Geoff Keyes

Tried to bump this, is that not allowed? Geoff No. In addition to a "bump" being an empty post. This topic has been pinned, keeping it always at the top. The way this forum works, any unread posts will be highlighted, so people can see if there is new information added to a thread no matter where it is on the page, or in the case of a BUMP just find spam. Think of the mess it creates if every member deccided to BUMP every post they want to see above someone elses post? we have to draw a line some where.

Just so this is completely clear, the EDC's are my line of semi-production knives. I always have a number of them in the production stream. If I sell 100 of them (which would be a lot, I think), then I will complete and ship 100 knives and all of the money will go to the relief fund. The ones pictured are just a sample, there are 8 designs on my website. If you would like to order a full custom piece, I will honor the 75% donation that I mentioned above. Geoff

After talking with Glenn and assuring him of what I was trying to do, and he agreed, I've got permission to re-post this topic. Here is the story, in short. Just over a week ago, after weeks of heavy rain, a hillside about 50 miles north of me cut loose. It created a zone of devastation a mile wide and over a mile long. It wiped out a number of homes and small farms near the town of Oso. As of the last I've heard there are 25 known dead and 30 still missing and presumed dead. This area is well known to me, I've hiked and camped and hunted mushrooms there for many years. There are plenty of qualified and able people on hand to hunt for the missing, but I would like to do something. This is what I've decided to do. Buy one of my EDC's (every day carry). They are my most inexpensive pieces. They are waterjet cut, but otherwise hand finished, and they come with your choice of handle, I've got many kinds of wood, stabilized and natural, antler, and some micarta, and a belt sheath. The EDC with sheath is $150 USD. All of that will go to United Way of Snohomish county with 100% of the money used for the Oso relief fund. If you would like to step up and buy one of my forged pieces, or my waterjet kitchen knives, 75% of that will be directed to the Oso fund as well. I'm not asking for charity. I'm asking you to buy my product, so I can be charitable to my neighbors. I am an ABS JS bladesmith and I have been making knives for over 20 years. You get a good quality knife, a story to tell your friends, and we both get to help some people who really need it. Check my website www.5elementsforge.com and click on the EDC's in the gallery for a few more pics of the designs. I'm going to let this run until the end of April, which includes my two Spring shows, Eugene Oregon and the Seattle International Knife Show. Thank you all, Geoff

If you don't care about the effects of flux, why use a hard floor at all? A thick coat of Satanite or Kastolite will protect the floor just fine and can be patched easily enough. You could just go with a high temp kiln shelf. Again, easy to replace when it get's damaged and not much thermal mass. Unless you are a production shop running long hours, shift on shift, I don't see the point of large masses of hard surface in a forge. It's just costing you gas. Geoff

Some pictures would help. Blown or venturi? If it's blown, it sounds like you have WAY too much air. If it's a venturi, perhaps the burner is oversized? If nothing you're doing affects the burn, then the things you're doing are not the adjustment tools. Geoff

You didn't say anything about the edges, so I can't say. It's hard to imagine working an anvil so hard it lost it's temper, you'd need to be up around 800-900 F to do that. Can you imagine getting near enough to get any work done on an 800 degree anvil. Maybe it's been through a fire? To re-heat treat you'd have to get it up to 1500F and then quench it fast enough to get it hard. If you built a special forge and a crane and had 10-20 K gallons of fast flowing water, you could perhaps get that result your self. If I remember the story correctly, one of the big manufacturers (Fisher?) used a 10 k gallon waterfall to harden anvils. I can't imaging that a pro shop would charge you less than the cost of new 300 anvil, and they would have to know the alloy to even be able to give a 50-50 guarantee on the result, which is going to add to the cost. You may have to chalk this one up as a loss. Geoff

Test one and see. I'd bet they are T1, high abrasion resistance, not very hard. Geoff

A fly press (or a screw press) is good for repeated processes, like stamped texturing, slitting, squaring, that sort of thing. If you're looking to draw a bar or billet, that needs more power (IMHO). An air powered jack press can do it, but not as well as a "real" press. Over on the Bladesmith Forum there is a pinned topic about an air powered mini press. It's about 500 entries deep, so there is some interest in it. You should have a look. Geoff

I guess I think that a small jack press would do more work for less thrash. A 20 ton jack is pretty cheap. Geoff

1st Annual Seattle International Knife Show Saturday April 26th & Sunday April 27th, 2014 Heathman Hotel, 220 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland, WA 98033 USA We are very excited to announce BladeGallery's first Seattle International Knife Show. This juried show is scheduled for the last weekend in April at the four star Heathman Hotel in downtown Kirkland (just across Lake Washington from Seattle). We are committed to making this among the most prestigious boutique knife shows in the country. We anticipate having between 50 and 60 custom knifemakers from around the world and a select group of suppliers. http://bladegallery.com/shopcontent.asp?type=2014KnifeShow

Rolling mill, fly press Geoff

Very nice, lovely steel. Geoff

This is only the 2nd wrapped hawk I've made. It's tougher than it looks. Getting a hold on the piece is a challenge. I need to make some specific tongs to do this if I'm going to do many more. The steel is the end of a random billet that I made for a client, this half was just lying there and I didn't have a project for it, so this is what I got. The steel is the basic "Chief's Blend", 1084/15n20, about 180 layers. Handle is walnut. Thanks for looking Geoff

I have pics of my shop built #50 mechanical, if those would help you, and I could get some vid too. PM me. Geoff

I've got an idea for a 2 piece anvil set. As a bladesmith (mostly) I want a block anvil. 6x6x12 would be about 200lbs. Sloped out into two feet with closed cleats (like some of the Fishers have) and perhaps an upsetting block. The 2nd piece would be a cube 6x6x6. Once face would have a Hardy hole, all the way through. 4 of the 5 remaining faces would have various swedges on them, the last face would have a cone like horn. The set would have two stands, joined or not. The anvil would sit on a 8x8 block and the stand would bolt around it. The stand for the other block would have a hole in middle so that you could have which ever face of the block you wanted uppermost. The through Hardy would give you a place to stick a bar for moving the thing. The block would be about 100lbs. I have build most of this, and it works well for me. I still don't have a horn with my setup, but I rarely need one. When I do, my 200lb Fisher gets some work. Geoff

This is very close to the linkage that was used in the junkyard hammer build. If you search Youtube for "Original Junkyard Hammer", you'll find a video. Geoff

What is it that confuses you? I have built a mechanical hammer, though not a tire hammer, so perhaps I can answer some of your questions. I just need some more detail. Geoff

Not sure about the second one, but the first one is a tool for holding cattle or horses, it fits in the nose. Geoff

I finished this just before flying out to the San Antonio ABS show, so this is the first chance to get a get a pic posted. Eric at Point Seven did the shot, and I think it's great. In fact, when I got the shot in email (I should have the hi res shot soon) my first reaction was "Wow, that's really nice, I wonder who the maker is.....wait, that's one of MINE!". When I called the Lady WIfe in to see it, her reaction was the same, pretty funny. OL 14 1/4 BL 9 1/4 Steel 1080/15n20 NS, ebony, fossil bone, low layer Damascus butt cap and turned mild steel cap nut I call it a fighter because it's pointy and it has a guard and a reverse edge. Thanks for looking Geoff

There is a current topic about forging an integral bolster from a crowbar, you should have a look. I like using stock near to the final result, and I have a powerhammer and press to help me. OTOH, for integrals, you need some extra material. There is a smith who believes that for a certain steel the multiple thermal cycles needed to forge down from large rounds improves the grain structure of the steel, and he's got some good evidence on his side. You should do what works for you. Geoff

My experience with this crowbar, and I don't make any claims for other crowbars, is that it sparks like 1060/1075 and it gets hard like a bar of 1075 that I bought. I have tested it though, which is what I always tell people about found steel. Geoff

I use a self lighting propane torch. Light the torch, turn on the fan, hold the flame near the forge entrance, turn on the gas. If you turn on the gas first, you get some pooling and a WHOMP. Fan, torch, gas, little pop, no fuss. Geoff

A couple of weeks ago I got into a rant about RR spike knives (which I really don't like) and I mentioned that if you wanted an interesting challenge, forge a knife out of a hex crowbar and use the hex stock size as the bolster. Someone asked to see one, so here goes. A crowbar I've been working from because it had a broken end. Yes I could have reforged the end, but I have lots of crowbars, This is the tool I use to set the bolster. About 3 heats in, it's important to keep things as centered as possible, so I work from each side. From here I went to the powerhammer, I could do this by hand, but why should I? I could do this step with the fullering tool, but again, I did it on the hammer. You can see that I need to straighten things up a bit. You could do much of this with a mill, but this was all forged. I left the end long to have something to grab onto and sometimes I will leave it so I can upset the butt end. I clamp it in my post vice and heat the end with a O/A torch. This gives you a nice square inside transition, but means that you probably have to square cut the inside of the middle bolster as well. Questions? Geoff

A friend of mine builds forges that are oval, wider than high. He soaks the Kaowool in a thin mix of mizzou and presses it into place and lets it dry. The machine screw from the outside works well with this technique. Even if the tip of the screw pokes through it hardly makes any difference. The tip will burn away, but the rest of the screw is still imbedded in the Kaowool. Geoff

One old standby is an old propane tank, or a helium tank from a party store. You want a burn chamber about 6-8 inches AFTER the fiber. Figuring 4 inches total of insulation you need a 10 to 12 interior diameter. Geoff