Tyler Murch

Now we know. Thanks Hofi.

Thank you everyone.
I did not take the chrome off before forging it. There was never any smoke or visible fumes. Grinding it off would probably be worse. Unless one was wearing a respirator. The chrome plate actually forges right along with the steel, and eventually becomes so thin that it just comes off.
The handle is a modified Peddinghaus brand handle.

Forgot to add. This hammer wieghs about 3.5 pounds.
thanks

Thanks guys. Thomas, I think you are right.

And the reason for the short handle is because many of the smiths that use this technique stand back towards the tail to work on the anvil. A long handle will hit the tail when working. With this grip you are really just throwing the hammer into the work.

The hammer was made from IHCP bar. IHCP is induction hardened, chrome plated. It is used for hydraulic push rods and other stuff. All of it is 1045/1050. This was 2-3/4" round originally. It was forged down square on a power hammer.

Oh, we had to draw out a 2 foot bar of 1/2" square as long as we could in 10 minutes. I guess the competition wasn't that fierce, because I wasn't. I've gotten measurably better since then too.

Another hammer! I went to the Madison conference a few weeks ago and I learned a lot about forging effectiveness and technique from Tom Clark and Dean Curfman. I've switched up my grip some and the style of this new hammer is a little different. I also wound up winning second place in the forging competition.

About the loose rivet. Grind one of the heads off the rivet, then punch the rivet out, look at the holes. Replace with a new rivet.

A pair of V-bit bolt (aka goose neck) tongs with the side notches on the bit so that stock can be held perpendicular are great for holding RR spikes by the head. blacksmithsdepot.com sells them.

Nice bevel. I would go half and half.

Use a lot of flux. Hitting it harder might help as well.

That process is not marquenching. Marquenching is defined as when steel is quenched into a quenchant that is heated to the martensite start (ms) temperature of the particular steel you are working with. The ms temperature for many steels is around 450 - 500 F. The piece is held in the quenchant until it reaches the same temperature as the quenchant, it is then pulled out and air cooled. Marquenching results in a more gentle and even quench. You get less warping, and the steel is tougher at the same hardness as straight warm oil quenching.

What is the martensite strart temperature for 1084? For a full marquench, the oil has got to be heated just over the martensite start temperature. 140 F is actually below the martensite finish temperature I believe.

140 deg oil? C or F?
That's great for a second knife. Good job.

Here is one of my forges. It's not pretty, but the work that comes out of it is. Do you want a pretty forge? Why?




It made this hammer which made the sword that it made.

That certainly isn't fit for a blacksmith anvil. I haven't had any trouble finding a suitably heavy block of steel at the scrapyard. Don't forget that a 100# block of steel is equivalent to a much larger standard anvil. A large percentage of the weight in a standard anvil is in the extremeties, horn, tail, feet.

Rich,
I believe you struck it squarely on the head when you said " if the piece does not represent me as I see myself at the time of its birth it never leaves the shop."

I believe that in blacksmithing, and in most everything else in life, one must do and say what one thinks that day. Sure, everyone has some standards and ideals that remain constant at all times, but one's thoughts and feelings about things are shaped differently every day. One should not be commited to a particular thought that one had about a particular thing yesterday. Let your work reflect what you think the day you made it.

Now I gotta make a bigger one.

Thanks

I made this bowl from about 4 feet of 7/8" round steel. I did all the bending with only hammer, anvil, and inertia (slamming).

Tyler Murch

All these were made by me using, for the most part, techniques already described here by others. JPH, if you're odd, I'm a freak.

The tomahawk was made from a 9/16" spike, smaller than the normal 5/8" spike. It actually came from a rail road in Alaska that was laid for when they found some gold up there. Excuse the loose and dry knot. :p

The construction goes like this- I scarfed each end, folded each end over about 1-1/2", then bent it in the middle with a hand held fork, hammered it closed, then welded the face.

I drew the lines on with a pencil first, free hand.

Thanks for the input guys.

Thanks Key. I used the rasp just as it was.

The grip texture was done with a hot wire.
Thanks