jmccustomknives

Nice! I've thought about using the pallet strap, it seems to be around .25 to .30 carbon. It would stiffen when quenched but won't break. I bet that is one tough knife.

Most RR track is going to be a manganese steel, this steel is work hardening. The more you strike it the harder it should get. Pick out a section and get a small hammer with a flat face and pein that section. You don't have to hit it hard, let the hammer do the work. You should notice that the hammer will start rebounding a little more as you do it. If that doesn't work then a hard facing rod is what you'll have to do, in that case find another anvil because hardfacing can get expensive. I'm guessing that track hasn't been used? Normally a used section will be hard from the train running on it.

Yours is deffinatly a nitch art. In the south east we have "Pow Wow's" that local tribes put on. That's the kind of item that would go over real well at those events.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen one crack that way. Pry bars are usually going to be a medium carbon steel, with modern ones being like an 8630 or the like. Not exactly the best for bladesmithing. Break one, I know that isn't what you want to do but it will go a long way to tell you what you did wrong. If the grain is real rough that usually means you overheated the steel before quench. A fine grain means you got the quench right but you may be using too fast of a quenchant. I've never used a chrome moly steel for forging, if anyone here has mabe they've had cracking issues. One other thing is overheating in the final forge. A lot of smiths will quench right out of the forge, I prefer to clean the blade up. You do it that way and any cracks that might be there will show up before the quench plus any deep hammer marks will be found before they can cause a stress riser.

I would go to a wrecking yard (I'm asuming you have those there). My '87 toyota pickup has leaf springs that are pretty much strait, I think they would work fine. Leaf springs that are strait aren't that uncommon, you just have to look for them.

Hope everything gets back to normal quickly, from Tuscaloosa, Al.

I've had a widow hide in my jacket pocket, came out and said hellow to me. But the most painful, I had a pair of carpenter bee take up a winter residents in the fingers of my right hand glove. I didn't notice they were in there until they warmed up. That was a painful sting, hurt for 24 hours.

From my experience, you want a broad cross section. A lot of less expensive stuff, a few examples of your more pricey stuff. Stuff below $30 will sell faster. Letter openers, hanging hooks, ornaments and such. Usually a person wanting something really speacial (ie lots of $'s) will contact you to have it made.

It's so hot down here I boiled supper in our pool. I couldn't make myself work in the shop, on the bright side the heats don't take near as long and it stays at forging temp longer.

nice :o how well would it fillet and fry up ^_^

If you aint got to move it, no such thing. With anvils, bigger is better for the most part unless you need one that's portable.

This is how I do it, which isn't right, but then I do nothing right. Get a photobucket accout (easily done) download you pics onto photo bucket. It will give you 4 addresses for your pic. Copy the one that says "direct link" then start your thread. Click on the little icon that looks like a pic and paste your address in. Wallah! It aint right but it works.

Thanks Mast C, that's what I ment. <_< Not that forging wasn't possible, just that it is beyond most to do it. I wouldn't try it, I learnt my leason about high chromium steels. My elbow still hurts. It won. :angry: I will forever be a newbie when it comes to stainless. :wacko: I'll leave it to you guys. :o

Welcome to the wonderful world of smithing. You'll find you don't make the steel do anything, you guide it. It is a wonder to see it come to life under the hammer. A little time on the forge and you'll see what I mean. Good luck, post pics of your work.

If it's stainless, no. If it rust, maybe. There is really no reason to. Re-forging blades is something from the movies. I suppose some these smiths here have the knowlege and skill to do it, as for me I'd just start from scratch.

:o You must be going on vac to Miami. B) You are ready for the zombie outbreak :ph34r: Nice work! How well will they work on the next wave, zombie alien sharks! :lol: I think we'll be seing that title on the Sci Fi channel, they should pay me! and use your knives as props! ^_^

Get some flap wheels for your grinder. They work wonders. Airgas p/n rad64000870, the Tiger Disk are the best. You can also get flap wheels for a die grinder for the smaller spaces. They will leave the weld area nice and polished.

CurlyGeorge, you are my hero! I saw that question and said to myself, self you haven't done that yet. ;) If one want's to do something cheap, don't get in a hurry. Everthing comes to he who waits.

In my experiance when you see color it's too hot. Use a light hammer and heat until there is just a hint of going from black to red. If you see red it's too hot. Let us know how it works out. ;)

I've got tons of springs from various sources, all 5160. Like the man said, a free knife will get you a lot. Admiral steel, yep that was said too. B)

WOW! :o I've got to step up my game. I experimented making a set out of crane cable. I thought they turned out pretty good, but dang. You make me look like the amature I really am. :blink:

Try to do a simple faggot weld with two strait peices of stock ( :blink: boy, that sounded funny). It seems like you aren't reaching forging temp. Lean your forge down and don't hold back on the flux. I just use 20 mule team borax.

As far as what hammer, it will depend on how you have your anvil mounted. My anvil set up is a lot redneck and wieghs around 150lbs. The hammer wieghs around 13lbs at the head. It doesn't move around at all, but if I put it on a hard floor I can't keep up with it. :o If your anvil jumps around you know your too light for the hammer. The hold down hardy is basically a L shaped bar that slides down in the hardy hole. It has a flat end to hold down the work. Put your hot metal on the anvil and use the hold down hardy to wedge the work down. hammer away!

Well, I can tell you from my experience my treadle hammer doesn't draw metal out too well. I've never used a fly press so I'll leave that to those who have. I'll tell you one thing you might try is making a hold down hardy and using a two handed sledge. It's still a lot of work but works better than the treadle. I've modified a shop built hammer with a convex head to spread the metal apart. I works pretty good.

Nice, I think a dragon or lighting bolt (both?). Awsome! B)