anvil

If its cold enough to be uncomfortable in your shop due to cold, you should prolly be inside your house by the fire.

You are in my old neck of the woods. I had my full time 30+ year traditional blacksmithing business out of Woodland Park. My Dads side were middle European immigrants and worked the coal mines on the eastern slope and the steel mill in Pueblo. They ended up in the mines around the Springs and ranching out twards Calhan. The mill is still pretty vivid in my memory when it was in its hayday,,, nearly up to the time it cut down to a third or less of its working size. My Moms side were gold miners. My great Grandfather came to Colorado as a govt Assayer when it was a territory. He started in Leadville( In the daze of Molly Brown) and ended up in Cripple Creek, then the Springs. Good memories of the mines in Cripple Creek and watched it boom again when they legalized gambling. Considering my family background, I guess you might say I followed their pathway with a twist. Spent my life learning how to work with coal and iron and turn it into gold.,,,,

Nice! your right angle bends are coming along!

If it were me, I'd reheat it to a red or better, straighten the blade, then repeat your heat treat from the get go. At the very least its good practice and would be better for your blade.

Thanks for the warning,,, I could never do that. Where I live is about 300 miles from the nearest interstate no matter what direction you take. Almost good enough.

also you need to move your piece up and down to keep quench medium on your blade. Bubbles can cause problems. I think the most common reason is moving your blade a little sideways. This was already mentioned, but is worth repeating.

Good description of colors and especially the safety bit about using the back of your hand to check for a black heat. This should become a habit and literally every piece of iron near or on your forge should be checked this way. Also these colors should not be confused with tempering colors and most of your advice still applies, especially the changes due to ambient light changes. The best compliment on a shop is when someone turns on the lights and notes,,, " oh, that didn't make any difference!"

I agree.

It must be a mountain thing. I always keep a couple of 3 packs of wooden matches around. I'm going solar as we speak, heat with wood, have propane backup, and am in the process of making my spring usable.

nice to have the tools to make your repairs!

Very cool! Lol, when I quit shoeing and went smithing, I swore I would never do the typical horse shoe art. Kept that promise. I have done some nice forgework with shoes but no welded cowboys. Long story short, nice horse shoe art! Clean, simple and elegant design.

Nice work Mark. Great design and execution. Can't beat simple and elegant!

Correct, Steve. the 10 series is more forgiving when oil quenched. Especially when done in an oven. If you do a differential quench on a blade, you maximize the properties of the steel. Thus less chance of failure. Two tools made from 1095, water quenched, drawn to a purple for springiness. I present this not for the sake of argument, but to show just what you can do with this steel. It is very versatile and a great steel for any tool or blade. Know the characteristics and choose your process. What velgski said. Frazier, you do good work. Any recent projects?

Its not a matter of luck. And nearly all, if not all, of my tempering is differential tempering, so that is, in my opinion, a great way to prevent warping.

Check the specs, 1095 is a water quench steel. Heat treaters guide, Uddaholm Steel, Carpenter Steel spec sheets. If you quench in oil, you highlight toughness over hardness. I'm pretty sure all of the 10 series steels are considered water quench. W1 and the 10 series have very similar characteristics and can be interchanged to save money without major characteristic changes. I consider the 10 series steels to be a great all around steel. Make a hammer quench in oil to enhance toughness. Make a chisel, quench in water to enhance hardness. 3 of my tenoning tools. All made from 1095, water quenched, drawn to a blue temper. The big one was made around 1984 or so. I believe many bladesmiths do quench the 10 series in oil. This steel is more forgiving when oil quenched.

I'm a fan of cast firepots and have used the rectangular firepot, twyre, and clinkerball setup from Centaur forge for over 30 years.

Very nice! I have a small collection of old lamps too.

Very nice!. I have a sample piece from Francis Whitaker where he forge welded the two pieces onto the center piece as you did.

I always normalize, then anneal. I follow the temps given in the specs that come from the manufacturer or "the heat treaters guide". Make sure the blade goes in point first and straight down. No sideways movement is critical. If this is what you are doing, then practice. For what its worth, I always quench my 1095 in water.

I think its a great idea and would fill it with sand.

I bought my treadle hammer from Clay Spencer and his plans are still available. It's a 25# hammer as is my lil giant. They are set up spacewise to be used together along with my anvil. Think of the treadle as a single blow detail tool, the lil giant as my hogger tool and all work comes back to my anvil and hammer as a finishing tool. Mosty times all three tools are used in the same heat.

I went offgrid with my shop over 10 years ago. It wasn't hard considering my only power tools were my 25# lil giant and my drill press.

plenty of answers. Heres a couple more suggestions. Use a heavier hammer. Forge it with a crosspeen. If you are using the flat face, then rotate the hammer handle in your hand and use the edge of your hammer face like a cross peen.

Even tho it isn't very powerful, it will drill any size hole you want. I don't know what your experience with drilling in metal is, so here are some basics. I always centerpunch where my hole is instead of marking with chalk or a scribe. Drill a pilot hole first. It should be a bit bigger than the flat at the bottom of your bit. I usually do a pilot, if I have a lot of holes, on anything 3/8" and bigger. Its just my habit. For larger holes, say 3/4" and bigger, you might want to drill a pilot hole first, then a smaller bit, then your final bit. Use a cutting fluid. Water works fine for holes 1/2" and smaller, or any size if thats all you have. The fluid keeps your steel cool without hardening it and carry"s away the swarf {fines} Find the sweetspot for downward pressure. You can feel the point where you are forcing it and letting it cuts easy, not fast. This will enable you to not over heat your steel, not have the bit grab, and not dull your bit. Hardened tool steel is often best annealed before drilling. No matter the power of your drill press, it has more power and accuracy than a brace and bit or a hand held electric drill.

Good vid. For me, I have a lot of critiques on his basic techniques from start to finish. But if they get the job done, thats what matters.