sandpile

ED--That is so nice of you to post these. If it was not so durn far up there I would come to your shop. I live about 1250 miles south of you at DALHART, Tx. chcuk

I am like RITHBEAU-- The only way you will get my guns is to pry my cold dead fingers from them. I have no intentions of harming anybody with any weapon I have. I have in the long-ago past-- hurt several with nothing but my hands, feet, legs, and head. Now that I am on the other side of 66, I would have to resort to the so--called "weapon". As I most certainly would, if me or mine were under attack. The weapon of choice might not be close at hand, but what ever is close to hand would be the weapon. chuck

RAINSFIRE-- Pard, I have not forgotten you. Just had a minor memory lapse.GRIN. Been a little under the weather. Sent your 1084 steel today. I don't think it will go out tomorrow, may be Monday. Buttt it is coming. I had to cut the piece in order to get it to you with out it being bent.===Put it on a three foot board. Man that Gorilla tape it something else. chuck 3 Woody's - Bladesmith's Forum Board P.S. KENON-- Look at this mans knives. He lives in Gresham, OR. Ray Richards is a nice man, over on Doggs site. he might be close enough to help you.

That hat is very commendable(sp). Meaning it don't make a diff whether it is the first or the last. The rest of the little guy is good but the hat is what is really good. You would really enjoy, and get some good ideas from BILL DAVIS of the LAZYASSFORGE. BILL does a lot of that kind of stuff and they are neater than all get out.GRIN chuck

Julian- I just now looked at your website. It has been a while since I had seen any of knives. You have really come up on them and the hawks are nice also. As much as you have done, you have stayed out of trouble.grin You have been at the forge and anvil quite a bit. congrats chuck

Rainsfire-- You will soon find out the knife-community is one of the best bunch of people you will find. We help each other and then the one that was helped can pass it on when they get a chance. I have had folks send me handle wood for Hawks, 1095 2'X2"X1/4" and would not take a penny for freight or the steel. So I just tip my hat and say thanks.GRIN. chuck

The reason for asking the age--is, the young are some times pinched for cash.grin Been there, done that. I can send you a free six foot piece of this 1"X1/4" 1084. With you paying the freight cost. That should give you enough steel to kinda figure out how to work it. Keep on with your normalizing, get your mud like a thick milkshake and make sure is plenty thick, when dried on the blade. You might have to leave under a lamp for a day or so. Like LAMEY says get a Pyrometor(sp) so you will know where you are ---1425--1450-- is a lot darker red than most folks think, if you go to orange you are growing grain. You can check with a magnet to find your color. When the piece goes non-mag. you are there. chuck----sandpilecowboyat msndotcom

Rainsfire--how old are you and where do you live? I have some good 1084 on hand it came New Jersey--Archbar think. MATT I for one would really enjoy a how to on claying a blade and through your heat treat, and final polish. chuck

RAINS FIRE- After reading through some your posts. I think if I was in your shoes(we all were once)I would buy enough of one metal say 1084 or go to the spring shop and get a BUNCH of 5160 drops. Learn how to work this one steel. You need to study up on the one steel until YOU are comfortable with the one steel and have a good working knowledge of it. How it reacts under different heat ranges and how it quenchs. You can get a Hamon from 1084 pretty easy. You can differentially(sp)harden with a torch or clay it with an interrupted quenching oil like texaco or mineral oil.. Get Mr. JIM's books or ED Fowler's books either would be a great help You could go to BOB ENGRATH's web site. Lots of good stuff in there and written where you can grasp it. Chuck

Rainsfire-- You have been starting right but getting off base for the finish. Normalizing for a knife maker is taking it just to non-mag and dropping all the color out and most of the heat---then do it again, The last heat is the sure nuff normalizing according to the metal people. Set the blade in a holder of some kind that is not such a heat sink(alu.) letting the blade take its time to cool in still air. Straightening right after heat on each normalizing and it should stay straight through your hardening. The time to straighten is while you are hardening the blade after a interrupted quench you have a short period of time to straigthen the blade. Once it gets below say 600 degrees you better be careful. Never --ever put a cool blade on the horn and hit it. Until you temper a blade it is as fragile as glass-=---sometimes it will sit on a cold table and break by its self. Temper just as soon as you have straightened it. Take it to a bronze or a light blue. Try a file on it if it is still too hard put a little higher temper(draw) on it. Hope this is what you wanted.. Chuck Bennett

Thanks for the flowers-- Where it was in the book, was more for sheaths and knives but irregardless, I am glad it got in there.GRIN CHUCK WARD and his wife MARY got it in there for me.--Thanks chuck

Rebar is useful in lots of ways, after it has done what ever it was originally bought for. I like them as center punches. Turning them down on a lathe to get the exact size you want. It is like JR. says bend one, if it bends throw it back on the pile of electric fence posts. If it does not want to bend or breaks, you have some really hardenable cheapies. I quench them in water with the 1-2-3-4 count then pull them out of the quench and count again , then put them back in the water and let them cool down to where you can hold them long enough set them aside. After cooling enough to handle, I then slick off a spot and draw them back past a blue just a little. Works for me. chuck

JIM- Rich has it right. We need more info on the steel and manner of work. If you don't have a buffer, is one thing, if you are afraid on washing the lines out with a heavy buff, is another thing. There are some steels that do not buff well under a hard buff. D2 and 5160 are two of the most popular that a fellow needs to be careful with. On my blades that I intend to have a mirror finish and still have sharp grind lines, I carry my sanding out to 6 micron. You have to be careful on the fine belts, they will over heat in a heart beat. A light green buff using very little pressure on the blade is the final machine step. I can get almost the same results with hand sanding, using 2400 grit as the last sand paper, then using rouge on a flat leather on a board and finally news paper. Much to much work when it can be done on the sanders.grin chuck

RICH-- nice folder. chuck

I had to just keep hitting different Radio Shack stores. When I finally found one that it in stock, I bought three bottles. Three bottles will last a long time, when mixing at a diluted rate.4 to 1 or 5 to1. With water being the bigger number. Chuck

I can't remember who started this topic. So, grin . I will add my 2-bits. When I started making knives I did not have any equiptment. You can forge to shape and using a piece of angle(bedstead) iron, cutting the angle iron down one side till you have enough room to place a blade on the flat of the angle iron. Line(angle iron flat) it with a piece of skirting leather(heavy). Use a C clamp and fasten the angle iron down to the edge of your table or bench. Using a rough bastard file take all of your forge marks out. After establishing your flats on the side of your blade go to a finer file, working this down to what you would want before heat treating. Fold some sand paper around a 1/4"X9" flat piece of steel and use 220 to get your file marks out. Heat treat then using finer grits take it to what ever you want. Making sure you establish your corners for your guard before you heat threat. You will be suprised how fast you can work a blade up , using these methods. Chuck

ALAN-- After reading all the post on this forging in regards to the natives. The people of Europe had gathered up in towns and established villages for hundreds of years. This required that they had a steady source of food and other neccessities. Therefore the need for agriculture was born. A lot of the inventions that have come down through the years--have come as the result of agriculture needs. The Natives of America with the exception of the five cilvilized tribes and the Central American tribes that probably came by way of boats, did not congregate. The tribes stayed to them selves for the most part and had very little trading of the known skills. All advances on new and improved items came from the simple fact that one stumbled on to something and someone else improved on it. The mid-west farmers in our era are prove of this. I have had quite some dealings with the different tribes in the Southwest and believe me they are not DUMB. Some of the stuff they produce are stunning in their design and workmanship. Had they been where they could make use of the interacting in the concentrated population as the Europeans were. They would have developed a smithing industry. There was not a need as they did very little farming, just enough for their own small groups. No Ox or horses to tear up their tools. No need for hinges on aTeepee. Grin If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Kinda fits the subject. chuck

ALAN-- Indians and their beliefs are very interesting. The Natives to the North American continent were more religous than any whiteman ever thought of being. They(every tribe) had a superior being that gave them life and they had all sorts of different objects(animals, places, areas) of worship. None of them that I know of had any Pagan sort of beliefs. Not sacrificing of the young or maidens. Central and South America had some of this. It is my thoughts that this came across from the Polynesian/Asian people but this to be proven as yet. The cow and the men that worked them were of very little value till after the Civil War. This being some 3/4 hundred or so years after the Spanish started showing up on various parts of the Continent. The horses that the Natives learned to use at a later date were the offspring of the horses that escaped from the conquistodors. The Spanish did not castrate any of their mounts so if they escaped they were in the colt making business.grin. Out on the plains of the mid-continet they were not many predators to eat these fast running horses so they multiplied quite rapidly.---Still do, they are still a problem. Interesting subject-- Native Americans. A proud people. chuck

ALAN-- I fear that you have seen too many movies of the Cowboy and Indian era. The cowboys for the most part were just over worked and underpaid laboers for the cattlemen. Indians moved their villages when the place they were at, got so nasty with the refuse of a normal village. They had several places that they preferred to be in the different seasons of the year. As for the changing of locals for the different tribes. Generally when a entire tribe picked up and moved to a new area. It was because a stronger warring tribe had made them run for their lives. This is how the Apaches/Comaches come to be in N.Mex. and Texas. The Navajos had run them out. Then the whiteman came into the equation. Bringing horses/weapons and steel/copper and a new meaning of talking through both sides of their mouths. Chuck

RICH-- You into minitures now.GRIN Looks good chuck

JIM-- That sucks. Hate to hear about it. Keep your head up and dig your way through this thing. Everything happens for the best. It just takes time to figure it out. GOOD LUCK. Chuck Bennett

JIM-- Thanks-- for the great written article on the composite pattern welding. You have it as plain as it could be written, pictures are great. Good job. Chuck Bennett

Hello JYMM-- Glad to see you stick your head in the door. There is a good group of guys in IforgeIron site. You will enjoy some of them if you have time to get acquainted. Glad to see you here. Take care, Pard. chuck

Top scroll is really nicely done. All the bottom scroll needs is some tweaking and flattening of the sides. Smoothing out the hammer marks would help both. Well done- congrats. chuck

G'DAY to you mate. From the Texas Panhandle. chuck Bennett