Iron City

I'd start with looking up steel suppliers in your local yellow pages,
I never knew I have one within 5 miles from home.

Beautiful as always. Do you ever sleep?

Sorry, I can't help you on that one...matter of fact,
I'd like to know the answer myself.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. When people
appreciate what you are doing it makes you (me) want
to try hard and get better with each blade. Even though
it's only a RR spike I feel good when I'm working on a knife
and it's cool to be able to stand back and say, hey...I made
that with my own two hands.
I have three more to make by X-Mas, for gifts, after that I'll try my
hand at something bigger, my nephew asked if I could make
him a Khukri, looks like that will be my first BIG knife. Hey, seriously,
thanks again for the great feedback.

MetalMuncher, I buffed the crap out of this thing, sisal wheel
with matchless fastcut followed by spiral sewn with black magic
then spiral, concentric, and loose with matchless white and finally
loose muslin with pink scratchless. Was originally going to put a
scotchbrite finish on it.... go figure huh?

OK, This is #2, let me know what you think.
This one will go to my dad for X-Mas. IC

Hope you don't mined if I jump in... what is the
process to achieve the cube and pineapple twist??
I have seen different twists on knives but don't know
exactly how to go about duplicating the look. If I am
crossing any lines by asking trade secrets I apologize. IC

OK great, oil first if no good use the brine, Thanks guys,
I appreciate the time, IC

Thanks for the info. Would anyone have suggestions
for HT and temper?

Thomas, I like big, thick, strong blades like a KhuKuri or a camp
knife, something along the lines of a Busse or Swamp Rat.

Was wondering if 5140 was suitable for making knives?
I sent a sample piece of leaf spring off for analysis hoping
it was 5160, they say it "appears" to be 5140. should I use
it or junk it? Thanks, IC

WOW!! Absolutely awesome!! I'm new to the knife making
world and the forum so my opinion probably doesn't hold
allot of value but, I do know nice work when I see it and
they are incredible. I'd offer you a trade but I have nothing
comparable, maybe I could purchase one outright?? PM me
if you like.

Fastenal offers spectral analysis of steel samples for alloys and carbon content for MUCh cheaper than that, ask your local Fastenal branch about it.

Thanks for the input everyone I appreciate it. I showed the knife to a few people and they didn't seem real impressed so I was a little hesitant to put it up on the forum, I am glad I did. M Brothers, to answer your question...ALLOT, I just kept on grinding and sanding till it looked respectable. I tried bluing it with Birchwood Casey Perma Blue but I did not like the way it looked so I took it off.

Like I stated before, I'm very new at the whole forging-knife making thing and I don't even know what questions to ask that would help me along. again thanks for the comments.

Hi all, this is my first attempt at forging a RR spike knife,
let me know what you think. Actually this is the first thing
I have ever forged. The knife took me many hours and kind
of took on a life of it's own... this it how it came out. I'll start
my next one in a few days.

brucegodlesky, will do...thanks!!

Jymm Hoffman, sounds great. I can't wait till March.

I appreciate you guys welcoming me to the forum the way you have. There seems to be a great deal of knowledgeable people here.

what part of PGH you from?

Welcome aboard!

If you cut a couple pieces of plywood to fit the inside of the feet on your anvil and nail them down your anvil will be a lot more stable. Just chained to the flat like that it can walk as you work.

What's your dog's name? Give him/er a scritch for me.

Frosty

Howdy folks, I'm new to the forum and new to Blacksmithing.
First off let me say Thanks for the knowledge I have gained just
from being a lurker. I have a 222lb Arm and Hammer and was wondering
if anyone could tell me something about it, age, construction, what it's
worth and...is it any good? I just started swinging a hammer a few days
ago and haven't had the anvil much longer. I also have a Fulton that weighs
75lb and that's about all I know, again any info would be appreciated.

some photos
numbers look like 34153

The Fulton