Benton Frisse

Nice knife for a first timer! I like how creative you've gotten for procuring supplies. I would have never thought to use some hardwood flooring samples! Great idea. Also, digging the Death Adder in the background! I've only played with casting pewter a few times. Nice skull!

Looks good!

Really glad I found this topic, as I was thinking about this. I recently took a class and the smith was calling the round face of his rounding hammer a "round die" and I had never heard it called that. But I'm glad I've read this thread and figured out why!

Awesome trip, Theo! Thanks for the post full of good stuff. Keep us posted on the blade, yeah?

Man, I love this! What's the hole in the blade for? Super cool. Love it.

You might be a redneck knife maker if... You make your mokume gane fittings from quarters. Tongs? You mean channel locks? Your favorite stand up comedy to watch on TV is the Cutlery Corner Shopping Network. *GENUINE CARBON STEEL, HAND FORGED LOLOLOLOL* It's a frequent line for your wife to say "Honey, your knives are stinkin' up my oven again!" You reuse all of your old NASCAR shirts to make micarta.

Man, Stormcrow, you knock it out of the park every time! Really digging that one with the walnut scales!

That's a beautiful polish you've got on there! Nice knife!

I think my favorite part about this thread is all of the creative engineering!

Thank you so much for the advice! I have some small chunks of farriers rasps laying around that would fit perfectly! But then that raises the next question... what about tempering and hardening? Since I'll have two different steels that need two different hardness on each end?

Off to a heck of a start! Looking good, Gergely!

This is beautiful! What an amazing blade!

I'm interested to see the response to this as well, I've been wondering about this!

Thanks Chris! I used a full length, but still ran a bead from a wire fed welder down it. My piece of 5160 was a bit more narrow compared the the mild when it was finished. There was a slight space up towards the handle that I wanted to close up too. I just started a drifted eye style from 7/8in square, and I took my inspiration from some of your beautiful works! Especially your Norse and Dane style axes!

I realized in my absence that I never responded to this. Thanks for all of your input, folks! I think I've decided to leave it as mild steel. Here's a few photos of the axe in its current condition. I did a drifted eye in 7/8in square stock, then folded and welded an overlay of 5160 over the bit. Came out kinda viking-ish looking with the beard. Still need to finish clean up!

Wow, Owen! What a beautiful piece all together! Absolutely stunning! I can't wait to get a hold of some bog oak.

I enjoy making knives from mill files. I have quite the stock of worn out, old mill files. Here's one a did for a college friend. He wanted a knife to have around the house, bare bone minimum, no fancy stuff. Red oak scales, basic leather sheath without a belt loop. I finished this right before I got my 2x72 belt grinder and realized my bevels needed work. But with a 2x72 it's a lot easier to get better shaped grinds (yet getting a good clean convex grind is one of the hardest things I've done, I need to build a jig). Thanks for looking.

Looking good! Clean lines!

Here is a commission I recently finished. Mild 1x1/4 flat bar with 5160 insert. Pewter end caps. A fun little hawk. I changed the general shape of this one. Also filed in some decorations on the top. Thanks for looking! Still working on improving the quality of my work. I'm not as artistic as I'd like to be, so I'm striving improve the performance of my work. Headed to another axe forging class in St. Louis in two weeks!

What a foul misrepresentation of any form of "bladesmithing". Did anyone see that episode where he made a "dragon slaying, fire breathing" sword? *scoffs*

I like that cleaver profile, I'm also interested in the steel type, like Mr. Powers!

I'm no expert but hawks are my favorite thing to forge! I come in contact with this problem a lot. I heat up my hawk head, clamp the blade in the vise, slide my drift into the eye and give it a slight torque in the way it needs to be straightened! May not be the best, may not be the worst way, but it's what works for me!

I love the simplicity of this blade. It's beautiful!

TheoRockNazz, man I look forward to seeing your work, because it's so different yet so dang awesome. This rocks! Probably my favorite piece you've done!

Wow, beautiful work. That's a fine example of pure craftsmanship!