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I Forge Iron

Shamus Blargostadt

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Everything posted by Shamus Blargostadt

  1. We have some very old tracks near us. I've found some ancient corroded spikes that look really cool. I made one into a bottle opener that made a nice Christmas grab bag gift. Another is a half-sized corroded spike I'm making into a letter opener for a gift. I'm going to polish the blade part to a mirror finish to contrast the corroded head-end which I just used a wire wheel brush on.
  2. interesting! Thank you for sharing that. I would have made the same mistake of going larger. I wouldn't guess you'd loose that much from scale. That really came out nice.
  3. I'm right with you. I just finished my third knife and I'm itching to try a damascus something. They just look so cool. Did you get that pattern just by hammering out the welded layers then grinding to shape or did you do any twisting or funky cutting/sandwiching to get that pattern? I just bought a bar of 1095 from the Jersey Steel Baron, which came out to about $10/12" length and it is much different forging than the leaf springs I've been playing with. The steel seems to behave better and I'm not fighting it so much... or I'm getting the hang of this and it just seems like it. I'm working on a proper chef's knife. I hope to try to do a damascus chef's knife after this is finished, or maybe just a san mai to learn to walk before running. Thank you for the details! They're encouraging and empowering. I hope you post pics when it's all done!
  4. I think it looks great, very nice patterns. What kind of steels did you use? Did you use a powerhammer or good 'ol arm and hammer? Did you weld the blade to the tang or just did your etching after the blade was shaped and didn't bother etching the tang?
  5. I love it! Learn how to move steel and properly punch a fool for the price of one post! My primary goal in this chunk of metal is to learn how to move steel, the knife is really just an excuse.
  6. On my soap box for a moment. Another thread was locked but there was a question I believe is very important, at least to me. "My third question: What significance do you think blacksmithing has to today's world? " I strongly believe that despite the wealth industrialization has brought a good portion of humanity there is a side of it that is harming us and there are things industrialization has successfully replaced which it can not match. It can not match the quality human hands and minds have cultivated over the centuries. Many would say in light of modern automation and industrialization, blacksmithing has no significance. I strongly disagree. Take knives. The mass produced stamped crap that floods our markets are nowhere near the quality of a hand forged, sanded, polished, and crafted blade that inspires so many people to yearn to invest in an anvil and learn how to do the same. The cookie-cutter iron home embellishments sold by the stacks in the likes of Ikea and Sears will never approach the quality and beauty of a handcrafted work produced by an experienced smith's shop. The significance is the inspiration and appreciation of the accomplishment of an artist, or artisan brings to an admirer that a factory produced item will never duplicate. In my experience, the product of a factory will never give what a handmade product of equal function will yield - joy. I do not think this is unique to blacksmithing. I see it in bread, when comparing factory stamped "Wonder Bread" to hand crafted sourdough loaves. I taste it in coffee when comparing the likes of Folger's Crystals or burnt Starbucks to small coffee shops who do their own roasting. I hear it in music when comparing the current industry "formula" bands to the likes of independent songwriters. Yes, much of this is opinion and like other anatomical body parts, everyone has one. But I regard what you guys are doing and what many of you are struggling and fighting to learn how to do as being extremely significant. You inspire and you make people yearn for something better rather than something cheaper. The human race needs inspiration and the demand for better. We tried cheaper, and it's not going well.
  7. Thank you, guys. I'm constantly amazed at how much I learn here from what I fear are really dumb questions.
  8. Is it an accurate assumption that trying to hand hammer a billet sandwich of different steels for pattern steel is going to be as difficult, if not harder?
  9. so.. I've been pounding steel since I got the bug last March. I'm learning a lot, making plenty of mistakes, and learning more. I've been practicing basic smithing tasks in between making sorry (but progressively less pathetic) knives. In the past couple of weeks I've been practicing scrolls and using the edge of the anvil to abuse this poor attempt at making tongs. I have one monster piece of spring steel, 1/2" x 4" x 9" I am interested in drawing out into a big ugly machete type blade. I want to draw this out into around 1/4" x 3" and to whatever length that will translate to. I've been pounding until my arm says "enough" but my progress is woefully slow. I've been heating up half to red-orange, using the angled/pointy side of the hammer to make divots, then I'm trying to hammer the divots out with the flat side (reading the "Backyard Blacksmith" by Lorelei Sims and trying to follow her tips.) I'm using the flat surface of the anvil. I'm not making very deep divots (not for lack of trying) and using a 3lb hammer. Trying this on the wide part of the bar, then trying to hammer on the sides before it cools. So am I going about this the right way? Most of my effort is brute force and I suspect this is a clue I'm going about it the wrong way. My thought is, if I can't draw this thing out then I probably shouldn't even think about damascus. thank you!
  10. I just did this, $15 for the circuit breaker (busy beaver), around $90 for 8g 2wire wire (lowes), $10 for a welder outlet (lowes), $6 for pvc conduit(lowes) (to run underground between the house and garage), $30 Field And Stream gift card (I got as a thank you last year) for an EE buddy who terminated the ends for me. I estimated (intentionally over a bit) for a 100 foot run.. ran the wire myself and just called my buddy to do the electrical box and outlet. It looked pretty easy but I really didn't want to burn down my house. One problem I ran into, the manager at the local electrical supply shop advised me to use 8 gauge wire for 40A and that long of a run. When my buddy checked his wiring guides, that gauge was smaller than specifications for that amperage and gauge due to heat.... so we used a 30A circuit. It should still be more than enough for the welder I have but my intention was to wire it in event I wanted to get something bigger one day. A guy at church had said he ran a 220 line using 10 gauge an even longer distance, which is even smaller... definitely seek out a friendly professional. Better a slice of humble pie than to be on the morning news... I always say.
  11. functionality aside, what is cool about RR spike knives is that it demonstrates the lingering ability to transform something that appears to be immutable, like a rail road spike, into a knife shaped object. Especially in our world of china-based automated massed produced crap, seeing the power of hand blacksmithing is impressive.
  12. Trying to forge a knife tip without cutting it first but I'm getting the wrong shape. Everything I try to do seems to make it worse. Is there a technique to forging this out correctly?
  13. Thanks Daswulf! Yeah I was thinking the same thing about it being offset. My thought was to make it so the blade sits lower than a person's hand, so they wouldn't have to angle it to slice but visually it doesn't look right.
  14. this is how it ended up. I still need to learn how to fit the tang tightly to the guard... I think I've read cliffrat's reply about 40 times in hopes of getting a future one right! Hopefully this is gift-worthy for a friend of mine who likes to make sushi (razor sharp) Between my two sons and I, we have crap knives all over the house.. need to make some nice enough to give as gifts!
  15. I can't find one for under $80 around here. Most are over $100.
  16. Thank you all for the ideas. You guys are awesome. I think I know how to proceed with this now. I'll post a pic when I'm done!
  17. Close - I was thinking to adhere the brass to the wood first, then grind them both down to look good with the knife, since the blade end of the handle is a little too big. This is only my 3rd knife so if it looks like I have no clue what I'm doing, that's probably spot on! The hole holds the tang pretty tight.. I just didn't think the end of the wood looked very nice and thought the brass might make a better looking finish.
  18. Not sure how to go about this, hoping for an experienced tip. I'm making a knife to be used in the kitchen, for slicing. It's a hidden tang and I made a handle out of oak with a bit of walnut epoxied to the end. My hole for the tang, facing the blade, is less than perfect so I got a small piece of brass 1/8" thick and drilled a hole then filed it so it would fit on the tang closer and neater than the wood does. My plan was to epoxy the brass to the handle, matching the hole for the tang up, then sand down the excess brass and wood to size so it would be a perfect fit. Once the brass heated up though, the epoxy melted and stopped doing it's job. Is there a better way to go about this, other than grinding the wood and brass separately to size then epoxy them together? I just didn't have a lot of confidence in my ability to match them perfectly.
  19. Very interested! Thank you! ah thank you Thomas. I'll do that.
  20. anyone have any tips on tracking down good car leaf springs? There seems to be plenty of truck springs but man it takes forever to draw these things out.
  21. Just in time for the Millennial Kingdom! These will sell like hotcakes!! Very nice, I love em! Jesus is the (a) son of David, and the promised one to sit on David's Throne forever. It's a Christian doctrine but a very appropriate symbol.
  22. very nice! How will you mount it? (or more pics coming?)
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