Ratel10mm

:O How's Peat going to run the school without that building? It's nice to see you've got a good space Adrian. I was sorry not to have met you when I attended one of Peat's courses as I really like your work.

Looks like it'll be a very nice shop Adrian.

By the way, are you the chap who was working with Peat Oberon out of the Preston Hall Museum forge?

Good grief Bob, you are one fortunate bloke!

Mick, it amy be worth asking Alan Ball if he knows anyone? He's one of the leading lights of the craft in SE QLD & everyone associated with the trade around here seems to know him. Also, it would probably be worth talking to John at Stockman's Supplies.

I rather wish I'd gone to the trouble of bringing my horizontal / vedrtical bandsaw with me now. The reason I like the powered saws is that they are relatively very quiet - I don't need to wear ear defenders when they're in use, which I certainly do with a chop off saw!

I had the good fortune to be at Owen Bush's sword - oriented weekend last year, and got to wield a hand-&-half sword made (iirc) by American Arms. It was pretty unwieldy - felt it's weight, and was hard to move around. Then I had a go with the same design, but made by Peter Johnsson. It was near identical to look at (Apparently the AA is one of Peter's designs?) but the difference was astounding. It went exactly where you wanted, without you even needing to think about it. I reckon you could have used that sword all day & hardly noticed it.
Peter explained in his lecture that it's all down to the nodes & harmonics, which is a function of getting the ratios & balances in the whole sword exactly right. I wish I had a transcript or video of his lecture, it was both amazingly good and outstandingly informative.

In short, looking like a sword doesn't make it a sword!

Here's a link to the thread on British Blades in case you're interested.

I don't know from your description if this will help, but one of the best tricks I've learned is to move your whole body, not just your hands when grinding. It makes the grind much more even - something I found impossible to do by hand alone as I was see-sawing the piece over the wheel.

Hey, if you don't want it, how much will it cost to post it here? lol!

Seriously, I agree with everyone else. Admittedly fuel cost in the U.K. is highway robbery, but that anvil looks worth the gamble to me too. If you have a cheaper vehicle to run, take it - you don't need a Landy to haul an anvil.
Also, I'd try to make the trip multi-task - see if you can find other useful stuff en route, like a fly press, or blacksmiths to visit. That way, should the anvil turn out to be not what you want, the trip won't feel a total waste. If you tell me/us where the anvil is, I/we may know someone to visit on route. Or one of the U.K. guys may be on route. (PM me by all means)

Peter Parkinson suggests bedding the anvil on a layer of plasticine to deaden the ring in his book 'The Artist Blacksmith'. It's another option.

I'd think if you're in a chair the biggest challenge would be getting your shoulder over the anvil? Wouldn't your knees get in the way? With that in mind, I'd suggest swapping the original anvil for a large bridge anvil.

Thanks all, I appreciate you taking the time to critique me. I'm glad they're up to scratch so far.
This is the first time I've forged stainless, and I've found it really quite a nice material.

Paul, I'm afraid I don't have vermiculite & can't get any right now, but I'll see if I can figure out something better than normalising & get making some more.

Yes, most likely Finnish. For the rest, we'd need pictures.

That's pretty cool. :)

For all that, I reckon Heath Robinson would have loved it! :D

Well considered posts everyone. I think perhaps another problem with new folk is that they may well be new to forums as well, and not understand the etiquette(sp?), so they just butt in & ask their question. It happens on every forum I visit.
And I've noticed that you even get members who've been around a while asking (usually) off topic questions without doing a search first!
Sometimes the question you want to ask doesn't seem to fit with any of the existing posts. I found that yesterday, hence my post about naming my forge. Someone will probably think the subject's been covered, perhaps in the thread about Forge Names.
As for referring people to the posts, etc. I will do, and I appreciate it when I am so directed. But I feel awkward about sending the 'I want to make a sword' guys to Don Fogg's, British Blades, Bladeforums, etc. It's like I'm being disrespectful to the members here. Thoughts?

Hi all
So although I don't consider myself a proper blacksmith (still lots to learn, skills to master, etc), I don't think it can hurt to have a name & maybe a touchmark to help with marketing for if/when I do get to do this more full time.

I have 2 ideas for a name:

Rivermead Forge: We used to live at Rivermead Cottages in the U.K. & still miss it, it was a beautiful spot. I like the name as it seems to project a folksy, crafty image.

Fivesquared Forge: The no. 5 is important to my wife & I. So squaring it makes it even more so. The odd name may get people asking why, which would get the conversation going & hopefully lead to a sale.

Rivermead forge would be a fairly complex stamp. Here's the rough design so far - a river leading from the letter R, and the letter F formed from a hammer and tongs. It's rough!


Fivesquared would have 2 touchmarks. Qty. 5 of the number 5 arranged in a circle, and 5

Good point Rob. :)

Looks good to me. If the price is right, grab it.

Told you someone wold know better! :D

Glad to hear it. :)

Brilliant score mate, well done! :D

Assuming it's all laid in the same direction (I forget if that's cable or hawser laid ), the technique I've found easiest is to get it red hot, flux, get it to welding temp, clamp one end in a vice, and twist it in the direction of the lay. This works very well with the stuff I've used to set the weld. Once you've got it set, take it to the hammer.

Edit: You may want to mig weld or otherwise fix the end that you're clamping so it doesn't spread.

Please excuse me if you already knew all that, and good luck with the next welds. :)

The U.K. used to be 240V for single phase. Then the EU decided to get everyone to use the same voltage, so now they're 230V. BUT.... the tolerance is 10%, so the only thing that's actually changed is it's called 230, not 240V!
And 3 phase in europe is 415V.

Being a tool steel, 01 will be fine as Grant says. Far better than the mild I used for a hot cut once! :D

I imagine the more experienced guys will have better ideas, but you could try case hardening. Heat the face up, and cover it in carbon (coal dust, bone meal for e.g.) overnight.