markb

This from the book -"Quenching and Martempering" american society for metals " Water at a temp. of 55-75 F. will provide uniform quenching speed and reproducable results. As indicated in fig. 6, the surface cooling power of water decreases rapidly as water temp. increases. ( a graff shows cooling power percent X water temp. At 40-80F. cooling power is 90% from 80F. to 120F. it dives to 20% and less to 212F.) It goes on to say "Hot water has a low cooling power because, as the boiling point is approched, the cooling action resembles that of steam. What Steve said. AlsoThree stages of cooling A. "vapor blanket cooling stage"" is charactorized by the Leidenfrost phenomenon- the formation of an unbroken vapor blanket that surrounds the piece. This stage is one of slow cooling. B. the "vapor transport cooling stage" which produces the the highest rates of heat transfer, begins when the temp. of the surface metal has been reduced somewhat and the continuos vapor film collapses; violent boiling of the quench then occurs and heat is removed from the metal at a very rapid rate, largly as heat of vaporization. C. the "liquid cooling stage": the cooling rate in this stage is slower than in stage B. Stage C begins when the temp. of the metal surface is reduced to the boiling point of the quenching liquid. Hope this is helpful. Mark

I'm thinking of buying drill bit sets but would like to know if there is a prefered system, fractional, letter, number , metric. Or a combination. My use is general shop, and knives ,clearance holes for pins, thong holes. Metric sounds like it would provide the most logical step arrangement but I have no machine shop experience so just a guess. The letter-number system seems confusing, and the fractional bits seem to take large steps. Maybe a combination of systems or just have all?

Steve When you mention rolling the grain, I imagine the surface of the steel looking like carpet fibers. With the grinding belts laying them down and the stones leaving them more upright and open. Is this correct?

Maybe it's this one, I just called the guy and someone is looking at it right now. Blacksmith 25 # Little Giant Power Hammer

I've been setting up shop for knife making and got my grinders lined up. The home-job I built in the early '80's had just learned to stick weld, I was going to put a rubber tire on the oak wheel but , somehow got side tracked, never did produce a blade but put a belt on today and just may get a decent wheel for it. More pics in the gallery. I used that monster Sears buzz-box in the corrner circa'40s or '50s They don't make'em like they used to. Mark

Great job.

Thanks Dr. Jim This has been puzzling me for quite some time. I've not seen any modern makers using this method. I just found this pic. that shows the tapered tang http://www.oregonknifeclub.org/Newsletter%200612.pdf Mark

I can't figure out how this guard was placed on this knife. San Francisco Knives - Price #1528

I would like to add my way of getting quick, reasonably good pictures. #1 use a tripod #2 set your camera to museum (this disables the flash) and uses available light. #3 use zoom to focus on subject #4 experiment with lighting #5 use close-up setting

I feel for you Frosty, we just lost one to a corn cob, dog ate it ,got stuck and died over night at the vets. I didn't think my wife would recover. Buried him out side our bed room window, so he'd be close.

Thanks Sam, Frosty, Irnsrgn She's a keeper (The Wife) stand too. Taking her to breakfast today. Oh, she does keep some things for her self, things I find for myself, but more than makes up for it w/finds like this. Thanks for looking. Mark

My wife went garage sales today( her birthday) and brought me home this knife vise stand.