A.S.T.

The steel was given to me but I believe he said it was 5160 and the nickel silver was as--- something 1095 equialent. I etched in muriatic water mix. The picture does not show the colors real well but after tempering in oven it came out with multiple colors. A.S.T.

Couple of pics of first pattern welded hawk. 192 layers . Feel free to critique. A.S.T.

That is a nice looking grinder. What did it cost to biuld and where did you get the rollers ? A.S.T.

Thought some of you might be interested irsrgn made the front page.

If you recycle hammer heads make sure they are good steel. A friend of mine heated one up to reshape. The first or second hit whith the power hammer and it shattered. Did not fly apart just shattered. Really looked odd like broken saftey glass. Still all one piece but lots of cracks all through it. That said you could use the traditional method of folding a piece of steel over on itself and welding or rivetting it together. Aaron

Brought this home from recent visit to Nebraska . Nothing fancy but cleaned up nice. The first two pics are obviously before the second two are after a couple minutes clean up. I used a very worn belt on the sander and then went to the buffer. The handle was just cleaned with go-jo hand cleaner and a fingernail brush. Aaron

This followed me home after our vacaction to Nebraska. It is a South Bend metal lathe about 4 feet wide. Thanks Jr. Aaron

My question to you is: When you use the pallet banding and saw blades how hot are you taking the steel? I have a gas forge and it seems my outside layers almost get too hot and want to burn off? I clamp and tack weld both ends of my stack with a mig but dhould I weld a little on the sides too? Wat I an doing seems to be working but I have not finished the knife yet so we will see? Also, how many layers and folds do you have there and did you just fold or did you twist? I did not count the layers. I only folded it once. I think that is how it developed shuch varied patterns from side to side. I just mig welded the ends. I welded the billet at a yellow white ( first 2 or 3 sparks and remove from fire) . I also lost some of the outer layers to scale and burning just remove it when finishing blade. Jsanders the band saw blade i used was from the scrap yard. A.S.T.

I listen to What is now considered classic rock it's what I listened to growing up and both new country and the more traditional stuff. Like the traditional country and southern rock better than the new stuff. Aaron

Oops my bad looking good so far tomtw. Aaron

Dodge looking good so far make sure you clean them up real god before welding. I usually clean them up with a wire brush on the angle grinder before welding. Tom you should be able to Twenty Mule Team borax at local Wal-Mart. I also think higher carbon welds easier. But it is also easier to mess up. A.S.T.

I would have to say just around waist level as well.I don't recall the exact height of mine without measuring. But it is probably around 38" from ground to forge table as the is my inseam. Finding a height that is comfortable to you is the important part I do not believe there is a standard height. A.S.T.

A.S.T. is my initials Aaron Scott Tilton as has been said earlier I'm not the fastest typist so three letters is easier than hole name . Aaron

Rthibeau I have thought of selling some but would not know where to start on the price. A.S.T.

The wood is called epay it is an exotic wood from south americavery hard. It was scrounged from a deck being built.The pins are threaded brass and the handle and tang was tapped then the rod screwed and epoxyed in. The saw blades where about 3/4 " to 1" inch wide. A.S.T.

To make the drift I started with 1 1/4" hydraulic shaft and tapered both ends then forged a bevel on one side to form the sharp side of the tear drop. Then ground to shape. I probably should harden and temper it. A.S.T

I made this one out of bandsaw blade and pallet straping. Tell me what you think. A.S.T.

I made a drift for this hawk out of a piece of 1 1/4 " hydraulic shaft. The hawk is leaf spring folded around the drift like a mandrel then forge welded. After it was welded up and shaped I drifted the eye from the top to true up the tear drop shape. First one I made using this method. Critique as you wish. A.S.T.

Tompdw I wrapped it around a drift I made for finishing it up . You could wrap it around a pipe or any round stock of the diameter you want. Especially if you make your own handles as well . A.S.T.

Covforge it took about an hour apiece to polish the hawks. Bibble the file branded handle is not wedged I made it using a drawknife and rasp it is patterned after the bought handles . I enjoy making the handles as well. A.S.T.

When etching damascus with muriatic acid do you dilute it if so by how much.In the past I'v used the PCB etchant from Radio Shack . But muriatic is much cheaper. A.S.T.

Here are 2 new hawks I've recently finished. Feel free to critique. The one with the file branded handle is a piece of leaf spring the other one is mild with a leafspring insert . A.S.T.