matei campan

but, what about this: http://www.okazii.ro/antichitati-metal-fonta/nicovala-a53606443 that's a cast iron "fake", but what a price - 428$

hello all until recently I was using charcoal in my forge, but bought as bbq charcoal, it's quiet expensive and of varied quality. so I was looking for alternatives and an acquaintance of mine found a source of coke and "scrap" graphite, meaning worn out electrodes (I think used in metallurgy). at the beginning, It was hard to start and maintain even the coke fire, but I changed a bit the motor/blower pulley ratio to get more air blown, and, little by little, I'm starting to learn the coke fire. at the beginning, when I wasn't able to maintain the coke fire very well, trying to burn graphite it sucked from the beginning. as my coke supply seems going to an end soon, I've returned to graphite again. now, I use to start a little charcoal fire (started by some newspaper), then to add coke, and, when is burning well, I'm starting to add graphite and the things are going just fine. from time to time I'm adding some coke to help the burning, as my forge is not a powerful enough one (at the origin, a small portable pedal forge, now powered by a washing machine old motor). I feel that the graphite burns cleaner than the coke, doesn't seem to smell at all. I already saw graphite used as combustible in some small foundries. so, have you ever have had any experience with burning graphite in the forge?

thank you @Adam - unfortunately I can't say when I'll make the next bracelet, but I'll keep in mind to take some pics while working.

there's just one bracelet :) the bracelets are other items I like to make from time to time, in fact the only kind of jewelery that inspires me, the rings and other small items are too small for me, not "sculptural" enough.

thank you in this case, having to start from a 12mm diameter round stock, I had to forge it to the shape, meaning that I also forged the bevels/wedge. this also cuts some grinder time and I prefer to spend time at the forge than at the grinder. but making a blade by stock removal is as good as a forged one. one advantage of the forging is the ability to adapt, you don't need a full range of different stock sizes to fit the different kinds of blades you make. for example, from a 20mm diameter round stock, you can forge from a camp knife to a tiny razor.

hi all! It's a lot of time since my last postings, so I think it's time to post something... so, here's a razor I finished recently, even I started it's making this spring. being busy with other projects, I was working on it from time to time. the hardest thing was to take the time and sharpen it to shave ready. that was a very good surprise to me, every stage of the honing was really straight forward. on some razors I've got sometimes the feeling that I don't know how to hone anymore, very hard to get them shave ready. this one was very easy to hone and even after the 2000 grit it was popping the arm hairs like a charm. I went through each stage with ease, I didn't insist very hard, and after I finished, I put it to some work. the shave was comfortable, even that I've had to adapt myself to the scaleless configuration. I'm aware that the razor could be brought up some more steps in term of sharpness, but even so it already works nice. I shaved 3 times with it without refreshing it's edge on the strop and it was working as et the beginning. the blade material is "german silver steel", 115CrV3. I made it scaleless mainly because I wanted it to be finished as soon as possible (still too slow), but also to experiment. the grind is something I would call it a 1/4hollow. here it is:

178kg, it seems...

you're so lucky in France, SO many really gorgeous anvils in very good condition at reasonable price. the French anvils are my favorite. yes, it's a Firminy as I saw it in the pictures. in fact, I own a "Hulot Harmel, Aux Forges De Vulcain, Paris", a forged anvil of 101 kg marked on it, in good condition, but I would like more of them... you know it, a disease... A propos, do you know something about the anvil mentioned, the Hulot Harmel, I've only seen one marked like this, the most are "Hulot Harmel a Sedan", if I remember right.

I think he is some kind of Terrier

that's a kind of dog that I would like to make it my pet...

why always the pics are bad when someone wants to sell something of doubtful condition?, is it that hard to make a decent shot when the camera does good pics by itself? that's really an art to make blurred bad pictures to hide faults when the camera fights against you and wants to make good ones. I think the seller will not provide better pics. I think one edge is very damaged, at least it looks so to me, the edge from the viewer direction. just watch better.

I thought they are out of business as their old site isn't working anymore. @GiFerro could you make some pictures of the "inside" of the hammer, to see how it works, adjustments, etc. I'm very curious, but I think I'm not the only one. I've seen that hammer just in "official" pictures till now and not from an actual user. how does it work?

@2Tim215 and btw, I saw some interesting tube jobs on your site quiet similar of what I made some time ago with brass tubing... :)

thank you, I'm glad for that! yes that is a "san mai". the steel is excellent. you can find infos on that Takefy Suminagashi easily on the net. and you're right about the fitting problem - I've seen enough nice knives ruined by fitting faults. your eye would be always distracted by this faults rather than attracted by the beautiful ensemble. at least for the demanding people... in fact, If your knife is a "rustic" one, may allow for some imprecisions in assembly, but when it's supposed to be a "neat" one, any accident would be detrimental for the overall look. and about the "cast" thing you asked a couple of posts before - I did several cast sculptures some time ago, as I studied sculpture in university, but I feel the casting doesn't have the same "tension" as hammer formed metal and it is less challenging, at least for me, than the hammered one. that's why we are here and not on a casting forum. you know, it's the difference from the cast "wrought iron" and the real one, even that for an untrained eye there's no difference.

could be this maker: http://www.kniveshome.it/en/contents/ilmaglioperforgiatura.htm ? they were in activity until very recently, I think. try to contact them somehow.

the steel has 11-1-11 layers, is a japanese steel used mostly on kitchen knives, but not only. it's a steel that gets a very nice edge. this particular bolster I tried to make it starting from a tube, but the silver was too stiff and quiet brittle (even annealed), being an alloy used in tableware and not a 925 silver, so I made it from two halves. first I melt some silver and obtained a little "cake" which i hammered v carefully (few taps, annealing, another few taps, annealing) and got a piece of ~1.5-2mm thick sheet enough for the two halves. I hammered the pieces over some wood, using a little chisel like, rounded edge punch to define the ridge between surfaces, and then on some other pieces of iron fixed in the wise to finish them. a difficult thing was to make them match together. then I silver brazed them and finish. again, the fit on the handle and blade and all of them together was the most difficult part of the work, which I hate.

when it comes to bolsters, I kind of shoot myself in the foot, there's some masochism involved :) here it is a chef knife with a blade forged from "Takefu Suminagashi" steel, with wild pearwood handle and hand hammered silver bolster.

I already got a 85kg anvil for free, delivered to my door, but not in such a great shape... and also another one in as new condition, but of only 32kg, a beauty, for the equivalent of several dollars and some old clothes. I found it by asking a gypsy I met on the street if he, by chance, know about an anvil for sale. he said that his neighbour has one... and that was my learning anvil, and it was quiet good when bolted down on a massive oak stump... anyway, the guys here are not quiet decided to hate or admire you... congratulations!

the bolster is made of iron pipe, worked on the end by closing it, then some more forming, i think you can imagine. the hardest think, though, is fitting it on the handle (due to it's sinuous line) and to the blade, then all of them together - it took me two days :)

cuts something like in this little video, effortlessly:

hello all here's a knife which the client wanted to be inspired by the kukhri. the blade is forged from O2 tool steel, it has a forged hollow iron bolster and a boxwood handle.

the "chippings" doesn't look to me as real chips, but casting faults. I might be wrong, but from the pics they just look like bubbles rather than chipping patterns.

that would be a complement to a good anvil. or to a block, hornless style anvil. don't bother to repair it, it will cost more than a good one and it has features that miss on a good one. having "good" anvils, this also would be very useful for me if it were mine. and, obviously, someone did his work on it till it become what it is now.

the hammer is not in running state, it's disassembled, I haven't seen it yet, but starting to think about most probable problems on it and the ways to solve them, to have an idea about. I was told that that seal might be one of the problems on old hammers and it's a part that has to be changed form time to time. I've already seen two similar old and beaten hammers which were not holding the ram up properly on the idle and had oil leaking from the cylinder. I was told that's probably a seal problem (that seal I'm talking about). back in the times when that hammers were still produced, that was little problem, as the seals were available and cost almost nothing.

I came across the term "stuffing box packing" which I think describes the thing I'm talking about.