Phil Dwyer

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Mikey took his hook to school today to show his kindergarten teacher. I told his teacher it may be destined to becoming a family heirloom.

It came through loud and clear. Nice and crisp lines on the blade. Do all your knives come with such an impressive security system?

Thanks, I understand what hard facing is and does, I just don't know what rod to get to do it. When I asked for hard facing rod at the local Gaspro they just started hemming and hawing and threw a bunch of numbers at me. Thanks for all the cutting tips guys!

Mikey's (my 6 year old's) first hot blacksmithing project. (He has been practicing with copper cold for some time.) He loves to declare, "got a good heat this time Dad." In fact, after burning himself, when I told him to put the tools down so we could take a break and fix him up, his exact words were, "one last time hammering Dad, I got a monster heat this time!" I got him one of those little HF 15 pound anvils. He's got his own safety glasses and a pair of small tongs. Still got to make him an appropriately sized hammer though. He has trouble holding the tongs (takes after his Dad I guess) so I helped with that somewhat once we hot cut his hook off the rod. That's him on my shoulders a few years ago. (Boy time flies by in a wink. It seems like just the other day, I was 20 pounds lighter and my boy was just a little blob in diapers!) I just love that little guy!

Some folks use their mobile phone to take photos. It will be great when you get a hold of something to snap some shots of your work. We just love looking at everyone's stuff.

Cool! I like it all. It doesn't look like each snake took a whole RR spike. Did they both come out of one spike? The trim and slim letter opener made out of a building spike that was over a hundred years old takes the cake. Your old farm house sounds pretty special. Thanks for sharing.

Hmmm, good ideas. Maybe some sort of synthesis of Habu68's tri-anvil and Evfreek's side-by-side. I'm kind of new to welding (use a cheap Chicago Electric 220V AC/DC arc welder, but upgrading to a Lincoln 225 AC/DC). I've only worked with 6010, 6011, 6013 and 7018. Have pretty much settled on 6011 and 7018. What rod is the hard-facing rod?

Hey Mark, That's smart that you did so much experimenting. That multi-function grinder looks like a good idea to make a lot of different grinding and sanding applications possible. The 1 HP motor must give a bit of brawn too. I believe the grind is one of the most challenging aspect of knife making. Apparently you have to do it about zillion times until you muscles and bones know what they're doing. So keep it up! -Phil

Chuck, Thanks for the HT stress tips. That doesn't sound too complicated. I checked out you website, nice! -Phil

Go Hillybillysmith, go! I'm looking forward to following this thread. I've found some loose rail along an abandoned track on the other end of the island. The thing is all the rails are full length and heavy as the dickens. I'm thinking of making a ninja run early one Sunday morning with my little OA cutting torch and see if I can hack off a piece. I'm kind of new to the cutting torch and not sure I'll be able to pull it off. The thickest I've cut so far is 1" mild steel. Sometimes I've done just fine while other times I've struggled a good deal with only half penetration and lots of molten metal blow back. Anyone got any pointers?

Yep, it's a little different alright. Well done. I would never have thought of doing that with the spike head in a million years. What's with the hole? Did you punch it? Are you going to put a lanyard on it? Knife profile and grind are sweet. What did you use to do it? I can't quite see what the transition is between handle and blade. Did you give it a twist or two and then flatten it out? What's the over all length? Just wondering how far you stretched that spike. Must have been a good stretch, what with the spiral and all. Your photo backgrounds are interesting. I think the, shall we say well used, red shop rag shows it off better than the gray steel. Thanks for sharing and keep it up! -Phil

Wow! How long did you list it for? What did it sell for (if you don't mind my asking)? Did you have a starting bid amount or reserve amount?

Darn living on the most isolated islands in the world! I can't find any of that RR steel around here. Friends from IFI flat rate shipped spikes over to me for our high school blacksmith classes. I hope you guys know how good you have it.

You are a most excellent bladesmith. I aspire to your greatness. Awesome blade!

You got that right brother! Honolulu doesn't have blacksmiths either. I'm just a beginner myself. IFI is the next best thing to being in all these great guys' shops!

I'm not sure where you're at (did you see Glenn's post on how to add that info to your profile so we can know?) but can tell you what I do around here, in fact wherever I go. I'm always on the look out for steel. The other day I found two rail-like structures thrown over an embankment on the side of the road. There were a few rods of bent up rebar too. Sometimes I find folks discarding old "wrought iron" railings, like stair railings or burglar bars. Unfortunately most of the stuff turns out to be hollow, but sometimes I get lucky. I even have friends sometimes bringing me odds and ends. You really just about never know what you might find. If you have a metal/steel dealer in your area it might be worth while buying a few length of different size stock. It's not too expensive and can be kind of nice to work with something that all you have to do is hack off a piece and stuff in the fire. If you're dead-set on tool steel, in addition to coil and leaf springs, check local flea markets and swap meets for old chisels and files. Good luck!

Hey Frosty, You and your foot wear. Can you believe I dreamed about the d_mn things last night? I believe I asked you something like, "I suppose those are your wife's too?" Looks like I better less time on this forum, if I'm dreaming about it too! Anyway, that's a mighty funny looking horse you got! And what happened to all you hair. We'll want to hear more about your shop, but you better start another thread for that before we get in trouble for hijacking this one. But then, hey maybe you could sell monthly subscriptions, I mean to your shop, not your footwear collection! -Phil

Wow, that's a lot of chiseling. Thanks for your description of using an impact hammer, multiple chisels rotating in and out of a an oil soak holding area for cooling. You must have quite a sizable (and toasty) operation. You must indeed be an Ice Czar if you can keep from melting around all that heat!

That monster was quite an under taking. I understood you were making it for an important customer. Only you know your relationship (business and personal) to your customer, thus you're really the only one who can price your work. I do know if you're regularly in the business of giving away 25 hours of shop and labor time you are either billing a great deal else where to make up for it or are going to end up going broke...or have independent means to subsidize your blacksmithing activities. Regarding giving customers or friends a price break, there's one rule I made for myself many years ago. I let them know the full price and told them I was making a special customer discount (call it whatever) for them. Even if a gift for family or friend, I invoiced it at the full amount and did a discount line item (even if it was for the whole amount) and showed the balance due (hundred bucks or zero, whatever). This way everyone could know the full value of the item and everyone could know the extent of the discount or gift. I found this important for clarity across the board: mine, recipient's and lookers on (whether associates of the recipient's or of mine.) Sometimes my associates were coworkers. It was especially important to be clear for them. If we all gave the shop away we'd go broke for sure. It also helped me to be able to look back over a period of time and show right on the books what was produced, its cost of production and corresponding revenue stream. When it came time to reduce expenses and/or increase income knowing stuff like how much shop-time, etc, was given away was important. Correspondingly, knowing what our charitable contributions to the larger community (often to schools and the like) were helped instill another kind of pride or work ethic for us too. Anyway, there's a few more thoughts on the matter. That behemoth of a sword was quite an achievement. I especially like how you handled the guard. Thanks for sharing all this with us. I can't believe I'm corresponding with you in Romania. What little bit I know of your country, it's a very very little bit, I have admired. How special to be sharing across the miles. THANKS! --Phil

Is that $2 per lb for the brass or for the shipping? The flat rate priority mail box is less than $9. It can weigh up to 70 pounds and still the same flat rate. But if you paid/need $2 per pound for the brass, you're probably right, I couldn't afford much. I might have to take my words back, maybe I can't pay a fair price. Do you have a band saw? Could you cut into 1 foot lengths to fit in the box?

You lucky guys! I'd be pleased if I had any of your brass scraps. I've melted a bit down over the years, mostly old plumbing stuff. I'd avoid breathing any of the fumes, no matter what the alloy is. Zinc was what we mostly worried about. What diameter are the rods? Gee, you'd think if the stuff was being machined it'd be alright. Of course you're right, copper would be safer and beautiful too! It's just too soft for a lot of applications. Would either of you be willing to cut some of the brass stuff up and fill a flat rate priority mail box for us in Hawaii? We'd be please to pay a fair price. Thanks, Phil

What treadle hammer are you using? Did you put it together yourself? How much wallop do you get out of it?

It does take a little while. Lighting it is the only time its smoky for me. The pieces of coke are under a cubic inch. Probably roughly around the size of grapes.

What was your 5160 source? What dimension did you forge down from. Anything you could share about the process would be much appreciated. That sure is a beaut!!! --Phil