jmccustomknives

I was told about that trick by another gentleman. He was using larger wheels, with the same results. I'll have to try it some time.

For Christmas my wife gave me a belt buckle with a working 'smith that says blacksmith across the top. Got me to thinking. I don't consider myself a blacksmith, more so a bladesmith (that might be pushing it). So, what say you? When can one say, "I'm a blacksmith/bladesmith"?

Having never done the process before, I'd think you should be doing that in a gas forge. Coke/coal heat tends to be intense (hense the burn through and exploding can). Doing it in a coke/coal forge you'll have to control the heat. Mellow your fire and keep the canister turning until heated evenly then bring up to welding temp. Like I said, I've never done the process nor plan to. IDK, the canister seems to me to be a bomb waiting to happen. Somebody here has done this, I'm sure. They'll set us both strait.

Honestly, go ahead and replace them. The proper way would be to use a build up rod but they've been worn past that point.

I'll agree, somethings going on there. Can't say I've ever played with springs from a lift. It could be anything. If you must, find some late model truck springs. They'll be 5160 (or a version there of). It would be much better to buy some new steel that way you know what you are dealing with. Too bad you aren't closer, I've got so many springs floating around here I feel like Fred Sanford.

Well, you shouldn't want for a rivet for like a hundred years. <_<

It set me back 160, a good price I think.

There's so much junk in the back of that truck. geez, I'm such a horder. :blink:

Found this in a junk shop in a little town. Everytime someone in the area would ask about the whereabouts of an anvil I would tell them about it. After many months I finally got some spare cash and it was still there. The first pic is "as found". The second is after a little clean up. Been wanting one for demonstrations. Marked 126lbs and rings like a bell. The fun part was getting it out of that place. I felt like a bull in a china shop. Think narrow ilse and lots of pottery and glass.

In energy per lb, coke is less dense it has more since coke is just coal with the volitiles burnt off. That's a check in the btu's per pound. On the flip side, coal will "coke" up enabling a 'smith to build a "behive" making more effecient use of a smaller fire ball. I much prefer to use coal. That's just my thought. My suggestion, get a little of each and try them both.

Just curious, how would you do that without destroying the temper? or heat treat? <_< Can't say I've ever heard of that process before.

Inspiration is a funny thing. Like others have said, seeing things that others have done or nature has made. One day I was making a cable knife and the billet as it welded up reminded me of a snake. It worked. I got to looking at a piece as I was working with it and wondered, could I make a tree. After a little practice I came up with this. The trick for me is to let the materials tell me what they want to be. Then try to bring it out. I'm not good at it, but it's fun trying.

so true <_<

Mix it up, apply it to the blade with the appropiat amount of steel showing. Heat and quench. Use the 1084, while the 1095 will show one the heat treat is a little tricky. 5160 will show one too but it isn't as defined and even more tricky. The other two won't. It's all about the proper temps. Too hot or too cool and it wont work. I'm sure there's stickies on this.

Not too bad. Your air source is a little spread out so you'll burn through a lot of fuel rather than keep a small softball sized heart. I'm assuming your going to run charcoal? You'll start tweeking your design once you get that bad boy fired up. My first forge was set in a wheel barrow. :rolleyes:

Steve, a few more billets and you'll have it down. Reading the temps and letting the heat soak takes a little practice. Rich, Homeshow. I agree with you both. I feel that I get a better weld hand hammering. But since many of my billets are from using larger stock they are usually large and tend to trapazoid. Its got to do with bad hammer technique (10lb sledge in a hold down hardy) and an anvil that 2" too high for striking. The one opportunity to use a press and I fell in love. :wub: I gotta get me one. One way around that (trapizoid) is to do twisted patterns.

It should serve you well, resembles the one I use.

Howdy from 'bama. Looks like you've got your feet on the ground. Spending time with experienced smiths is worth it's wieght in burned steel. Look forward to seeing your progress!

I'll agree with John, the single burner is more than addaquate for most knife making. If you plan on doing anything else besides knives hang on to the other forge. Those style forges are great for knives, for odd shaped objects they don't work too well.

Well it's more like motorcyle chain gone "hulk". Came off a drilling machine. T-town, home of the Crimson Tide otherwise known as Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide!

Lol :) My magnetic personallity has gotten the better of me. I've got 20+ feet of link chain that weighs about 50lbs per 3ft. IDK what the heck I'm gonna do with it but since some one was giving I took. :blink: And that's just the beginning. I can't turn down free steel. I've got car springs out the :o , old wrought and steel like in the pic ^_^ about 50lbs of that chain saw in the pic -_- and lets not get into saw blades, cable and other stuff I've picked up. Make Fred Sanford jelous. :huh: and my wife :angry: . So if any one near t-town needs anything give me a hollor ;) I can probably hook you up. B) Please, come get that big chain, I can't even drag it around.

Thanks Steven, you blew my theory out of the water. :( 'tis better to know what it is. That's why I posted, I knew somebody here would know what it was. Thanks! B)

On a slightly different vein, but about the wrought that's higher carbon. I posted a thread a while back about some round stock I picked up from the same source but a different place. It was so odd, worked like wrought but sparked like carbon except the sparks were a darker orange (almost red). Took me a while to figure out it was wrought. I had to break a piece, it had a fine grain but still broke like wood and after flattening out a sample I polished it up and it had a grain that stood out. I'm thinking that it was that higher carbon wrought. Maybee. <_< Oh well, I'm thinking I need to make a trip to the scap yard, cause dang, I'm collecting faster than I'm using. :wacko:

A lot of that stuff is pretty obvious, and since that place was settled back in the 1830's there's a hundred + years worth of stuff. Most of it is junk, a lot of this isn't salvagable. My theory about the bladed piece is that during the War someone there took one of the billets and practiced making a D-guard and hid it to keep it from being found. Otherwise it would have been reused for something else. Unfortunatly there's a big nick on the edge from where I did the spark test. At least that's the story I'm gonna tell, I can't bring myself to destroy it. I'm hoping one day he will find an anvil. He used to avoid the big "iron" hits on the detector now he digs up the big ones. lol.

I can get anything that norton makes. A lot of stuff like these belts aren't a normal stocked item so the web site doesn't show it. If I remember right, the minimum is 50 belts from norton. Get a pn and give your local welding suppiers a call, tell them your shopping around. Some of them will get them through a wholeseller, others can get them direct and those guys can save you $'s. You should be able to get the pn from Nortons web site.