clifford

Does anyone use this steel? Why isn't it used more often? I have used 'W1' and really don't like it. Seem like it doesn't really soften ( is that the right terminology?) when heated.

I boil them on the Coleman camp stove out side, untill the meat and stuff is cooked off. I slightly sun dry them, then put them up untill I need them. I like the yellow, cracked look. Sometimes I'll fill them with a cheap two part epoxy, or whatever I have on hand. I am curiuos how others treat bone, particulary well aged and dried bone.

Monore , co. There was a train derailed in Sweetwater ,several years ago. I know the mess hasn't been cleaned up yet. I may drive down and see what's there. About three miles south of town on Hwy 11, there is a pile of gravels mixed with all the usual RR hardware, if anyone is near that area.

I'm in Madisonville, best I remember Wartburg is about an hour and a half from here. I used to hunt near there years ago. Actually , I got lost in Catoosa and walked out in Wartburg... it took a while. I remember I was walking a gravel road, it was freezing rain, and so foggy I couldn't see more than a few feet. I came across a small brick building that wasn't locked so I slept the rest of the night in there. It wasn't untill the next morning I realised it was a campground bathroom. No wonder it smelled. I found another section of RR track, but it is much too large for me to lift. It would probably take about 400 hacksaw blades to cut!

Like forge welding? I am in desperate need of learning that.

What would be a decent test, nonscientific of course, that one could use to determine if a random metal would make a decent knife. Not a high quality, indestructable knife, but something that would hold up to light use. Like , say a reinactor, or rondezvouer, who would never actually use it. I collect just about any metal that is of appropriate size, then hit with the grinder before trying to make anything. The more it sparks, the greater a blade it seems to make. My knifes are sold cheaply, and the buyers made well aware of what they were made from. It seams the more unusual the material, the higher the price they fetch. My proudest sell was to a motorcycle dealer who gave me a part from a bike to make a letter opener from.

Right now, the best working surface I have is a 3 inch section of RR track. I have an "Anvil Like Object" that works for rough work. And that is about it. What about a granite block, like what a tombstone would be made from? What kind of things have you used, or are using now?

...like what is used in concrete. I have found about 200 sections between 2 and 4 feet long in the ditch. It looked like about 1/2 inch diameter. What is it good for? Will it hold up to forging?

Thank you, Welding, or soldering, a cover seems more reasonable than hardening this thing. It may very well be cast iron, though it isn't brittle. What kind of welding rod would be recommended for general welding of an unknown metal? I am restricted to welding with an acetylene unit. Or a solder? The only solder I have now is labeled; Oatey 2982 Safe-Flo silver lead free solder. I have only used this for filling gaps in the tang area of knifes, so I don't know how well it would perform elsewhere. I admit I know nothing about welding/soldering, though I have done it many times.

I have an anvil of Chinese manufacture, and have abused it on top of it being soft. Ignorance, I suppose. I will be attempting to resurface it tommorrow. I have read of anvils being re-hardened. Has anyone attempted this? Any ideas? I have no idea of what kind of steel this anvil is cast from, and no money to buy a replacement. Any advice would be appriciated. I was thinking of sitting it on a charcoal fire, upside down 'till hot (what temp, I have no idea. I do have the ability to measure surface temp.) then quenching, somehow. Thank you.

Thank you, gentlmen. I can't put it into words, but I think I understand.

Thank you, profile edited. It seeams to me that if the blade was heated to , say brown or blue, that I could re-aneal it then continue working. I have read, and been told, that overheating during the grinding procces " burns out the carbon", and the steal is useless there after.

Hello, gentlemen. New guy here with a question. Something I have wondered about for a while. Why is a blade considered ruined when it is over heated during a grinding process, but it gets much hotter during the forging , annealing process? Much of what I have learned comes from trial and error, or the Foxfire books. I have been making knife like objects for a little over one year now, and have more questions now than when I started. Thank you.