windancer

I love them big old-school guards. Very nice work. Dave

I went and looked at the example, looks like a nice hammer. I have been spending hours almost every day with my air hammer and I love it. You are in for a treat! Just walk over and turn irt on and then turn yourself loose! More pics would be great! Dave

Anyone have the formula for the cowboy hats made from pennies? I have seen them mentioned a few times on Salt Creek Craftsman but no instructions.... Dave

Now all you doubters look at this entire thread and see all the ways this could be done :) This ended up being a fun thread for me, at least. The twisted jaws are the easiest for me and they work. I still mainly use the tong blanks- have made 5 pair in the last couple weeks, all different, and using two different style blanks. Have tried three different times to make some from scratch, none to my liking yet, but I will get it :) Bought the tong-making hammer tools on line and will master them yet. My eventual goal is the Jim Poor style. Thanks to all for the input and keep 'em coming! Dave

No, dang memory gets worse every year... Dave

Check out YouTube- Dave Hammer has a video showing him making a cowboy hat- from mild steel, though, not pennies. I am going to try it this month. Dave

Welcome to the forums! Pretty good bunch of folks here, always very willing to help. Save yourself a ton of grief and possible injury- Check the forums and attend a workshop or some other kind of get-together where there is a real, live pour happening. Watch and ask lots of questions. Then you can try on you lonesome, with all the little things understood. You could easily injure or kill yourself by just not understanding what you are doing. Check around and find out where/how to attend a live pour. And then report back! I have been toying with pouring brass guards right on my knives. The reason I haven't done so is because I don't now how and what to watch out for :) Dave

I did order my forge, but this video beats anf forge I have ever used... Dave

Thanks to all- will pick up a masonary bit tomorrow and have a go on Friday. If I can make it work I will post a pic. Id not I will keep trying until I get it, then post a pic. Dave

W O W. Never had even a tiny interest in swords, but man is that purty! Thanks for posting! Dave

Neil, After one of the conferences I saw pics of a sword stuck into a rock. I have also seen steel crosses and such attached to rock, with no clue showing as to how the did it. Lots of bookends attached to stones, too. Not cast in place with concrete, just somehow stuck to or in a plain old garden variety stone. I am not about to just start trying to get the two mated- asking those more experienced is nearly always faster and cheaper. Dave

I have seen many pieces of blacksmith art mounted on various size stones. Never saw the makers to ask them how. So hoping someone here has done this and is willing to share how they did [do] it? Thanks, Dave

I like how graceful you made your curves and the squares on the bottom. Hang in there and pay a little more attention to fire management- it will get easier as you spend more time with the fire and steel. Dave

And another W O W. Gorgeous work! Welcome to the forums :) Dave

Nothing like a new tool to save time and get the juices flowing with ideas! Good job- Dave

Love them both! Nice work :) Dave

A nice fella at high temp products ordered them in for me. Kinda pricey but I am happy to find them. After they arrive I will post his full info. I have a partial bag of Castable- does it need to be in a frame or anything to use as doors? Thanks, Dave

I'm with Beth- don't pick on Bob :-) Dave

I like it. The only other thing I would do is knock the corners down to make it a little more fluid. Good job! Dave

Nice work on all three. Caught because a brush chopper is on my short list. I see three distinct different patterns- I like all of them! Dave

Looks like a professional job, Zach. If it works the way you want it to then good onya! Dave

Yup, the ferric is good, I use muratic acid, 50/50 with water, them wash in soda water and dry it right away. You just keep running cycles acid/was/inspect until you get the etch you are after. I always grind bare handed- the steel lets me know when to quench. Broken belts are a hazard every time at the grinder but part of making knives. Hang in there- it gets easier and the quality improves. Dave

My Grizzly knife grinders all have the shaft out both ends- one for the drive wheel and one for a buffer or hard wheel. I redid the buffer shaft to a drive wheel and run pulleys for variable speeds. I can also run different size wheels in 6:, 8:, or 10 inch; Still not as much control as my KMG with the variable controller, but also not nearly as much money. I keep buckets of water under each grinding wheel. I always grind bare handed. The steel lets me know pronto when it starts to get hot and I just dip the knife into the water bucket and right back to the grinder. I will take a couple pics tomorrow and post them so you can see the setup. I understand that when you run 3-phase on 220 single phase there is a converter required that onlt powers two of the three legs. I have nothing in my shop that rune 3 phase. I have enough to think about already :) Dave I forgot about not being able to post pics here- If anyone wants them PM me your email address and I will send hem tomorrow. Dave

I decided to make some Damascus, fully realizing it would eat up the guts of my smaller forge. I didn't realize that the Damascus temp would crack both the hard and soft 2600 degree brick. I built the last three or four forges and have had others since I started making knives years ago. Making two large diameter cable Damascus, two smaller diameter cable Damascus and one billet from a farrier rasp and 01. I sold my Damascus forge [with a Kitty Litter tub underneath] planning not to make any more Damascus. No big deal with the vertical forge- lift off the top, scrape and dump all the gook into a doubled trash bag and pour in a large bag of Kitty Litter and go back to work. The rests on that forge were heavy steel that lasted several years, then just weld on new steel. Will probably not make any more Damascus that isn't in a can. Just getting ready to order the stuff I need to get this forge back into service. Anything that goes in there now comes back out coated with the gook on the bottom that is terrible to try to get back off. Sky, will the cast-able Mizzou hold up to 3000 degrees? It goes on over the Kaowool? Do you still use ITC100? I am a little resistant to making the forge any smaller inside :) The bricks are for the ends [doors] and rests for the steel being worked OUTSIDE the forge. All 10 broke and crumbled from the welding heat. I have the Kaowool and ITC100 and several more of the 2600 degree brick. But I want bricks that will hold up to the higher heat. Since I am only buying 10 the cost isn't much of a factor for me with this project. Thanks for all the ideas! Dave

Seattle Pottery has only 2800 degree brick, got my mind set on 3000. Will keep on looking :) Dave