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Hey everyone, I am one of the members of the MAD Dwarf Workshop and i am a second semester freshman in college right now at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana. I have been contemplating my future goals and erea of education for the past year, but unfortunately haven't come up with anything i really felt called to do. BUT a month ago i stumbled apon the Metal Workshop here at BSU and decided to learn a little more about it. After spending an afternoon with the head operator of the metals department, i realized that i had found something that would be exciting and very exciting for me to pursue. So i went and signed up for my degree in "metals: industrial design" with a minor in "Historic preservation". (and am VERY excited with it) so now i was wondering.... does anyone know of any scholarships that are specific for a metals degree? I've done a little Googleing, but havn't come up with anything. I will keep everyone updated as i work my way through this next, exciting, chapter of my life. Thanks, M Andrew D

Larry, that really is a great thing your doing. If i were a bit closer (and maybe younger??) i'd jump on that in a second. but college calls. and i must go. but just wanted to let you know, you DO make an impact in every one of those kids lives. keep up the good work :)

WOW! those look absolutely fantastic! i love the smaller one. has a great grind on it as well. both are outstanding. quite an accomplishment in such a short time.

Forged by Andy Davis, Aegloin is a migration period Viking sax. The carvings and flowing shape of the overall piece is greatly inspired by traditional Celtic/Irish music that reflects on ancient ancestry such as those of the migration period and the rich beutiful folk lore of the European peoples. steel type: 1075 wood type: curly maple blade: 10 1/2 inches OAL: 15 1/2 inches scabbard: 13 inches

the Cawood Sword Hand forged by Andy Davis, the Cawood Sword is a representation of a true historic sword that was found in the late 19th Century in the River Ouse near Cawood Castle which was an ancient Viking Lord's stronghold in North Yorkshire. Throughout history much has been unknown about the original sword and its owner. It is extremely unique in the sense that it is a sword on the cusp of two eras. On one hand it follows the traditional Viking age sword style with its lobed shaped pommel and short stout grip. But on the other hand it has a distinctly medieval crossbar with its wide curved shape. The original sword also carries inscriptions that run down the blades fuller and is made up of a number of capital letters which do not form any known words. On one side they are in Roman script and on the other they are in Lombardic script. It is believed that these letters stood for words which in turn represented a phrase or saying that possibly held great spiritual power of sorts to the swords owner. Specs: Steel: 1075 high carbon Guard and Pommel: low carbon steel Grip material: walnut and curly maple wood

hmmm so can i be an honorary kid-smith member too? i'm 18 yrs old, but i origionally started when i was 13. and have gone up ever since. it's really great how many young adults we have on this forum. Without beginners, who would all these old xxxxx teach thier craft too? i recently had a group of around 12 4th graders out to my shop for a day. wow. what a headache! but i think they really enjoyed it... i let them all forge a small knife. one person at a time. then at the end of the day, i presented it to the teacher. and once the day was complete i gave a wooden replica short sword to all the kids who came. quite the fun day. i think alot of the younger generation will make an impact on blacksmithing, but for now, they need people who can take them under thier wing and teach them what to do with a bar of steel. thats where i would like to thank everyone here for the outstanding help they have been in my path to becoming a blacksmith. Without your help and support i would have never been able to do half the things i can now. i appreciate everyone here, and the administrators who keep this site online. Thank You! M Andy D the MAD Dwarf Workshop

my etchant is in a long cylindrical tube, do i need to stir it alot to mix the etchant?

i think i have about 1 parts etchant to two or three parts water..

how long do you etch your wire rope? i've tried a couple different times, but can't seem to get a pattern to pop out. i've done 4 minutes, 30 seconds, and 6 minutes. do you think i should try 20? 30? i like the knife, way to use every last piece you get!

stainless is tough stuff. it cools withing seconds, and fractures when drawn out too far. although this is just with the "unknown" stainless i've worked with. So you might want to look for some 304, or 430SS. i THINK those are fairly easy to forge. But it is night and day from mild steel. You'll hate it i guarentee :)

hhmmm i recently baught ALOT of band saw blade at our local junkyard (L-6) and was going to get some D-2 to forge it into a pattern billet with. so i go to our local steel suplier (un-named, but it starts with an "A" and ends in "lro") and i go in to get a quote for a 1/4 thick (too big but that was all they had) 4 inch wide, and 48 inches long piece of steel, should wiegh around five-seven pounds right? well they get back with me a quote of $171.26!!!!!! i thought there has to be a miscalculation or something. so i go back in person and ask them, "yep thats right." he says, so i ask him to recalculate it, he does, gets a second oppinion, comes back to me and says, well other than a few cents here and there thats pretty close. Did i miss something or is D-2 just THAT expensive?? or is he just trying to rip me off? or am i just getting overly worked up about this? so i need SOMETHING to mix with my L-6, so if anybody has anything they'd like to sell (maybe a 1060ish, or D-2, O-1 or something of the same weldability.) i would be honored to take that off your hands :)

Thank you! we've been constructing for about 2 years now. although there was about 4 months of reading and looking outside at the snow for a while before we started. But God has blessed us soooo much. We always say God owns our shop because all told we havn't spent more than $300 on the shop and we have EVERYTHING we need. We keep looking back at were we were two years ago, and then realising how far we've come, and then looking two years ahead and hoping and praying that our hobby can help us in our future.

as i'll go ahead and update you guys on some of ourt most recent projects. - a viking seax which is almost finished which is make of 1085. maple handle and sheath, decorative handle work ect... -another larger seax which is far more precise in it's making, annealed many times, hardened, and tempered to perfection this has just been forged/ground, and will soon be completed. - a hunting knife for skinning, field dressing game. a small (25") leafblade with fuller and damascus guard. - we have begun the downhill slide of patternwelding. we have made several practice billets out of mild/L6 and it's worked wonderfully, the only problem with mild is as soon as you try to forge it it breaks all the welds, so for now we are just practicing with it until we can get some better steel. - new gas forge. - new 500+ pound Peter Wright anvil (havn't wieghed, or looked at numbers yet. all i know is it took four big guys to get it in the truck. - belt grinder is finished, hogs metal like a champ. it rips right through anything you give it. - finished a few smaller knives for a reniassance fair actor. - working on building up some stock peices to put on the web-site. Will update very soon i think thats about all for now. Thanks!

Well... it was over 5 months worth of work and countless hours researching and sketching out ideas, and finally I have finished my first TRUE hand forged REAL and fully functional sword!... The overall design of this sword is a design that I have been working on and thinking up in my head for a good long time, with inspirations taken off of both modern stylistic shapes and traditional historic sword styles. The blade was fully forged from high carbon leaf spring. The guard pommel & fittings were made from 100 year old iron off of an old farming wagon. And the wood for the handle and sheath is cherry with a tungoil finish for protection. The carvings were inspired from a mix of J.R.R. Tolkien

so what does the "A" under the rest of the writing stand for?

yes i also was wondering about my little Peter Wright. i have a #118 and here is what it looks like, so if anyone has any info on this anvil let me know, just stuff like when it was made, who made it, and how much it would be worth today, what country it was made it... ect.. anything.. at all..... .....

very good, what shap of meterial did you start from? (ie. roundstock, barstock, ect..) and do you know what type of steel it is? what did you quench in? what temper color did you draw too? wow, thats quite a few questions. sorry, just don't answer the ones you don't know. looks much better than all of my beggining tries. nice work!

well about those darn grining disks, i have a 4 1/2" grinder and i was using it on a forgewelded billet i had, and i was in the middle of a mild-steel piece when the edge chopped into the high-carbon file i had on the other half, well the outer 1/2" of the wheel was completely shattered and i checked my body to make sure no harm, and in my right bicept i founf a 1"X1/2" piece stuck half way in my arm, along with several other smaller pieces of wheel. so from first hand experiance, always check your wheels, even brand new ones, and don't use a wheel that is worn, or broken. well, i know this can be over annalized, and it can be rather annoying when you have a couple hundred people lecturing you about it. but it's good to get a good talking to about every 3-5 years.

one of my freinds has been working on a file knife for a long time, it's very cool, so now we're down to putting in the rivets in the handle, the only problem is we can't seem to get through the file. so, what speed should i have my drill press on , and what kind of drill bit should i use? thanks, M Andrew D God bless

govorning authorities can be like over-protective mothers sometimes. they take away bad toy's, they keep us from the out-side world. but one day they step over the line and the child snaps, then revolts, then things are never the same. i just hope the govornment, not just American but all govornments see what can happen if they take away our rights, our personal defence, our money, and our freedom. i hope it never comes to the point where the people try to take control then make fools of themselves and only get people hurt. well thats my deep thought of the day. hope i didn't offend anyone.

is this project still going on? and are they in need of help? i live in eastern indiana, and my dad worked for a lumber mill, and has a custom cabinet shop, and i have a small blacksmithing shop in a barn. so if there is anything that you need, keep us in mind! sounds like a terrific project.

so anyone have any suggestions on how to improve technique, or how to make it better?

very nice blade, is it forged, or ground? i can't really tell.. quite a good job.

technicaly its called "bluing" but i think i took it a bit too far and accidentally tempered the outside layer of metal. but, it looks cool. and i think it's still durable. hhmm i havn't really put this one into a race catagory, it sorta looks elven, but yet the scratchy sort of ravenish drawing looks rather mordor orcish, so i think it's all about what the user makes it. thanks for the comments!

this is a bit of a better picture of the two, http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69765 hope that gives you a bit more detail.