Chris Covington

 right now its sitting on a curio cabinent  in our living room. I have had people say they want them to sit on their deck and other people want 3 with them each being a different size.  Im going to try and make the next couple smaller

Just finished this candle holder that Lyle Wynn was so gracious to show me how to make.  Seems to be a hit on my facebook page so looks like Im going to be making quite a few more!

Just got my 330# Refflinghaus #58 + stand in from Dick Nietfeld.  I love it!  Dick is a great guy to buy an anvil from.

Is the dark zone of color on the blade in the first pic a shadow or is the blue temper color? If it's the temper it's not heat treated properly.

 

However, for #3 blade it has a good profile and the furniture looks good.

 

Frosty the Lucky.

its shadow.

the guard to handle fit it perfect..i think what you are seeing is a shadow.  The only fit problem i had was the guard to blade fit.  looking back I should have left the ricasso a little thicker than the tang so it would cover the hole in the guard completely

I just started bladesmithing and this is only my 3rd  knife ever to make.  The handle is rosewood, the guard is old wrought iron etched in acid, and the blade was forge out of 7/8 5160 coil spring. 

What kind of oil? And why fill the tang slot with propoxy prior to etching?

The Blade was forged out of spring steel. The guard is wrought iron.

I am in the process of making a large bowie style knife using a chunk of true wrought iron that i plan to etch in acid and cherrywood for the handle.  My question is regarding what options of a finish/protectant i have for the wrought iron guard.  Thanks!

I believe the diameter was 5/8 although could have been 3/4.  I am currently working on a full tang kitchen knife from a large cable that was 7/8 or so and I can tell you that it is a lot harder to forge weld than the smaller diameter stuff.  

I have been blacksmithing for a few months now and just recently made my first two knives.  One is from a railroad spike and the other was made from forge welding a piece of cable.  Right now Im working on a full tang kitchen knife from cable.

I have decided to purchase a new anvil and have narrowed down my search to 3 anvils which are all around the same price and wanted to gather some input on these 3 models and which one people would recommend.  The 3 anvils are the Refflinghaus #58 320lb , the Nimba Gladiator 450#, and the 460# Rathole.  

I am relatively new to blacksmithing and I am currently working my way through The Fundamentals of Blacksmithing by Mark Aspery.  I have been working on making the wizard bottle opener in his book and have done ok except for one part that I cannot for the life of me to get it to look right.   The problem I am having is when it calls for a half hammer face blow with the bottom edge of the eye socket just on the anvil to set the nose.  I usually end up flattening the nose or creating a line across the bottom of the socket.  Do any of you have an alternate way to make the nose or any tips or tricks?  I have used up multiple 2 1/2 foot sections of 1/2 inch square just trying to practice that step but with no success.  Attached are a few of my attempts..  Thanks in advance  

I have  2 1/2 lb , 3.7 lb and 5 lb rounding hammers I made with Ed Brazeal.  I have found that I use the 5lb almost exclusively although I do use the 2.5 lb for really small stuff. The only time I find myself using the 3.7 is when I need to strike hand tools at the vise.

The title of the plan on anvilfire was "Side Draft Super Sucker Hood" so thats what I assumed it was. 

Must have had his camera sideways.....go figure

 

 

Carry on

no..its just a new style cross I came up with.  I call it A lopsided Cross

that is not in any way a side draft.  There are terms that have a very definate meaning,  misusing them can be confusing for everyone.   As you read up, you will understadnd why you need more than 6 inch pipe for a flue.  its not to hard, you will figure it out :) Welcome to I Forge Iron

Not sure if you are referring to my post or not.  I am planning on making a " Super Sucker" side draft hood and then stick the galv pipe on the top of it.  I want to use a 12 inch pipe hence why i wanted to see if i can get away with the light/cheap sheet metal duct pipe they sell at Home Depot.  

if you quench it and then spray with laquer it should stay right?

Using the proportion calculations I posted above in the thread I came up with these crosses.  

I have a brake drum forge on a fabricated rolling cart.  I am thinking about making a sidedraft hood with chimney so that I can wheel the cart just outside my carport and smoke wont blow back in.  My question is regarding the chimney itself.  Is it ok to use the sheet metal tubing you can get at home depot?   It is galvanized.  My plan was to bolt the hood to the cart and make it where I can just set the 8ft sheet metal duct pipe into the hood once I had it in the proper position.  

Is is feasible to achieve certain temper colors by using a household oven? For instance, if I want my wizard bottle opener to be a nice shade of blue can I achieve a nice even blue hue using my kitchen oven?  

My family took a trip to Pidgeon Forge this past Thanksgiving and while there we went to the Smokey Mountain Knife Works.  At the SMKW they have a small cottage in the parking lot that you can go and forge a knife out of a rail road spike with a bladesmith.  That was my first time swinging a hammer and I have been hooked ever since.  The funny thing is that I have yet to make my first knife since that time...I have gotten sidetracked with making tools and venturing into the artistic side of blacksmithing which i have found very enjoyable.  Im sure i will eventually make a knife or two but Im in no hurry!

I bought some vegatable oil to rub on at a black heat for a finish and it stinks... Which cooking oil doesnt smell that bad when applied to hot steel? Canola? Peanut? Thanks!

I wanted to start making some hot punches/chisels but i dont have any 5160 and cant find any for sale at the usual online retailers.  What type of steel would be comparable that I might be able to find online?

I like a brass bruch from Northern tool.  It has a yellow plastic handle.
Not all brass brushes are brass.  Check with a magnet to see if yours is steel brass coated.  It has to be nonmagnetic to work and as said before too hot also doesnt work.  You should see it start to plate then as it cools it will take more and more yellow

Can you explain what plating is?  I think the main problem I had was trying to brush the cross when it was a red heat.  I didnt realize that it had to be a cooler temp.