Jon Smith

I'm thinking he means the grind line down the middle of the billet. That would be the horizontal, or x-axis. The other top to bottom lines would be the vertical, or y-axis

Not sure but an enamel coating might do. Might screw with the temper though and I don't even know if it would stick to carbon steel like it does to copper. I've never tried

I did look there as I know HB stamped the serial there, but sadly if there was one it's really, really rusted over right now. Maybe I can clean it up with a wire wheel and resurrect it but I doubt it.

So one of the neighbors decided to get into the Christmas spirit a little early this year. Turns out he had a grandfather who did some smithing on the farm and the old Hay Budden was sitting in the back of the shop collecting dirt and rust--till he decided to pass it along anyways. It's not proudly in my shop (even if the face is broken :-( ). The stamp on the side says Hay Budden Manufacturing Brooklyn, NY But no serial number on it. It weighs i would guess about 70 lbs. Anyone got any idea around when it was made? I'll try to post a pic later

It depends where you hit the hog as to how tough the flesh is. Wild hogs have a "plate" made of hard fat around the rib cage that can stop a bullet.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say those are 2" floorboards in the pic, so the heads would be about 1-1.5" heads and about a foot long? Regardless, beautiful work.

That is one beautifully cleaned up piece. Makes me think of the old Wiley Coyote cartoons from Saturday mornings when they dropped ACME anvils...

For starters, Chris is right. Samurai used bamboo not only because it was cheaply available but also because the tang would split the shaft on impact. This would either cause serious trouble for a target because you couldn't pull the arrow out or push it through, but if you missed, your enemy couldn't shoot your arrow back at you!

That is one wicked chunk of steel right there

Bloody amazing

Right, the one who likes to heat and beat a beautifully hafted and polished blade.... Somehow that never sat right with me

Forgive me, I misspoke. I know the books say the blades glow. I was referring to whether or not the movie will ring true, as they so often do not.

Hard to think of a beautiful hundred poun hay budden as armor plating on a tank, but you're probably right

Lucky you. There are surprisingly few anvils to be had down south. At least from what I've found. I wish I had the luck that some people had to just find one lying around somewhere. Haha

I dig that very fancy anvil you have going there... :P Good to know I'm not the only one smithing on an HF ASO (read: paperweight/boat anchor) :ph34r:

I may try leaf springs. I had just thought the coil would be easier to get hold of

Success! I rather like this system of etching. Works beautifully.

JB weld, if memory serves, is an epoxy with steel dust mixed in for strength, so I would say just a regular long set epoxy between the woods

Might still be ash, but now it's polished it looks more like maple.

Agreed. Forge the bevels in with a hammer by leaning the blade slightly on edge on the side of the anvil so you can do both sides at once. Then anneal and draw file. Hard on the hands and back but oh so satisfying