jmccustomknives

Anvils are money in the bank. I'd break it in my shop but at that price it's be in my truck going home.

Just remember that's a farriers anvil. It's not designed for heavy forging so if your planning on using a 10lb sledge it might not be for you.

That's going to depend on what kind of knives you intend to make. I have a demo anvil similar. A flat plate for straitening my blades. A bottom fuller, spring fuller and a pair of vice grips that set in the hardie for holding my work. You'll have to work out your own style, your tooling will reflect that.

Sure. There isn't anything wrong with that. Remember, you can always make hardie tools to help you.

Ok, lesson learned. It's always a good idea to learn to walk before you run or learn to drive a Ford Escort before getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes. Knifemaking is just the same. Learn to grind and heat treat then to forge. When you have those down then move to Damascus.

It's possible on that second tank there was trash that clogged the nozzle. Also check for mud dobber nests. They like tubing.

I don't think there's an issue, but you might give it a layer or two of a build up anyway. That saddle is going to take quite a bit to build up.

Guys, the proper hard surfacing rod self hardens. There isn't a need to do a heat treat. I'm fond of the Nicromang which is a rod for building up RR track frogs that work hardens.

I'd bought it at $50. It could be any number of English makers, there were tons of them. Mousehole was mentioned, they were bad about developing a "saddle". That's about as bad as they get. Still there's life in it and a saddle can be useful. You can always make a hardy tool that's a flat plat for flattening your work. Nice find.

I'm thinking you should be looking at nickel steels. Nickel imparts toughness and fatigue resistance.

The propane/oxy kits aren't too bad. It just doesn't get as hot as acetylene and you use a little more oxygen, but that's the cheapest gas you'll buy. As for brazing, if you do any knife making or just do dats it's a good process to learn.

Until you get one you don't know how useful it is in the smithy. Not only can you heat with it, you can weld, braze and cut. If you are a knife or tool maker you can use it for tempering and such.

Remember, your using used steel. Those rakes get a lot of abuse and all that flexing causes metal fatigue that shows up as cracks. It's a hazard of used steel.

Since this thread is still kickin' I'll through my 2 cents in. An items value is something that is agreed between the seller and buyer, we call that capitalism. There are two threads to knife making, one is as a tool and the other an art. Now a tools value is based on its function, how well it performs the task it was built for. Since it is a tool in my experience that market has a cap. You have to find the comfort zone in that market. Most users of the "tool" knife aren't interested in mirror finishes and fancy handles, they want a functional knife. Generally they are willing to pay pretty good for a well made/designed tool that will last them a lifetime. The other is the art knife. These knives may be functional but aren't going to be carried out in the woods. They are purchased for their beauty. Because it is an art the skill of the artist shows. The blades can range from mirror polished stainless to exotic Damascus. Like all art the value gets tied to the artist name. A painting done by Rembrandt is priceless but without the name tied to it the same painting isn't worth near as much. In the same way a maker needs to develop his name. The main avenue for this would be the ABS Journeyman and Master Smith titles but that isn't the only way. Be prepared to do big knife shows. Make knives, use them. Get the small builds from buddies and "friends of friends". Pursue a style that is your own. As you get better you can ask more for your work. If you keep at it eventually your time will become so valuable you'll price jobs high so you won't have to do them. You know your doing well when you do that and you still get the "build it for me" with a check.

Don't be afraid to push that grind back a little farther. Looks good. Glad to see you test them. Keep it up!

Not sure about your location. The AFC has the Wiregrass chapter that meets near Mobil, but that's a ride for you. I know a couple of guys north of Meridian and of course I'm in T-town, Alabama. Go ahead and mark April down for a stay in Birmingham, Al for the Batsons Blade Symposium.

You can get full reader safety glasses too.

This is one of the test I use to determine if a file is good steel or case hardened. Heat only the tang of the file up and quench in water. Clamp the file tang up in a vice and hit the tang with a hammer to break it. (wear your safety gear). If the tang breaks clean it has enough carbon to harden, if the tang bends over it doesn't. I made the mistake of forging a knife from a very old Nicholson wood rasp. I assumed since it was a Nicholson, it would be good steel. I forged the blade, ground and quenched it. After hardening always check and see if a file will cut the edge, on this one it did. I normalized and did the hardening procedure again with the same outcome. I went back and tested the tang, and wouldn't you know it, it bent over. Turns out Nicholson used case hardening on some of their rasp. Moral of the story, always check your mystery steel before spending time making something from it.

What type of file? Did you do a file check? Many rasp are case hardened.

Gotcha TwistedCustoms. Sorry about hijacking the thread. Inspiration comes from many places. I like to let the steel (and other materials) tell me. I've seen a lovely cook set done from spikes. I would have loved to have had them.

lol Here's where my beef started. It was 4 years of wondering around before I met my first real smith. During that time every Tom, Dick, and Harry would give me their wisdom. Among those "jewels" of knowledge were the high carbon content of RR spikes, quenching files without tempering, even a guy who folded the spikes to make them "better" and so on. That advise sent me down paths I didn't need to go, having a background in the welding industry I had enough knowledge about steel to be dangerous, but when it came to knives and tool steels I didn't know squat. I had been screwing around with springs for 3 years before getting a spike. Oh yeah I thought, high carbon, this will be fun. After a few heats I realized this steel wasn't the same as the springs. It flowed much easier, when it didn't resist the hammer even after it thinned I knew then it wasn't the same as the other high carbon steels so I threw it in the junk pile. If I hadn't had prier experience with high carbon steels I would have perpetuated the myth too.

When compared to steels from 2000 years ago, yes the lowly RR spike is a much better steel. My issue is the misinformation that gets passed around. I've seen too many guys selling a "high carbon" RR spike knife. Too many guys passing the information around that it's "high carbon". And worst of all, guys selling "high carbon" rr spike knives. Too many novice smiths believing that's what they are working with. It wouldn't be an issue if the myth didn't get perpetuated. If everyone knew they were making an "art" knife or even adding a true high carbon cutting edge it wouldn't be an issue. I recently saw a guy selling spike knives on ebay, he claimed they were .5-.6 percent carbon. How did he come by that, he "spark checked' them. Guys like that perpetuate the myth and make new ones. We know newbs aren't the most diligent about testing thier knives, otherwise they would figure it out. But no, the myth gets perpetuated. So take that spike and forge your knife. Water quench it, don't even bother to temper it. File check it. That's all you have to do. Truth in advertising. I don't do spike knives because I don't want some novice seeing it and thinking its a legitimate blade steel.

Are you coming to the Forge Council meeting this weekend. One of the demonstrators will be showing how to rebuild and adjust those. Probably would be worth coming to.

I did a youtube video testing those spikes. The RR Engineers manual gives the chemistry the spikes must meet. They are .25% carbon. A little vanadium helps mask the low carbon content. Yes, I have a vendetta against RR spike knives.

The key, go in with low expectations and you won't be disappointed.