Lutz

If you’re considering other options, something else to keep in mind is that if you don’t have heat treating equipment available and plan to heat treat in the forge, there are other steels that you will find easier to get good results with compared to S7. S7 will also be harder to forge by hand since it is a tool steel intended withstand higher temps. 4140 would be easy enough to heat treat, but lacks the carbon for a good quality knife. Something like like 1095 would a good choice and easier to manage though can still present some challenge from a heat treat perspective. 1084 is a good choice and very user friendly. You might not eek out quite the same performance for a kitchen knife that you could with a higher carbon steel, but if you are just beginning, I think you are more likely to get good results with a steel that is easier to heat treat well, while focusing your attention on things like the optimal blade thickness and edge geometry. For your first knives, and especially kitchen knives, I think those factors will have a more noticeable affect on performance rather than a couple point more rockwell hardness or a little more toughness from a more exotic alloy.

Ha, I misspoke Frosty. I do have an alarm, I just happen to see the value before the actual alarm went off and clued me in to the issue.

Just sharing a recent experience as a bit of a PSA. I have a smallish shop and being a safety conscious fellow, have had a carbon monoxide detector from the get go. When I run the gas forge, I make sure I get some airflow. This weekend I was running a torch with a #6 rosebud pretty continuously and just happened to look at my CO detector and notice I was approaching 100 PPM. It never occurred to me that torch would be enough to start raising the levels in my shop. I quickly corrected that situation, but I thought this might be a good time to remind folks that if you don’t have a CO detector, it’s well worth the investment. Even if you are cautious, sometimes you’ll still get surprised.

The ABS does have a forum on their website. As Frosty suggests, such forums may help you reach your target audience more easily. Another good way to connect is to attend a Hammer-In. Lots of good instruction and a chance to meet area smiths. Probably the closest to you is the Great Smokey Mountain Hammer-In in Clyde, NC. You can find more on the ABS events page. Another consideration is to check out ABS affiliated schools, specifically the Intro to Bladesmithing class. Having attend one myself, I can tell you it is well worth the investment and will give you a great foundation to build on. All that is not to say that you can’t find an exceptional bladesmith who is not part of the ABS by simply attending your local ABANA group. I do think highly of the ABS as a group though. As a bonus, if you connect with a journeyman or master smith, you can be sure they’ve been vetted by their peers and you have less chance of being picking up bad habits from someone whose main credential is YouTube. Jake

Thank you all for the input! I'll share my results once everything is operational. I'm looking forward to being able to have a coal forge again!

That part makes sense to me, but what I wasn’t sure about is whether the fact that the chimney opens to 10” inches increases the pressure differential such that there is some advantage to having that occur to as opposed to just sticking with 8” all the way. I know the 8” portion will not truly function as though it were 10”, but I wasn’t sure if there might be some improvement in performance.

The final significant project in my shop is the chimney for the coal forge. I am planning to do a Super Sucker style hood. I have some (about 10’) of stainless double wall pipe that has an 8” ID, which I understand is a bit undersized as most recommend 10-12” to ensure good airflow. My question is, if I use that 8” ID pipe until I transition through the roof and then go to 10” single wall, how will that impact my airflow? Will there be a benefit to using the 10” for the final run, or would it make little difference if the initial section is only 8” ID? I’d appreciate any input. Thank you!

Oops, apologies for running afoul of the ad rule. Just posting for to show an example, didn’t think about it being advertising!

These are slightly different than the bolts you mentioned, but corby bolts are also commonly used in knife handles. Often after installing the head is cut/ground flat so it appears to be a solid pin. Advert removed

Everyone has given a wealth of information above, I would just add that the American Bladesmith Society (ABS; www.americanbladesmith.com) is a good resource for learning about the principles of forging a blade, sword or otherwise. Much of the info will tend towards more modern techniques and you'll find more knife makers than sword makers in their membership, but until you can forge a quality knife and understand the principals of the same, sword making should remain on the to-do list. You can also view their membership roster to see if there are bladesmiths in your area who might be able to serve as a mentor or at least offer some input as you learn.

We didn’t end up with enough folks signed up, so we had to scrap it. I don’t have a large enough facility myself, so I was coordinating with folks at SOFA. I’m actually attending another tirehammer build, so I probably won’t be pushing to set up another, but if you don’t have a large enough shop yourself you could always contact the workshop coordinator there in Troy and see what they think about trying again. Send me a message if you’d like his contact info.

JHCC, I don’t think they’ve updated their website yet, but SOFA announced on their Facebook page that for 2018: “Next year's dates for Quad State are Sept 21st,22nd & 23rd. And the gallery Feature catergory is Animal forms .”

Here’s the latest info. Contact myself or Mike Brennan (see below) for more details. Ray Clontz Tire Hammer Workshop (50 lb) Location: SOFA Building; Troy, Ohio Dates: April 19-22, 2018 40 plus hours over 4 days Estimated Cost: $1500 ...Pricing is by no means complete at this point Requirements: Current SOFA membership (apply on SOFA website: https://sofablacksmiths.org/) Prior work: 2-4 subassembly sessions will be held at the SOFA building on weekends prior to the workshop. All participants must attend these sessions or fabricate the pieces at their homes or pay a $100 fee per missed pre-assembly session. Review: Review attachments from Clay Spencer (available on request) to better understand the depth of the tire hammer build. Motels and Camping: I-75 and St. Rte. 41 is the closest major intersection for motels, restaurants and retail stores. Camping is available on the Miami County Fairgrounds. Necessary for Build: As you can see on the attachment from Clay Spencer, this is a labor intensive project involving lifting and carrying up to 50lbs. as well as long days on your feet. At a minimum, experience working with metal and mechanical ability are required. It will be necessary that within the group some participants be certified or experienced welders, machinists, and/or fabricators. Please let Mike Brennan (see below) know which of these skills you possess. Those Interested: Respond to Mike Brennan, Workshop Coordinator at m.mbre574@gmail.com Send no down payment at this time. I am gathering a list of those who are interested until November 30.

Probably true for most administrative endeavors unfortunately. Thanks for your thoughts!

JHCC, good eye! That’s one of things I wasn’t happy with, but I decided to stop chasing it. I thought about adding some filework on the spine to hide it, but as this project was just a learning experience I was ready to move on. You could be right about the Spanish notch. General consensus seems to be they serve no real purpose and are just decorative. I included because it was a common feature on the Samuel Bell dirks after which this knife is modeled (in my case rather loosely). Great quote, by the way. A sentiment I’m sure most of us share.

Hi All. Here’s one I just finished up after putzing with it off and on over the last several months. I forged the blade from 5160 in a workshop Butch Sheely taught at SOFA earlier in the year. It’s my first attempt at this style of knife. Lots of firsts in this knife in fact; first time using a lathe which was used to turn the copper spacer and ferrule nut and first time doing a threaded tang. The handle is katalox, which is also a first, but I rather liked it as a handle material. It’s very dense and hard. There’s about 20 things I would’ve liked to have a done a better job on, but all things considered I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Wayne, thanks for sharing. It’s certainly interesting to hear that history, especially from your perspective as a former board member. I’d be interested to know your thoughts on the proposed changes as whole, especially knowing that you penned the prior version.

Hello WayneCoe. You are correct, there is no mention of that in the bylaws. However, like you observed I was concerned that the future plans for the affiliates was rather vague in the proposed updates. So I contacted the ABANA office to ask about it. The reply I received is quoted above; that's where the 501(c)3 classification was mentioned as a possibility. Something I thought it was good to be aware of, though there does not appear to be a hard and fast decision as of yet.

As many of you probably did, I recently received the ballot to vote on the proposed ABANA bylaw changes and I took a few minutes to read the proposed changes before casting my vote. You can do so here if you like: https://abana.org/business/by-laws/. As a member of both ABANA and a local affiliate group (Indiana Blacksmithing Association), I was a little concerned with the language changes related to affiliate groups. The re-write seems to leave the future of the affiliates a little uncertain. I emailed the ABANA office to ask about this, and I received the following unofficial reply: "Just my person opinion [sic] here… The board has talked at length with proposed (and stricter) requirements for the affiliates. I believe they may want to impose regulations for maintaining a non-profit status among the affiliates (ensuring that they comply with IRS regulations, and/or require a 501( c)3 status), require formal bylaws, executive board structure, number of meetings, etc. I don’t think there is a structured plan to grandfather existing affiliates into new requirements, or at least, I haven’t heard of any." I thought it was good for those potential changes to be on the radar for the many different ABANA affiliate groups. I'm sure there has been a lot of discussion about why those potential changes are important, but I expressed my concern that if such changes are implemented to quickly or to stringently, it could negatively impact the affiliates; I feel those local groups are really the face of ABANA and often the first contact for new smiths. Fortunately our Indiana group is already a 501(c)3, but obtaining a 501(c)3 status can be somewhat of an involved and costly endeavor for those who are not. My hope would be that ABANA would work with the affiliates to make those changes happen if that is ultimately what is required, but I thought it would be good to make others aware so they could be working to that end as well.

Ha, good question Steve! I don't have a good answer aside from not seeming to carve out the time. I literally have every mtg both at New Haven and the 'unofficial' Salomon Farms in my calendar, but always seem to be out of town or have another commitment when the time comes. Making it more often is still on my list of goals however!

If you’re thinking of building a power hammer, might I direct you to this recent advert: I’m in Indiana also, but up in Fort Wayne in the more northernly part of the state.

Anvils in America (AIA) places the manufacture date at 1906 for a serial number of 122,088. A serial number of 22,088 would be a manufacture date of 1895. So either way it’s got quite a few stores to tell!

Thanks for the additional pics. My copy of AIA is at home, but if no one beats me to it I'll take a look this evening and see if can give you a time frame for when your anvil was made.

Greetings. Do you see any numbers along the front of the foot? If you can discern a serial number, it will help to date your anvil.

4elements, if you're looking for anvil in that size and price range, check out the NC Anvils at Centaur Forge (http://www.centaurforge.com/NC-Anvils/products/483/). They offer free shipping on anvils priced $325 or higher and $9.95 flat rate on anvils that cost less than that. So as DanL mentioned, you can get a new anvil of that size for same price. I've heard they also give a discount to first time customers, but you may need to talk to someone in the sales department to ask about that.