Steve Sells

how about a fillet knife....

no coal to be had near you sorry. after City coal in Brazil messed up. most others could not get new sources and died also. I just made a coal run 2 days ago to Dennis coal in Wauseon Ohio. but prices are going up. But welcome to the forum, Zero experience with metal but starting by forging blades? hmmm good luck. but I suggest you back up and learn the basics before the blades, but your call.

I disagree, While one needs to take care as O-1 can air harden, annealing isnt to hard in a box of vermiculite, and tempering is simple, how do you figure the need high tech controls for tempering?

knee mail sent

as one of the few that was nutz enough to weld SS and carbon, I can tell you that it aint a cake walk. I have no idea what 4018-SS is. Use it as is, hot steel is still very soft compared to any cold steel. but look around anvils are available, then ya sell this SS block and use that to off set cost of the anvil

I would stay with your idea of gouging out a crater or removing a divot. That will make it easier to spread out the rivet head by hand.

MIne are left over Ampco I would never pay those prices tho

While I do not do a lot of larger cross section items in my shop, I have been involved in enough automotive heat treat applications to know about larger items, and to know that blades, being thin cross sections are very different than "normal" larger cross section items most make as smiths. This is the main reason there is a separate section about HT in the knife section. D2 is a great steel for many applications. But even outside of knife making, it being a high alloy, it is best to have a ramp controlled oven for getting it up to proper temperature for hardening it. We still have not been answered If the OP was talking about hardening or tempering. Tempering most always does better with long soak times, as some steel alloys will not be effected by short times at even 500 F or 600 F heats. Annealing also needs time. Not all things happen just because we think the outside is at a specified temperature. As stated already, time to penetrate the piece, and time to allow the metal to react to the reached temp is mainly what HT is about. Time AND temperature, and this is all dependent on the alloy used for getting the best performance from it. In some cases a bad HT to a great steel is worse for the end result than a plain carbon steel part with a good HT for the same job !

this is Insane thanks for posting, keep it up.

I took a road trip and delivered it in person, Now that It has been delivered, here are some photo's. They seemed surprised at the size and detail, judge for your self. I included a few reverse photos for those that want to see how it was assembled. Thank you all for sending in your donations, This was truly a group effort.

I would credit the source if I remembered who said it, but ... an Artistic en-devour is never completed, merely abandoned

Ability to bend by itself does not mean anything to edge holding they are different functions. Most good blades will bend and not break, but your straight razor for shaving will not bend much. when it is a good blade, do you see my point? Dont confuse one thing with others. Edge holding, abrasion, and flexibility are different things and does not always mean that when one of these areas test high that the others will be also. If you want to make a blade with them, go ahead. Grab a saw blade, Heat to just above non magnetic, quench in oil, and see how it is with a file test. If it is too soft, try again in a water quench. When you want to get serious about making real knives, you will buy a known steel, they cost from $2.50 to $4.50 a pound on average, for non SS steels. Why spend many hours of your and our time trying to save 50 cents to maybe get a usable blade?

I know him from the same source, his web site is at http://1501bc.com/page/index2.html, tell him Thomas and I referred you :D

He had a rack at Stan's Hammer in for us to see and handle up close. Let me testify that the pic's are crap compared to the real life work, the photos do NOT show the high amount of effort and detail John has in these. Wonderful work John.

I love my Smith, and I was Impressed with the Henrob I used at Trying IT hammer in. As for your comment about "waste of money buying pro equipment"... I feel its a waste of money not to get quality equipment the first time, as sooner or later we have to replace the junk. In the end after 2 or 3 junk units you have already paid out the $ for a quality unit, except you still dont have it, also with explosive gasses, do you really want to get cheap on flash suppressors ?

I run at 22 RPM, too fast will cause issues slower is better than faster with this. its all covered in the CD ROM. I used bronze bushings in the lower roller shaft. med grade pillow block for upper. My rollers themselves are over kill, used Chrome/Moly, I had help from a Tool and Die friend, that had it laying around. its milled to .002 tolerance I prefer using the the belt drive along with the 2 gear/chain drives, as the belt acts as a natural clutch. A commercial maker was using reduction boxes for commercial resales, and they were tearing themselves up because the drive had no where to go in a bind, and as a result they did not do well. where as my belt will slip rather that tear itself up. that is also covered in the CD Rom I have.

Some can be a great knife steel, do some testing on them and see, Because I can not tell from here what they are made from ;)

Be careful ordering from Admiral. I gave up and wont order from them unless I cant find it anywhere else.. Because my last 2 orders from them they did not send what I asked for, but substituted, and did NOT tell me, I found out later Finding out during HT is a bit too late to find they didnt send what I paid for. In one example I found they never have carried L-6 the web site did offer it for sale, but when orders were placed they sent 8670 in its place. (they have since stopped this L-6 bait and switch) Another order I made for 1095 they sent me 1075, stating they were out of 1095 in that size, at least they told me after I got the invoice about that one.

I have used lemon juice. so I am serious

finishing tip, use ONLY new belts and SLOW speed for any horn, and you wont get the discoloration in the antler. Most this color could be from metal in the belt rubbing into the horn, I found that out the hard way.

Don't they sell Citrus juice in California?

Not sure but If I see that in a proctologists office I am running away

welcome, as you learn how to forge you wont pound as much scale into your work, also learning how to use the hammer, will get less hammer marks in your metal.

I like the effect of the wider spacing for use on larger and longer blades. But I have to agree, that smaller blades seem more impressive with the closer and tighter cuts. Still looks nice tho, nothing to be sorry for with this blade of yours.

The method is the same for both: the typical ladder at the top is made with straight cuts, the bottom is done with smaller and smaller circle cuts.