Momatt

Very nice. I am curious how thick are the bars you are forge welding together? I have been messing around with this technique and any thinner than a scant 1/2 inch is hard to weld. I end up grinding off a lot because if I try to forge thin welds start cutting loose. Love to hear about your technique and observations. Matt

Nice work!

That is pretty neat. I'm surprised to see a weld there, that is a particular piece of equipment where a weld break might lead to bad consequences. In those days after the first shot, things really got ugly and those bayonets were basically the soldiers only weapon.

If you shoot a video on your iPhone you can view the individual frames and do a screenshot. I’ve gotten some impressive photos that way of my cannon . The fire cloud exists for like 1/1000 of a second and to your eye doesn’t look like this. Be a great way to catch the flux shooting out of a forge weld!

Friend gave me the springs and sway bar from his high school car, a 1983 cutlass. I cut the end of the sway bar off and tried to leave it recognizable as possible. A heavy duty opener for sure. He will be delighted.

TH, I am very interested in this and will have to read up on it. Is the cutter used freehand on a handle or does it sit in a bolder more like a plane? It left a great finish!

I would love to touch mammoth fur! They have captured my imagination. The greatest beast of another age. I have some mammoth ivory. When I was a boy a family friend had a wonderful collection of Indian artifacts. He lived older stuff paleo percussion flaked. He had an axe that in profile was shaped like a mammoths head and back. It gave me chills when he shined a light and it cast a mammoth shadow ! He called it an effigy axe.

I am very sorry for you loss. Abby must have been very special. If you are lucky, you get one like that at some point in your life. Frosty the lucky is a good name for you. When my grandfather died, he lingered in the boundary lands between this world and the next for about 45 minutes. At one point he threw back his head and laughed. My aunt asked what was going on and he said I see scooby! There are dogs in heaven! I’ll tell you what, if scooby made it then grace abounds. I remember him he was a horrible yappy Pomeranian mutt that grandpa pretended to despise but actually loved deeply. Here’s to all our loyal loving friends that have passed on. All virtues of man but none of his vices.

I like how you do your handle scales proud of the tang. Its a beautiful knife. Did you grind or forge in the fuller?

Thomas, A few years ago I really got in axes, I was buying heads and making hafts. At that time I made a shave horse and was using draw knifes. That is a marvelous way to quickly shape wood. I remember thinking wow this is like a bandsaw! I also used a spokeshave to finish up and that is a sweet efficient way to make a handle. Since I don't have a shave horse currently I have been using a lie-neilsen block plane with an adjustable mouth, easier to navigate around the blank. I set it for a heavy cut and in the oak I have been using it does a pretty good job. You have me thinking that I need to make another shave horse! Here is my old tulip poplar horse that rotted too close to the chicken house

I think you are both right. The book says it was a carpenters axe. I have done some hewing with broad axes (in fact in my profile pic I am doing just that) and its likely my unfamiliarity with it that makes me think it crap! A Japanese craftsman might say the same about the finest western push style dovetail saw. I think the original was struck as it appears to be peened or mushroomed. Perhaps a 12 year old viking was yelled at by his dad for mistreating it, ha ha.

It's kind of light, I think 26 ounces or so. I have three more handles to make for hammers and a hot cut before I will let myself forge anymore. Looking forward to trying this hammer out. I have a new handle making process that is working well. I split a billet out, trace the eye with good grain orientation in pencil. I shape an inch or so of the end with my 2x72 grinder to the pencil lines. Then I go outside and clamp the wood in my post vice and with a sharp block plane set for a heavy cut plane it close to the eye. Its a lot more pleasant than doing the whole handle on the grinder.

I put a haft on the axe and am surprised. It’s the most poorly balanced thing I think I’ve ever held. Surprising to me as usually period pieces forms evolved more form follows function. Would be useless for hewing unless struck and cant imagine a more unwieldy weapon unless on a long pole.

It’s always a mystery! Usually a hammer is something hardenable, I quench in oil and see if a file skates then temper back to gold. I buy them at a nearby antique store for a couple bucks so not much invested. I’ve made a half dozen or more and they all performed well. One hammer crumpled when I hit it. No idea what it was made of. your method is superior, but takes more skill to punch an eye and forge weld a bit.

Nice adze. I enjoy wood carving, especially green tulip poplar. I find I prefer the bevel on the inside of the curve. Much harder to sharpen but I like how they bite. I’ve never perfected the technique of a outside bevel adze. Before I started smithing I got a couple adzes from a smith named don Dillon. I usually start with a claw hammer head.

Congratulations. 3 inch 4140 by hand? That is big hard metal to move with a hand hammer.

I find joy in being able to make tools. I have wanted to try one of these for beveling blades. This was a piece of pto shaft that whatever it is is Hardenable. Split oak handle block planed to shape. The little facets feel good in the hand.

True! I have a place scoped out I saw what look to be wagon rims that are 1/2 inch thick.

Thomas, the trick is finding the wrought in a size large enough! I want to try the hammers with steel faces. 15 pounds of one inch diameter wrought bars went for over 100 dollars on eBay this week!! I have some 1/2 inch wrought bars I’ve been tempted to try and forge weld into a hammer sized billet. One of the most satisfying aspects of smithing for me is taking material you have and through welding up or drawing down making what you want. I have no press or power hammer so at this point forge welding up is easier at least as I approach one inch stock.

Not yet frosty. I need to split out some handles.

My recreation dimensions are pretty close. Hammered out of 1.5 inch mild steel bar with a forge welded 1080 bit. Forged to finish I won’t grind but to sharpen.

I got about 20 feet of half inch wrought round bar to play with the other day. After forging it square it’s pretty thin maybe a fat quarter inch. I twisted a piece, forged it back square, folding it on itself welded and then forge welded it to a piece of 1080 as a test. I don’t have any ferric so this is overnight in vinegar. I used stainless steel hose clamps to hold the steel together for forge welding. Works really well they do not weld to the bar and come right off.

When I first started I would have been very proud and thought wow you can tell this is a hammer! Now I have higher expectations, I want it to look like I pictured. I should have drawn cheeks out when it was lower on the drift. NOw I’m out of drift. Each one I learn something and after fighting weakness for a year it’s feels good to be in front of the anvil again.

This was a piece of 1-1/8 square from a pto shaft. Decided to try a carpenter style. It’s rubbish but was fun to forge. I put an handle on it and gave to my daughter for a toy.

Thanks for the encouragement. I made it out of a scrap piece of drill tooling the drillers at work saved for me. The stock was around 2 inches. I think it’s pretty close to 1045. A hammer eye punch is a fun tool to use, so nice having hand away from the heat.