WannabeSmith
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Darkhart89
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Location
West Haven, Connecticut
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Biography
Just starting to learn about smithing
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Interests
PC games, building and working with computers, having a good time
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Occupation
Full time college student, part time employment
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Well I found a spare tire on the side of the road because I figured I could use it to make a decent firepot. The family's metal fire pit is now being replaced so I was thinking of using the rim in the firepit. My question is are tire rims ever anything to fear heating up? I am afraid I don't know how to tell what sort of metal it is, I'd imagine steel but ~shrug~. Any tips ? I know I have read of people successfully using these but I don't know if mine is like theirs :(
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Do you temper your spike knives ?
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc
I got to the store and sighted jet dry and remembered that was the substitute that I read about. So I'll be trying that, I went with the cleaner for the washer itself, wish me luck ^_^ -
Do you temper your spike knives ?
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc
Glad to hear it Fiery Super Quench is simply a quenching mixture. I have found two recipes that are very similar. Perhaps posting it here will bring more of em. 1. # 4 1/2 gallons water # 5 lb. salt # 32 oz. Dawn dish soap (blue) # 8 oz. Shaklee Basic I 2. 5 Gal water 5 Lbs table salt 32 oz dawn dishwashing liquid (the blue stuff) 8 oz Shaklee Basic "I" (a wetting agent) Sadly I am not on my laptop so don't have the stated substitute for Shaklee saved. At least I hope I have it on there 0.0. I think I will try the 1st since it is just less water, so if not the same it will be slightly more concentrated. I am also not sure if table salt always has to be used as opposed to rock salt.. which would be a much cheaper alternative. Maybe someone will know -
Do you temper your spike knives ?
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc
Awesome thanks guys! Yeah Frosty I am going to whip up some super quench for it. And to Robert, you are still a lot more experienced than I so your thoughts are appreciated! Sounds like I've gotten my answer. Sorry I know this discussion has occurred in other threads but I read about people both tempering and not tempering their RR spikes. I will not be doing so. Hopefully someday I'll be helpful to someone =) -Justin -
Do you temper your spike knives ?
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc
Thanks KY Do you only do a single quenching ? and in what do you quench if you don't mind :p -
Sorry to post so many questions in the last few days but I am nervous while I am making my first knife/anything. I have read that some people do not temper their spike knives because they don't want to lose any of the little hardness it has. Is this a good idea ? I don't want my knife to crack either :confused: Thank you guys again, everyone has been so great! -Justin
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Quenching an HC spike knife
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc
Thanks for responding guys =) Yes I had heard of and looked into superquench but had heard that ice water did give near similar results (in certain cases, as in on certain sites). The 1040 is something I swear I read but I have had one other person ask that question so I suppose it may have been wrong Maybe I'll do this one in water and the next in superquench and test the difference for myself Thanks again guys, really appreciate the comments! -
I have read that using ice water works to get a little extra hardness out of it. Do you guys think it would crack the piece though ? I know that 1030-1040 can take a pretty harsh quench though. Thanks guys >
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Thanks guys! Yeah I plan on going around to garages and the sort doing just that orgtwister and cal-k. Just waiting till I have a few things made. Mainly I was hoping to find a hearth surface so that was the point of the scrapyard, not that I can't find it elsewhere somehow. I'm jealous Irish heh. I will also do that Thomas, sounds like a good idea.
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This seems like a dumb question but supposedly there is no such thing so here it goes. I did manage to find two local scrap yards and I told them I would contact them when I came up with what I wanted, and informed them I was just clarifying they sold to the public. Does anyone have any special lines they use on scrap yard owners to get them to let them "wander" a bit. I know with insurance and such people aren't to keen on letting people walk around their yards, so if anyone has any wisdom to pass on I will love it! I somehow get the feeling that answering "I'm looking steel" isn't going to work. I see opportunities in a lot of metal, but I need to see it first =P P.S. I dislike insurance companies.... buncha money snatchers Even a free flying thread joking about the matter might cheer me up =D Thanks guys!
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Just got back from the scrappy
WannabeSmith replied to archiphile's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Man I really have to find a sweet spot like that around here... and I need to get something other then a neon to take it away in hehe. That decimal place deff made a huge difference lol from $1098 to $109.8! if anyone thinks that's a small difference I have a number of things I'd like to sell them :p -
A note to the neighbors
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Wow awesome responses! I am very sorrowful about putting those notes out. The good news is I hammered away for a good 4 hours or so without anyone saying anything whether they read the note or not. I did have one neighbor come over who was very interested and even brought me a plate of some sort of steel that had apparently fallen off a truck years ago. It gets dark by about 4:30 here this time of the year and I went till 6:30. Fun thing is that more of my neighbors will have no idea that it entails fire. I only said hammering, which most are used to hearing anyway; however I do consider myself an idiot for deviating from begging forgiveness over asking permission. And as another plus I do use charcoal and there is no smoke. So those who don't know about the fire wont find out. I currently set up near my old rusty tin shed to help hide myself and avoid wind although it would help the fire charcoal flying around isn't fun hehe. I did get the shape of my knife going, I learned a TON, and it was fun to see my ill planned project sort of... shape before me and I just went with the flow. This will likely end up as a fun kitchen knife, and I'll probably be the only one to use it haha! And I did pick a great time to start this in a certain sense, people are blowing leaves around for most of the day =) makes my noise seem pretty acceptable -
Dimensions of a small shop
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Thomas you are right hehe I was not thinking when I figured the dimensions and just had it in my head after that. I eventually realized it and will be going with 8x12. For my stock removal for the time being will be a piece of angle iron with clamps =D so if I can't fit it in there I can do it outside if need be or ummm..... ~shrug~ lol. I really liked the idea about the lift up sides, seriously an awesome way to extend the roofing during the warm seasons! Thanks for the advice/comments guys! Take care! -Justin -
Annealing/Normalizing
WannabeSmith replied to WannabeSmith's topic in Heat Treating, general discussion
Haha thanks for all the responses guys! I know the two are different I just was leaving a fire unattended to type this (took like 30 sec) and my mom was on my butt about it so I typed anneal/normalizing to symbolize I felt like this was kind of a mix between the two because it wasn't air temp but it wasn't a closed space without air movement. I am just doing a spike and wasn't particular on either form, although I thought about annealing my ashes were not prepared. Thanks a ton again guys. =D -
I'm sure this is a dumb question but is there anything wrong with leaving the piece you are working on in the embers in your forge as a form of normalizing/annealing not quite sure what it would be called. I'm assuming there is something wrong with it sicne i have never read about it. Anywho I was thinking about doing that with my piece tonight. So finding out