Chris Waldon

That's not a small pic if you click on it. Anyway, lookin' good.

Very functional. I like the spoon idea, not that I do much with fish, but it has a kind of functional elegance.

The geometry on the last pic is very definite. Mine don't tend to show as much of that on the anvil, that tends to come later. Well done.

You totally could have passed that off as something you found in your attic. A relic of a great-great-grandparent during the Civil War or something. Nicely done!

Have you seen steve sells meteorite knife thread? Here it is: There are some amazing pictures of that blade, check it out.

I'm liking that Bowie, be sure to put up pics when you make more progress

Finished pictures???

It's incredible that they have such a consistent shape. Well done!

I like the stone a lot, mine is kinda worn... (I'm not even sure whether it's a water stone or a oil stone, that's just sad) Where did you get the oil that sprays on? That's really convenient.

It will use charcoal. I believe I said that at the top, but I should have made it more obvious. On another note, I've decided to name this forge "Gred." For anyone who has read the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling, "Gred and Forge" should be familiar.

It's good to have you here, but I too (being something of a computer person) know how easy it is to steal someone's identity over the internet, especially with as much information as you've provided. I'd advise you to go back and edit some of that out of your post.

That's truly amazing. How long does making your own steel take?

Since you don't have a link to it yet, here's video4. You seem to be wetting your anvil and your hammers with water. Is that to cut down on scale? With you wetstone (oilstone, sharpening stone, honing stone, there's a billion names for them) what kind of oil are you using? That's shaping up to be a nice sword, keep up the good work!

Here's the pictures I promised. I would give specs, but since it can be built in a near-infinite variety of configurations that would be impossible. Air comes through the hole in the concrete pad and flows along the slit in the firebrick, hopefully allowing for extra oxygen all along the forge. This is in a configuration that I would only need to use for swords, but I was lighting it to keep the concrete warm as it dries. (It got down to near 10 degrees F last night) What I will be using for day-to-day work will be much shorter, and I'll make the walls double-thick for extra insulation. There's many more pictures showing the construction from foundation to this on my facebook account. Look me up! Post with any questions, comments, observations or criticisms that may come to mind. Thanks!

There's a layer of firebrick between the concrete and the actual charcoal, with a slit running through it for air. The concrete will still get hot, but I don't think it will get that hot.

I am currently constructing a new forge design that me and my dad came up with to replace my old fire-pan forge. This forge will be constructed from individual firebricks, not mortared together in any way. Air will be introduced through a pipe that runs through the concrete base to a hairdryer. Since the bricks are not mortared together, I can construct many varying designs, both horizontally and vertically oriented, which can be changed as the current project requires. I already have the concrete base constructed, with the concrete drying as I type. I'll post pictures as soon as the concrete is dry and I can demonstrate the principle. The main thing that bothers me is that I don't know what to call it. Please post with questions or tentative classifications. It does burn charcoal, but beyond that, I don't know how to classify it. Thanks.

Ok, this may insult your masculinity, I don't know, but that's really pretty. The contrast in the photos make the blade look almost black, with silver veins running up and down. Very nice.

That's very smooth compared to my own file work, NICELY DONE!!!

Well then, if you think yours is so much better, let's see it!

What exactly is a sen? and How would you file it in? I can't think of a way to do that.

Do I want the two ends of the fuller hardie to be equal length? (end the same place if you draw a line perpendicular to the face of the anvil.)

I wanted to fuller the Center line of the dagger. I'm not entirely sure what you meant by "steel chisel shaped fuller" To "lightly define the area I want to fuller on both sides" do I run said chisel-thing up and down the blade while hot? Also, I'm not sure what your paragraph that starts with: "having made the fuller you want..." means. Do you mean to take the upper spring fuller and to drive it down along the length of the fuller you have made on both sides? also, how exactly is this used? : http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/attachments/f7/15191d1245986464-making-tools-my-hardy-hole-fuller4.jpg is this just the bottom of the set? do you have a picture of the top part if it is?

The "blood groove"s purpose was to lighten and strengthen the blade, like an I-beam gets it's strength from it's shape. Thank you all for your excellent information.

what do you mean by "grind the edges of the file"? I've ground the teeth off. Is that what you mean?

is there any way to make one without specialized equipment. I have an anvil and a cross-pein hammer. Can it be done?