erik5387

Big help Josh, thanks! Great looking knives by the way. j

What did you etch it with and how did you heat treat it? I just got a btach of cable and have made a couple of knives so far but had no luck getting it to etch with muratic acid--which i have had success with in the past.

My other hobby is Jeeps--and becuase of that I have 4 leaf springs at my disposal--replacing them with new. Thanks for the info on the spikes, Im sure am glad I didnt make a ton of knives out of them and give them away. I guess itl still be good practice anyways.

Thanks Frosty! Look below and you will see I am well on my way to being hooked. I snapped some pictures of the blades I have been working on last night and figured I would show yall. I have only been at this a few short weeks so any advice/criticism, throw it my way! Here is the most recent one, I beat the shape out of a railroad spike and then started the finish work with a combo of files and my 2x72 sander. I am not even sure what kind of steel the railroad spikes are made out of but the guy I got them from says they are "high carbon". So we will see...all I know is they are cheap and I have about 50 of them so I can practice forging, grinding, quenching, heat treating, etc. Here is everything else I have been working on, from left to right: another railroad spike knife, the one above, the very first knife I ever made (a kit that came with the unground blade and scales), and last but not least my attempt at a pearing knife. As you can see, none of them are finished yet. Ive been working on them as I go along so I always have something to do (i.e. one in the forge, another one getting ground, etc.) Let me know what yall think!

Thanks for the advice--I have been looking into blacksmith groups here but all of them seem to be way south of me, hopefully I will find one in my area soon.

howdy all, im erik and i got bit by the bladesmithing bug a couple of months ago. i have been lurking on these forums for a bit and figured i would say hi. im originally from south carolina but live up in va pretty close to dc. anybody out there in the northern va area that is looking for an apprentice?