Benton Frisse

Thanks! I did this one in a coal forge, trying to get back in the swing of things with coal. Used gas mainly for about 4 years. Decided to get back to the roots!

HI Mr. Boggs, loved your demo in the Anvils Ring, that was what inspired me to try! I started with half inch round stock, upset it to about 5/8 or 3/4 and flattened it on the edge of the anvil, much like a socket for bodkin/medieval arrowheads. Rolled and rounded it between the step and the anvil face with a ballpeen. I worked the neck where the solid stock meets the socket with a cross and ball peen to try to thin and smooth it out. Then drew the blade part out flat to my desired width, grabbed some 5160 and matched the width, drew it a bit longer. For the weld, I laid the body on top of the carbon steel, folded a lip over the end to secure it, then heated 'er up and welded it. Then I forge welded the socket closed, too. Ground, hardened in used motor oil, set my tempering oven to 425, stuck it in and came back an hour later. Mr. Boggs, when you fit the ring on the end of your handle of your chisel, do you hot fit it? Frosty, it shaves curls beautifully!

Here's my first wood chisel. I wanted to do a style like Gerald Boggs but I don't have the best equipment/skill to forge shoulders, so I decided to do a socket style. Mild steel socket and body, 5160 forgewelded onto the bottom for edge, and a sycamore handle. I have some trouble with forging sockets and not getting a slight gap or space where they'll meet the body, whether or not it's on a chisel or an arrowhead. I have trouble getting a completely wrapped, no gap socket. Any tips or suggestions? I chose sycamore because i've been told it makes good hammer handles and is nice and hard, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Heat treat was quenched in warm, used motor oil and baked at 425F for an hour and a half. Thanks!

I don't carve those, nor am I familiar with them. Thanks for the complements though! Wish you best of luck in carving your kuksas!

Wow! This is beautiful! Great work!

Around the holidays I was carving spoons and decided I wanted to forge a new carver. This was forged from wrought with 5160 for the bit. I don't like forging wrought, for you can see around the eye it split when I was compressing it. I know I wasn't working it hot enough, but phew! Wrought is some finnicky stuff. I had worked with it once before, but I think it'll be a while before I use it again. Hand carved elm handle. I sized the eye with a tomahawk drift, and though it's a round eye I was still able to wedge it and get a solid hang. Not my prettiest piece, but it's sharp and carves well. I was going to etch the head, but I got impatient and left the temper colors on. I cleaned it up with an air powered grinder/buffer with some 60 grit wheels. I may hand polish it and try to re-etch it without removing the handle. I had tried to etch it... but then I realized I hadn't cleaned off the temper colors and stuff. I was in a hurry the night of finishing, unfortunately.Thanks for looking! I sure did learn a lot on this one. Work wrought hotter, don't get in a hurry.

Hope you got a spot, because James Austin's class is already full :/

"Kid, you wanna see what you'll have to deal with if you have my daughter home a minute late?"

Hey Bob, I've taken Ryan Johnson's Tomahawk and Ax forging class at Campbell, it's great! But if you're looking for something longer, I'd suggest Elmer Roush's Viking Era Blacksmithing in March. It's a week long and he focuses on that era of forging, and some great axes are forged that week. I'm sad that I can't make that class, but it's the one I've been wanting to hit for two years now.

Theo, I love this pattern. Do you find that W2 welds with 15n20 well? Okay, seriously, this san-mai is going to be so awesome.

My good god, this is beautiful.

BUBBA SAN this is absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful sori... beautiful hamon... beautiful all the way around!

Theo, your posts are some of my favorites to check out! BEAUTIFUL WORK as always!

Hey folks! This one is a double bevel. The balance on this one is pretty nice, no twisting or anything. It slams down with a "WHACK" noise real nice and solid. Kozzy, was it some sort of a hewing hatcet? a lot of times those eyes are off on one side to make for ease of hewing and squaring timber. Thomas, I have not! I have seen quite a few of them but I haven't gotten my hands on one yet!

Here's a recent piece I did. Japanese Nata style hatchet. 17" OAL, 7.5in cutting edge. 5160, red oak handle. A little... beefier than I intended, but I'm okay with it. I really like Japanese tools. I hope to do some wood chisels soon. I like this piece, I'm hoping to hang on to it. Limbs really nice and does a number on firewood, too. Thanks for looking!

I'm glad this is a topic here on the good ol information super highway that is the internet! I was thinking about making one as well, I have some spring steel that is about 1/4 in thickness. I thought about wraping a short eye around a tomahawk mandrel, forgewelding it, and just shoving one of my tomahawk handles in it since they're tapered, right? Do a single flat grind, not too sharp, harden and temper to like 475-485 (talking 5160). I checked out the one from Neeman Tools... are most of your froe's 12-14 inches, typically? I was thinking of doing one around 8 for the test run. But heck... there's some folks that are saying mild works... I've got my fair share of mild flatbar to use for it then!

Thanks for the compliments, Frosty! I'm thinking from now on when I do a drifted eye like this, I'll do it out of Mild and forge weld in some carbon. I too like a convex edge. I try to put those on some of my hawks... sure does get nice and sharp!

BEAUTIFUL!

Hey folks! Just wanted to share my finished camp ax. I forged this back in March at Liam Hoffman's ax forging class. Just recently was able to finish it. Drifted eye 4140. We only broke one sledge that weekend! This is only my second or third handle, carved from ash. Gave it a bake for 1.5hrs @400. I didn't get quite the harden i would have liked, though. I didn't have any parks 50 to quench in, and it didn't like hardening in veggie oil or used motor oil. I recently was able to field test it this past weekend. It sure did like to throw some nice sized chips! But hey, that's what first time experiments are for, yeah? Thanks for looking!

Rigoni, I'm in love with this ax! What was the process for the copper inlay? I just did a small ax from 4140... what will you temper it as? I went with 400 F for 1.5 hours. This is just awesome!

My God, Theo. You kill it every time. Did you forgeweld the guard on? Simply beautiful!

Looks very good! I really like the handle on both knives!

I've found that trying to forge weld carbon steel to carbon steel isn't the easiest. Doesn't seem carbon likes to stick to carbon very easily. Has a lot to do with the chromium and vanadium, correct? I've found that 5160 sure does like to stick to mild, though. I recently welded a billet of 3 layers, wrought with 5160 between. I was told to get the wrong almost white hot before attempting to weld. I did, too! She stuck and I didn't get any cold shunts. Gotta get it hot when working with wrought to weld, and keep er hot to work it. From my understanding, it likes to chunk off and crumble like blue cheese if you work it too cold!

I always look forward to seeing your projects, Chris. Someone, please, come wipe the drool off of my desk and keyboard. This is an absolutely beautiful piece!

Theo, REALLY digging this blade. From the guard and pommel, handle material, the clean American tanto shape, to the GOAT LEATHER? That's so cool!