Dan C

Maybe they'll bring back your OA setup to try and cut it off. I like your idea for a greeting, though I'd accompany it with a shotgun for more subtle persuasion.

I'm in agreement with what's already been said. Questions that only you can answer that help you decide are what are your finances like, is this a good deal for you? What do you plan on making? As mentioned for small stuff this will work, for heavy forge work not so much. I started on a piece of RR track that I mounted vertically that was obtained for free by asking RR workers (later I made them bottle openers and brought cold beer to say thanks) I still use my vertical one and I use another piece of track sometimes that isn't mounted for the various angles that it has. Read thru this post for more info on using RR track and pictures of what I did with mine. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> The estate auction in your area on Sat. might be interesting and the unknown 150 lb anvil that's listed could be a Peter Wright as well. If it's in your budget and they'l hagle on the price that'd be a nice one. Search this forum or check out anvilfire for information on buying used anvils.

Thank you. I did notice a difference leaving it thicker and then having to do more grinding after HT'ing. Nicer finish, but took longer. Really provides an incentive to build a 2x72, using a cheap 1x30 HF belt grinder right now and doing it by hand after 120 grit. I now understand now the value of using a push stick.

Here's the pics, I'm very pleased with how the handle turned out, thanks for everyone's input on that! The blade's finish still need work. Right now it looks blotchy so I'll re-visit this thread to see about fixing that. I'm not looking for a mirror finish, but a consistent satin or shine. It is an improvement over my last file knife as I left the blade thicker prior to HT'ing in order to removed scale or imperfections. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

Anvils are expensive where I'm from as well, I had a friend bring one down from Pennsylvania that I found on craig's list for me. As pricey as they are, I'd say they're worth it considering what you can do with it. Look at it as an investment, I made my money back for the used anvil I bought in a week just as a hobby. For knife making you do want something with a flat face, but it doesn't have to be an anvil. Search the forum for alternatives. Whose anvil is it in the picture though?

Those look good!

What about grinding down to good metal before deciding to start over? I forged a gardening tool this weekend and burned it slightly. Cooled it, then ground it down to what looks like good steel, normalized and then finished the cultivator. As I'm uncertain about it's integrity though I'm keeping this one for myself vs. selling it.

Has anyone tried drilling a pilot hole for the slit punch? I haven't tried this yet, but have seen it recommended to supposedly help with the alignment.

IMO depends on price and how much in need of an anvil you are. Looks like it could be usable if rebound is good and with the damage to the face you can use that to get the price down.

Thanks Dodge, Semper Fi Devil Dog! Yes, I did verify beforehand that both the tang and scales were flat. I'm certain that the problem was caused by me locking it down in the vise or visegrips too hard and squeezing out the epoxy. Fortunately Bigfootnampa suggestion for applying more epoxy and Chinobi's suggestion for tinting the epoxy worked well, you can hardly tell that there was a gap. I ran out of finer grit sanding belts, otherwise I'd have finished it today. I'll post some updated pics tomorrow when it's finished.

My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, probably need bifocals. Unless I take off my glasses and get really close eyeballing for me doesn't work well. I don't detect slight bends until it can be handled later on. Laying it on a flat surface as mentioned does work, though when going back and forth to the anvil takes time and I have to reheat, retest & so on. Rthibeau, yes and no to your comment and thank you everyone for the responses. What I was thinking was, yes something to check for straightness, which by itself would be very helpful but could also be lightly struck to straighten a hot blade to be. It's the minor adjustments which are hard for me to detect that I'm correcting at this point. I have also tried heating and then tightening down in the post vise, but my jaws don't close straight. Another thought would be making something for the post vise jaws that would allow them to do so on a KSO & straighten it.

"only been making knives for a few months..." I'm curious to know how long you've been blacksmithing, as well as how you forged the spine to look like that. Again really nice!

Hi Neil, Right, understood that in the person's picture above the purpose is to protect the anvil face for when cutting. Just thought that something similar with a thicker plate could be used and snugged down with heavy springs for a flat surface, but thought you might also want some mild steel in between for any various that'd keep it from matching up. The mild steel could be heated to bright orange and then sandwiched into place for fit. I've got a small divot in the anvil face that it would likely fill and allow you to position it each time in the same spot. Dan

just okay...dang that's a beauty!

Just wondering if anyone has tried something like this or think it would work for compensating for an anvil that does have good edges or a flat surface for when forging a blade? I tried searching the forum for keywords, cover, edge, flat but no luck. I did find multiple hits on using an edge hardy and could do something similar to get a flat area. In the thread below the idea was to use mild steel or something softer to provide a covering for cutting to protect the anvil face. My anvil's edges are mushroomed that hasn't been an issue. What I have found annoying is not having a good flat surface when trying to make sure a blade is straight. What I've been doing is going to another flat surface like my drill press and laying the blade on it to check, but it'd be better to be able to check and correct on the same surface. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Here's a stolen picture from that thread that gives you an idea of what I have in mind. So I thought of doing something similar to what was done in the thread above but using a thicker and higher carbon steel for when I get to the point of beveling and checking for straightness. If the plate was welded on the sides when then extended down over the anvil sides similar to C-channel and then attached w/ heavy brake drum springs to eyebolts which are on the base of my anvil stand I thought it might work. Maybe you would need to have a piece of mild steel or something softer between the anvil face to keep it from bouncing around...and maybe it just wouldn't work for reasons that someone with more experience would know.

Maybe you thanked me too soon Eseeman, be sure to read the problem I had in this thread and part of the problem was not using a longer set epoxy. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> I almost asked the question what type of epoxy is recommended and then stopped & searched. Here's the thread for that.

This is great information on how to avoid this in the future. Thank you everyone again, it helps tremendously! Maybe other newbies will still this and not make the same mistake, or they will and see bigfootnampa's solution which I've implemented. And I love the suggestion on tinting the epoxy and using leather for the jaws, great stuff! I almost asked the question what type of epoxy is recommended, but stopped & searched. Here's the thread for that in case someone else is wondering.

Not a silly question. I had started out in my post vise whose jaws are uneven, then I needed to use the post vise and moved the setup to the smaller vise (it's jaws are square). Also the pins at that point are still sticking out and would interfere. Thank you for all the feedback! At least now I understand what I did wrong. I'll keep it as a shop knife so I don't make the same mistake again (just a new different mistake)

Please bug me cuz apparently I don't read things well enough the first or 2nd time, ugh! that and sometimes I just have to learn things by making mistakes. Any tricks for correcting them?

This is my 2nd file knife with scales for handles. The first time I made a knife like this there was a tiny gap between a scale & the tang that was barely noticeable near the ricasso. This time instead of just clamping in the middle I used the vise and two sets of vise grips shown below and allowed it to dry like that for 24 hrs. Now I'm wondering if that was the problem. Sounds stupid to ask, but is it possible to clamp it down to tight and squeeze out the epoxy? What do y'all do to get a tight seal of the scales to the tang? After sanding down the excess wood (Burmese Blackwood) I noticed cracks between the scales and tang on the top tail end of the tang on both scales. The pins are 1/8" welding rod in 1/8" drilled holes, the epoxy I used was 5-minute Locktite. I did leave some of the file teeth on the tang but sanded them down to clean steel and had a good flat side on the scales against the tang.. I'm guessing the pressure wasn't even when the epoxy set, but now the question is can it be corrected and avoid this happening in the future. It does look like there's enough room in the crack to seep in some sort of liquid glue and the cracks will close either in a vise or if you squeeze it hard enough. If I can't fix it then I'll just keep it as a shop knife. Not always a bad thing to have something around that reminds you of your mistakes and what to improve on. Please let me know any additional information I might've left out.

This video gives more historical info on anvil shooting as well as information on the owner/shooter himself. I do like what he has on his roof. Looks like no anvils were harmed in the making of this video. Yes, hopefully it goes straight up only.

If you search the forum using the keyword quenchant you'll get a lot of good hits including ideas for a quench tank. Learning how to use the search facility makes everyone's life easier.

I can see that as far as the edge being too hard, I test my knife points by hammering them into wood and then twisting them out. I guess unlike a hammer that's striking metal on metal an axe head would probably just crack if not tempered enough.

I got it from a place that sells bricks. Pretty sure it was called Heat Stop, I asked them what they recommended. I made a grog with some crushed firebrick and used it on the sides to taper the firepot. I used less than half of it. After reading these posts though looks like there are cheaper alternatives. I made the forge prior to finding this forum, btw. I'd tried the cat liter and didn't like the result, decided to bite the bullet and get the refractory as I felt it was needed at the time and just wanted to get started.

Just a thought, you might choose a different background to give contrast to the knife & handle. Working on the sheath yet?