jmccustomknives

I've got the 2 burner knifemakers forge. These will reach forge welding temps (altitude will affect this), but be warned; the borax flux you use for welding will melt the side insulation like water through cotton candy. Gas consumption is about 2 1/2 hours at 5psi (that's a rough est as I usually only forge for 30-40min at a time).

Idk what gas forges you've heard, mine isn't even as loud as a hair dryer. My coal forge is powered by a minivac, it's much louder. The reason I chose the diamondback, it can be used with the standard bar-b-que 20lb propane tank. The drawback is it is a knifemakers forge and is really to small of a chamber for anything larger than 2X2. The top of my shop does warm up from it (about 3 1/2' above). The portability will allow you to move it from under the porch for use.

You do have a problem. A canopy + a coal forge is probably a bad idea. The heat from the forge will melt or catch fire. I would suggest getting a small gas forge. I've got a diamond back. It's small and portable. It could sit on the edge of the porch. That and get a Fisher anvil as they are much quieter than most. I'm guessing you have nieborhood gustapo that won't look to fondly on your banging around :P . (the forge scale will look real good on that neat porch. :rolleyes:

A pair of old vice grips and a cutting torch. You can really watch your heat and since it is very concentrated it works very well. Use small hammers. Little ball peins with the heads modified to do the shaping. You can use your vice or make a holder for the torch.

200lb, 1943. I believe it was government surplus. Side note, I love my Fisher and my nieghbors like it better than what I had before. ;)

LOL! :o and I thought we in the south had the market cornered on Rednecks! :lol: Very clean for a rednecked blade.

It all depends on what you need it for. If you need the heat then a torch will do, welding however isn't the easiest to do. You might look into a 110v mig. I have one and use it nearly every day, the torch once every two weeks maybe ( I use the forge for heat now). For cutting a side grinder with a slicer disk works very well on thinner stuff and short cuts. With the mig you can use gas (75/25 or CO2) or gassless flux cored wire. The gas gives the best looking weld the flux cored burns dirty but will increase the penitration of the weld. Get a good one, Miller, Hobart or Lincoln as these machines are only as good as the availabilaty of the consumables.

Just out of curiosity, are you planing on making it out of mild steel or high carbon? If you do make it out of mild steel and he trains with it, you can expect it will bend quite easily. Something like this should be made from 5160 and given a good spring temper.

Lol, it's probably better than what you are working on. Might make an ok intermediat anvil.

Your 18, the world is full of opportunities for you. Just because you may not want to do a particular job isn't a reason to do it. Smithing, like life, starts out with a raw material that resist change. Through heat and the guidance of a master that raw material becomes a useful and beautiful object. It takes time and patients. Back to your problem. The first step is networking (making friends). Be generous with your time (as much as possible) and things will come to you. I had very little in my first forge (actually $0). You just have to get creative. There's a lot of info here on alternatives not to mention people in your area who can help.

Still trying to sell that boat anchor I see. :blink: There's a sucker born every day, seems he couldn't find one the last go 'round. :ph34r:

This is true, and is the market I target. Most folks cant shell out $400 for a knife that they won't use but are willing to shell out a little more than what a decent factory blade. The draw back is I'm not putting myself in the big dollar market, nor are those who collect really interested in my work. The great thing is I get to put a quality handmade knife in the hand of someone who will use it (that's why I say use your knives). The real gratification comes when you see that person 6 months to a year later and they still love their knife, and when they show you it and you can tell it has been well used, that's an honor.

I've been using Loctite 5min for years. Some folks say that the fast stuff will not hold over time but that hasn't been the case. I've got some early blades that have been left in my shop floor (every time it rains water runs through there). The blades are rusted but the grips are still holding well. The drawback is you have to work fast. I've tried the slower stuff and it never worked correctly.

I asked that same question once, wow it was brutal. What would you be willing to pay for that knife? What will the market bear? Note, I do use a power sander on my blades and generally spend at least 7-8 hours on the same size blade (I'm impatient too). Before selling, use your knives for a while to get a feel for how well they work. I can always tell a tool (knives included) that is made by someone who doesn't use them. It is a good start, in a few years look back at this knife and see just how far you have come ;) .

I've got the knifemaker model. Works pretty good. I make a lot of cable damascus and my "technique" requires using a lot of flux. I never really knew that the borax would eat the ceramic bricks like it would. I started using oil dry (a tip from an old 'smith) in the bottom and that works well. The biggest drawback to the knifemaker is how small the work has to be.

You can go to any welding supply and pick up all the safety supplies you need. They will have glasses ranging from clear to shade 5, I generally prefer the tinted for outsided and indoor/outdoor tint for working my little diamondback in the shop. I use drivers gloves but the short cuff means my wrist gets burned quite often. Tilman 35L are good longcuff gloves that are still soft enough to work with.

There is somewhat of a collector market. As far as I'm concerned an old file is either usable as a file, or to be remade into another tool. In my opinion the old Black Diamonds are the best followed by Nickolson. The cheap Chinese junk files are the worst (case hardened not included in this).

I cheat a little. You can get fire rated sealent from lowes or home depot in the section that has the silicon. Doesn't work as good as the clay mixture, you usually get one shot and the whole thing comes off in the quench.

Here's something most folks don't understand. With acetylene the amount one can use is equal to 1/7 per hour. When you go past that (rosebuds are notorious for this) the acetone that is in the acetylene tank boil out into the regulator and torch. I can't say this is what your problem is. I've had it happen on full tanks (#4 tank @120cf with a #6 rosebud). The math says this is within tollerance, but I was getting a white flame and burnback. If you do the math a #8 rosebud is too big for a #4 acetylene which is the average size most have in the shop. You should always use rosebuds with a full tank. On my #6 I found 10-12psi on the ac, 35-40 on the oxy worked best. If you starve it on either one it will overheat the tip followed by burnback. Do not exceed 15psi on the ac, it is naturally unstable past that and can self combust.

I've used files and saw plate (L-6) to make pattern welded blades. Grind most of the teeth off and be sure to use a wire brush to clean it up before building the billet.

nice start, you know the rules. You've got to tell us what you made it from. B)

51XX? that in itself will have a huge effect on how the steel moves. Lets assum 5160, I've found it is very forgiving. It will move a little even when at a red heat , doesn't red short like 1095. More than likely it already had cracks, if not that then I'd tend to think it was being worked to cool while trying to move more than one should (like with a power hammer). Then again, not enough info on how it was being worked.

Case hardening is where they use a low carbon steel and give it a thin shell of high carbon for hardness. All files are not equal. I've found some aren't worth spitting on, others like Nicklesons and the original Black Diamonds make most excelent knives.

Gotta good start, better than me.

It's a total waste. Like you I bought one of those cheap cast iron anvils, the one that weighed 70lbs. It was so soft a ball pein dented it and chips started coming off. Call your local scrap yards and find a peice of RR track. It will serve you better.