cal-k

that's what i use all winter. its nice cause it's always running and holds heat better than my forge. My dad hates it cause scale gets everywhere, and i have the air open full... he thinks i'm gonna burn the shop down! our neighbor can be a j**k like that too! if i spend more than halfhr grinding he freaks! another reason to forge in a shop.

oh, yeah! all over my tong hand do some steels create more? every one i got is from old jackhammer bits

not ready much, a few knives (D2), hawk, etc....

i hope i spelled that right! a peeve (pee-V) is a tool of steel and wood that we canadians use for moving felled trees by hand. it has three basic parts: the long wood handle, the iron spike end cap, and the hinged arm which grabs the wood. i have a few ideas already but need help with bending the arm, forge welding the spike to the arm, and making the end cap's hollow for the handle. any help would be appreciated, i wood (haha) like to have it made for the fall firewood cutting. cal-k

is it possible to repain cast iron that hasn't cracked too much. it is an old Record vice (M4) that has cracked at the back end of the sliding bar (holds the moving jaw and crank). it is only hairline, and hasn't opened up much since it cracked, but it would be nice to fix. the iron is only 1/4 inch thickness max and the crack is maybe 2 inches long. suggestions? tack weld? heat and clamp?

hey i use a utility knife for scribing. most of my steel is annealed when i mark it out, so it is soft enough to carve a nice deep line in. also with the knife, you can tape your pattern to the steel and then cut the tape around the edges, at the same time scribing the steel! if you make templates out of thick paper you can also cut through the pattern in places to show bevel lines engraving etc. i certainly prefer it to an actual scriber.

i have done alot of knives with just a canadian tire 4" grinder. it can be used to cut to rough shape with thin cut-off blades, then grinding discs for the actual blade bevel and more detailed shape, then a sanding wheel to take out the grind marks. you have to be very careful of overheating (i just let a hose dribble water on it the whole time) and be careful of how much you grind off. try to keep your wheel as flat to the steel as possible so that it doesn't "bite" the steel. that makes it look horrible. after the sanding disc i usually take my pad sander at 80 then 120 grit to the blade which cleans it up nicely for buffing or if you're careful it can leave a cool pattern on the blade.

hey how do you name/label your knives? i've run out of good names already,and calling them by a model number is really boring.

Cool! how did you finish the blade? it loos rough, or is it random damascus?

hey it seems that everyone uses Mule 20 team borax for amateur (me) forge welding. however, in any tutorials i have found, it just says to use it, it doesn't say HOW! i can get it in this white powdery stuff, but apparently it come in liquid? do you just sprinkle it on or what?

yeah, aliens are definitely cooler

i'm 16 just saturday work at a warehouse, so i got tons of time during holidays for knifemaking

thanks! i got firebrick for the inside, and am just forging small knives (under 10 inches) i'm worried about the burner not working proper, like the fire going down the pipe into the tank (could be a problem!) what stops that from happening? calk

hey can anyone teach me how to set up a propane line for my forge? (it's in an old cast iron chimenea) thanks cal-k