Gergely

BGDoc: Hey, looks like you have some job on the "to do" list, too. :) Nice background terrain... Can I please ask what kind of floor material is in pic 1? So, nice forge! Hazmat: Somehow that video doesn't play. Greetings Gergely

Here are some things which nowadays are being called "fokos" around here, Hungary. The first pic shows a bunch made by a blacksmiths in Northeastern-Hungary. The 2. pic shows a permanent trend: brass or copper is likely used to make fokos-es. (The big axe is an other thing, not considered as fokos.) The fokos [fockosh or fawckawsh] itself is a Hungarian word, it means "poll-y"/"poll-ish" or "butt-y"/"butt-ish" - as it has longer poll/butt than an axe. Best wishes Gergely BTW: I work on my first fokos right now.

I'm a fan of yours! :) Great work! Greetings Gergely

Hi and welcome Elefanten! If you dig for scrap, look for longer, almost or totally straight pieces. Round, rectangular or flat, every single one is mostly mild steel. If you can bend a meter long piece with your bare hands and then straighten it back - you found mild steel. (Except if you try to bend thicker stuff, or you are Thor in diisguise and able to bend springsteel, too. :) ) Easiest to recognize the rebars (structural steel for concrete constructions = that iron stuff which sticks out from demolished concrete stuff), although it can be a bit unbalanced to work with - it may contain bigger amounts of carbon as mild steel. I often try to check the sound of the material I found, doesn't work always, but gives some guidelines. Blunt ding (dung :) ) usually goes for mild steel, sharp ringing means high carbon. (Mostly, but...) If you have a file with you, try and use it on the stuff: mild is cut by it easily, high carbon not quite. In time you can even see the difference between the filed-off metal dust. Experiment with different materials - and keep looking around here, because the answers are already waiting for you, just have to find them. Greetings and beste ønsker! Gergely

Hehe. Maybe I should teach you if you feel the need for it :lol: G

Thank you and :D ! Interesting though that all Hungarian made anvils follow this very shape. I mean every single piece which I've seen and was sure made in Hungary. If you want to buy an old anvil here it's doubtful you can find a different looking one. Although I have layed my eyes on one differnt looking very beautiful two-horned, they just didn't take my offer. And now when I have an anvil it would be very ugly to convince my wife we need an other for surviving :( ANd TPAAAT works here, too. So it's a technique with international applicability. Greetings Gergely

I just checked that khyber knife you are about to buy. I'd say the dating seems to be all right. (Based on my limited experience as a collector of old ethnic blades. (No guaranties though :) ) And it's always good to check ebay. There are some (mainly British) sellers with trustable knowledge about these kind of blades. G

Hi Richard, I'd try this two: Anthony C. Tirri: Islamic Weapons: Maghrib to Moghul. Indigo Publishing, 2003 Manouchehr Moshtatgh Khorasani: Arms and Armor from Iran: The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period. Legat-Verlag GmbH KG, 2006 Although I have not read these, so I can't tell you whether these include information about khyber knives or not. Or how much and useful knowledge you can acquire from them. So I suppose better using a library first. BTW library, check this out: https://archive.org/search.php?query=arms%20armor%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts it is an awesome collection of free digitalized books and stuff. Bests Gergely PS: I've looked that seller of yours' site for a 5-6 years and haven't found it very questionable. This just my opinion, of course.

Hi, I like this site for its good quality pics, and some info you can gain there too. http://www.oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=khyber&page=0 Happy hunting! Gergely

Hi, There was four pieces of tungsten carbide in the tip. Unfortunately the biggest one is missing. Only two small pieces left, but very solidly built in the tip. I file tested the body, it should be hardenable material, as the part near the tip is unwilling to be cut by file. The lower parts near the end are softer. Using it for punches has occured to me too, but then I found a lots of old scrap cold chisels, so I spare this one for something better. I like the fluted surface on it. Greetings and merci beaucoup! Gergely

Thank you, Chinobi for the video link. And thanks Camero68 - I liked it too, knowing there is much to do better. Greetings Gergely

Solano: Thanks for the link! Thank you, Frosty, for your kind words. I've beaten my mind out tonight on the anvil so: good night! Gergely

Thanks Chinobi, I'm gonna look after it. Took a better look on that scroll tool, it's not a very good one :( G

After all these beautiful Hay-Buddens, Peter Wrights, Fishers' etc. here is my little companion. A little different in his looks, as is an old fashioned German/Austrian design. Weights 114 pounds (52 kg), hardie hole is 2 cm wide. Made in Hungary, possibly prior WW2 as RIMA brand name - as available sources claim - was used from 1883 to 1949 when the collectivisation struck the factory. It shows the marks of being cast although bearing ball bounces quite high back on it. Its face is very untouched except the edges which were almost everywhere chipped - I think - during the cold-metal hitting by previous owners. (You can see the chalk marks on the pictures, I made those to learn where are the usable edge parts.) The bick is totally unused. Covered with thin rust, it needs a good cleaning but I have been too excited to have this and work on it, so it has remained a "must-do-sometimes" call. Also the change of the plastic box under it - which was a desperate choice to stabilize the stump. So is that hook-thing stopping its circular moves during bigger work. I like it very much, and so do my wrist - it stopped being in pain right after I started hit on this anvil. (hehe, I'm not sure this means what I meant.) Greetings Gergely PS: On the 3rd pic on the floor you can see the ASO I used alongside of a railroad piece.

Thank you for that. I've seen that topic title at least five times today, but always jumped over it. Fluxless welded damascus seems to be an inevitable issue.

Nice gatework. And I liked that auto hood thing, too. Bests Gergely

Hi Stefflus! I wear a P2, hopefully properly :) Thanks for the links. It's never tiring to read about safety. John, thank you for the vinegar hint. I'll try it on those rods, just to see what happens.

Dogsoldat wrote: "And My first thought was, 'Now that's going to be a doozy of a forge..." Uhh, think about the Dragon's Breath... :o Well yesterday (tuesday) was a good day. (It's too early too say anything about today.) After a boring day at work I surprisingly made it to the shop. Tried a wirebrush on the grinder for first time in my life, and it had very satisfying results. Only I need a new brush as my grinder was overburdened by this one. Applicated a shaft for a knapping hammer, looking good but I need some practice to use it effectively. Then fired up the forge, and hit some funny shaped rod stuff to square. Didn't got the feeling for turning it into anything else, so cooled and left it for later. There was a thing in my mind about making a cross. I think it was inspired by HWHII's website. I was wondering can I forge a cross by splitting a square bar in the middle and then bending the splitted lines outwards to a cross shape. So I tried it. And it was possible. Even with the very harsh final result I am so happy to have it done... This method opens a lots of new paths. Just for fun I made it into a religious symbol. So I was having a nice time, although there was chilling freeze and had to cool hot stuff in the snow as my water tank got frozen to its very bottom.

Very handsome blades you have there. I like best the one with bright colored handle. Do you buy this damascus material or did it yourself? - Either way it's just beautiful. Greetings Gergely

Wow is the correct word here. Very good to look at it. Congrats Gergely

Thank you Guys for the comments and valuable info about stainless steel. And thank you Stefflus for the details. I agree, Frosty, it isn't worth any more try. I only have about 2 meters of this stuff, so not a big waste throwing back to the yard. By the way: do you think that zinc vapor can harm you when wearing respirator half mask? Bests Gergely

I'm wondering: Could this bit be turned into any tool?

Hi Nick and welcome! I'm with Njanvilman about pictures of the shop. I'm very curious about it. Best wishes Gergely

Can't agree more with you guys. One session in the shop and got my spiritual energies back for a week. Greetings Gergely

John: I can't find that picture through IFI, but you gave some searching keywords so Google brought a flower with drill bit-like stems. Thanks for the hint. I understand that this material is forgable, isn't it?