Shamus Blargostadt

TP - yes that's kind of what I had in mind too. I have a couple tongs and a hammer but none of the chisels he uses. I was thinking of hitting the flea market up for scrap tools to modify first. The S shape of the body and twist section for the candle holder resembled some of the first learning tasks in the books I'm reading. "The adventure [knowledge] is in the journey, not the destination." "heat shrunk in or forge brazed" - thanks I'll check those methods out!

do you guys think the tongue part was formed by creating the head in the middle of a bar, or welded in there somehow?

this guy makes it look pretty easy:

Thank you for the explanation Chris. I just love the details on this piece. The more I look at it the more I like it.

ah yeah you're right.. that head does look hard... devil in the details. Thank you for the comments! Name is just a pseudonym. I happened to discover ifi right when the website was changing over to a new software platform and I was having trouble registering. The only thing that worked was facebook authentication. I keep facebook on a short leash and don't have any external sites accessing it, so I made an account just for these kinds of situations. Glenn fixed up my account but I was so anxious to get busy I had already started posting under this name so I figured I'd just leave it.

I'm trying to find a first project that will be easy, let me learn, and will still be exciting. This looks easy to me but I don't know what I don't know.. are there elements in here a beginner probably won't be ready to tackle? I'm especially wondering if the ring can be welded onto the holder in a simple coal forge (where the candle goes) I covet your comments https://www.pinterest.com/pin/126874914478842355/

I'm a beginner too. I picked up "The Backyard Blacksmith" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785825673/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 at Amazon pretty cheap. It seems to go over the basics pretty good and has some starter projects that yield useful things but take you through basic techniques too. in addition to what dick said, see if there are any blacksmiths in your area that give lessons. What really got me hooked was taking a class a local blacksmith was giving on how to make a forged knife.

Very nice. The lines are so flawless I thought it might have been a stamp or something. How did you get the different coloration inside the heart?

Thank you Thomas - found both of them, some good youtube videos: That bend test looks scary.. It didn't break but it didn't look like it sprung back to true, either.

leaf spring forged knife 5160 fired up my new coal forgeheated some fryer oil with a couple of heats of some cast iron scrapheated my blade till it was red and the magnets didn't stickquenched it in the oil, moving it front and back, not side to sidefile skidded off without gouging itlet it coolcooked it in the oven at 400F for 2 hourslet it coolcooked it againSo it cleaned up nice (aside from my amateur grinding skills) and sharpened very sharp. I also made scales from some black walnut I cured from a tree that fell in my yard a couple years ago and the handle looks very nice. Is there a way to see how well my hardening and tempering did? A guy at work said put it in a vice and bend it 45-90 degrees and it should spring back... that sounds like a largely unwise thing to try on my new knife. Are there any good ways to test it that don't result in a broken knife? In hindsight, that probably should have been done prior to putting scales on huh?

Chris, could you describe how you did the inlay for the heart? It looks really nice.

very nice. I think this is my favorite of the bunch.

I'm a big fan of throwing hawks and I can't wait to try to make one. The blacksmith who gave us lessons had a couple of "works in progress" tomahawks on his bench. He was taking leaf spring and shape forging a mirror pattern, then folding it to form the eye and forging the sides together.

wish the pics were there... "...worth a 1,000 words."

​nevermind - figured it out doing searches.

I'm very new to this so I'm going to ask a question that is likely to be painfully obvious to everyone else. Did you sandwich a bar of 1084 between two bars of 15N20, then forge welded them and hammered to get that pattern? Was it etched with something to bring out the pattern? Stunningly beautiful knife!

very good video. I like the 50s era snippets Have any more?

I took Frosty's cue and got a 6 gallon bucket of used fryer oil from the grocery over the weekend. Lent is a good time to ask... smells a bit fishy though

nice tongs! Have you heard of any blacksmith groups up around Ellwood City?

ok glad I asked. Not a fan of cancer. That's a great idea, Frosty. Maybe I'll try to hit up the donut shop for oil. Pittsburgher's love their donuts and there are a few places that only make donuts. I was watching a youtube video by Logan Pearce (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgwrQXM9jA) and noticed that he appears to only be quenching the edge of the blade (hardening?), rather than the whole knife. Is this common practice? It's at time stamp 2:50 - 3:08 if you don't want to watch through.

I was wondering, will used motor oil work for hardening 5160 as good as vegetable oil?

wow nice forges. I didn't know break drum forges could be so nice. can you guys get those hot enough to do forge welding?

I plan to go propane but to get things going I'm making a coal forge to finish some knives that need to be hardened and tempered. I came across some plans for a break drum forge (and criticisms) but the drum I had fall into my lap is bigger than the ones they seem to show on the youtube videos, where a 2" floor flange fits neatly on the bottom. This one is bigger and the hole in the middle is large. I found a steel disk that *almost* covers the holes in the bottom. If I drill holes in the middle to make a grate to attach the pipe/flange to, does it matter if those holes on the outside of the disk aren't completely covered? I would think not but would rather find out now than after spending the money and work to put it together. The large circle I drew in the middle of the disk was traced from the hole in the bottom of the drum. So I'm thinking drill two holes on the outside (where I drew circles at about 4:00 and 5:00) to bolt the disk to the drum. Then drill holes to bolt a 2" floor flange to the disk in the bottom.. then drill holes in the center where the pipe in the flange will be to make a grill to let air through... probably going to get clogged with ashes. Then like the typical plans say, pipe down to a T, ash drop down the bottom, and a pipe to put a hair dryer in to the side.

Great advice men! Thank you. I went up to this store an old guy uses to resell garage sale junk and came across these gems, all for $15 (through in the interesting beer glass and cheese knife for free!)

haha love it. Thanks for the responses. I can stop watching for the blacksmith police now One thing I was concerned about was the hardness of hammers and if there was something unique about ones made to pound hot steel as opposed to pounding other things. The local store had a "drill hammer" (whatever that is) that looked like a 3lb-ish sized small sledge that looked like it might fit the bill.