James_bp88

I really like the crane cable knives jmc, very creative. I may give that a shot once I get my new forge built. Thank you all for giving me a warm welcome and all of the compliments. Nice to have found a place to get some good info with some good people to give it. I will look into the spark test chart next time I have a chance. I have noticed even with the new anvil this leaf spring steel is a challenge to move around the way I want it! I need to get myself a decent pair of tongs for sure. Now that I'm using better steel I need to build a better forge as well, I'll be hopping over to that section in a moment. I started using lump charcoal instead of briquettes, burns much longer but the heat is more concentrated right above my hole for air (which is right smack in the center of a circular charcoal grill pan).

Well crap..good thing I only spent 20 bucks on em lol. I got them customer I saw the ones selling for $60 and up on eBay..not sure why they're priced so highly with the info you've given me. I do have some leaf spring steel from an old VW bug I plan to goof around with soon. Im thinking about making myself a flattening hammer from a solid 2 lb cyclinder of steel..not sure what type of steel it is but it weighs just above 2 lbs and has little rust..dug it out of a barn in my in laws back yard. Any tips on checking the worth of steel?

I have a tendancy to spend a lot of time with my tools as is lol. (Auto mechanic). I am recently unemployed which makes it very easy to just pound metal all day and collect unemployment. So far my ol' lady has been pretty supportive of it all considering lol. She let me spend 180 bucks on a new anvil..a real anvil..(55 lb) and lots of miscellaneous tools. Ordered a lot of rail road spikes too! My wife and I both are hoping to sell a few RR spike knives to help pay for some of the stuff I've purchased for my new hobby/addiction. (Probably why she has let me "play" as much as I have lol. Do any of you have tips on forming an edge as far as best tools to use?

Thank you for the reply! To answer your questions - The nail hardened well enough to hold an edge, used it to carve some of the same poplar wood used for the handle. It is still a tad bit softer than I would like. I did what I believe was an actual heat treat (lol), I heated it near the orange and quenched it in oil. I used an entire board before finally finding something that worked for me as far as securing the tang, I drilled a whole 3/4 of the way through the handle and cut the tang to fit snug, before placing together I packed the whole with a bit of JB weld quiksteel (the stick). Once the blade was attached to the handle I crammed some more jb weld inside the hole on each side of the tang. Ended up with a very solid bond. I was able to chop at a block of wood with no movement in no more than 2 or 3 hours. Thank you again for the compliment and the reply! More coming soon..if the wife allows. James

Here it is..my first completed knife, I plan to stain the wood sometime tomorrow and fine tune the edge a bit more. Made from a nail shown in one of the pictures, home made charcoal forge, and a 16 lb sledge hammer head.