jmccustomknives

I believe Batsons Blade Symposium is in early April just outside Birmingham Al @ the beautiful Tannehill historical park.

Well, if you're ever up this way your more than welcom.

They work, but when you get on a good hard anvil the differance is night and day. I worked on a RR track anvil for years, it had about a 50% rebound at best. Working on a 200lb Fisher now with a 90% rebound. Wow, it really moves more metal.

They work, but when you get on a good hard anvil the differance is night and day. I worked on a RR track anvil for years, it had about a 50% rebound at best. Working on a 200lb Fisher now with a 90% rebound. Wow, it really moves more metal.

Have you checked into the forge council meeting at Tannehill? I don't go to these because they are on Sunday, that day is set aside for a more important meeting. Tuscaloosa forge hasn't met in years.

If you are any good a brazing and that piece isn't put under a lot of stress I'd braze it. If you decide to weld it use a nickle 99 rod like Larry said. Welding cast is tricky, and the lower the quality of cast the trickier it gets. Preheat, pein it and a very slow cool down to relieve stress. Then you'll have to re-machine because the part will destort when you weld it.

Oh, remember I'm working by myself. I'm swingin that bad boy. My shop has a low celing so a full swing isn't possible. The extra weight is needed for some extra "umff!". The anvil is 200lb and the table it's mounted to is another 150, not a jiggle to be found out of it.

I don't do much in the way of pattern welded blades. It takes so long to draw it out fold and repeat. I don't own a power hammer or hydrolic press (I've been asking Santa for one, none yet :( ). While visiting our local Tractor Supply I was surveying the sledge hammers and came across a 16lb maul. It looked perfect for a fullering sledge (if there is a such thing). I trimmed the cutting edge off and dressed it. Man that thing works good, I hope I haven't knocked any of the neighbors dishes off their shelves. :rolleyes: Share any of your "secret" tools that can help the rest of us become better smiths.

Howdy from the "Heart of Dixi", Alabama. Roll Tide! Look forward to seeing your work.

lol, I was acually trying to get the blade to fail (brake) instead the lag bolts holding the vice down failed. I love L-6, it is very forgiving, easy to work with and makes a most excellent working knife. I've found it much easier to deal with than simple carbon steels. But yeah, the differential quench is tricky and takes a little practice. I tried it once as an experiment with 1080 in water, for some odd reason the blade cracked from the back. Won't ever do that again.

The problem is using water, never quench in water. As far as the defferential quench goes, you will not get any temper line. I use this method on most of my L-6 blades and never get any indication this was done other than from a file test. For small blades it's not really necissary, but if you need a 8" Bowie that can rip a 65lb vice off the work bench, chop through a 2x4 3 times and still make a single slice through a piece of rope then use it.

Thanks for the heads up. I've bought from them and got what I ordered. That being said, other's experiences are good to know. I'll have to give the jersey folks a look too.

Admiral steel, local sources, junk yards (car springs-5160), old files, ball bearings, and many other places. A blacksmith tends to develope a "magnetic" personality. People find out what you do and bring you stuff.

Very nice. I like the touch on the guard and spacer. Was that file an original black diamond or the Nicolson?

R u sure that's your first <_< or r u pulling our leg's? ;) I wish my first looked that good.

Probably more trouble than they are worth. I cant imagine how long it would take to get the bronze covering off the top 4 strings. The bottom 2 don't have the covering but are sometimes coated. They can be so small decarborization can be a problem.

What kind of power hammer do you have? I'm worn out after a couple of folds. It would take years for me to hammer that out. Power hammer or arms so big you can't scratch your own nose.. :lol: I gotta know.

Howdy from the home of the soon to be :rolleyes: repeating national champs.

Man, your making my arm hurt just thinking about that much sanding :o. Can't wait to see it fininshed.

You will always have strong EMF's around the welding leads. I don't know how sensitive that device is, you'll need to discuss that with a specialist on that as to what tollarance it has. You might be restricted to a 110v wire welder, you don't want to be around a tig with a high freq for sure.

It was a little rainy but not cold so I went out to finish this. I started this one last summer and stopped because I became concerned about how dirty my coal was. Every time I try a pattern weld it ends up with trash causing shuts. I finally got comfortable with my gas forge and made a couple more folds, I had forgot how many times it was originally folded giving it a rather low count. Forged from a couple of old files and saw plate. Walnut handle and my first attemp at those fancy pins.

Howdy from the "Heart of Dixie". Look forward to seeing your work/progress.

Socks, underwear and a Dremmel, the latter being of use in bladesmithing :) . I don't however 'smith comando style :o so the other stuff will come in handy too ;) .

If you use it or not, that's your option. If you was to go back in time and show a blacksmith that piece of equipment he would have traded (name your favorite body part) for it. It is not something that one has to use in applying their art, but there are some things that are impractical to forge. Say you are building a workbench, bending jig, or any other larger tool (and we all need to do that from time to time). Having a welder enables the modern smith to do things by himself that would have taken 3 or more to do in the past.

Keep it cool as you are grinding it in the hardened state. That makes it easier to get it correct. If you turn it blue while grinding you've ruint the temper and will have to normalize and reharden. Follow it up with a good dark straw temper (you'll loose some edge holding but gain strength). Start at 375F and work up to the correct color (done that way unless you really trust your oven).