jmccustomknives

If by forging into a type of Damascus, yes. It can be tricky to work but with a little practice you can make some nice stuff.

I think most would tell you not to quench a blade a tempering temps as this can cause stresses within the blade. Take your time, I set mine on wood to cool slowly. It's when you get in a hurry that problems rear their ugly head. :blink:

Nice first blade, you normalized but didn't harden & temper? If you skipped the last part it will be nearly useless as a knife.

Cool beans. Aint gonna snag that one. Your work is beautiful, I'm amazed at how you get the porportions correct. Now, what's the car I see peeking out of the garage, early 60's chevy mabe?

I would respectfully disagree with him. Iron replaced bronze because it was superior just as steel has replaced iron because it is superior. We are however at the peek of civilization, what comes next; a new dark age. As long as there are men lets not forget forging iron and steel ('smiths have always recycled), that will insure that men will not go the way of the dinosour. Or if you are a Christian, disregard the last line as it has no bearing. I've read the last chapter.

There's varying degrees here. I do small shows and trade days. That market is made up of people who aren't avid collectors and generally don't have large sums of money to drop on a custom knife. Since that is my market I make knives that they can afford. It isn't a buisness that I can make a living at, but a hobby that pays for itself. I had a customer who was nice enough to set up one of those "free" web sites. People I meet at shows can use it to contact me for future projects. For a living you'll have to talk to the ABS guys.

I just cut a plate that would fit into the bottom of the drum, welded it in and cut some slots for the airflow. Then welded a 1 1/2" pipe on the plate for the airflow. There's more than one way to skin a cat. ;) Just look at what you've got and get in touch with your inner redneck. :D

No, I'm not set up to do period stuff. My "anvils" are RR steel. The main one is flipped upside down, box in and welded to a base. It's an ugly set up but is excellent for bladesmithing. A lot of guys think they need some special stuff to do this, I like showing them that it doesn't. So far we've had a good turn out. I think today's # was well over 3000. I've had to revise my demo's to short 5 min and less as it is mostly school kids. Friday and Sat will be families with bored dads, 'till they find me. ;)

I use Tilman 1415 drivers gloves (kid skin) with cotton jersey gloves as liners. They give me tactil feel to do some more delicate work but insulate against hot/cold as good as a premium pair of welding gloves. They are loose enough to sling them off if needed.

I started out with a oxy/acetylene rosebud blowing into a small firebrick box. Even forge welded cable with it. Totally ineffecient and expesive to opperate (I work for a welding supply, discounts help). ;) I might suggest Wayne Goddards books, they are pretty good but you have to dig through them. Start small, the more you learn, you'll realize you knew nothing. Some body who still knows nothing :wacko:

Neat, how old is it?

At least you've found one, I'm still looking for that score.

No, you need rods rated for impact not abrassion. There's probably more than one string here on that subject. You could use Stoody Nicromang, these rods are designed for use on rr tracks as they work harden which means you'll be able to machine the face down a little easier then use a hammer to harden. I've been resurfacing a cast iron anvil with 309 stainless, it seems to work harden enough though I've been buisy so I haven't finished it. If the 309 doesn't do it I can do a surface with the Nicromang.

I got juried in :D and this by far is the largest event I've attempted. If you are in the Tuscaloosa Alabama area come out and say hi. You can laugh at my anvil. ;) Four days of demos and my arms gonna be jello. :huh: As far as I know, they've never had a Blacksmith/Bladesmith so I hope I represent well.

Like you I started out the same way. Although it would be better to loose the wooden frame. I do understand you can make a borax water wash and give the wood several coats and that will retard fires. Second, using wood you can expect the fireflys (all those little sparks that burn you and anything else) so you'll just have to deal with those. You can expect to attain a low end forging temp and that's about it. You can make your own charcoal from that wood, plenty of info on that, probably even here. Charcoal will get hotter than just plain wood. Those cast iron anvils or ASO's aren't that great, you'll want to get something better in the future. As David said, look up local smiths, seeing what they do will help. Good luck.

Have you tried a wire brush? I usually get the best finish using one on my bench grinder (wear glasses and shield).

316 is a non hardening Stainless, so for tooling it isn't much good.

Nicely done! Lucky fellow. <_<

I've been selling welding supplies since the mid '90's and have never heard of them. You'll be stuck having to buy your plasma parts from them, the tig torch parts could be a welcraft clone or you'll be stuck buying your tig parts from them. These use less electricity and have a better arc than a transformer machine but you can expect about 5 years (3 to 7 is average for the best). Several years ago Esab came out with a machine that could "do it all". It was a falure. Esab ended up ending production and buying back the ones they sold. Perhaps these guys have perfected the different arcs needed for the various types of welding, if it works well let us know.

On one hand It really :angry: when my first good cable knife and O-1 bowie was stolen. On the other hand, I'm honored that they wanted them. Oh well, <_< I hope those fellas have butter fingers and drop them on thier foot removing a toe or two. :P You know the old saying; May the fleas of a thousand camels infest thier :o and may their arms be to short to scratch it :blink: . I hate thieves.

I like it. Thanks for the inspiration. ;)

Brake drum forge, little wet/dry vac for air. If you've got real good coal a hair dryer will make a good enough fire ball to do most smaller work. I saw a pic in one book where a guy used an old grill (one of those cheap round/shallow types) with a hair dryer piped in the side. Cheap or free is my motto.

You can "cheat" by cutting an angle () to start your point. As I understand it was common practice back in the day. If it's like a 45deg or less you can form a drop point, a little steeper and you can forge the edge down and the natural curving that the steel does will push the point up forming the "clip point". You might also try squaring off your hammer face (no sharp edges). This will make it a little easier to control the direction the metal goes. As far as the RR anvil, I have two and they are most excellent for bladesmithing.

It's really that simple, on simple carbon steels.

Nice knife. Love the hammon. Does quenching in water make for a more defined hammon. I've been oil quenchin 1095 and getting a nice line but it's not as bold as yours.