Gettysburg he said that it would look like the relics in Gettysburg because he made all of it. Bottom line is antique and relic dealers often don't know or care if stuff is authentic. I looked at a relic wheel in the Gettysburg shop called "The Horse Soldier" on Sunday and in my opinion was not a canon wheel as it did not even come close to matching the government specifications. I personally would not buy a "relic" in any Gettsyburg shop unless I was very knowledgeable about the object. A dealer in a different town offered to buy fake relics if they looked good enough.

Try Kyron clear acrylic spray from your local Walmart. Clean off the piece with a 3M pad then spray. The stuff dries fast and gives a finish similar to linseed oil. But try it on a test piece first to see if you like it.

I highly recommend taking a course on welding before purchasing a welder. I bought a welder then took a course. In the course I was able to use equipment a lot nicer than what I purchased and it was years before my welder broke and I was able to replace it with a welder that allowed better adjustability of the amperage. The limited settings on the original welder meant that a weld either did not have enough amperage and resulted in poor penetration, or I could choose a setting that had too much amperage with too much penetration, undercutting and splattering. Your local community college may offer such a course. If you take a course you will have a better idea of what type of welder fits your needs.

Unfortunately it seems that a small group of people make life difficult for the rest of us. No matter how much evidence you can present, there will always be people that either rewrite history, or swear that you have to quench the knife with the point facing towards Zeus while using a magic bowl.

I found the book on knife sharpening mentioned above by searching on Google at the URL: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/knifeshexps.pdf The amazing thing about the Internet is that most stuff is not really erased, because of: 1) People or groups that document the "history" of the Internet maintain searchable snapshots of Web pages. 2) People tend to post copies of stuff that they find interesting and/or useful. With that in mind, I always advise people to never post anything to the Internet that they would regret later in life because whatever they post is likely to be on someone's "history of the Internet" server, for a long time, perhaps forever. Very interesting books, thank you for telling us about them.

Your biggest concern will be the possibility of metal fatigue and/or cracks in the used/rusty spring. Professional smiths over the years have said many times that they will make tooling for themselves out of used springs, but that they would not utilize used springs for anything that they make for a customer because of the liability of the knife or tool breaking. Unless you have an incredible insurance policy, you are not likely protected from liability on those knives breaking, especially if you use used spring/steel. In no way would I utilize used springs to make knives for sale, especially knifes that were going to be used hard by a chef!

Sounds like the real question is how to get the steel so that it can be soft as possible for milling after hot forging under a press. That being the case, heat it as hot as you would like for the forging stage of the process, then anneal the piece by letting it cool very slowly in a container of vermiculite or bucket of scale.

The picture was taken in almost total darkness, using a strobe and 1600 ASA film. I was amazed that the photographs came out so well. I have other shots of the nail-making station but I am not sure where they are. If I find a photograph that better shows the lever that flips the nail out of the header, I will post it.

I agree, definitely looks like a mousehole anvil. I have a smaller one. They are nice anvils. When you refinish, try not to do further damage to the area of the name and weight.

Go to a doctor immediately! Heavy metal poisoning can be fatal.

I searched though my stuff for a photo I took back in 1993 in the Williamsburg blacksmith shop of their "historically correct" nail-making station and thought that I would share it. You will observe a square anvil for pointing the nail, a hardy to help notch the pointed rod to a uniform depth, an interchangeable header held in place with a steel wedge, and to the lower right a lever to flick the nail out onto the floor when finished. They said that using this station they could easily make large numbers of nails with one heat per nail.

My main anvil came with a very heavy thick-walled iron stand. The inside surface of the stand tilts down and away from where I stand. As the result the horn is to my left. Any other placement and the anvil's surface would be at an impractical/impossible angle. I have tried to level the anvil with sand, but the anvil is heavy and gradually works itself down into the sand and back to where it wants to be. A previous anvil I tried pointing to the right, and that worked OK because I could see what was happening on the horn better, but with experience, I can now work just as well with the horn to the left and also have the benefit of better posture while working. The slanted anvil stand's surface is interesting. The smith that used it was probably my height because with my arm extended the top of the anvil lines up with the face of my hammer when my wrist is at a comfortable angle.... the angle that mimics that angle of your wrist when using an axe.

A lot of people around here are really hurting from the economy. Factories and businesses keep closing and people are losing jobs by the thousands. There is no such thing as a service economy.... at least not in the long run.

No, but if they want a dozen I could probably find the time and energy to make them for that price.

I lost track of the number of local smiths either selling some of their stuff and downsizing, as well as those getting out of the business. I guess I should have been paying more attention. The cost of iron, fuel and other consumables around here went increased in cost beyond belief. Example: Around year 2000 a 15 foot length of 1/2" by 3" bent into a ring (iron tire), welded and fully finished was about $20. May 2008 a 20 foot flat length of that steel cost about $60. Nov 7, 2008 the cost of a 20 foot length of that steel cost $100

The folks here have provided a lot of good advice. Very simply stated, in general most beginners start forging simple projects such as "S" hooks using "Mild Steel" (also called Structural Steel) because it tends to be readily available, cheaper and because it is softer and easier to practice on than trying to hammer on tool-steels that are used in making tools and knives. Any flat solid steel surface can serve as a first anvil, I have a fairly large steel plate attached to a bench that sometimes serves as a surface to straighten objects on, and two or three times have used it as an anvil when using tooling at that end of the shop. Also, please check to see if there is a blacksmithing club and/or classes in your area so that you might get some instruction and supervision, for reasons of both safety and to accelerate your learning process. An experienced smith can show you in a weekend how to do stuff that otherwise might take you a year of more to figure out by yourself. He can also give you safety tips to help keep you safe and healthy into your old age. Smithing has its hazards, but good safety practices can minimize the risk greatly.