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Thanks, The ones I had were all rusted out.

Thanks for the reply's I will look them up.

I am sure many will be saying "Oh no here we go again" but please bear with me. Firstly I do not have the current ability to properly make anything in a forge let alone feel delusional enough to attempt a sword. But I do like reading and as there are no blacksmiths that I am aware of in my area this site is my main source of information. Anyhow to the point of this thread....I started reading this forum ( as my interest mainly lies with blade smithing) and after reading all the comments on sword making and how difficult it is etc I decided to google sword makers to see who was out there and what they produced. One of the sights was Cold Steel...they had some impressive video clips which included chopping a pig in half and pushing the sword through a car bonnet and what really got me was the bending in a vice. So for someone who does not know and thought this was impressive.....Are they as good as they claim to be? Can anybody post me the web address for what you would consider to be a great modern day sword maker? I have no desire to own a sword (unless it is Excalibur) but I do appreciate them.

The old boar is a tough animal....I tried a chop on a 90 kg boar I shot with the bow to see what the Bowie would do...it went straight through the spine with ease so as a last line of defence it has my trust.

Blade is 2 1/4 inch wide, 12 inch long and weighs 2 lbs....It is a bit ugly but it can chop through the jaw bone of a pig without blade damage so it does what i made it to do.......here is a pic of why a lot of hunting dogs in my area never come home

Here is a pic from my trail cam just behind my home...I got into knife making because I was sick of buying second rate knives and decided to make my own...never looked back

A lot of blokes up here hunt with dogs but they have to be buffalo proof or they don't come back. I have had my share of close calls with the angry hog...they sure make a scary noise when they charge....400lb are big pigs for sure....do you have a pic of the pig sticker you made your son?

Thanks, If I get a good set of tusks I take the jaw. I will measure and post the specs

Here are a couple of my knives made from 5160. I am a bowhunter and I use the Bowie for chopping out wild pig jaws and other heavy work. I have some picks of it in use but fear blood and bone may offend some.

Love it..looks great

That is what I have aso heard too. I have made quite a few knives from 5160 but this was my first try with anything from a spike and my first axe type thing ever. I was expecting something that would be more of a display thing but it quenched hard and a file glided right off . Anyhow I am going to have another go today with some 5160 and see how i go.

This is my first attempt at a Spike HAwk. I have learnt a lot (from all my mistakes) and will make lots of changes next time round. Getting heaps of good ideas off this site. One last thing....I hear rail spikes are quite low carbon and dont heat treat so well....this one I found all rusted on an old railway and had no markings. Anyhow I heated it up to non magnetic and quenched in oil and then tempered at 240 c for 2 hours and then cleaned it up and when i tried to sharpen it on my stone it is a lot harder than i expected...I had a basic edge after cleaning it up but it is as least as hard as a big bowie i made from 5160...is it possible very old spikes could have had higher carbon content than the newer ones? it was very rusty.

Thank you

How do you prepare the wood if you are using branches? I am new to this but we have a tree where I am from called Ironwood. It is a very dense and hard wood.