MattBower

If you do it right, the end result of both is nearly pure carbon. So they're pretty much equally effective. I think your real question is which one is more efficient -- which one gives you the greatest mass of charcoal per mass of wood put into the process -- in which case the answer is the retort. Which is why people have been making charcoal in limited-oxygen atmospheres for thousands of years.

I recently started using a coal forge, and last night I made my first successful forge weld in coal. It was a real struggle, though. I'm finding it hard to keep fines from contaminating the flux while the steel heats. The solution last night, we eventually figured out, was to quickly wire brush the two sides of the joint on the way to the anvil (with the help of a buddy), but not all joint designs allow for that. So what's a more reliable solution to this problem? I could also use some pointers on making a proper coal welding fire. I was having a really hard time forming a beehive, which may be why I was having so much trouble keeping the joint clean: I had to put the work right down into the fire, in direct contact with coke. I just wasn't having much luck getting the outer layer of coal to form a shell. One other side note: a couple times last night, during unsuccessful welding attempts, I hit the joint and heard a loud "pop" like a firecracker and felt the work jump a little in my hand. I'm assuming this was due to coke trapped in the joint burning as I tried to set the weld?

Glad you like it. Should work fairly well for you. Be sure to degrease really well before you begin. Frosty, are you sure the finish on those cookie sheets didn't come from baked on oil? (Either way -- oil or sugar -- I guess it's all carbon once the volatiles are cooked off.)

Sorry to hijack, Rich. I know we're talking about two different things.

Thanks, Thomas. I'm part of the local smithing group, actually. But my buddy didn't ask me to find him an anvil; I just ran across that one and thought I might mention it to him. I grew up in the Midwest (Indiana), but I hadn't developed much interest in smithing by the time I moved off to college and then beyond. I suspect I missed a lot of smithing-related opportunities.

Forge scale is black iron oxide -- Fe3O4, I believe. You can create the same finish by causing the tongs to rust (Fe2O3), carding off the loose rust (leaving the firmly affixed stuff behind), repeating the process quite a few times, then (finally) submerging them in boiling water to convert the rust to Fe3O4. There are lots of ways to create the rust; bleach and muriatic acid fumes are two. (Don't combine them! One or the other!) Here's another method that's fast, involves much gentler chemicals, and works very well. (I've used it.): http://forums.swordforum.com/showpost.php?p=372208&postcount=5 Rust bluing -- which is what you're doing -- will help prevent rust, but it's not rust proof. You should still oil or wax periodically.

After sanding I burnish the heck out of it with a piece of round steel (usually a polished screwdriver shank), then apply paste wax and polish. (A light toasting before sanding can help highlight the grain.) Looks gorgeous. The burnishing is a very worthwhile step, in my experience; it really seems to bring out a 3D quality to the grain. Osage is highly rot resistant so I don't worry much about needing a protective finish, like I would with most other woods.

Not to get O/T, but Charlotte, I've read that stainless needs the right flux for high temp silver solder/brazing. Has that been your experience, and what flux do you use? Very nice knife, Rich.

Boy, it sure is pretty! Too bad it's too fragile for a lot of the applications that interest me.

What do you folks think about this anvil at the listed price? (In case the ad goes down soon, it's a 100 pound Vulcan with some dings on part of the face, and one edge that looks a little banged up. But the other edge looks reasonably good, and at least part of the face seems fairly clear.) It's not for me; I have a buddy who's currently working on a chunk of rail that I gave him. He's mostly interested in bladesmithing, so he doesn't necessarily need a monster anvil. 100 lb. Vulcan blacksmith/farrier anvil I realize prices vary by region. All I can say about that is that I haven't seen that many old anvils for sale around here, but then I don't necessarily look in all the right places.

All of the above. Look up "iron works" in your local yellow pages (or just search "iron works" plus your ZIP code in Google Maps). (Iron works may be the same thing as fab shops; this is just the name I've seen them go by.) Some of them let me come in and root through the scrap bins, then sell to me for scrap prices. Others want nothing to do with me. All you can do is ask. That said, steel is where you find it. It's all over. You'll be amazed at what you can get cheap or free if you develop the habit of keeping your eyes open.

mikinvt, I bet you mean gouges, don't you? If you're interested in making chisels and gouges, buy Alexander Weygers' The Complete Modern Blacksmith. Weygers was a very talented woodcarver and made most if not all of his own tools. He discusses making gouges and chisels a fair bit, and I don't believe a swage block is required for any of his methods.

What is it that makes hand-cranked blowers economically infeasible, anyway? (I can't help believing they are. There's certainly a market for them, so price is the best explanation I can think of for why no one is supplying that market in this country.) Most of the parts could be die cast from aluminum, maybe even a ZA alloy. The gears would be the most expensive part. Is that the problem? Are decent gears prohibitively expensive?

Well, the nice things about something the size of a splitting maul are that: (1) it'll hold the heat for quite a while; and, (2) it shouldn't be all that high in carbon, probably. (Maybe 40-50 point range?) But if you're forging something that size you'll be much happier if you find yourself a striker and arm him with a sledge. Or make friends with someone who has a power hammer.

I actually did read all of it, and I didn't see anything about Louisiana. I did find a couple suppliers sorta near me that I hadn't known about, though. :)

I see that while I was drafting my verbose reply, Charlotte has gotten to the same basic conclusions much more succinctly. . I read the actual CBP document, not just the activists' interpretation of it, and I'm not persuaded it has nearly the sweeping effects that are being claimed. First, CBP has no jurisdiction to define the term "switchblade" for purposes of domestic criminal law. Their definition may constitute some kind of persuasive precedent in terms of domestic law, but it's only directly applicable to requests to import. Second, they seem to have gone out of their way to clarify that the sorts of knives they're concerned about are, "knives with spring- and release-assisted opening mechanisms," and that, "[t]he knives at issue open via inertia – once pressure is applied to the thumb stud (or protrusion at the base of the blade), the blade continues in inertial motion (caused by the combined effect of manual and springassisted pressure) until it is stopped by the locking mechanism of the knife. Such knives open instantly for potential use as a weapon. We therefore conclude, in consideration of the authorities and sources Switchblade Knife Act and implementing regulations, that the knives with spring-and release- assisted opening mechanisms, that such knives are described and prohibited by 15 U.S.C.

Not to hijack the thread but, to be a little picky, it's not quite accurate to say that grain growth begins at the Curie point. Curie point isn't diretly related to the BCC/FCC shift, and the temperature at which austenite formation stops and grain growth begins varies from steel to steel. It's usually something other than 1414 F, though it's (again, usually) in that neighborhood.

Same reason you'd use a fuller: increased rigidity with minimal increase in mass. (Well, OK: with a fuller you're going for reduced mass with minimal loss of rigidity. But they're two sides of the same coin.) Oriental-Arms: Large Choora / Khyber Knife, Afghanistan

Fluid Film is good stuff. Much better than WD-40, but it does need periodic reapplication. And it doesn't dry out, so it may not be good for some applications.

Yeah, that's obviously self-generated marketing hype. His mom offered him $1,500, maybe, but only for purposes of advertising. lol

Can't help wondering if this is a deliberate joke or some sort, or if he has some other sort of ulterior motive (as Thomas suggested). Pretty hard to take this seriously. No one could be that dumb. (And that's not something you'll find me saying very often.)

Medieval, what sort of steel were you using for the hammers you're referring to? I've read conflicting reports about the right quenching medium for reasonably heavy sections of 4140, both here and elsewhere. Your differential heating and hardening approach like a smart idea in any event; there's less residual heat to have to deal with that way.

Thanks for the tip on Iron for the Eagles. Interlibrary loan has served me well so far. :)

No, wait: I want to see a 100mm sword! Seriously. Post a pic, Mike. When I was ten or so I would've killed for a tiny sword to arm my GI Joes with. (In fact I occasionally cold forged/filed tiny weapons out of coat hangers and the like.)

The "Roman era" lasted a very long time, so it's usually risky to generalize. But AFAIK the Iron Age came to the Italian peninsula well before the founding of the Roman Republic. This is a 2nd century AD spearhead, and there's no doubt that the Bronze Age had been over for the Romans for a long time by that point.