Iron Poet

LEDs are great. I have four 1600 lumen lights around my workshop and it works to my satisfaction. If I had a need for 4 foot shoplights I'd buy LED.

How'd you attach the pommel?

Not to discourage you, but you more than likely won't be (purposefully) melting a lot of steel. That would require a foundry. I'd suggest starting with some 1/4" square bare and try to make a few hooks, I'd ask your boss if he knows where you could find a steel yard so you can grab something easier to start with than stainless steel and springs.

If you're only planning on working on small stuff that piece of RR track will do you fine as long as you have it secured tightly. As for those fans you could always just make an air gate to decrease the air pressure if you want.

I'm pretty new at this myself but I wholeheartedly welcome as many people to try blacksmithing as possible because they will most likely be buying new equipment, and as most of them probably won't stick around that will lead to a bigger aftermarket of cheap tools especially in areas that have been picked clean already.

As a lark I decided to see if I could weld it together after I read about someone welding roller chain on here. Turns out, chainsaw chain welds together really nicely. However after that I've fairly lost on how to proceed, I'm pretty good at forge welding mild steel together and I know how that reacts. But this has at least 3 different kinds of steel but probably 5 or 6 all interacting and I'm concerned that it might behave erratically when I've forged it down to 1/4" Any tips and tricks to forging 'damascus'? Quenching? xxxx, I'll even take a suggestion for a knife shape.

I have 4 blades that are about 1" thick in places that I've been cutting chucks out of. They've all reacted the same when I forged them and during heat treatment, none of the tools I've made out of them failed, so I must be doing something right.

Those are 2 pressure treated 4x4s and I haven't noticed to much bounce. The base is a bunch of 4x4s lag bolted together with some angle iron on the bottom so I can secure it with spikes, I made it immediately after I got the anvil and I haven't had much reason to build a better one.

I think you're taking this too seriously. I typically don't charge friends or family money for the work I do, just favors and alcohol. My dirt poor friends like handmade knives that can power through a deer sternum, and I've provided them with nice Knives with burl and antler handles for some ground venison. Real salt of the earth type guys who can really appreciate a working tool. Then I have the people I sell stuff too who don't care about function as long as it looks nice and is interesting. Those people will pay $40 for a letter-opener made from a coilspring, $50 for a single piece knife with a twisted grip made out of a brush hog blade. They're not looking for tools, they're looking for interactive pieces of art and to them having a knife made out of a repurposed material that has a quite little story they can tell while they show it off is more important than having a skinning knife made out of a fresh bar of 1090, a perfect bevel, and a deer horn handle. I've tried to sell nice knives and they don't care for them. Which to me makes very little sense as I'm more of a practical guy. But honestly, they prefer candle holders, pot racks, hooks, and hardware far more than sharp things. I honestly don't know why you took me talking about people spending money on frivolous things (from my perspective) so personally Mod edit: copyright photo removed

I don't try to cheat or misinform people, I tell them what it's made of and most people seem to be more interested in the knives made out of scrap than with nice new steel. Less gravitas I suppose, although most of the people I sell too have more money than wits and most likely would never actually use any of them for anything but cutting cheese.

I've never received a complaint. Although I only make knives and tools for family and friends since no one actually wants to pay money something of actual quality. I know for a fact that the brushhog blades I use are 5160 since I took the time to look it up online, and for a drawshave or hunting knife it is completely serviceable. Although there are on occasions I do break out the W1 if I need some foolproof material.

There is nothing wrong with using scrap metal as long as you know how it reacts and how to properly work it. For instance I'm a big fan of using brushhog blades as I can get them for free and the fact that they're 5160. There is no reason to shill out of stuff that can be gotten for free.

That looks expensive.

My first anvil had an incredibly hard face that I couldn't dent, it did however have some rather large chucks missing from the sides...

Nah, I barely even have scrapyards in general around me.

I typically use a 3lb machinist hammer, a double peened saw blade hammer, a ball peen, and a peddinghaus embossing hammer. If I ever need anything special I just find a cheap hammer head at a fleamarket and reforge it

I once found 4 raccoons piled up on one of corners of my workshop. My SAA gave them a loud welcome.

Copper and bronze are expensive and the only place I've found that sell sheet for a reasonable price is Rio Grande Jewelry supply, But the problem is that they only sell 6"x12" sheets, which makes forming larger bowls a bit of a problem especially since I'm not that good at brazing. I've done a lot of work with sheet steel and I want to make some stuff out of nicer materials.

I was pretty desperate for a new anvil this year and so I went shopping around. I wanted something squat, with two horns, with a shelf, and for a reasonable price. I looked at peddinghaus, NIMBA, and a few other brands and they either didn't fit the physical characteristics I wanted or where too far out of my budget. Eventually I ran across Jym's website and found what I was looking for, a nice 110lb anvil. something small enough where I can move it by myself while still being substantial enough to work on. The anvil is nice and squat which makes it act like a far heavier anvil, especially on a nice stand made of pressure treated 4x4s. The horn has a very nice curvature that lends itself nicely to making bracelets or starting scrolls. The shelf is good for forgewelding smaller objects since it retains heat very well, I've also found that you can also use for for making forks or even just splitting a chiseled piece of metal apart. The square tapered horn is nice for beveling knives or for making bends on finicky material. It also came with a free hot cut (which I've placed somewhere) .The only problem that I've had so far is that it's a little soft as you can see by the dented edges in the 4th picture, but I haven't damaged the face much if at all even with how shoddy my hammer control is.

I'm lazy and as such I try to find the most efficient way of doing things. But I suppose that sometimes practice is the only option

3 or 4, it's for making cooking trivets

I've been practicing making flat forgewelded rings out of 1"x1/4" stock, and the forgewelding part is easy. The hard part is actually making them round instead of oval or square. I've tried to round them out on my horn but it seems like I'm expending a lot of energy on a substandard result. Is there an easy way to make flat rings or do I just need to 'git gud'?

Don't worry $1600 is pretty close to what you could buy it for new. I know your pain though.

Waiting for equipment is my biggest problem. I've been trying to get a new anvil for awhile so I've been putting off making hardy tools, which means I've been putting off projects. It feels as if I'm being lead on, people don't answer my calls, return my emails, give me specifics, you name it. Even now I have a pretty reliable source for the kind of anvil I want, but I am almost positive something will go tits up. I just want my dang new anvil!

I only talk up when the guy asks a question and is met with total silence. Most of the demos I go to are filled with people who are either already blacksmiths and don't need to ask very many questions, or are filled with people so ignorant they don't know where to begin. If I have to ask a few simple questions to make it seem like at least someone is paying attention, then I'll do it.