julian

Wow, handfiling is alot of work! Nice looking blade, I look forward to seeing the finished peice :)

Just get 20 mule team borax; get the peice a dullish orange, pour a liberal amount of the borax on, then get it to a "welding heat" (bright yellow). it should sound like rice krispes after you just poured the milk on :)

to support the claim that you dont need a grinder to make a knife I used a grinder to make putting an edge on that knife quicker, but otherwise all you need is a file, vise, sandpaper, and the tools to actually forge a knife. You can also try wrapping your handles with paracord/leather and epoxy, it makes for an easy knife and you get practice in forging/grinding knives.

the handle guard and blade all blend well in that knife Bill. Very nice job!

tyler those small utility knives seem to be the ones I always grab to do something. Nice wrap job on the handle

I haven't posted a knife on here in a while, so I decided I may as well post this one since it's going to Richard Thibeau (now he can brag about it ). This hunter style damascus knife has a blade of 40 layers random pattern nickel/spring steel. The handle material is antler with a brass guard, mosaic pins, and a wood buttcap.

cooter what you need to have to start coal up is a good heat source to begin with. I make a small fire in my firepot and let it burn until it has that nice roaring sound when you start the air. When the small fire gets going well enough, put broken up (i forgot to mention before you start break up what you plan on using) coals around the fire, and then put a handfull on top to keep the fire in. Start running the air (not too much air) and you should get big clouds of nasty green smoke. From there just keep adding coal until the coal is burning well, then I usually pat the fire down with a shovel lightly to fill in any gaps that the burning wood left. There you go, you got a fire I use pre-coked coal, and I found it pretty hard to get going at first; if you use a wood fire to start it you should have no problem unless the fire isn't big enough.

Woody hearing about brave people like your granddaughter reminds me that I should be thankful to have what I have. She has not only my prayers but my eternal gratitude. -Julian

that anvil is so pretty i could kiss it's face My anvil has a rounded bending corner so it wont chip or ding up the steel you're working.

Bienvenue dav! Je m'appelle Julian, je viens d'Arizona I also like knives, they're a lot of fun to tinker with. Good to have another smith from France on here, Iforgeiron is getting bigger every day! Happy Smithing!

definitely look at the blueprints or how-to's on this website cooter. Don't worry about being too old to start blacksmithing, I've only been tinkering around with hot metal for 3 years and have half decent work coming out of my shop. If I can do it I'm sure you could I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the metal heating bar things on the inside of ceramic kilns are electrified when turned on. Those kilns *might* get to forging temperature, but it would sorta be like trying to dissolve a block of salt by spitting on it as opposed to throwing it in a pool. What you want is a relatively small concentrated source of heat; in this case a forge would work. All a forge really is is a fire with air blowing through it. My first forge was a firepit in the ground with a vacuum cleaner blowing on it, and it got steel to a dull orange. Building them isn't too hard, you could probably get one welded up in a weekend. Again I'll refer to the blueprints on this website, look for the 55 forge. I would also recommend getting in contact with a local blacksmithing association. From there you can purchase tools, gather information, and learn how-to's and how-not-to's .

cooter any kind of vegetable oil would work for a quench; instead of going by color with quenching steel, go by what a magnet tells you. When you think you have it about the right heat, touch it to a magnet. If it just barely doesn't stick then it is at nonmagnetic and is ready for the oil quench. After a veggie oil quench a good tool/blade high carbon quality steel should get a file to skate off it, maybe with a fishing gig you would want a little softer than that though. You can use your kitchen oven for the tempering (put the blade or gig in your case into the oven for 1 hour at 450F) or also a toaster oven. That is if the wife lets you It doesn't sound like the stuff you have is high carbon steel, or maybe you did not quench it hot enough. If you have a grinder of any kind, grind on the peice a little to see how it sparks. There are pictures of spark tests on the gallery, but the search does not seem to be working right now. A high carbon steel (The kind you want) should get really bright intense sparks, but a mild carbon steel has simple straight duller sparks. Hope some of that rant helps :)

je les aime beaucoup! bienvenue de Iforgeiron :)

It is fun to experiment with steel I used the vise a whole lot, it's a great help!

Well I took youse guys' suggestions and put them to use.. I just got a leg vise and am getting used to it, here's a shepherd's hook i tried. And also a weird improvised heart/horseshoe contraption I dont have an angle grinder yet, forging them welds down is all I can do, so they aren't the prettiest things in the world I always have a great respect for artist blacksmiths, there's always a tool to make or a technique to learn for each peice! Also here is my new leg vise from richard thibeau

Thanks for all the replies, guys I think I will do a shepherds hook, attempt a heart/flowerpot holder, and see if I can design a scrolly/twisty birdhouse holder The squirell guillotine sounds interesting, but no squirrels around this neighborhood Funny idea anyhow, lol.

I was wondering if anyone has done steel yard decorations that women might be into? My mom's always talking about how "boring" the front yard looks Any suggestions appreciated Thanks!

all the proportions on this knife look just right, it is really great! The damascus bolsters/blade go really well with the handle, did you make the steel? Very nice job on it, the blade looks really clean!