JHCC

Looks like a good start. Now, turn your attention to the handle, and get those stickers and the glossy finish off. Those can give you blisters right quick.

TOB, take a look at the threads on JABOD (Just A Box Of Dirt) forges, especially @Charles R. Stevens's original thread. Good info there, which should help a lot. Definitely good instincts there. Encourage them! (And it's good to see her wearing safety glasses and having her hair back, but also encourage her to wear full-length pants, with the cuffs over the tops of her boots. She does have boots, right? She does NOT want a piece of hot scale or a punching slug going down into low-top shoes!)

When I worked in the art restoration studio, one of my coworkers articulated "Farrell's Law": that the longer you look for something, the shorter the amount of time between asking a coworker if they'd seen it and finding it yourself.

If it's square and straight, just make a dog-head hammer or some kind of top tool.

For example, the Okinawan kama derived from the humble sickle, and eventually blended in perfectly in both agricultural and martial environments. One might even call it a "kama chameleon".

Also known as a boring Buddhist horse.

I'm thinking more Odysseus chastising Thersites, but whatever.

You disparage Homer at your peril, sir!

It's a whole different kind of earwax!

You've corrected me so often; I'm just happy for the opportunity to return the favor!

Not near me, but plenty of smithing folks in the area. Good luck, and maybe we'll meet up at Quad State. Good stuff. Also check out Mark Aspery and JLP Services Inc (IFI's own @jlpservicesinc).

Hey, GrumpyBiker! Is that the northern part of central Ohio, or the central part of northern Ohio? I'm in Oberlin, and would be happy to meet up some time. (FYI, I'm primarily a hobbyist, but also a former professional woodworker.)

That is really, really nice, @alexandr, both in itself and in situ.

There are a lot of good IFI discussions of punch lube, SLNH. Coal dust is one option.

The Odyssey, Book XII: "...I with my sharp sword cleft in pieces a great circle of wax, and with my strong hands kneaded it. And soon the wax grew warm, for that my great might constrained it, and the beam of the lord Helios, son of Hyperion. And I anointed therewith the ears of all my men in their order..."

Copper Elf, I see that you're using a steel stand under your anvil. Such stands are well known for reducing the ring of an anvil, but a more period-correct (for the original scenario) stump or other wooden base doesn't damp the ringing nearly as much.

Can we get a photo of the spine? Also, photographing on a neutral background with an even, diffuse light makes it much easier to see (and thus critique) the details. There are some weird reflections on the blade that make it hard to judge (for example) the shapes of the bevel and plunge lines.

Good to keep in mind. Impossible to get out of the mind.

As a Vermonter, I resent that. And it's "JHCC" -- Henry, not Kevin.

No, there are videos on youtube. Yes, but I've done it with a pair of tongs and some good running shoes.

If only someone would come up with a simple, effective way to straighten heavy coil spring!

I'm just a square. I don't have enough depth to be a cube.

And you can use any leftovers as flux.

If you have some pieces that you can sacrifice, try hardening in different quenchants (oil, water, brine) to see if it will harden enough to skate a file, and then do a break test: heat one end (in the forge or with a torch) until you have the full spectrum of temper colors running down the length, quench again, and then put each successive color over the edge of the anvil and tap sharply with a hammer (WEAR EYE PROTECTION!!!) to see where you get the right balance between hardness and toughness. Make a note of that temper color, and aim for that with your subsequent heat treatment.

Such punches (especially in smaller sizes) can easily overheat and deform if not cooled regularly and repeatedly during punching. This is actually a benefit, since it reinforces good punching technique by giving instant feedback on bad.