bigfootnampa

Since this thread has been revived I will give an update on my personal nailmaking progress. I have broken some of my earliest headers, possibly because I have developed a liking for large headed nails. I am now using heavy leaf springs for my latest (replacement) headers. I have become a bit faster though nowhere near doing nails in a single heat or at nail-a-minute speed. I am okay with that as the quality is my main motivation. I do some nails with very large decorative heads (rustic shaped as I like them). I often make them to specific lengths for the immediate intended application. I have begun to make some of them from higher carbon steels (old hay-rake tines) for better stiffness (I just leave them as-forged HT wise). A significant advance has been achieved by learning to make a hinged cut on the hardy when cutting the nail for heading (I cut from only two [opposite] sides and fold the nail 90 degrees to reheat for heading). This is quicker and easier than cutting on all four sides and leaving a central stem. When I have to clench nails, I will thin the tips for bending with my angle grinder and flap wheel rather than trying to forge them to fit. This is much faster and more accurate and doesn't offend MY sense of tradition much. I often make a few nails while the forge is heating up (before it gets hot enough to tackle my larger projects). I keep these in a small jar of mixed sizes and raid it when I am working on something and just need a few. I will also make a few extras when I am making a batch for some project and they go into this jar also. My nails are beautiful (to me anyway) and powerful! I can make very strong fastenings and repairs with them. Some are used like steel dowels to reinforce joinery (which they do with amazing success). I feel that my nails are usually stronger than modern wood screws (and WAAAaay stronger than modern wire nails). I bought a set of tapered drill bits that I use for predrilling in many cases so that I rarely have splitting problems.

Thank You Phil! That's very interesting as 500 degrees centigrade is over 900 degrees fahrenheit! I know that I have been tempering my springs harder than that. I will try this with my next ones. I don't have an oven that will go that high but I can bake on top of the forge to do it.

Pete you can do that. Most of the springs I recycle are more like a medium carbon I believe. The key is to temper them to a pretty flexible state. The medium carbon to low end high carbon steels tend to be a little more forgiving to heat treat than the high carbon steels which is (I think) why they are more often used (it tends to be too easy to get high carbon steels overhard for spring purposes). For the original poster this seems a fairly easy project to me but the question and the way you ask it makes me think that you need some skilled help to do this successfully. It is perhaps a bit more complex than can be easily covered here unless you already have a pretty good background of knowledge.

I don't think your steel is the problem. I just made a huge skewed gouge from an old mower blade and it will shave you easily (that's how I test for sharpness... the back of my left hand often has bald spots). I doubt that my steel is much higher carbon than yours. I think you ought to try some file steel though if what you want is a real quality working razor. Sharpening is not easy to do when you want real razor sharpness. I think you'll need a buffing wheel and some white diamond compound to finish the edge. You can shave hair with my axes when I have just finished sharpening them but they are awkward to maneuver and don't hold that kind of edge as well as a razor should. "Sharp" tools will just shave a little hair and "really sharp" ones will POP the hair off but "razor sharp" ones will effortlessly create bald spots.

I will say, in defense of clinkers (I don't get many), they can be great for preventing burnt steel... I pulled a couple out of my forge the other day and was soon burning steel right and left! Guess I shoulda left one of them in there.

I just used an old leaf spring from my stockpile. About 1 1/2"X 3/16" and forged thinner at the top to fit into the collar. It isn't critical and depends somewhat on the size of your vise. Whatever you have handy... use that.

UUuummm... I think it's a walleye! AWESOME!!!

And how!!!!!!!!!

Dust of any kind can be fatal to bugs, borax works better than most types though. Researchers were surprised to find that vacuuming is a VERY effective way to kill fleas... sucks them up and the dust in the bag does em in (some people vacuum their pets). Works for roaches too but you gotta be fast to get em in there before they run away!!

More scale is the norm for gas forges (vs coal). A lot of bladesmiths use a flux to minimize it. "Firescoff" is one such product. You might find it useful.

That seems too far from a good fit, you need a fairly close fit for the spring clamping action to grab. I am using a motorcycle type (like a bicycle chain but heavier) drive chain hooked to a staple on the far side of my anvil stand (stump). I just lay it over the anvil and lift it with my hammer as I slide the hot work under it. The weight of the chain has been all that I need to secure my work but some guys put a board on it to use as a foot pedal for a tighter hold. IMO it is hard to beat this system... it works REALLY well for me!

I can't help you with that method except to suggest that it is an approximation system and likely vulnerable to increasing inaccuracies as you approach extreme examples (long narrow ovals for example). I prefer to plot points on graph paper making a template. With this system you need only plot one quadrant as a pattern for all four... meaning that standard graph paper can be used for an oval up to about 20 inches long. For larger ovals I would tape two or more sheets together.

I hope that you meant "tempered" where you wrote "annealed" because annealing heat treats the metal to its softest state. Mild steel has a smaller variation in hardness than higher carbon alloys but even so it does make a difference. There is a lot of info on heat treating in the blueprints and the stickies in the knife forum. There are lots of techniques for bluing but the one that you tried is a new one to me... doesn't look like it works so well either. I'd go to the blueprints, archives or google.

The coal that most of us burn has few impurities to begin with. Coke is what the coal becomes as it burns... kinda like wood becomes charcoal (charcoal BTW is an excellent forge fuel too). You burn the fresh coal at the fire edges and the coked coal (which burns hotter and cleaner) at the center. You will understand this much better by the time you finish your camp. Check our blueprints section for info on basic forge construction. The forge section also often has threads about this. What I would recommend is that you get some basic safety equipment before your class and maybe a good hammer. I like to wear the knit reversible Kevlar gloves (Blacksmith's Depot has em). I find that they are much more heat resistant than leather or even lined leather or cotton either. I usually just wear a kevlar sleeve on my hammer hand. Safety glasses or goggles are a MUST. Leather shoes or steel toed boots. Cotton clothing. A leather apron is good but not necessary. Hammer wise it is hard to beat the Hofi system. It would be best to get Mr. Hofi's video on the use of his hammers and study that too. Hammer control is one of your first big challenges. If you become good with your hammer you are halfway there. That should be enough to keep you busy until your camp, have fun!

It is an old traditional method... so I imagine that more than a few have done it. If you want the orange stain that was used on the old flintlock stocks you also have to heat it after applying the iron solution. Nails are even better than steel wool as the steel wool has a lot of oil on it (just takes a bit longer to get the solution saturated with nails). Apply the iron solution and then heat the wood with a torch or heat gun (heat sources in the old days were more likely to be candles or lamps or firebrands). You will see the color change as the iron rusts. It is a lovely finish for curly maple! You can use any topcoat. Traditionally it would have been oil finished, but modern acrylics and varnishes can be just as nice and more durable.

I have burned up a good many myself. I have tried all ways but the best thing is to set them aside and let them cool down. I used to sometimes have a couple or three identical tools for the ones that I used most and alternate them letting one cool while I used the other... this scheme improved the tools life spans quite a bit. If you can arrange your work to do something else for a while that is great but I had to move fast and from site to site so when I was at a site I had to MOVE and an extra gun or two was easily paid for when they might make a hundred bucks a day difference. A little bonus is having a backup that way too. Climate plays a role... here in Missouri it can get quite warm in the summer and tools take time to cool.

That kinda news will put a smile in my day! Makes me real happy to hear this!! Clay

Here is the latest from Kurt about this chisel. He reports that it works well and he loves the long length of it which cannot normally be found in chisels on the market. He says that it is heavy but just right for him. His fellow masons josh him about leaving it on the job site assuring him that they would "take care of it for him". He feels conflicted about using it because it is so beautiful. They recently did a job where they removed an outer layer of brick and flipped and relaid them. The inner layer of brick had mortar squeeze-out that had to be chiseled off and Kurt used his chisel in a slick-like manner (paring with two hands driving the chisel... no hammering). It's considerable weight drove it through the old mortar with ease and saved him time over the other workmen as their smaller chisels had to be hammer driven. So it sounds as though the chisel is working exactly as I intended. Kurt seems quite proud of it too! Now maybe I will work at a lighter version which might be used by masons who lack Kurt's famed "grip of steel".

I've just been swishing my punches through my coal bucket... I have been meaning to try some anti-spatter dip from the welding shop though. Hofi uses moly-graphite for lube.

Good idea Thomas! IMO the food is probably better in Italy too!

So I have a practical question that relates to this discussion pretty directly. I have a disc of D2 steel that was cut from a rod. This disc is about 5/8" thick by 4" diameter. If I forge this disc (hot of course) by upsetting edgewise to get a bar which I then draw out to make a knife blank, will I have realigned the grain structure sufficiently to have a good knife blank? Or will the resulting blank be permanently flawed because of the original grain directionality? This is not entirely theoretical as I do have such a disc and have pondered this very scenario.

While it is possible to silver solder to iron grounds (I've done it) it is far from easy. I think you might be more satisfied with some inlay techniques. Japanese sword maker artists have developed a wide range of techniques for this purpose. Mostly they are used on the Tsuba. If you'll google Tsuba, or japanese inlay I think you'll find some interesting info. You may also be interested in the Korean techniques for Kum-Boo (or Kuem-Boo). Here is a link to just one of many articles that you might find inspiring: A history of the Japanese Tsuba

The hackberry is strong and hard but less stiff than oaks or hickory or ash. Straight grained pieces should work excellently for handles. Hackberry root was the most favored material for froe clubs many years ago when every homestead had and used froes. This flexibility makes hackberry a good wood for furniture too, especially chairs. I have made not only handles from it but hammers too. For hammer handles there's no need to wait for air drying. Work them to rough shape green (saves a lot of effort) and learn to microwave dry them (not hard mostly patience).

Smooth-xxx move Grant! (:-)

I have been buying cheap pry bars whenever I find them in antique malls or flea markets. I generally get them at real bargain prices and have found quite a few. I love them for punches, chisels and such tools! I have found that they make my 4140 tools seem pretty soft and fragile. I like this steel SO WELL that I am wanting to make a few production items from consistent identically sized stock... which means I need to buy new steel. I don't know just what to get though. Do any of you know what steel(s) are usually used to make pry bar tools?