son_of_bluegrass

If we know what steel you are using we can give better answers. For small size, I'd start with "music wire" from a hobby store. That is round and available in small sizes already. I make my own stitching points for leather sewing from such stock. To heat treat, I heat either in the forge if I'm already doing something there or use a plumber's propane torch. When using a torch I heat in a darkened shop looking for the descalesence then quench in a container of water. I temper usually in a household oven. For your application I'd guess 475 to 525 degrees F for an hour would be a good place to start. I would also heat treat each piece 2 or 3 times longer than needed and cut it to length after the heat treat. ron

I had intended to get one done. I even did a couple of experimental pieces, one from re-bar the other from something too mild to harden. One of them will become my entry for the local clubs February trade item (this month it's a letter opener). I had some other things I wanted to work on first and didn't make it to a knife for this. Since this post started about 3 weeks prior to the end of the contest and there was some time discussing the rules, there was something under 3 weeks for the contest. I think a month from the official start of the contest should be enough time for most people (maybe not those who work outside in winter). Maybe 6 weeks. Here is a picture of one of the experiments. This one had been a piece of re-bar. As I said it isn't a knife (no edge holding capabilities) but it shows what my intentions was. ron

As an idea about how much you'll use, I take 3 to 5 days to go through a 5 gallon bucket. That is estimated from when I get a chance to light a fire. On those days I have time and the weather cooperates, I generally forge for 5 or 6 hours. The variation in how long a bucket lasts is largely based on what I'm doing as I burn more when I'm practicing welding. Depending on the size of your fire pot, how well you manage your fire and the specifics of your coal you may burn through it faster or slower than that. A couple of buckets (50 or 60 pounds) will be enough for you to get started and learn fire management without a large outlay of cash. If you decide you're going to spend a lot of time in your smithy you can then get a barrel. Just my thoughts. ron

Depending on how big the lumps are and how many fines, how full you fill it and all of that, a 55 gallon drum of bituminous coal will weight somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds, give or take a bit. Unless you have some way to unload that amount in a drum, you may want to get 8 or 10 5 gallon buckets to fill at the coal yard then dump those into the larger drum (more compact storage that way). Or if you don't want that much, figure between 30 and 40 pounds for a 5 gallon bucket, depending again on the above factors. ron

When it comes to hammers, I see a lot of recommendations for 2 lbs or heavier. That is fine if you are use to swinging a hammer, if not something lighter may be a better starting point. I like charcoal. But the local club did a bulk buy and I got a ton of coal for 150 $US. Coal and charcoal have almost the same BTU's based on weight. But as charcoal is much less dense, you be feeding the fire more and it will seem like you are using a lot more charcoal. And by volume you are burning more, but by weight you're burning about the same. As for quenchants, I avoid motor oil. There are all kinds of additives to improve it for running in an engine. I don't want to breath any of that. I use old cooking oil. Still not good for you to breathe the vapors but I don't think it is as bad as motor oil. As has been mentioned, look for your closest ABANA affiliate (or other local club) and join it. You may find people selling tools, a source of coal and will certainly find people willing to share their knowledge. ron

Maybe they want a darwin award. ron

What are the criteria for determining which category you belong in? Some number of knives forged or some length of time forging? I'm still a maybe. I'm hoping to light a fire monday but that is still isn't certain. If not, I may not find time before the deadline. If I understand correctly, the deadline is Jan 02, 2011? ron

If you're concerned about people risking injury from rushing, how about one hour for the hot work (forging and any hot filing) and an additional 30 minutes for the cold work (filing, handling and sharpening). And the heat treat doesn't count time wise. Or something along those lines. This would still preclude spending enough time to polish anything without the pressure to rush anything. I spent around 45 minutes or maybe just a bit more forging a blade some time ago. Then a few hours to do the finish work. So I don't see where an hour needs to give the pressure to rush to the point of risking injury. And practice knives wouldn't count towards the time so anyone who wanted to practice on several pieces before hand to get up to speed. ron

If what you have is too strong, why not just build a baffle to cut down on the air flow? I'm sure if you search you can find simple and effective plans for a baffle. ron

I've been thinking of making what I've seen here called a blacksmith knife or other places a self knife. One where the tang is bent back as the handle. I happen to have a piece of hay rake. What I can't guarantee is that I could find a chance to light a fire, so don't count me in just yet but I like the idea. That will depend on weather and the end date of the competition. Of course there is the question of judging to determine the winner. A poll maybe? Any entry fees (I imagine mostly to cover any prize/prizes)? Any other details to work out? Summarizing the proposed rules so far one hour time limit fully functional blade - heat treated and sharpened minimum blade length - 2.5 inches ( or do you want to go with 3 inch) minimum blade width - 0.5 inches no electricity (do lights count? http://www.iforgeiron.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif ) can't start with flat stock ron who has no time keeping device in the shop.

It is better the struck end be left soft and dressed when it mushrooms. Otherwise there is a risk of chips flying off at high speed when struck. Or at least softer than the striking utensil and soft enough to mushroom instead of chipping. As for the working end, if I had the equipment, I'd try to harden it to lower bainite. It is tougher than martensite for the same hardness. If I didn't have the equipment then I'd harden and temper to 450˚ to 500˚F. Then I'd test it out and adjust as necessary. ron

I've done some work with linseed oil. I've found it only cures to a depth of between 1/16 and 1/8 inch. The more porous the wood the deeper it cures. If your handle material has a total thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch it may cure all the way though, if it is thick enough not to cure through you are no better off than if you applied 5 or more coats of oil the traditional way. I don't see where soaking more than a day or two will gain you anything. I think whatever depth the oil has soaked in is about how far it will cure. Linseed oil requires oxygen to cure, by the way. The difference between boiled and raw is that the boiled has chemical dryers added. The chemical dryers are generally heavy metal salts, they used to be lead based today the dryers are generally cobalt, manganese or zinc. The dryers speed the drying time. Raw oil will commonly take several days to a couple of weeks to dry, boiled oil generally dries in one day to a week depending on conditions such as temperature and humidity. It is possible to "boil" raw oil at home. If you carefully heat the oil it will start the curing process and cure faster than otherwise. ron

I've seen Mr. Boggs design on "The Woodwright's Shop" with Roy Underhill. It looks like a good design, I'd like to get a copy of the plans for that one. ron

Check out hobby shops. I know most carry small diameter rods of spring steel (1080-1095 or similar). They may have flat as well. Or you may be able to flatten and shape the round. ron

I can't think of any problem using a curing oil (like linseed) on a handle. I won't do much to tighten a loose handle by itself but it can provide some moisture protection. Using a non-hardening oil (motor oil, mineral oil and the like) not only won't do anything to tighten the handle, it can allow the head to slip more. As mentioned, the best way to tighten a loose head is to seat the head further on the handle if it will go further then drive the wedge deeper (or add a wedge). ron

There are hacksaw blades made for coping saws. They are smaller than typical hacksaw blades and will handle curves better (though not as well as a jeweler's saw). But you may or may not find them in local stores. Mostly the difference is the material. Coping saws are for wood and plastic generally and jeweler's saws are more for metal and most blades for jeweler's saws are designed for thin stock. ron

Smaller holes will be harder to keep open. One guy I know got tired of clearing small holes in a pipe similar to what you have. He would up taking an angle grinder and turning the holes into a groove. Also you could use a pipe inside your air pipe with a cap on the end to create a sliding baffle that would let you have a smaller fire (and save fuel) when you didn't need a long fire. Add another fire brick to keep the fuel in place. ron

4 inches deep is enough for small projects with coal or maybe charcoal. It could work for medium projects with coal but not charcoal. A bit more depth (2 or 3 inches) would make for a better forge. ron

What I did was to start with a half-round file that was dull enough to no longer be a decent file. I forged a tang on the far end and normalized the whole file to grind the remains of the teeth off. Not knowing the best angle, I put a shallower angle on one side (around 30 degrees) than the other (around 50 degrees). At this point the bevels were just roughed in. I then heat treated with an oil quench and tempered to 325 degrees F in an oven. That will remove some of the brittleness while leaving it really hard. Then I finished the grinding. I put a file handle on each end. After playing with it a bit I tried different angles to see what worked well for me. If you are just looking for a start to try a sen, this works. ron

I'm still wondering how it changes the way the force of the blow propagates through the tool. It may change how the force is transmitted making for a more efficient hit. Any engineers who want to test that? ron

You may need a sales tax number and be required to collect sales tax to anything shipped within your state. I don't need a business license per-say but do need a sales tax number. There may be other regulations and restrictions based on where you live. A good place to start is your states revenue dept., the IRS website, and county or city clerk. Ask questions saying you are thinking about selling at the hobbiest level and want to do it legal. ron

Given the scholarly nature of the work, the size of the tome and that is would be of interest to a limited group of people, the price I saw of $325 isn't bad. Back in college a buddy (math major) spent about that much for a sub-50 page paper back. ron

Have you gone back to the original hebrew or greek or whatever language that statement was written in? Often something gets lost in translation and if you go back to the original text and see what other ways the translation can be made may give very different results. ron

I don't see a location for you. If you put a city and state (or country as appropriate) may get you some response from someone close by who is willing to help you directly. As for coal vs charcoal. I like charcoal but am using coal. The local ABANA affiliate occasionally buys a truck-load and sells at cost to members. Coal is dirtier with a lot more smoke and impurities. It is also denser and cokes up (which allows for the building of "caves"). Charcoal gets plenty hot enough for melting steel or welding or anything else, but being less dense it will require feeding the fire more frequently than coal and use less air. Since it needs less air, you'll want to have some way of cutting back the air whether it is a variable speed blower, hand crank or some sort of baffle. It is also easier to blow the hot coals out of the fire if the air blast is too strong, I like side blast partially for that reason. It also likes to be deeper - that means if you'll want a fire 5 to 6 inches minimum depth for welding and 4 to 5 inches minimum for everything else. Charcoal, being cleaner, has less problem with clinker. This is all for hardwood or natural or chunk charcoal. I'd compare the costs of coal to charcoal (on a per pound basis) to help decide which to use. ron

The mineral spirits or turpentine (solvent), mostly evaporates away doing little for protection of the metal, that comes from the wax and linseed oil. The linseed oil will cure on exposure to oxygen becoming thicker (it polymerizes). Essentially, when you mix 1/3 of each you end up with a 50/50 wax to oil mix and the solvent makes it easier to apply. If you want it to be more paint-like and less paste-like, leave the wax to oil mix about 50/50 and add solvent (i.e. mineral spirit). The end mixture will put less protectant on the surface but multiple coats can be applied. What I like to do is melt the wax (in a container inside a container of hot water - think double boiler) then add about the same amount of linseed oil. Once those are mixed I'll add a small amount of solvent (I generally use turpentine) while it is still warm. Once it cools I'll add solvent until I get the consistency I want. By the way, once the oil polymerizes, I don't know how or if it can be reversed. If your mix is thickening because the oil is curing, you can't do much about it. I try to use my mix within a month. It usually has gotten to a point beyond usability in about 6 months. ron