thingmaker3

The application and the steel will both make a difference on which oil will be ideal. An oil need not be ideal to be adequate. You can also quench in cantaloupe. Best thing to do is keep reading and start experimenting.

Another possibility might be our fictional smith getting hold of some unexpectedly high alloy steel. Never know what might be in the ore under the next hill! Folk were direct-smelting medium carbon nickel steel from ore in the late bronze age. So if our hero got some stuff smelted from the right (or wrong) carbonates it could make a difference in tempering requirements. (Look up "cobalt siderite.") Might conceivably even be akin to temper embrittlement.

What is your etchant? FeCl with copper in it will deposit copper on ferrous metals.

The world is full of people like this neighbor. Best thing to do is get your parents involved.

Another answer: Every metal item found in the Mastermyer chest.

This is going to be one heck of a good conference! In addition to the two main demonstrators (Alec Steele and Berkley Tack) there will be hands-on learning sessions with Gene Bland (punches & chisels), Martin Brandt (spike knives beyond the common twist), Steve Howell (Rivets and rivet headers), Patrick Maher (Scrolling Tongs) and Scott Szloch (Hinges). Of course the repousse station will be open, and of course there will be open forging in the evenings. The library will be there too. And that amazing gallery! And the auction! And, and, and JUST HIT IT HARDER!! :) :) :) http://blacksmith.org/forums/content/669-Spring-Conference-2013 See you there!

When he demonstrated at the NWBA conference, he said he likes to make the hammers from 3" diameter x 1" chunks of S7.

The gripping force of a vice is proportional to the applied torque and the tpi of the thread. Same as with any lead screw. To compare any given two vices, look at the ratio of tpi and the ratio of handle length.

You got that right, Brother Sells. Horses. Water. We'll just drown 'em if we say "retained austenite" too many times. :rolleyes:

Access "blueprints" by clicking on the "pages" tab at the top left of the page. When the pages page comes up, find "blueprints" under "categories" on the right. Enjoy! :)

Back a hundred or so years ago there were folk in Scotland experimenting with welding polished steel by keeping it at 900C in an oxygen-free environment for two hours. They routinely got good welds from a variety of steels. I would love to try this myself, but hydrogen atmospheres in porcelain tubes kind of scare me.

The "why" has already been explained in this very thread. More than once. Multiple times, even.

Clay Cooper says they spatter it with wax and then etch in FeCl.

So, what you are saying, Glen, is that the metal moved is determined by the smallest interface. A sharp chisel moves a smaller area more deeply than a fuller. A fuller moves a smaller area more deeply than a flattie. We call this "the cowpie theory of blacksmithing." B)

I've worked on tiny anvils that hop around and on big anvils that stay put. I know which I prefer.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared see also: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=27&cad=rja&ved=0CG4QFjAGOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uvex.us%2FuploadedFiles%2FUvex_Lens_Tech_Broch%281%29.pdf&ei=0nUqUYv9OcHgiwKys4DQDw&usg=AFQjCNFbRCvb7E604uPVInP46zeg-c8Wtw&sig2=bce_oNsfrL2cRavzqOl4yQ I suspect this is why my optometrist recommended the cobalt blue ones. I wear 4 instead of 3 because my eyes are more sensative than most folks eyes.

If you run the wire brush at RPM exceeding the manufacturer's listed maximum, then bad things happen. Do you know your brush's rating? Do you know your grinder's RPM? (Horsepower tells us nothing about RPM unless we also know torque.)

My truck with its gas tank is "close" to my forge - at least when compared with your vehicle and your gas tank. (Dozens of feet vs hundreds of miles...) :) How hot will these bolts get? Too hot to touch? Hot enough to boil off noxious fumes? Hot enough to dry off a smidge more quickly than the ones in the back of my truck?

I like the smell of olive oil. Kind of like burnt cookies.

There is an advantage to soaking. The tool goes from "good" to "great." If you know anyone with a kiln, and if you can wait for the tool, it will be worth it to work out a deal.

Casting texture: It's all in the mold. I once cast my thumbprint.

The "total of 72 hardness readings" does not add up either. 2 steels x 3 quenchants x 2 samples per quenchant x 3 hardness test areas = 36. What did they test for the other 36?

When I made mine, I put the tub on 4x4s and added a petcock drain on the bottom. I quickly found out I needed a screen over the petcock intake, so reporposed a small kitchen strainer. The weight of the water is dandy for any force forward or backward, but the setup is much less stable side to side than a permanantly mounted vice. Still, it's a whole lot better than no portable vice at all!

Thread referenced by Steve S does not specifically addess patina on stainless - which is what Steve P requested. I'm fond of the gray left after cleaning the firescale, but I suspect that's not what is needed here either. I've read about reducing acids versus oxidizing acids, and using electric current, but don't recall the details and never tried it myself. Perhaps someone else here has played with these things.

Depends on how one defines "blacksmithing." If one defines it as "changing the shape of hot steel into intentional and useful form" then "dying" is the diagnosis of a quack. "Dying" crafts don't sink $3.3 million into individual power hammers. "Dying" crafts don't use state-of-the-art simulators to tweak their details. "Dying" crafts don't use tongs manipulated by forklifts. http://www.forgemag.com/ "Dying" is quite different indeed from "evolving beyond the wildest dreasm of those who practiced the craft in ages past." Of course, if one wants to define "blacksmithing" as "what nobodybut me does anymore" then all bets are off.