Benton Frisse

SJS I've been looking for some good wrought iron here in Indiana, but I have yet to find any. I'd love to do some pattern welds with them. Any good places around Indy you'd recommend?

Chancellor I LOVE that video. I find that technique interesting, where they overlay the carbon instead of insertion for the edge. What a great vid. I've thought of trying that style of carbon steel tip... maybe one day ;)

Or does anyone have any information on lawn mower/mulcher blades that they've come across in the past?

Hey folks, I have a client who gave me a mulcher blade and asked to have a folded hatchet/hawk made from it. After dressing the piece and getting rid of the bevels for the blade edges, I folded it, stuck a piece of 5160 in it, and welded it... or tried to. I know some steels don't like to forge weld to each other, especially certain carbon steels. I'm not sure what these blades are made of, I tried hardening a little sliver of one and it didn't want to harden, but I may not have brought it up to a critical enough temperature. I can't get some of this mulcher blade to stick to this 5160. Part is welded, part isn't. I've tried welding it 5 times. The metal was cleaned before the first initial weld, too. What steels don't like to stick to 5160? If you all encounter this problem, what do you do? Thanks!

Frosty... it's a slippery slope ;)

Rail road spike steel quality... such a can of worms! I think Mr. Powers hit it on the head (see what I did there?) They make an easy selling piece, though! I've sold two this week! People like the looks, and for what most people use blades for a low carbon steel blade would probably suffice? I always warn people before they buy a spike knife or ax from me that it is not a high carbon steel, but a low carbon steel. Cheers!

From what I've read/heard on a few ax groups and forums, Gransfors has cut back on their distribution of their axes. Evidently one of their head smiths is very ill and now there will only be a handful of distributors in EU that will sell them, and I don't know about US. I hope Duluth Pack still carries them! But I just like the designs of AUTINE myself. I wish we could get John Neeman on this forum and have him share some ax knowledge. That'd be awesome! Best of lucky, Mr. Frosty!

Dave, I have a spindle sander but was not aware you can buy sandpaper for those that works well for metal stock removal. Thanks for sharing that tip!

The tachi is amazing! are you going to do the mountings yourself or send it off to someone like Fred Lohman to have it mounted?

Basher, Awesome photos! I think I will try the swage block weld technique! That helps clear up a lot! I just need to practice my welds more, I got a pretty nice, solid, thorough stick on a folded tomahawk this weekend on the first try. I was ecstatic! Ric, Thanks for the encouragement! I've been eyeballing some of your classes (and of course, have watched your Nova video probably close to 15 times. best purchase ever!) and hope to be able to attend one soon! Thanks everyone!

And thanks for the kind words!

We're on the north west side of Evansville, bascially right off of the north end of the new University Parkway that runs straight into Highway 66/Diamond Ave. Ah, cheers! Aikido and iaido here. Haven't trained in a few months though. Hoping to start hitting the mat and slinging steel again soon. I'm extremely pleased with Blu's products. I blew the face out of one and they replaced it right away for free. I've fallen in love with their x-1 rounding hammer and the 2.4lb cross peen is my go to hammer. Probably going to order the 1.5 and the 3.5 pounders here soon because... well... why not? haha.

That thing is like a hog cleaver! Looks mean and awesome! Actually, in reality, looks like it could be a pretty awesome big game cleaner, too? Pelvic splitter!

Awesome, will do! I bought some modified gooseneck tongs from Kayne and Son for holding RR spikes. They were like 35 bucks and I'm so incredibly happy with them. But I really want to try some tongs from Quick and Dirty. They look really nice. I have an old set of Champion tongs and I'm thinking of sending them to 'em and seeing if they can copy about 5 pairs for me! I think we plan on hitting some of the IBA hammer ins soon. Just between some local demos in New Harmony and projects we haven't had the time. Look me up on facebook, if you like!

Thanks for the input guys! I didn't know there were more in the series, mine is The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way to Perfection. I think you guys bring up a good point. There's only one way to find out if my welds are good enough, and that's to weld 'er up and start hammering against them! I'm also thinking of doing this style with a cable damascus core. Should be fun! Thanks folks!

Hey Mason! Give me a holler sometime! I'm only about 30 minutes from you down in Evansville!

<------ Evansville, Indiana! I'm a member of IBA, just haven't been able to get to any of their hammer-ins yet.

Hey folks! So I've been doing a lot of reading and research lately, especially in The Complete Bladesmith. You folks weren't lying, what a gold mine of a book! I do, however, have a question. I came across his section on Norse blades with the pattern welded core (...I think page 137 but I could be entirely wrong), using 1/8' bar stock stacked 3x3, twisted, rounded, then welded. Then drawing one end to a point, cutting some medium carbon 2/3 of the way through, and wrapping this around the patterned stock, weld, and forge to shape. Sounds easy, I know. Doesn't it all? My question comes at the point of the weld of the carbon steel to the patterned mild steel. The book doesn't list any specifics, but I assume you weld the material on by hammering on the blade edges, causing the material to bond. Got it. But then when you forge to shape, don't you have to hammer against the welds to draw the blade out and "hammer to shape"? I assume that if you have good, solid welds this isn't an issue. But isn't that still a huge risk of breaking your welds apart, especially at the point where the mild and the carbon are welded to each other? Mr. Powers, Basher, or any of you other blade folks? My goal is to start off small and not to bite off more than I can chew. I think I'm going to try this first with a dagger-sized blade, and once i've done it a few times move up to something bigger.

Beautiful knife, saw this on your post in blacksmithing enthusiasts. Is this piece already sold?

Looks good! I'm also about to order the Grizzly!

I can't afford one of the big bad boys that a lot of folks are using, so I'm going to start off by buying a Grizzly and then eventually upgrading from there.

Wow... that hamon is BEAUTIFUL! Great work, Mr. Loneforge!

Here's another I just finished for a buddy. You guys are probably starting to get tired of seeing these, but they sell well and they're easy to get a hold of. he wanted just a good camp chopper and something that would throw too. I mounted it on a blacksmith hammer handle because I forgot to size the eye bigger. Ooops. I have to re-hang the handle though, as you can see it cracked up by the eye when I wedged it. I may order a mousehawk handle and see if it fits it? I know Kayne and Son has em' purdy cheap. Or I may just chop it off where it cracked and use the same handle. Thanks for looking!