eggwelder

you may be on to something Frosty, as my retirement house building plan calls for a bit of timber framing. on the other hand, i have lots of files and use them a lot... thanks

i know its a bad picture, but it`s cast, the rivets are just for looks, and that is a Canadian quarter for scale. no markings and missing the bar for the mount clamp. any idea what its for and what its worth? i`m looking at buying it, but neither the owner nor i know what value it would have. thanks

it kind of warmed up here yesterday, so out to the forge i went. yes, we got about 6 in of snow, and a couple of 4 foot drifts in the driveway, and a 1 foot drift around my anvil stand. a little bit of cabin fever, a rail way spike and an idea from pinterest, maybe it came from bladeforum. . i`ve posted the larger axe earlier. but the little bearded axe seems to have been an almost success. i think i will straighten out the curve in the axe body. the other thing is the off centre eye in the larger axe. i`m not sure if there is anything to do about it except live with it. neither of these are finished, filing still to be done etc. any thoughts?

what type of mask is best for all round protection that is affordable?

the first piece of scale to fly off at the first blow on hot steel seems to find its way under the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger of the tong hand, hammer hand or both

i use a couple of stacked 45lb Wieder plates as a floor anvil for upsetting long bar stock when i need to make a drift or some such. very effective. also 5 feet of rail on the floor. great to have 200 lbs of hard and heavy when you need it. that thing would be perfect. i made the weight lifting bar into a slitter, two drifts and a tomahawk head.

thats it right there

its what re- kickstarted my blacksmithing when season 1 came out. still have not made that bearded axe, but have made many others

I love it in an apocalyptical skull splitting king of way. does the rebar handle add any fatigue, or is it for show purposes? is much nicer than my first hawk

here is my unfinished version for my camping/walking stick. made from hot roll 1 1/4" round stock which passed the spark and quench/break test. no idea what steel it is. when finished it will get a 7/8 by 1 1/4 hardwood handle, just over 4 feet long. i am considering langets, and it will also get a butt spike. am unsure about how to shape it, bearded or a more traditional shape. i guess that will be determined by the mood i`m in that day. i do get out to the shop once in a while, especially if the temperature goes up past -5' C.

i`ll be just outside Kingston, in Gananoque for another year or two. anybody localish that wants to yak about smithing til the weather warms up, welcome to drop a message. maybe beat some steel then.

grew up on a farm, and those are from a swather for grain farming. they may be forged, but have also seen cast iron. they direct the wheat stalks/what have you to the serrated triangle shaped cutters, as stated above somewhere. they look cool, if forged they can be used as is for a bick or something, post apocalyptic war hammer maybe. if cast, collect a ton and get your hundred bucks….

people stingy with scrap here too. i think it`s the 10 cents a pound they get for it. railway track up in northern ontario is there for the picking, they just tore up hundreds of km of track thru ottawa past north bay. finding a piece you can lift, theres the trick. heavy stuff, but well used, lots of folding(is that the right word) on the top, so you need to grind that off to make an anvil in the traditional sense. stand it on end as mentioned earlier

i`m starting a charcoal forge build. still collecting stuff for it, i`m too darn cheap to buy anything. have a stack of oak and maple pallets, it will make some beauty charcoal. anyone know the optimum size for the charcoal?

i was gonna forge today, but the Olympic Gold mens hockey is on now, Sweden vs Canada….. bailey`s is in the coffee….

after reading a lot about stabilizing handles for knives, especially bone/antler, i have to ask what the ancients used to preserve what they used. by ancients i mean prior to the invention of polys and epoxies. as an example, none of my rifles have stabilized wood and none of them are newer than 60 years, and one of them has been through combat in WW2 . i don't baby them, and they seem ok with a regular application of linseed oil. i have soaked wood in hot melted bees wax and turpentine, hot oil, cold oil, and various other concoctions. i`m not looking for a super modern finish with the knives i make, and any knives i sell i recommend a regular treatment of boiled linseed oil on the wood handles, and no idea for what you would use on antler( I've not used any antler yet). so, any thoughts on the topic?

bought new replacement clothes washer and vacuum for the wife. she requested it. looked for a tap to thread a nose cap nut for my lee enfield restoration. its the last piece i need and they are just not around, so i may have to make it. tommorow i`ll strip the old washing machine for saleable parts, and other metals/materials that can be recycled from it. maybe i`ll get to forge on monday.

i really like the long bearded axe in the upper left corner of the second pic. may just have to make one.

making is more fun, and good knowledge with experience is invaluable. anyone can buy anything. copper can be free, along with pewter. i guess bronze can be as well. i`ve had good luck with aluminium bronze. about 10% aluminium to 90% copper by weight, but google it first. very hard wearing, also hard to file, shape and polish.

there is always something. groceries, school runs, cub scouts, wife`s car stuck in the snow, something

yes, i guess if you put it that way. i am trying to put myself in your shoes where you have to pay for the basics. i do not envy you that. i`m glad we have here what we have.

there are four other knives that made it thru to finishing, and another broken, so i guess i have about a 75%ish success rate. but it always seems to be the ugly that survive.

yeah, we get "free" medical, but it`s only basic. just to keep you existing in some cases. anything extra, like specific surgeries, some drugs, and anything beyond basic dental care(except for children under 12), you had better have a really good employer plan. I fortunately do, being in the service, and that extends into retirement, which is awesome. just have to list my worst / most dangerous things i do that don`t apply to my job (metalworking, metal casting and black powder)and it pretty much covers all. they don`t like surprises. i agree, basic is better than a kick in the face with a frozen mukluk, but our government just released the new annual budget, and as i understand it, retirees now have to pay 50% of the premiums as opposed to 25%. and a self employed person here may also contribute to unemployment insurance for themselves if they so chose, even if they are the owner/operator as well as get a decent employer medical plan if they have a few employees, not all that sure of how that works, but if you are profitable, it`s affordable. but we get so much snow here ……catching most of that snow and rain Crazy ivan was talking about.

i spent a weekend in Budapest in 1997. stayed at the international hotel, had beers at Rieleys pub, went to another place called captain jacks, have a few photos somewhere. I was with SFOR in the former Yugoslavia. took a weekend off.

these made and broke as i self taught. about 3 month before joining IFI. i keep them around as reminders and i may actually shadowbox them as they were a lot of work. but yes, i have a lot to learn and more to read. heat treating mystery metals is a somewhat fun if not exact science. always test. lesson learned.