Mende

I think that it's retarded to do this... what next? banning pipes, baseball bats and all hard long objects? Maybe they will not sell you flat stock if they know u have a grinder. . and can sharpen it?. . I mean .. one can buy scythe blades. . .lawmower blades, saws . .axes ..etc .. .. even a hammer would do the job . . Can;t they realize that if someone wants 2 kill someone ..not having a proper sword won;t stop him?

Well . .clay in the sense of wet dirt. . should always harden . .. and it is the cheapest and most readily available thing around. . I for one happen 2 have a pile in my backyard ... . .and the filling for my forge is made of it ..so as not to waste bricks and refractory cement .. my forge is a clay block with a brick shell and a refractory brick firepot .. and some black pipe plumbing for air and ash .. I never used clay for simulating a project but i do intend to use it for lost wax casting ( as soon as I get a crucible from a friend. . and pile up some bronze) I find it also useful in making furnaces and ovens...especially if mixed with ash and straw ..contrary to popular belief . .you can heat it up and the straw will still keep it from cracking .

Has anyone seen the sword forging scene in Conan? .. Or if you played Neverwinter Nights ..a "hero" gets a fully finished sword ..with fuller and with the furniture on it. .out of the fire. .and beats it hard ..and then . .cools it. . without changing it's shape. . Also in the early episodes of Hercules. .. there was that hot babe blacksmith ..but who was looking at the forging huh?

Great work dude!. .Now all you need to do is put everything together under a roof somewhere. .away from flammable materials. . and start experimenting until you see what works well for ya. After you see what works and what doesn't . .you can rebuild your shop exactly the way you like it. The best way to mount your anvil would be a huge stump ..that would get the face to knuckle height ..second best would be to laminate timber with glue and long bolts and screws.. ..third would be a metal tripod with a laminated wood top . .fourth best would be an all metal . . chair thingie. . Try to make it bigger in case you get a bigger newer steel anvil in the future ( you WILL want something bigger. . even if just for the heck of it. ..) You are on the right track:D ..like the hook.

Well .. I saw a movie about slavers ..and they were being trialled for decimating the Mende tribe. It was an obscure name so I used it as my nickname in online gaming for about 7 years now. . Although I recently met some Kenyans that told me it means cockroach. ..It kinda bummed me out .. but I'm to used to it to quit it.

If an axe has marks that look like they were made by casting molds. ..they were probably made by drop forging them. .( when you heat something up . .and put in between 2 dies and apply tons of pressure) the excess metal runs out ..and has to be cut off and grinded smooth .. usually some marks are left .. But I doubt anyone would even consider casting axe heads. ..as it would be WAAAY more fuel efficient to just heat up metal and forge it. So you either have drop forged/hand forged stuff from bad or good steel. everyone . .please correct me if I'm wrong here. .

Welcome:D! Who's Sandy?( is it any of my business? )

Thx guys :D

I don't get it :confused:

Although I've been posting and reading here for about a week . .I missed this section ..and since I just made "Member" I think it's still OK for me to introduce myself. ( a somewhat formal introduction can't hurt. .and better late than never ) My name is Mihai ( Michael would be the English equivalent), I'm 18 and I'm from Severin, Romania. For those who haven't heard about this country . .Dracula came from here . . as well as some gymnasts and soccer players ( Nadia and Hagi would be the most famous). For those who live in this country . .please contact me! A few years back I started building a shop because I really wanted to make swords and possibly armor, not knowing what it would take. I decided not to quit this "hobby" after I bought a 4.4 pound hammer with my allowance money. At the time I thought that it would be embarrassing for me to quit after investing so much money .( I didn't know how much more time and money I would put into this along the way) To make a long story short. .I finished and inaugurated my shop on the 10 of September this year. I joined this site to learn more . .and help, where I can, with some theoretical knowledge, as that is the only kind I have so far ..and it's still not a lot. As far as I've seen everybody here is very nice and respectful and willing to share knowledge ( and even give some personal tutoring. . in some cases.) and I'm very happy to have joined .

What's the huge metal wrapped brick bucket thing?. .Is it a coal forge without a firepot or?:confused:

I'm not a member cuz I;m too far away ..but I put some stuff on that i think would help.

I was always curious. . how does working with a Japanese hammer differ from working with a normal one? ..Is it easier/harder to aim? Does it have more/less bounce? Is it easier to control? Do you have trouble getting it to stay perpendicular to the anvil? ( just any differences will do. .I'm just curious )

Id you're a smoker .. .It would be better to lay off them cigarettes until your headache passes . .and about the CO poisoning. .Co forms STABLE bonds with Hemoglobine while CO2 and O2 form unstable bonds. Any red blood cell that has CO in it has to be killed ( in the liver) and replaced. I say ..don;t smoke and take some ADVIL ( not anvil) . .

oh ..got it. . .feel so dumb for not seeing that ; ;

Does this forum have a poll application . .in which we can click on stuff to vote or somethin? Anyways mine is Inside, heat available in cold weather. ( from the forge itself and from a woodburning cooking stove ..)

I have a galvanized cauldron of thin sheet steel. It works ok . .but then again I havent werked too much in my shop ..as I just finished the forge at the end of this summer . I'm trying to repair an old wooden beer keg tho...for a more rustic touch ..

Thx guys. ..

Mild steel can be either case hardened ( a thin layer of carbon will be absorbed by the steel and it will make for a hard case with mild steel inside - hence the term) and WORK hardening. . .which is done by beating the steel until you compress the molecules together and it;s a bit harder than before. . .quenching undoes this. . . Hex bars are often tool steel. And Vanadium, chromium and manganese CAN affect the hardenability of steel.

Shall we move half of this thread to the forum on Linguistics.com ?:P

good then ..so it appears that i should keep it there until it screams out to me huh?

I think that's actually the way to becoming a blacksmith . .learning ALL the ways to screw up . ..after that . .you can only do good. .. This should be a Blacksmith school motto .."Teaching people ways to screw up since. .18**"

It weighs a bit over 2 pounds.

its like a regular cross peen hammer .. but instead of a striking face . it has a straight peen .. and i know how masonry hammers look like . .i have like 3-4 ..i use them for fullering and hotcutting ...this is not a regular hammer. .

When I was starting out and gathering tools ( I'm still very much at the beginning but when I was REALLY starting out) I bought this hammer from a guy who told me it was a blacksmith's tool ... He sold it to me for less than 2 bucks and said it's used to cut iron. . .and as I was a Newbie. . I thought it might be useful. It has 2 semi sharp peens. .one straight, one cross. .. .no face. . I found similar tools listed as Opposite hammers .. but it didn't say what they were for. I don't have a pic. . but here's a diagram I made in MSpaint. So what should I use it for?