Forging Carver

That's really cool! How is horseshoe steel, does it make for a good knife?

Came out real nice! I would imagine making a folder, especially ones that are spring assisted and locking, to be difficult.

Why not just put two pieces of stock in a vise? Thats what I see brazeal did in his leaf video.

It seems both ways have their draws and flaws. One way protects the line and takes up less space which prevents tripping, the other takes the propane tank further away from the forge incase of a fire, and means you can have eyes on the line at all times to quickly notice a leak.

4 hours ago, Charlotte said:

4 hours ago, Charlotte said:

Mark Aspery describes creating a "portable Hole"  for use in creating shouldered anvil tools.   Chapter 16  : Anvil Bottom Tools

The Skills of a Blacksmith,  Volume I,     Mastering the Fundamentals of Blacksmithing

WWW.markaspery.net

Mark Aspery describes creating a "portable Hole"  for use in creating shouldered anvil tools.   Chapter 16  : Anvil Bottom Tools

The Skills of a Blacksmith,  Volume I,     Mastering the Fundamentals of Blacksmithing

WWW.markaspery.net

Yep, that's what I plan to make. Especially because my hardy hole is messed up. 

Very nice! How do you finish these?

27 minutes ago, SReynolds said:

That's the joke. I ain't selling them.

I am serious, you can probobly make a good amount of money selling them.

I found that when I wire brush my steel, a little part of my anvil starts to shine up too. Don't know if that has anything to do with those colors you see though. Maybe glare?

I have Steves book on knifemaking, and it is really good. One thing you should definetly add to that list of tools are some files. I only made a few knives, but Steve tells in his book that his teacher made him start with files and he had to file the knives right next to the belt grinder. Using files then taught him not to leave hammer marks and to be more efficient at knifemaking. Don't want to tell the whole book though.

Looks like they can be made into decent looking knives, especially the second one.

Interesting. Can using steel that large remove the temper of the anvil? Well I know this is a 330 pound anvil, but what about say a 150 pound anvil?

Ok thanks

29 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

take a junked gas grill, remove the grill and bolt a piece of steel across the gap place propane forge on plate Voila a stand with wheels and a place to set your tank and tools. 

I have heard you mention that before, so I have told my parents and others to keep an eye out and let me know if they see a person throwing away a grill. Do you disassemble the burner system and electric lighting system? Also, I fell a little skeptical about leaving my propane bottle that close to my forge like that. Yes, I know that the bottle would be that close to the flame of the grill, but the forge is going to get a lot hotter and have a bigger flame than the grill would. I know you have probably had your forge like this for years though. Other than that concern, it seems like such a great and logical idea! Thanks

Hi,

  I am well on my way in my gas forge. I am not getting to the point where I should start thinking about a stand. I know stands don't need to be anything crazy, just something simple simple to hold your forge. I think I am going to make a stand like Wayne Coe has on his forge plans, but ran out of cash for the angle iron. I need a way that can hold my freon bottle forge temporarily so that I can make a few tools and sell a few things off it to afford the angle iron. I have cinder blocks that I was thinking I could put the forge cradled in them. I also have an old cooking pan. I was thinking that I could screw some scrap angle iron on each side, put it on some cinder blocks, and then let the forge cradle in that. Tell me any ideas. Thanks

On 3/10/2016 at 9:55 PM, ThomasPowers said:

So got any pictures of them from digs relating to the viking era?  Generally I call that type "self hilted" but they are not common in the historical record. Probably due to the amount of metal that hilt takes up---compare them to the wittle tangs in "Knives and Scabbards, Museum of London" 

I'll have to pm you. They took away the post and put it in another thread which then got deleted. 

Your post was deleted because it was not yours but another makers knife  We do not allow copyright violations to be posted here. We suggest in the future you only post  your own work.

Nice, that's a real good weight.

51 minutes ago, 01tundra said:

What weight is that anvil for a reference?

Yep sorry about that. Believe it or not, and you can call me crazy, but I have read your plans a few times before I asked you. The reason confusion came was becuase the general burner told to use a flare fitting, so I thought that it would work for rubber or copper hosing. Anyways, I should stop talking about other things in someone else's thread and stop confusing anyone else.

You are such a genius! I am going to cook a burner like that for lunch one day.

On March 10, 2016 at 8:13 PM, JHCC said:

I was in an antique shop today and saw three really crappy pairs of tongs being sold for $125.

I'm thinking I should make lots of tongs, artificially age the crappy ones, and sell them to antique stores.

Lol, so a beginner tong maker can make more money than seasoned tong maker only becuase theirs look crappier. Good thing I'm a begginer  

Brian brazeal has a good video on showing how he makes a set of tongs, both pieces, from one long piece of steel. 

Also, why do you need to use a steel other than mild for tongs such as 4140 or coil? All they do is hold the steel, and I don't see why you need them to be springy. 

There we go, didn't pick up on that. this summer I am going to try out selling some forged stuff. Mainly some small pocket change stuff, but I am going to try and get into a few simple knives. I think I'm going to start out with simple Viking style knives that have the handles that draw down and then wrapped in a almost funky looking p/oval shape. Don't know how to describe it.

Ah, you made the same mistake I was going to. You are not supposed to tap the flared end of the fitting. The other side is supposed to be tapped for the mig tip. The flared end of the fitting is if you are using copper tubing. You flare the end of the copper tubing and that fits over the taper at the end of the fitting. I Told you I've been studying this stuff Frosty . I sent Frosty a pm and showed him how I was going to tap the fitting, and he corrected me. Since then I have been researching plumbing parts and burners/gas forges. What I'm going to do is get a 1/8" mpt (this will be the tapped end) X 1/4" female threads to screw the rubber hose onto. Hope this helps you out.

I agree, you rather have your blade bend than break. A bent blade can still be fixed. How bout the last episode though? That one guy was a trooper. He kept going even though he could barely move his arm. Also, this was the first time i saw that something other than a blade was made for the finalists. It was pretty cool. I have to say though, what they make these smiths do in that 3 hour period is getting harder and harder. That's why I don't lose any respect for the losers because just like what Steve and Frosty say,they would never let nothing but the best to their expetations out of their shop. 

On February 4, 2016 at 3:33 PM, yesteryearforge said:

Here are a few made from copper

How do you take such good photos? Do you have one of those really good cameras?

Where did you learn to make these dragons? There are one of my favorite dragons I have ever seen. Thanks