Mende

reminds me of something...

empty space ..

Hope you won;t break that very important blacksmith law and give it out for cheap . .or worse . .for free.. Make sure she makes it worth your while :D

Speaking of chains ..when one has a shop with a high roof it's handy to set up a network of chains to hang tools and such ..everything should be over your head+cap height ..

I found that having nothing on the floor and everything on walls or suspended from ceilings makes life easier. .

I don;t like to bend over to get stuff.

(Wain) Newton ..:D

I usually listen to my iPod . .got some in-ear headphones so they eliminate outside noises as well .. also wear hearing protection over that ..so I'm almost deaf ..

Still can hear the anvil ringing tho ...it rings like hell . .all the dogs in the village start barking when i hit it ...

I listen to heavy metal. .Rammstein especially because I can't understand German and the lyrics don't distract my attention ..Plus. .the style is actually "Industrial" so it sort of fits.

Well . . I was thinking of applying to some universities in England. . ..based on media and communication ..like creative advertising or diplomacy stuff. ..

also seen they had some advanced courses for artist blacksmiths. .and jewelers. . but i'd rather do one of those as a second degree.

LOL. . .I almost messed up when I had 2 talk for one minute about my hobby ..

I said it was poetry . ..cuz one minute wouldn't have been nearly enough for blackmsithing.

Unfortunately I didn't buy any new anvils or powerhammers lately.. .but I;m happy that my test scores from an American TOEFL ( Test of English as a Foreign Language organized by ETS . .that is ran by Princeton)

I got 112 out of 120! ..

This drastically increases my chances of getting accepted by a good university!
anyways ..
Just wanted to share this with you as it made me very happy!:)

Nice videos!. .keep em comming :D

Everyone is right in a way ..

I say you should work until you have good hammer control ..and then ..while following some guidelines in books . .start making whatever you wish ...

You can screw up blades as well as nails or hooks...at first but then. . .you will be churning them out by the dozens ..

Heat treating is also important and can be practiced o stock removal blades and such . .so you don't crack a good forging.

It seems like a good idea when shaping a long bar of steel ...or something with a handle. . .but looks risky when welding or when holding the work with tongs.

I like to be able to jump back in case a hot piece of metal jumps from my tongs.

Good work man . ..Like the gut hook.

Welcome to IFI!

I dimly recall seeing at a solar energy conference down in Texas somewhere, Austin, maybe, back in the last century a picture of a humongous solar array focussed on a piece of wide flange, sliced it like a torch going through wax. I think the rig was set up by one of the government energy labs. No practical value that I know of. Didn't some Greek hero in ancient times set the enemy fleet afire with such a weapon?

Welcome Saiga ! .. We hope you will the benefit from this community's common knowledge.
We do every day! :D

Nice first setup . . . You are very lucky to have an anvil like that ..so take care of it

I'm also concerned about the fumes. ..so you should only use pure iron/steel components around the fire .. nothing plated or galvanized. Everyone knows about Paw Paw Wilson ( may he rest in peace). He was very experienced, but after even he fell victim to this "metal fume fever".

If you follow this link ( Twin Oaks Forge ) You will at least learn how to make a box bellows and a good sword forge.

This site is also mentioned in a charcoal making thread.

In the middle of the homepage you can see a rather traditional outdoors Japanese style smithy .

Hope this helps.

I doubt a huge lenses could be successfully and productively used to forge steel ...

Altho it's a very good way to heat up small crucibles and melt nonferrous metals..for casting jewelry and other trinkets. . or experimenting with stuff. . .

One could build a furnace that receives concentrated light from an arrangement of mirrors. but that would require adjusting the mirrors very often.

ok . .but I do remember reading somewhere that coal dust has a special role in the mixture. ..because it makes it porous after burning and that helps the insulation process by trapping air or something. .

I think I'll experiment with that a bit. . .satanite+ coal dust mixtures versus pure satanite.

furnace cement you say . .. Thx guys! makes sense to me :D

mongo - bong

Hedley - blowjob ( head-ley)

Sucker! ..Everyone knows there are a hundred of em!. ...

:P

As you all probably know. .to achieve a good cutting edge and a nice hamon, Japanese bladesmiths applied a mixture of clay, coal dust,ashes and some other ingredients on the blade except for the edge to keep the spine of the blade from cooling too fast and thus keep it flexible while allowing the edge to harden to its full potential.

Recipes varied from smith to smith and were very closely kept secrets.
What I am interested in knowing is a good recipe for this mixture.

Has anyone tried this selective hardening successfully ?
I have read all there is online and seen a lot on youtube. . but the exact recipe is never shown.

Any info will me much appreciated. Thank you.:)

If you want it to cleave like a surgeon's scalpel you want a curved shamshir design, or something like a Katana. ...The steel should be high in carbon ..

And if you want it to cut well AND be light ..you have to do a clay hardening.

Mix clay, coal dust and straw ash and apply it to all but the edge ..then heat the whole body of the blade at once. ..and quench it in lukewarm water

do not temper it afterwards. .
( I have started a new thread to see if anyone knows the recipe for this . .I'm also not sure about the not tempering it part. .but I am convinced that if you quench it properly . .tempering will do more harm then good.)

let a professional sharpen it. . .and learn from him. ..
if it didn't crack after the quenching . .it probably never will.