char

Ive seen stainless steel sinks used to good effect once they were lined with clay

long way for me too but still sounds like fun. I'm hoping that some one with some experience will put on a forging workshop or something here in California.

thats what I do to, I use small peices split from old pallets. I cant get it hot enough for welding and forging 9260 is tough but everything else works fine. using pellets seems to work fine as well, I am going to experiment with coke when I have enough cash.

that file work is over the top

really cool

oil is the only way to go, I use olive oil it smells great, but opinions vary. a large enough container of oil wont sustain a fire until the container is hot.

great package, nice and simple, that file work sets it off nicely

Nothing wrong with that

here are some homemade grinders that I have found.

Building a shop made Belt Sander

Home or shop made Grinders

compressor motors arent meant for continual use I dont think, if you use it anyway lat us know how it works, thats a good price.

Whats wrong with this one its about as simple as it gets and could easily be modified to not require any welding.:D

When I do it I heat em up then straighten them get em red again then anneal them over nite. Then I normalize at least once after I've been hammering on them. I also generally re anneal them before I start grinding/filing on them, but I dont think its needed just nice.

Nothing wrong with that, what size stock did it start as? Nice knife.

1. make your knife
2. look at it
3. grab a file
4. use said file to remove what isnt a saw

although it would be much easier to just use a saw

Sounds good thanks alot. I dont know what kind of steel it is, I made them from an old lawn mower blade that my neighbor gave me years ago when I started grinding knives. So temper it is

I've made a couple of kitchen knives for the relatives (if they turn out ok) this holiday and I've just edge quenched them. I was washing them up and I realized that I didnt know if I was supposed to temper them the way I normally would. One of them also developed a pretty good curve that it didnt have before, can I just straighten as I would any other? Thanks gentlemen

i was afraid that it was going to require the processing you describe. I didnt want to spend what natural charcoal costs so I have been using hardwood pallets, it works fine for forging and treating but I cant get it hot enough to weld.

From one california newby to another, I'm having alot of trouble getting my charcoal burner up to a hot enough temp. Could you post a picture, I built mine after studying pictures of Tim Lively's forge. The only thing I can figure is that I need both more fuel and more air. Thanks

Thats true its alot easier to walk around a thicket than chop through it. good luck either way.

buy a couple of machetes for you to take and if you want to be real popular take a bunch of cheap pocket knives with you and give them out. i did that in Belize, not as a missionary as a student of ecology, made a lot of friends and I learned alot in the process.

Now that you have built it, and used it, would you make any changes? Really does look great.

its not worth cutting out the holes for weight reduction, particularly as the one in the video has them removed in exactly the wrong place. thats why chetes have a bulbous head on them to add weight where its supposed to be. Stainless would be way more trouble than its worth, you should get used to the idea that you need to dry it after use, oil it when possible and be ready for oxidation that is sure to come.

What are you going to be doing in the amazon? If your flying over and this is just for emergencies then you need one thing if your hiking the length of it then you need something else. 350$ is a good price for a custom functional chopper.

That looks really good and your tracking adjustment looks like its about as simple and as effective as can be. I cant wait to start mine now thanks for the inspiration.

the axle was going to be drawn out into a bolo type of knife, my dad has one and I always felt it was very useful.

I've been practicing smithing on leaf springs for a couple of months now and I decided to take a crack at an old truck axle to see what I could do. I think I prefer stock removal, that axle taught me I dont know squat.