bigfootnampa

Wow! As a transplanted Missourian and approaching "The Age of Curmudgeons", I must chide professor Powers for (deliberately, I think) fostering the myth of suicidal lemmings and then compounding his sin with tales of suicidal high carbon steels! Surely he is aware that the suicidal lemmings are a Disney invention, NOT a natural phenomena! Here in the "show me" State, high carbon steels do NOT seek water of their own volition! I always keep a pail of water near my forge, for sprinkling, selective quenching and safety purposes. A handy pail of cool water is great first aid for a burn! Especially if applied IMMEDIATELY! I have noted no natural migration of my high carbon steels (or, indeed of ANY metals) toward that pail of water! Just so that you know, professor Powers, when next I venture into that high desert country where you range, I will expect to discuss this in depth with you, preferably at one of the rare oases in the area where good craft beers spring from the taps like water! Methinks I may need something to wet my whistle before this discussion can be properly concluded!

Don't believe it all! Some significant misinformation there.

Well technically it is not the pitch but what is called bound moisture that is the difficulty with drying lumber. The surface moisture evaporates easily and quickly and causes only a little shrinkage. Moisture that is bound inside the cells of the wood is much harder to get out and results in significant shrinkage as it dries. Things as thick as logs are extremely difficult to dry on the inside. Radial shrinkage will almost always cause some cracks (checking) in the outer surfaces of such large pieces of wood... This is why we cut fine woods into smaller slabs before drying them. Sealing end grain and controlled humidity allow the bound moisture to migrate slowly out of the wood and thus the wood shrinks fairly evenly. If you dry the wood very fast on the outside the outside of the wood only will shrink... causing excessive checking since it is stretched around the, still swollen with moisture, inner portions of the wood!

Well technically it is not the pitch but what is called bound moisture that is the difficulty with drying lumber. The surface moisture evaporates easily and quickly and causes only a little shrinkage. Moisture that is bound inside the cells of the wood is much harder to get out and results in significant shrinkage as it dries. Things as thick as logs are extremely difficult to dry on the inside. Radial shrinkage will almost always cause some cracks (checking) in the outer surfaces of such large pieces of wood... This is why we cut fine woods into smaller slabs before drying them. Sealing end grain and controlled humidity allow the bound moisture to migrate slowly out of the wood and thus the wood shrinks fairly evenly. If you dry the wood very fast on the outside the outside of the wood only will shrink... causing excessive checking since it is stretched around the, still swollen with moisture, inner portions of the wood!

The thing that seems to be missing here in the discussion of grain direction, is that burls characteristically have wild swirling, mixed up grain! Sure I'd slab most woods by splitting but don't try that with a burl! You MUST slab burls with saws... and most any direction is fair game. You cannot seal the end grain of a burl either... It doesn't have any such thing! IMO slightly sealing the surfaces would be good as even burls will sometimes check if they dry too fast... by slowing the drying of the outside you allow the moisture to migrate from the inside before the outside dries too much and cracks. Slow drying is almost always the best way to keep the most wood useable.

Due to the different movements of wood and metal, epoxy will make a poor glue for this project. Use silicon caulk instead. The silicon makes a flexible joint that is quite strong and durable. You can just silicon the crosses to your board and they will stick pretty reliably. Clean the backs well before sticking them on and leave a bit of thickness in the silicon joint (don't squeeze them down tightly). Do NOT use the silicon II, that stuff is garbage! Use pure silicon, not a blend.

I think the problem COULD BE grain growth from repeated heating... rather than working too cold. I have had this happen! Prevent it by working the leaf down before final thinning of the stem, working in as few heats as possible, removing the work from the fire promptly. In most cases where I have actually had a leaf break off I also worked nearby areas for several heats... the leaf stem slowly weakened and finally broke away. Wiser now I'd be careful to avoid too much thinning of the leaf stem until most other work was completed. A work flow error.

Yes it would make a good leaf hammer! In larger sizes it's a good choice for many types of hammers! Works well for punches, headers and such, as well!

You have to keep it in perspective. 4140 is MUCH BETTER axe stock than railroad spikes! 1095 is probably a bit better though! I could be quite happy with a 4140 axe for rough work around the farm! I would much prefer a higher carbon steel for my carving axes! I use lower grade steel for my ice axes that I chop holes in the water troughs with! So much depends on the intended uses and user preferences! The blade design is also an important factor... My ice axes have small very thin blades with integral handles. Ice is very hard and a steep bevel on a thick blade makes for a lot more work! I make the ice axes with fairly long handles so that I can reach through the fences to cut the ice... Small light heads allow for easy wrist swings that can hit the same slot over and over... Cutting even a foot of ice in just a couple minutes!

Here in Missouri you can walk any creek bed and pick up dozens of sparky stones in a few minutes! Cherts, cavestones, quartz and others! Back in Idaho we used to hunt where whole mountains were mostly rhyolite shale that sparks decently and was commonly knapped by the indians. Don't get hung up on flint! Hundreds of stone types can be used!

You could do it by slitting and drifting... but I'd suggest making a Frederick's style split cross instead. No way could you drill and drift! Lots of info here on the Frederick's style crosses! They are much easier than a two piece cross and can be adapted to quite a variety of sizes and styles with a little imagination! Good experience for beginning smiths!

It is done all the time! 3/4" round bar is too small for most axes though! I would likely begin with about 1" for tomahawks... bigger for most other axes! People do make tomahawks from railroad spikes, which are only 5/8" square... but I think they are too skinny at the eyes!

Wow!!! He does some really cool work! Fun to see! I'd like to se some galleries of his works! Thanks Michael!!!

My favorite is Monel! It is very stain resistant! Expensive and tough to move though! The finished products and patinas are extremely durable!

They are great subjects! You have done them justice! I have seen hordes of tiny ones on my place. One fall I found one that was over six inches long! I had not realized that they could grow to such dimensions!!!

Just pull it off! Flex yer muscles!

Cold riveting is much easier! As said before, light fast raps work better in most cases. I have come to like Jake's method... just slip a piece of rod in the rivet hole and form both heads at the same time! You have to flip it a few times, hammering on both heads in turn, to get evenly formed heads... REAL MEN do it this way!!! :D

More likely that they were treated with an acrylic finish or a bit of acetone... Both are used by handle manufacturers. PEG is quite expensive. I never heard of it being used as part of a commercial production process! Acetone and some acrylics can be highly diluted and treat hundreds of handles for very low cost. This is often done.

Fantastic! I love to see collaborative works! The artists are generally top notch and well paired... certainly the case here!!!

Yes! The finish on that piece is VERY NICE!!! The swirling design is also terrific!

This is/was an interesting and informative discussion! Thanks to the OP for starting it! I will at least feel less guilty for omitting brushing in the future! IMO it is a good idea to examine traditional techniques like this often!

Personally I do not mind a bit of scale on my work. I DO dislike having big chunks of coal clinging to the work surfaces as I bring it to the anvil though! I often have to scrape that off. I usually do just forge through the scale and rarely encounter any problems with that practice. I think that gas forges tend to produce more scale... I use a coal forge.

The Ozarks is like one giant, open aquarium, and lots of people fish here! That's one that my wife caught... in Bull Shoals... I think. Some days we catch six or seven species of fish... other days we'll bring 200 fish to the boat in 5 hours on the water!!! Most are released but we keep a few to eat sometimes. It's usually relaxing and peaceful on the water with lots of wildlife to watch... ospreys, otters, mink, wood ducks, geese, great blue and green herons, deer, etc. We usually take our three dogs on the boat. My wife likes to tease them by asking if they really want to go! They have developed a little dance performance in answer... it involves a lot of jumping and whining and little anxious barks!!!

Pretty COOL!!!

Oh my! That's a very upsetting way to make a rose! You might want to try the "Russian" or rolled rose style next time! Life is short! Work is plentiful!