TwistedCustoms

I knew I wasn't the only good thing to come out of the 70s! Seriously, awesome job, clean lines all around.

Frosty.... I'm multi tasking too many things. After re reading your post I see the operative term is "grind" the primary point, not forge. I'm a little slow on the uptake but I get it. Good info, Thanks. Thank you Rashelle. I just posted a correction regarding my mis-reading of Frostys post. I got so hung up on the idea of forging the barbed point I had tunnel vision. Grinding the primary point makes a lot more sense.

Makes perfect sense! "blob" is trade lingo in my shop! Frosty....I tried several times as you described and found it to be one of those deceptively easy things meaning, if you have mastered it, piece of cake, if not...... Forged the point and folded it back. At that point I had a nice barb with no primary point. When I attempted to pick up a heat to reforge the new point I kept burning off the barb.I will practice on some small diameter garage door springs before I attempt it again on a work piece!

This was a project I've been wanting to do for a while. It is an attempt at a fish spear but as the photos show the barbs were elusive. I experimented with several different ways of forging the barbs and kept burning them off. If I make another one I'll cold work the barbs with files. This was my first attempt at forging a rolled socket. It's not perfect but it did turn out.....functional. My hat's off to Anyone who does this on a regular basis. Hammering out the fish tail and trying to maintain uniform thickness and symitry is tedious. This was a fun afternoon and I will probably try it again. I really want one with barbed tines! Specs.... Coil spring so..5160ish? Hardened the tines at non-magnetic and quenched in canola oil, tempered at 400 for two one hour cycles.

Great job! Reminds me of the ESEE Izula, one of my favorite small knives. What's the overall length?

Iowa has tons of manufacturing. Every fire hydrant in Corrona Ca. was made in Oskaloosa Ia. Just sayin....as for the sheer, I've seen them around here (Mississippi) for $100.00 Anything is worth what you can get someone to pay for it :-) Anything I don't want to ship I'll post on CL for local pickup only and see who bites, good luck!

100.00 US is not a risky investment on that little anvil, I would pay that based on the photos. A new cast steel farriers anvil that size will set you back around $300.00.

This is almost as loaded a question as, "which is better, Marlin or Browning" One certainly cost more than the other but in skilled hands it's hard to tell the difference. The best answer I can give you is, Probably. Will it make you a better Smith? Maybe. The differences are so subtle and marginal that the average hobbiest won't be able to identify them. After long forging sessions I can tell a difference in reduced joint pain when using a properly heat treated hammer. If your hammer rebounds nicely and your anvil rebounds nicely its less tiresome. If you love this craft the main reason to get a really nice hammer isn't necessarily for the forging benefit it may add, but the pride of ownership of something crafted by human hands, an object that has a soul, a personality.

Bench vise, hacksaw, mild steel= perfecto. Nice work Daswulf.

I just snapped a pic as I was leaving the shop. This is the 2x48. When I bought it it I didn't own a welder but I have since acquired a Lincoln Weld-Pac. I will soon be building a four leg platform for the grinder out of 2" angle-iron. I'll mount the motor underneath. I have friends who own Burr-King shop grinders and I can't stress enough, this little machine is not in the same category as a $3500.00-$5000.00 grinder. It is however a workable option on $350.00 budget.

I bought a Kalamazoo 2x48 a year ago from Jantz and I love it. You can get the 2x48 without a motor for less than 300.00 I put a 2hp 1725rpm motor on it and have been running Norton Blaze belts. I'm thrilled for the money I spent. I narrowed my choices down to the Kalamazoo or the Grizzly. The Grizzly is China made and the Kalamazoo is US made. For the same money I went with US and I've been very happy with it. I don't know there whole product line and they may be making some stuff offshore but my 2x48 was made in Michigan. Yoe will have to hit a scrap yard to look for a motor with a v belt pully but if you burn up a motor you can drop another one in. I think I paid 20.00 for my 2 HP at a flea market. If your planning on making deep plunge cuts you will have to make a new platten. The factory platten wasn't designed with knife makers in mind but the machine is solid and tracks great.

"Viking Tanto" You just made my day, thanks for that ;-) I take my wares to two and three events a month and lately everywhere I go folks ask me "have you seen that blacksmithing show?" Most folks seem to have some idea of the amount of editing that goes into making a TV program. Almost all my return customers have seen me work at the forge and only a few die-hards have the attention span to watch a blade being forged from start to finish, much less to stick around for grinding, hardening, tempering, polishing, sharpening. All in all I'm for anything that brings new interest. Some folks will look into it a little further and find out it's hot, dirty, and there is very little magic involved. Those folks move on to the next fad. Some folks look into it a little further and find out they have an aptitude and a passion for smithing. I guess whether it turns out to be a fad or a calling depends on the person touched by the spark!

Very nicely done!

I don't believe its been welded, the rebound is flawless over the whole face from edge to edge. Someone painted over rust and I photographed it right after wire brushing it off. Yes, handling hole front and back.

I believe the 1820-1835 date is correct. My other mouse hole is later, lighter, in much worse condition, has a pritchel and has great rebound on the heel. The one posted in this thread is thicker and wider in the heel and all rebound evaporates behind the hardy. Go figure. At any rate, I forged on it a couple of hours this afternoon and I love it!

I found this one over the weekend. I'm pretty happy with the condition. Rebound is great from the cut plate back to the hardy. It gets a little dead over the heel. Not sure what to make of that but the heel "looks" good. I just started stripping the paint this morning and I'm happy with it. I got a good price and the seller is a great guy so a new friend to boot! I'm going out this afternoon to forge with it. I couldn't, wait to see the imprint better so I went ahead and brushed it off but my favorite way to remove rust and paint is to put hot metal on the anvil and forge it into something useful! Happy hunting to all my fellow anvil stalkers.

I found this one over the weekend. I'm pretty happy with the condition. Rebound is great from the cut plate back to the hardy. It gets a little dead over the heel. Not sure what to make of that but the heel "looks" good. I just started stripping the paint this morning and I'm happy with it. I got a good price and the seller is a great guy so a new friend to boot! I'm going out this afternoon to forge with it. I couldn't, wait to see the imprint better so I went ahead and brushed it off but my favorite way to remove rust and paint is to put hot metal on the anvil and forge it into something useful! Happy hunting to all my fellow anvil stalkers.

Thanks for the info. I've already straight end the jaws and trimmed them flush. I knew as soon as I saw them I didn't have any use for them "as is". With a little twee king I now have a very robust set of pick up tongs. Thanks again for the responses!

Picked these up at a flee market. The hinge and pin are beefy, overall weight is two pounds! The jaws are flared out in a radius, one jaw is one half inch longer than the other and the teeth are quite sharp like the jaws of a pipe wrench. The tongs appear to be drop forged steel. Anyone seen a set like this or have any thoughts?

Looks great! I recently got some coils from an old US Mail truck that are one inch diameter. I've hammered some good size camp knives out of 5/8" springs. Not sure what I'll do with the 1" coils but your work is inspirational.

Gorgeous work!

Thanks for the info DRoberts. After a little consideration I decided to put it in the oven at 400 for a couple of hours. I'm planning another project for January and I'll be doing a lot of reading between now and then. I wasn't aware that anyone tempered in hot oil but its an interesting idea!

This is new to me and totally experimental Steve. I could have gone much hotter and drawn it back to spring temper but I wanted to see if I could hit a spring temper with a lower temp quench. I'm using plenty of p p e and "testing" in a safe area. I know I wont end up with good edge retention but I'm more interested in making something that won't break on impact. I may be going about it wrong but honestly, so far so good. The man I'm working on this project with is a responsible adult who will be cautious as well. I have plenty of annealed 1075 1/4 x 2 x 36 on the rack but I like repurposing junk metal. I'm not looking to sell these kinds of blades or even put them into circulation, I'll let companies with deeper pockets than mine worry about the liability, but this was a lot of fun and I will be trying it again.

This is what I ended up with. I went edge down into the fire and worked it back and forth till it was holding a dull red through the length of the grind. Quenched in plain water. I was shooting for a one step quench with no additional tempering, as I stated earlier this is not an attempt to make something worthy of fighting a pack of wild ninjas. The blade turned out quite springy. I haven't flexed it past 20° but I chopped enough southern yellow pine last night to assure myself there are no stress fractures. The spine thickness is .217" length is 19" blade' 5.5" tang. Weight is 1.247 lbs. I don't know how long Brian will take with his part but I'll post new pictures as soon as he shows me some progress on his end.Thanks for looking.

Very nice work, I would like to give them a new home!