bipolarandy

they were two part knife rivets, not pins. they are really easy to put on, and last forever

Heres a knife i just finished today. Dont know what the steel is, i use a dozen or so small scraps that put off a nice spark and welded a billet from them, folded it 3 or 4 times each way, finished to 600 grit and etched in hot vinegar all day. the handles are rose wood i think ,




-Andrei

in the background on her commissions page is a bruce willcock hammer, neat. bck - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

Dare i ask what all the wires are for???,
heres is pic of my heat box, not as shiny, but gets the job done.
]

Fred, i need more pics of your forge please!!

wow, can you post your written test results please. what do you get when you pass this test?

Brand, Henry Wright
Weight, 169 pounds
Condition, when i got it, badly chipped around the sides and had a swayback , see photo , PICT0036 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery ,


after repairing, good as new, see attached photo
Price 120$ with stump

Im gonna shoot this off from memory, The brand is Indian chief with 5" wide jaws and it was in great condition when i got it, screw was tight , handle wasn't bent... only minor problem with it is the back jaw is about a 1/16" higher then the front one, iv found some uses for that. I think i paid around 130 for it but that was with about 60 bucks of steel that we made the base for it. I think it was a good deal. This was In buffalo , NY

your wrong Czar, if you heat copper, silver, brass, gold ect... and let it cool slowly, that will harden the metal. Copper and steel are different.

only half serious thomas , im all self taught with photography and most of the techniques I use iv invented myself, How did I learn, trial and error, doing the same thing over and over hundereds of times till you find what works, its the only way to learn if you dont have other resources to guide you.

Its hard to explain a method to someone when you work from intuition and not out of a book, and even so, Id rather you focus on the work and not how I did it!
People get to wrapped up in b s techniques and tools and prosess when they should be focusing on the work.

I dont tell my secrets :)

I didn't know where to put this, I guess it could have gone in Nonmetal working or the welding thread?

Here is a triptic I made last night, nuthing special, just wanted to share because there welding in it Enjoy. -Andrei

i made up three more pairs of tongs yesterday and started four more, iv manly been working on a few powerhamer dies and tooling , making the tooling that will let me make bowls and sunken shapes .

Got the doors in place and fired it up , sucker puts out alot of heat!!
I think i'll have to make up some extra long tongs to get in and out of this thing.

-Andrei

Is there a way to tell the temp rating on a unknown refractory, and if you exced its rating, what will happen?
I ask because I have a box of 12"x12" boards of some kinda of fiber refractory from the 70's, just curious as to what they are.

-Andrei

Johannes, Yes I am going to make two doors. Finnr, I did a pressure test last night and found my main LP valve was hemoraging gas... So, that another part to buy

-andrei

Here are some pics of my new baby,
Body is a 20# propane tank with angle iron weld on for legs. The bottom is 3000F ram refractory which I had made for me and cured by a local refractory company, the top is 2 or 3 inches of 3000F insuwool. Its fired with two homemade 3/4" T-rex burners. I'll probably fire it up tomorrow sometime.


Here it is next to my first gas forge I built two years ago...




-Andrei

Hillbilly, if you've never worked silver, you may not want to mess with your troy ounce's. Silver is very different than steel, you need a very clean setup, you must be OCD about cleaning all the scale off the metal each and every time its annealed, it has a low melting temp too, so the ol'e forge is not an option for heating,,,,, and its soft,, so any marks in your tools will mark your silver. Thats just the basics.
Now, your question about rings, fine silver is too soft for a ring, it will deform very quickly. Sterling is whats used for most jewerly because its much harder than fine silver.

I would try engraving your friends name into that troy ounce and making a bezel setting to hold it, like these. slides and pendants , than you can put it on a leather cord or something.

-Andrei

Mills, your so right about the silver sulfadene, that stuff is the greatest.
I knew someone that worked at a VA hospital and took home some bottles of it for sunburns, after a day the worst sunburn would be healed if you used it.
I wish I could get it again, my doctor wont write me a Rx for it.

I didn't understand all of your first post, what are you trying to make?

If you dont want to fool around with acid, you can use plain white vinegar. Put it in a tin can on a hot plate and let it come to a slow boil. The patten in your chain will come out in a few minutes. To amp up the vinagar, add a few squrts of lemon juice.

cw, i ment, did you start with pre made frames, like from kimber, or did you cut those out of a billet?

cw, i love the 1911 thats on your picture page, how much of that is your work?

Video of hammer - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Video of hammer 2 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The video is kinda dark, but you can still get the jist of it.

larry, i'll take a quick movie of mine tonight and see if i can upload it