Graham Gates(Ionic Muffin)

It could use a bit of work, though it is a bit deceiving. There is not really a flat spot. I checked on a flat surface and there is a rocking motion. However, there is a spot where it has much less curve that does not match the knife. And to confirm. Any company that sells HT service should be just fine for my purposes, correct? Again, thanks for all your inputs Graham.

Ok, I have taken a lot of time to do more research and I have asked my friend how he wants it, and he said flat grind from spine to edge, which seems to be a general consensus. That is what I will do then. On the note of heat treating and quenching. Clearly you all can tell that I have limited experience with those two subject matters. Since that is the case, maybe I ought to outsource those processes to a professional company? I thought about Tru Grit, (if I shouldn't be posting names of companies I'll remove it) or some other company. I figure that if a company touts their services as professional(namely, that they sell the service) then they must be able to do it well enough for most purposes. Any thoughts? I think I would rather spend 30-60$ on a service than to ruin several knives of steel that I can't properly handle without much practice.(from what I can tell it seems to be the thoughts of most experienced knifemakers anyway) The steel is AEB-L, So it is one of "those" steels. Thanks ya'll. Graham.

So full grind would be more tipical of a chef's knife. Does it boil down to the quench and heat-treat more than the grind? I guess if i want the edge to be super sharp I would want to make the edge hard but keep the spine and middle of the knife springy right?

Hey ya'll. Im working on a knife for a chef friend of mine. I have the shape finished and now I am wondering if I should do a partial grind or a full edge to spine grind. The knife is a smidge deeper than 2 inches and the thickness is .110 inches. He works in a professional setting but I still worry that if I make it a full grind there would be a possiblility that the knife could chip since the angle of the grind would be very low. Not sure what to think. I am working with files, not a belt grinder, so slower material removal.

Few more questions. Bits Needed: 5/16" drill bit---not a problem I can get my hands on this 1/8" pipe tap---What is a pipe tap? Is it 1/8 npt 27 threads per inch? npt being the national pipe thread. #3 drill bit---.213 drill bit. ¼"x28 tap---seems self explanatory but just to be sure, thats 28 threads in 1 inch right? Thanks! Graham.

I have access to a drill press and I believe the shop also has all the taps I will need. If not I will pick up the ones I need. I can pick up a floor flange and short pipe nipple.

ok, I stopped by a Ferguson and this is what they gave me. Its a 1/4 x 1/8. I dont want to drill into a tee if its the wrong part, so I'll return it if its wrong. And thank you guys for helping me.

With regards to the flare adapter you talk about in your instructions. Is this it? I guess I dont understand the terminology behind it:https://www.lowes.com/pd/BrassCraft-1-4-in-x-3-8-in-Compression-Compression-x-MIP-Adapter-Adapter-Fitting/50359448

I get the feeling that you might be under and impression that I don't want to dish out the money to do it properly. I am more than willing to do that, I will look into the blacksmithing community out where I live. It looks like I need a new pipe and reducer. Do I need to replace the whole set of brass jet fittings?

Any ideas where I can find it locally? I've been looking at ace and lowes, neither have the parts I need. Should I just go ahead and order them online?

quick question. Why the 2x3/4 reducer? The burner in the Ron Reil style is 1 1/2x3/4. Just want to know what I should be picking up and why its important that I get that particular size.

Thank you for the advice about how to find things cheaper. I will look for my local resources. I still have to find work, at the moment I am taking classes and have not yet landed a job.

strangely enough I think I do understand why it isn't working, now that I have had a look at the burner design I had mimicked. I promise I wont run the burner until I have built a new one that operates properly and a regulator. From what I am gathering, it seems that the air isn't entering properly because I have the jet too far into the reducer bell. The reducer bell isn't large enough to let enough air in either, which makes the mix too rich in propane. This is why there are flames shooting out either side of the forge body, because there isn't enough air inside the forge, so when it meets the air outside the forge it has the oxygen to burn the propane. If I'm wrong about that then I will do more research so I understand how it works better. It will be a while before I can gather enough funds to pay for the new materials for the burner, but like I said, I wont run it until I have a new burner and regulator.

alright, here is a bit more to work off of. Pictures of the burner and the tank its attached to, and videos of the flame both inside of the forge and outside. I blew into the air intake in the second video to show what I mean about the lack of air.DSCN0613.MOV DSCN0614.MOV

Ok, so I made a burner a while ago and the forge body I made for it wouldnt heat up, so i figured i needed better insulation and maybe less room inside the forge. I recently finished the forge body. The issue seems to be more burner related, flames about 5 inches in length are coming out of the ends of the forge, when i blow into the back end of the burner the flames shorten and it sounds like there is more heat(hard to describe what I mean). I think the issue is a lack of air to the burner. With the amount of heat it is producing rebar only heats up to about bright orange color but will not get hotter. I have almost no experience with gas forges and their burners, so I guess I am trying to figure out what I should do to increase the heat.

I am not sure what i should do to make myself a hardie hole for hardie tools. My anvil does not have a hardie hole since it is just a steel rod and the face is really too small to add a hole to it. I was thinking I could cut a hole into the wood stand and place some sheet steel over it so that it doesn't deform the wood. That's about the best I've come up with and getting a new anvil is not something I can do financially right now. I want to start making tools so that working the forge and making things becomes manageable. Here is a picture of the anvil and stand.

I have to say, that is a beautiful axe. Further, if you don't have the tools to drift an eye or are not very experienced with forge welding or other advanced techniques then using a hammer seems even more ideal for learning how to make an axe.

My friend from school, Phil, makes all sorts of things with his forge, but he recently added an instructional video on how to make a chopper knife. I was pretty impressed and it is similar to the first one he made, which split a 6" log 6' tall. Despite the knife bending, there was no damage to its shape. If you just want to see the knife in action you can go to this video at 16:05. Here is the 6th video of his 6 part series. The other videos of the series are all available on youtube and are connected to this video.

I decided that shopvacs were burning up way too much of my coal and i needed a more viable option for a bellows. So I found a small coleman mattress inflator that I simply bypassed the circuitry for the original switch and added my own. I will post pictures of it running once I get a bag of charcoal. I have to use charcoal from now on because apperently the fumes from the coal traveled quickly into the house despite it not being all that close(50 ft). Either way I like this new bellows and it does the job and can still be used for mattress inflation despite the modification I made to it.

Thanks guys. I think I am getting the general picture. So it may not be 100% safe, no matter the forging, and thus we use good ventilation in our shops. It also seems like the metals in stainless steel, because they are bonded differently than a plating, are not nearly as toxic when forged. Did i get the general picture? Sorry about the question, but since I had seen so many reminders about the dangers of chrome plating I just had an insatiable curiosity as to why SS doesn't seem to be very dangerous, at least as far as toxic fumes go.

So, with all the reminders of safety for chrome plating and how toxic it is, I began to wonder why it is that stainless steel (often containing chromium) is safe(or at least it seems to be safe) to forge? I understand that the vaporization of chrome or other ingestion methods is highly toxic, I just don't understand why that same element in an alloy wouldn't be toxic when heated to forging temps.

That is a beautiful first dagger! pretty sure I can't forge that quite yet.

I did some more digging and looking at the class section. After a while it seems like AEB-L would be a good choice. I have read that it is used for many cutlery applications because of its sharpness toughness and corrosion resistance. Any reasonable objections? Oh, its also cheap from Steel Barron.

I posted earlier in the induction oil etc section about the type of method for heat treating and tempering for a wedding set that I will be working on. My next bit of delima is this: I have been looking for the ideal steel to use for kitchen knives. From what I have read, SS is not a good option for high end kitchen knives, the consensus seems to be that "no-stain" steel is much better because of edge retention and sharpness. I am somewhat lost as to what steel I should use(within a reasonable cost) that would be more or less ideal for this purpose. If y'all could point me in the right direction with reading materials or your own experience/knowledge I would greatly appreciate it.

I guess that I will make an oven, since it would make the most sense to have one for the precise control, eliminating variables of temperature and expediting the process of tempering and heat treating, especially for stock removal knives.