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I Forge Iron

Derek C.

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    Issaquah, WA

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  1. Very nice. Reminds me a bit of a carpet knife :D. I'm probably going to end up with a curve somewhere between yours and Gerald's. Now I just need to find time to work on it!
  2. Tedious is a matter of perspective I guess! Anvil, that's an interesting idea. I may see how close I can get it that way and then draw file to finish. BTW - Do you guys prefer smooth jaws, or jaws with a bit of texture? These jaws had diagonal lines in them originally, which created a diamond pattern. Not sure if I should use a triangle file and try to put some lines in it, or leave it smooth and make some drop in jaw covers if I need more bite.
  3. Interesting, that's a new technique to me. Sounds tedious, but I'll give it a shot. I definitely didn't do well with regular filing. I've got a bench vise that opens wide enough to hold the jaws, so I'm thinking that if I hold the jaw in there, and cut a couple of pieces of mild stock to clamp on either side of the jaws as a guide that might help me keep the file level too.
  4. Yes, I won't get too close to the pin. Was thinking somewhere between the screw and the pin. As you said, it will be easier to adjust on the vise, and I have been meaning to get a rosebud anyway so that option appeals to me. It definitely only needs a tiny bit of adjustment in the horisontal. The un-flatness is the bigger problem.
  5. Thanks! NJ Anvilman - and suggestions for how to grind it pretty flat with an angle grinder? I used a flat flap disc and still failed. Thomas - Where would you suggest heating? Seems like the easiest part to heat is going to be near the bottom of the arm. Guess it's time to break down and buy a rosebud tip for my torch. I'm going to steal Jim Coke's idea for spacers.
  6. Richard - That is a good resource. I'm going to have to tame that with me next time I go. Kind of pricey stuff though, at $1.50/lb.
  7. My local scrapyard has a whole lot of tool steel from Bethlehem steel, but sadly when I asked they no longer knew what the color coding meant.
  8. I never did report back on this. I've successfully welded up both of the jaws, and I welded on an extension to the washer. I ended up forging and grinding a pair of wedges, and I have the vise temporarily mounted to a bench, until I can find suitable material to make a stand-on portable stand for the vise. Overall, I am okay with how it came out, except that I wasn't able to get the jaws quite flat. They have a bit of a crown, and they are not parallel in the horizontal plane (I know they won't be parallel vertically, and that's fine). They work fine for holding stock vertically, but if I need to hold anything horizontally it's hard to get the vise to take a good grip. I've worked at it quite a bit with a file, but I'm not making any impact, and using a grinder is how I ended up with them looking like this in the first place. Any suggestions as to how to get the jaws flat and more parallel?
  9. Yessir, I think I came across that one when looking for inspiration!
  10. Very nice. I may have to make some larger ones down the line. I have a piece of property that is quite a hike to get to, and these look like less effort to transport than the gas guzzling monstrosity and its associated consumables.
  11. Thanks for the tips guys! Bigfoot - what you are saying is basically what I was planning on doing. Do you happen to have any pictures of yours?
  12. Thanks, and yes I have been reading through the 101 classes, and yes I will be working both sides of the bevel, I'm just only working one side of the taper (this blade tapers both towards the tank and towards the point) to help curve it the way I want it to curve. I can certainly put a curve into it the way I would curve any other piece of metal, but that becomes harder when trying to manage a very large curve while forging in the bevel. I had thought about grinding the bevel, but I'm trying to keep the "rustic" look. Since this is a hand held sickle, I will probably harden more than a traditional scythe. I think the reason for leaving a scythe softer has more to do with toughness since you're swinging it and could potentially hit rocks. I'm not in a huge rush to get this done, and it doesn't have to be perfect. At this time, I'm just doing this as a hobby, so it's going to be a gift.
  13. Hello - I am trying to forge a boline (small handheld sickle) for someone, however I'm new to bladesmithing and smithing in general. Since this blade has a substantial curve, and will be beveled/sharpened on the inside edge of the curve, I am not sure how to retain the curvature of the blade while forging the bevel. I'm starting with a 1x6x1/4" piece of Cur Forge V, which gives me a lot of metal to work with, and will require thinning out quite a bit. For starters, I'm working the entire taper of the blade from one side, which is putting a nice curve on the blade so far. When I go to forge the bevel, I am wondering if I should start at the inside of the curve and work back, or start at the outside and work in. I am thinking that if I start from the inside, and forge the bevel with my hammer face the beveling will straighten the blade somewhat, but once I get past the center and start thinning the spine that should put some curve back in to it. Does that make sense? Any other suggestions? Should I use the cross pein perpendicular to the blade to thin the spine out to ensure I move more metal along the spine rather than back towards the edge? I've attached a picture of the general shape I am going after. Thanks!
  14. Ha! Not from an M-16 kit, it's actually a used toothbrush from probably 1990-something, though I often use it for the same purpose as the M-16 brush.
  15. I finally got around to fixing the missing grip on the old monkey wrench I bought for $3 at a garage sale, and then I went ahead and bent up a nice handle for the top side. The grip is made from an old broken sledge hammer handle (not the half a handle next to it, which is the remnants from re-handling my short handled sledge and is now used for straightening bent twists), quartered, and then meticulously shaped to fit the handle, glued together with high strength wood glue. While doing the final shaping, everything came out looking too polished for me, so I used a solution of peroxide, vinegar and salt to re-rust the handle, and generally tried to be as dirty about it as possible to make the grips look aged. The handle at the top I believe is actually stainless, but since all I was doing was bending and twisting it, and I don't need the weld to be super strong (I've tried breaking it and I cannot so it's strong enough) I went ahead and used it anyway because it was the right size and shape. So far I've just used it to put a couple of decorative twists on a poker (using my recently acquired, repaired and mounted post vise, but that's a story for another thread), and it worked just fine.
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