eseemann

Well today was not at all a bad day. I went to the hardware store, Huntsville Al is blessed with 2 real hardware stores, and asked about getting some 1095. The guy said he did not have a way to order any so he sent me over to a steel fabricator. The guy in charge of sales said he only had A36 but asked how big I needed it. I told him as thin as 1/8 inch and he said to follow him. He shows me a rack of old saw blades and tells me that a guy used to get them for knife making. I took some home and cut a slice out with a 7" cut off blade for the circular saw and heated some up to non-magnetic. Did a water quench and put it in the vice. The small bit broke off like glass with almost no effort. The larger bit took some doing but broke. I tried one more time and put my 6' 8" 304 lbs in to it and it would not bend or break. It did flex.

So any one know what I can search the google for to find more information about this type of blade?

Thanks

Ernest 

Nice blade, I would say you should be happy about it. Good work.

I had a 3 foot track cut in two and I have not found the part near the cut to be softer than the other side.

Guys,

Take a look at this post, '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>  I have put up photos of my one brick Psychobilly forge. I have a 1/2 rod of 5160 in the photos that is glowing at or past non-magnetic. 

J,

The first one I built was welded, badly, and I used black pipe from Home Depot and a hair dryer for the blower. The next one was a one brick that I made from old cookie sheet and bent by hand in to place. I hold the forge together with a steel strap, nut and bolt. I use a Mag-Torch MT245C MAPP/Propane Heavy Duty Pencil Flame Burner Torch Tip and Mr. Heater 75,000 BTU 12-Foot Propane Hose Assembly from Amazon.com. Using the torch for the burner saves on propane and it will get hot enough to forge weld but the flux kills the brick. I have forged 5160 in this one brick rig.

I second that Neato!

I think they are neat looking and a good start. 

This page has a discription of the type of very small and very old nail you are after. http://www.harpgallery.com/library/nails.htm

I think the hobby shop is your best bet.

Blacksmiths are like anyone else, they love free labor if you can take orders. If you are willing to listen more than talk and help out you will go far. Remember that people respond very well to please and thank you.

Heather,

Go to a hobby shop or some place that sells the makings for doll houses. That looks like a copper brad.

Vishal

Dave Canterbury of The Pathfinder School has videos on YouTube about what type of spear point to use. Nice thing about a Leaf point spear is you have a knife as well. I would not make one that weighed more than fixed blade knife.

Dcraven,

Toaster Oven, go to the good will and get you 2 or 3. Then go to Walmart and get an equal number of

High Heat Oven Thermometers.

You can then set them all up and then record what oven does what termp. Much easier then using the torch or stove.

M31, did you get this shipped or did you pick it up? If you picked it up I would suggest seeing if they will take it back. What Zip code do you live it? Harbor Freight sells the same ASO and you can get the 20% coupon from Facebook. Still an ASO but you save a few bucks. I use a section of large gauge railroad rail. The chunk I use is around 18 inches and 60/odd pounds. 

Where are you folks getting your pivot bolts and such?

thanks 

Now all you need is a REALLY big pig that needs a sticking!

Looks great, is that TIG or MIG? What did you use to cut the track, that stuff is hard!

steve, is the knife chat part of the knife lessons?

dcraven, What kind of steel is the plate your hardy is made of and how thick is it?

How well did it harden/hold an edge. Nice knife.

I got a sawmill blade, maybe 36" or so, and did the can it harden test. I hardened it two times and slapped it against my vise. It broke like glass. It sounded a lot like glass snapping off. 

I agree, the reason I used these is I got 36 rectangles of steel for $4.00 and if nothing else they would make good things to put in to pattern welds. Each blade is 1.5" by 4" so I figured they are good for small things like this. I also have some 5160 that I am working on now in to a camp knife. Soon as I get a good local source higher carbon steel I will use that. I have been devloping contacts at pawn and second hand stores for old files and such.

I would suggest that anyone with 54 min that they can spare watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbLyVpWsVM. This guy makes a replica of a famous viking sword and unless I missed something all they used was a stump anvil. From what I saw it was a 4"x4" or 6"x6"  block with a spike embedded in a stump. There is another show I saw where they showed a historical viking village in Iceland or Greenland where the village smith used an "anvil stone". I think the moral of the story is what Thomas said, get some weight and mass under your work and go!

The saga says that Skallagrímur couldn't find an anvil stone to suit him, so he rowed out into Borgarfjörður one evening in his boat. He dove to the bottom and brought up a suitable boulder for his anvil stone.

The anvil stone, with its hammer marks, still stands at Rauðanes (left), but it has been moved away from the shore. Ruins (right), which are the probable site of Skallagrím's smithy, are located closer to the shore.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm

Always wanted some small knives for wood carving. What do you think? The guys at the forge meeting say the rotary drum blades are normally 1045.

I re-hardened the blade with oil, as recommended, and that did the trick. I the handle is oak flooring and linseed oil. The small chunk is the rest of the 6" chisel that the blade came from.    

My father knew a Jesuit Priest that did a good bit of work in Haïti and one of the things that he did one year was had 100's of spalings planted. Came back from a trip off island and found out that the saplings were cut down for charcoal. This was in the late 80s early 90s.