Benton Frisse

What size ballpein was this? Oh, and howdy from a fellow Hoosier!

Wowza, that color is just beautiful! Great knife, if I had some spare cash I'd try to buy this beast!

Man, this is just too gorgeous. Love the handle and the mokume gane bolster!

I took notes on this video last time I watched it. A great video!

I really want to try this now. We've got more spent sawzall blades laying around than Quaker's got oats!

That chef's knife looks razor sharp! Hey I like the blade shape of that bowie!

I have used it on a knife that had red oak scales... I really liked how it came out! I've also used it on a hickory tomahawk handle... love it. I just don't like how it's a royal pain in the butt to scrub off your hands, but rubbing in the oil with my palm is the best technique I've found so far.

Awesome, EB! I have that same dremel engraver, yet I haven't used it on wood yet, only steel. Very creative!

This is wonderful. The blades look great, Steve! Best of luck and glad the shop is rebuilt!

AUTINE all the way!

So this microwave method and bag method ya'll speak of.... Say I had a piece of black walnut, spalted oak, or some cherry that was 2x2x6 for a hidden tang knife handle. I could stick that sucker in the microwave and dry it?! what kind of sessions in the microwave do you prefer, and how many? I'm doing some research as I type this, but I'd like to hear your personal preferences. I do like that bag technique for stuff that I have but dont know what to do with it yet....

Hey man, that's a mean little skinner! Pretty neat vid you did too!

Don't be discouraged from these folks, they're here to help just like all of us are here to learn. I was shocked at first, too, when I first started posting here about 6 months ago. But VERY quickly, I learned how extremely knowledgeable these people are. I also learned that I came in slinging some terms that were not correct, and thinking I knew a lot more than I did. The people here are wonderful and such a huge resource that we're lucky to have all in one place. Best advice here, chief, is scan the forums by searching for terms, check some books, make sure all of your safety points for smithing are in check and then jump in and give 'er a whack! Each project you do, you'll learn more. You'll pick up on the things to do and not to do, how to increase your efficiency, etc. You're going to get burned, you're going to drop stuff on your toes, you're going to smash your fingers. Best of luck, bud!

Man that made me LOL. You wouldn't want the nickname "Yellowbeard"!

Long before my forging days, when I was a wee lad just running around with a small ball peen and banging on stuff, we had a great horned owl move in with a broken wing. My step father named him "Hootie" and worked with the local vet to rehabilitate it. Hootie made a full recovery, too! Holy cow you want to talk about a big bird. I know great horned owls are big... but this thing was huge. But then again... I was only about 6 so of course it would seem large to me. lol

I'm a little late to the discussion, and my apologies for so, but I learned the hard way of when I do and do not prefer to wear gloves while forging. One day, I had decided I was going to make root steel. This was only my second or third attempt at forge welding. I coated on the flux, closed up the fold in the material, heated the sucker up, yanked it out of the fire and gave it a smack. I didn't have a glove on my hammer hand, and the hot molten flux peppered my hand and fingers. Oh xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx it hurt so bad. It was like someone took a bunch of red hot pins and seared into the bone on my fingers. Lesson one: always wear gloves while forge welding... or I do at least. Other than that, I don't usually wear gloves unless I'm noticing a lot of scale flying around, even while keeping the metal cleaned with a brush. I'll wear one on my tong hands then. Idk, it just depends on what I'm working on/with.

This is so xxxxxx awesome.

I see what you did there, Frosty!

Thomas, I wonder if he hammered with this thumb on top of the hammer handle or to the side? lol

Hey folks, I saw this article published today by the Irish Archaeology website and thought it would be cool to share. http://irisharchaeology.ie/2014/09/viking-blacksmiths-grave-uncovered-in-norway/ Pretty cool stuff in the image, I see some tongs and what looks like fullers! And maybe some certain types of hammers! I hope this isn't the wrong place to put this, but I thought you all would enjoy this article as much as I did. Cheers!

Thanks folks!

Awesome tutorial. I think I'm going to have to try this!

Man, I follow all of your stuff on facebook and drool over just about everything you make. Awesome!

Forged this broadhead yesterday. Spent 30 minutes digging it out of a stump... but seemed to work well. Not too heavy, and I made the socket shorter. I also compressed the socket a bit more, it's a little big in the picture.