Candidquality

:D turn signal fluid. Reminds me of when I was about 22 and was dating my soon to be wife. I went to the auto parts store and stopped and was checking the fluids and asked my wife to go inside and get some blinker fluid. Still makes me chuckle. Guess things worked out ok as we've been married for quite a few years now. Warning!!! do not try this at home. The results could be long lasting and extremely hazardous to your health ;)

Glad to hear you made it out ok. We have similar problems on the waterjet machine. (though it's a lot less likely to cause fires) . Automation can really save a lot of time, and can really dismember you faster. Hope everything turns out ok. You going back to work monday? And if so, are you applying for a job change? I've been involved in one fire where a co-worker lost their life and since that time, I've carefully selected my jobs where that situation cannot occur to the same extreme.

I've actually never heard the term "marking knife" would you mind giving a bit of detail as to what these functional knives are for? just looking at it I was thining about them being the blades for an angle planer.

Yes! I have actually used all of the above. Depending on the scroll is't very easy to start a half penny and use that to hook inside a jig. I've seen other jigs that use removable posts at intervals to bend to a location. All a matter of taste. A pair of vise grips properly smoothed on the jaw can work wonders for starting. I would imagine you'll get as many different answers as there are posters here. unless you are trying to duplicate several of the same scroll I would recommend doing each by hand on the anvil without a jig. Excellent practice. Even if you are to do a repeat. it's pretty satisfying to be able to lay out a chalk pattern on a flat plate and simply match by hammer.

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard. If you have any questions you might try out the search at the top of the page. If you don't find it there feel free to ask, as we have poeple on here who have done this forever, to people who are just starting, all a friendly lot. Just try to remember to be safe as that project can wait a day untill you can get a pair of safety glasses, etc. Btw, dont forget to join us every tuesday night for 2-4 live blueprints.

Interesting use of Kydex. Never really thought about using that for a sheath. We use it in a few hundred of the thermoformed parts for Bell. Think I'll try to grab a bit of scrap and see how well it holds up. We have it in white, black, grey, and olive green. Should be able to scrounge up the processing specs for each as well and see why he was having trouble with colors other than black. Now that i've finished derailing. Nice skinner. Out of curiosity, what type of clay do you use? can you get kitty litter and wet it overnight or is there some special type used for making the hamon?

definitely want to set yourself up for the 20 pound tanks as those little mapp bottles will eat your $$$. Bigger is cheaper for the container it comes in. but the mapp might be a short term solution for you.

Congratulations. Sounds like you're on track now. As far as fire, it's always easiest to use the same type when learning and trying to re-create the same feel at home. But trust me when I say, tis better to have a different kind of fire than no fire at all. There is so much you will only pick up when actually working the metal. Granted when you are first starting out you might develop a bad habit during the week untill you can get back to your teacher, but if it's no longer than a week or two I don't really think it's ingrained into you as a long term habit and can be changed fairly easily. Good luck, you've gotten a better start than 90% of us and should be amazing yourself every day with what you are doing for several months. one tip. Quit chewing on the coal. ;)

Beautiful work man. Making me want to get things together faster. Thanks for the shots.

I'll stick with Guiness.

Welcome to the club. We have a great assortment of people here, from 3rd gengration balacksmiths, to poeple who haven't ever touched metal. Feel free to ask anythign you want to know. And we'll do our best to help you out. A great place to start is here http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints_200-300/p2_articleid/223

Glad to have you aboard. Don't forget to join the live chat on tuesdays. We have a great time and learn a lot. Remember to take is easy and be safe. maybe you'll be one of the ones 35 years from now welcoming in the new guy.

Actually Mica is a naturally occouring mineral. I think it mostly comes from south africa. it's used a lot in electronics, though I can't remember why. In lighting it's very heat resistant. You might look here USGS Minerals Information: Mica to see what it is. and search with names like "muscovite" and "phlogopite" to find a source on the web for it. first we find this Muscovite which leads us to search again and we find Mica Lamp Company, Turn of the century American lighting design and craftsmanship which finally leads us to a supplier Asheville-Schoonmaker Mica Co. - Mica and Mica products If you want to you can use this page to find more mica plate - Yahoo! Search Results Good luck with the project and let us see the final pictures. I know they can be extremely beautiful.

One thing I would recommend before using it again would be a safety guard in front of arms. I've heard about several just up and exploding one day. perhaps it's from lack of proper care, i'm not sure. But i'd rather invest in a piece of 3/8 plate that keeps sharp pointy things from flying off on me just in case of an accident.

Thanks for the video link. 10 minute(19Mb) video but definitely interesting. Didn't realise there were 40 grades of titanium. Peaked my interest. Going to have to find some to play with now.

I haven't looked for these in years, and don't know if they still exist. Weren't there some steel deflectors that went over shoes a while back? and even if not. Why couldn't you make a pair of covers for your boots, and wear what's most comfortable under them. It seems to make sense to me. I'm sure they're not using anything special for the steel. Wouldn't have to be anything fancy. No reason to make some mirror polished plate armour boots(though that does sound like fun). Just a simple form, shaped on the horn. attached under the shoe through the grooves? I really don't see why this couldn't work. Perhaps one plate for the toe, another for the meta, boht riveted onto a piece of leather that gets laced up?

Well It's tomorrow. you sleeping in or have you got this baby working yet?

I've been following this since it's inception, and figured out slowly that I would have been wasting your time by running out there (not my time as it would have been a marvelous experience for me). Wish I lived closer and could give you a hand re-arranging. Good luck

A needle valve from a really big carbeurator? Never seen one before. I think your mini-mandrel would be a perfect fit for it untill you can figure out what it is.

Keykeeper: Thanks for the links, there are indeed some very informative blueprints there and it does explain which stich to use, so that is a great help. Mcraigl: That is indeed a unique application for pvc and if you hadn't told me about it I would have never though of it. I can actually see using this to form a basic sheath and form to shape as desired. It's cheap and easy to get. You can then work it similar to wood and try out several designs with no loss of reall material. I think the vapors from heating are toxic, but everyone here knows anough to have good ventilation. Have to put that one in my to-do bin. HWooldridge: I used to work for a company that made hub seals for semi's. And they are made from the highest priced, top grain leather available. After you mentioning a good source I'd thought about making a run the 200 or so miles back to there and seeing if I couldn't borrow a few hundred pounds of scrap from them. I had thought about Gorilla glue, but with the reversal idea it would have shown up on the outside and I know you can't remove that at all once it's dried. Great stuff and I swear by it for anything that I want to hold together forever. I will probably try it for the first one I make in the normal fashion of the thicker stock. TarAlderion: So the best woods to use would probably be Bios-d'-arc(ironwood I think) or possibly teak? I still remember as a kid chopping off some bios-d'-arc wood and using it for a fencepost, having it sprout limbs and leaves the next spring. As far as the abrasives. the 8000 grit (not 800) is something we use to polish injection mold's for plastics and Iam not even sure it would mark the knife after hardening. It's more of an afterthought. Same as the mini disks for the sharpening. I don't know if you understood the disks, but there purpose is to simply remove any turned edge the same as one of the large bar that's in almost every kitchen. Just an idea I wanted to try from a long time ago. Wold be impracticle on a sheath that would be forever together, but not so much on one that I could dissasemble. Guess i'll tackle that idea another time and quit trying to make it so complicated(as this is usually my downfall) Thanks for all the great advice. I will try to get some pictures posted here this weekend if I can manage it.

Rich Hale: Thanks I will try to take a look this next weekend at the local Forgefest. I have a feeling I'll have to spend a week documenting ideas after it. I love meetings. TarAlderion: Thanks, Actually that is a great help. I already have the blade finished and know well where the rest of the parts will fit. I was actualy thinking about rasping a small "v" notch in the side where the stiching would be to keep it from bulging. I would prefer not trying to protect with a polyurethane or another chemical if possible. but i had wondered about the wood being protected. I would like to do somethign a bit less modern if posible. anyone know what that might be? I was thinking about soaking in a lemon oil, then cleaning the outside and applying a beeswax coat. I'd like to do this on the inside and outside, but not sure how well a glue would work after. I have a feeling that the leather alone would be anough to hold it together properly and I wouldn't need a glue, but then again, i'd prefer to be safe. This piece will be for my own amusement only, so luckily I can try several things to see what works. I was hoping to get a method down well enough to make a second set for the local meeting next week. But i'm probably dreaming. Is there any method to the choice of wood being used if it's being covered by leather anyway? How about a liner for the inside of the wood. Perhaps some 8000 grit cloth? I had always thought about making an insert that would be able to sharpen the blade if needed(not well, but enough to get you to a point where you could wait till later and still be usefull) Though I tend to overcomplicate things. For the insert i was thinking about some small alternating disks like in a kitchen knife sharpener. built into the blade side of the hilt. but not contacting the blade unless you wanted to draw it in and out a few times with pressure against this area. Metalmaster: I am actually doing my best to document the process with photos so I can finally make a contribution here. As far as learning how to put the design into leather. Go to your local library and get a video of how it's done. It makes perfect sense the first time you see it and will take you much further than any book i've seen.

I see several mention sheaths as a side note to their projects without actually delving into how or what designs they use to create them. I'm building a sheath for what will hopefully be my first dagger(rr spikes not withstanding). And i'm curious as to how others here have handled it. I've taken a small piece of Mohagony scrap and bandsaw cut it in two. I plan on hollowing out the center of each piece with small rasps and then joining them. I will then take some thin leather and after some engraving inverting it to stich. Then wet and fold so the engraving is again on the outside and slipping it over my 2 piece wooden part. It should then shrink as it dries, securing the 2 peices. I have never looked at sheath design but for some reason this method seemed most logical. Has anyone else here ever used a similar method? If so what do i need to watch out for the most. Pics will follow as progress is made.

I would try creating a small sample of both and letting the customer decide which one he'd rather pay for. That way it was totally his decision and you still get a bit of experience with something new. And of course you have no clue what it would cost you in labor untill you had done the sample anyway.

Something that might help with your patience a bit. If you have trouble getting a gas forge up to heat, use it to your advantage. Try putting in 2 or three pieces and alternating which ones you are working on. In coal I wouldn't recommend it as it's too easy to get some high heat and make a puddle. But for a gas forge that's not designed well enough to get it hot enough to melt, why not make the best of it? remind me and i'll try to post some pictures of the puddles i've made later:o

Congrats Archie, Definitely ready to see the pictures. just try not to wear your arm out testing it out