Steve Sells

you got a 55 gal drum of oil laying around ?

cool. well so long, and thanks for all the fish...

UL, Underwriters Laboratories, is an independent product safety certification organization. working with OSHA. The founding company is not-for-profit, but it does have a for-profit branch to support the parent company's work. Being listed, means, the shop/factory has submitted products and procedures for examination. I am not listed. but some of my past services have been. In the US Fixtures to be sold use this to prove they are safe and comply with safety reg's. Other countries have differing rules. People like to throw names/big words around, your client may not be asking the correct questions of you. Have you inquired to WHY they think they need it UL listed? Do they know what that means, or is it a term they think they are using correctly? If they really want UL listed lights they should buy off the rack. Realistically, your "one off lights" will not be UL listed. but they can be compliant, and fully legal. While a smith can make the iron mountings, getting a locally licensed Electrician to wire and install it, keeps the Smith out of legal troubles, and insures the property owner that it is insured (by the electrical contractor) and wired correctly. In my area, All work except for painting and carpeting need a permit here, other areas may not worry about them. check local area laws. but having a Licensed Electrician wire it up rather than some blacksmith is legal, safe, and keeps the owners Insurance company happy.

As an Electrician, I never stop wondering why so many people never think of actually hiring the pros to do it? There has been some great advice here, but I feel that contacting the local professionals is the best way to go. I do admit I am biased, as I have the training experience, and licenses, remember most places give free estimates . you have nothing to loose.

Be aware that both silver and copper having low melting points, will melt and drop out during the heat treat. I suggest you first cut the channels for the inlay in the annealed blade, then HT the blade. After HT and cleaning of the channels, then you apply the inlay, to avoid them melting at heat. But then you have chance that the channels may present as stress risers during the HT... good luck

I didn't think it was the WC. People have made knives from M2, it is a good steel that is used for many high speed drill bits. One of the problems of using a mystery steel is this unknown thing, and it doesn't help when a manufacturer creates their own names to boot.

Who said that? and for the later we can not trust you. Promise? no, you were asked/told to knock off the foolishness you should read more and post less. You post like a 13 year old, and the only one in this forum that typos more than I do. It is very hard to take you seriously when you talk crap. That is not a typo, because most of us know what you are talking about is not safe or practical in the real world. Most everyone except you. Maybe you should stop to think about why most everyone reacts badly to your posts?

What kind of steel is it? The term "carbide steel" has too many meanings to me

Great description Sir Thomas !

Its the DELTA that has the high leg, and it has the neutral coming from the center tap off the high leg's coil. In a WYE the neutral is from the center connection point of the three. Also its normal that all three legs are not the exactly the same, especially with the artificially manufactured third leg. In real 3 phase, the AC waves are 120 degrees out of phase, in a house wiring single phase the two are 180 degrees apart. While this will run the machine its not as good as a true 3phase converter, because 2 of your legs are still 180 degrees apart, so your readings are going to be higher on one pair because of the phase differences as well as the fact that conversion is not 100% efficient. But these do cost less to purchase.

you may have found Jimmy Hoffa!

Speaking as a person that did see the post before the link was removed, it appears he was a typical spammer, not wanting to be a part of us here, only to push their wares, and make some money. I still hate the idea of a sword being made from used (abused?) springs

Beware of the painted lady. Paint is common way to hide repairs, like welds or bondo but if its purple or pink, it may belong to RThibeau...

I got Katashi, a half wolf, when she was about 1 week old. She died after over 16 years. While I was digging her grave, in the rain, 2 of my neighbors came walking up with their own shovels and they helped me finish digging. Tears were pouring from my eyes, partly from my loss, partly from my friends aid in the cold rain. Later they told me their kids came to them to tell them they saw me near my forge crying next to my dead dog, so they came over to see if I was ok, saw me digging, so grabbed theirs to give me hand. An acquaintance may help hide you, but a true friend help you bury the body. good luck with your urn.

with most steels, just normalizing after you finish forging for while, is plenty. high alloy steels are another matter.

Using a relay to engage the controls when the 3ph power is active is the correct way to do this. It is not to code to tap a single phase off the converter for your control voltages. just an FYI from a real electrician

BBB is a networking group, They are not any kind of enforcement group and have no power. But at times, it does feel good to vent

This is great news. Congrats !!!

I never produced a folder, because I don't trust a friction folder for work, and the frame locks I have tried take too much to get to lock correctly in both the open and closed positions. only hand filing is very hard to get correct angles. How have you gotten these to work ?

Sure they can, Example while your legs are less than about 3 ft long, how can you walk for miles ? one step after another. Its the same thing with large compound arc's. one job we did: bend 3.66 degrees, advance 4 inches, repeat... for a 115 degree arc over a food line, we did the math for the arc needed, the span, (about 39 inch sweep) and came up with these numbers, made a test pc, then knocked 100 or so of them out. client was happy Before you math people do the calc's for these 13 bends to each pipe and say the totals are off, there is another issue with bending pipe, its called spring back. the bend radius is what the bend is taken to, the result is always less after the metal returns partially to its prior shape. there is also shrink and stretch to account for, this is why I advised sub-ing the bending out to a contractor, rather then just renting equipment.

A sword is not a simple blade. There are types of forge work that need to be warned against, until after a person gains a certain level of skill. Would you give an average 7 year old a hot crucible of molten brass? You yourself made comments about having a teacher, Working with a skilled teacher makes a lot of difference, you have a teacher to show you things. Many of the posters asking about swords here do not. They are working alone and that is a major issue for danger. I am sorry that in your months of experience you have not noticed that, which is why I want to see your swords, if ya aint done it yourself you real do have no clue, you are just another KeyBoard jockey talking xxxx. Getting the Point of balance isn't to hard, but what about Harmonic nodes? and point of percussion? if the distal taper is off, then there are other issues just created. Your attitude of never seeing a person getting hurt is clear, and your lucky. but irresponsible to tell people its fine to start with a sword, its not really something one can learn reading a book, or posting/chatting in a web site. Working with a skilled teacher makes a lot of difference. Heat treat for a small knife is fairly easy. Swords have more complex issues. When experienced smiths try to educate others, and a kid comes in shooting off his mouth the poor poster has no clue. We are trying to help, you are being a typical youngin trying to get noticed. Like another thread where a kid tells a person use a hand held torch for heat treating swords, just another "look at me, I am clueless but I want to post more", that stuff only causes more confusion. Opinions are fine, but you crossed the line with your insults. Giving advice about things you have never done yourself, is considered false witness, and we deal in facts here.

the proper way is to say you will pay him 2x what the other guy offered

drops @ Henry off Anthony. and his cousin's place, Hoosier metals on Colosseum for steel scrap at 20 cents (they also have copper).

drops I get for 30 cents a pound. These are left overs from the companies that bought full 20-22 ft lengths, and resell the left over sections, so I get 4 to 9 ft bars, mostly new steel. 2.50 to 3 pound for new of same. tool steels are double that. this of course is a guide for comparison only. this place even has bridge guard rails and trusses from old RR bridges

as MarcB said, we Electricians bend pipe a lot. 1/2 up to 6 inch diameter, and collapsed pipe wont allow wire to pass. We can do the small radius's up to smooth curve of pipes matching the stair railing going up a gas storage tank to its top. Hire an Industrial Electrical Company to make your bend. If they have a 555 or 855 power bender it will be great for your desired look, and fast enough to not cost an arm and a leg.