Woody

A scotchbrite wheel on a buffer makes a nice matte finish also. Personally I prefer a mirror finish on my blades. As for paint, I don't know of any that will stand up to the use a knife blade gets.

Dan My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife. May God Bless and Keep you both. May God guide the hands of the surgeon so that he may be at his very best for your wife. Woody

Some of you might find this helpful or perhaps a bit amusing S0009 The Demonstration

I have always maintained that it is alright to be incredibly stupid as long as you are the only one who knows. The guy in this film clip has just told everyone in the world that he is incredibly stupid. There was an incident in Phoenix, AZ a few years back where 3 young people, 2 guys and a girl, broke into a school bus that a prospector used as his prospecting vehicle. They were looking for gold but didn't find any. He had a bunch of mercury in the bus however. They took it back to the apartment that they shared and played with it. Threw it against the walls, poured it off the balcony onto the side walk and watched it bounce etc. The next day a meter reader from the gas company happened by and saw some of it on the ground by the sidewalk. Recognizing the hazard, he called the Haz Mat Team. The ensuing cleanup cost over half a million dollars. The apartment had to be stripped to the bare floors and the studs. The ground outside was scopped up and loaded into drums. Once the apartment was stripped and re-done, it was turned into a storage room and can never be used as a place that can be continuously occupied. One of the boys and the girl was taken immediately to the hospital, stripped and decontaminated then started on chelation therapy to try to remove the mercury from their systems. The other boy went to a friends apartment and spent the night sleeping on the floor. They later were able to trace exactly where he slept with a mercury monitor. He went to Denver and then returned to Phoenix a few days later. A policeman saw him walking down the sidewalk, recognized him and detained him until the Haz Mat team could arrive and strip him and start decontamnation. He too was taken to the hospital and chelation therapy started to remove the mercury from his body. The chelation therapy was unsuccessful in all 3 cases and all three of these kids died of mercury poisoning from the mercury that was absorbed through their skin from handling it and the mercury vapors they breathed. To have some FOOL drop a cannon ball in a tank of mercury to show that it floats and in the process splashing it all over and vaporizing mist into the air is totally stupid. Then to put video of this stupidity on the internet so that unknowing people can see it and want to emulate it goes beyond moronic.

Here is the latest update on my friend Vickki, she still needs all your prayers. Woody Well, three weeks out of the cryoablation procedure, I am thrilled to say the pain on the rt side has so substantially stopped that I am able to walk short distances with just a cane and or no cane at all. I saw improvement from the pain within 48 hrs., the increased ability to walk has happened day by day. Am encouraged about getting more mobility back. Not only that, but I commemorate my 62 birthday Fri., Sept. 26 - yikes! In Jan. it will be five years ago I was diagnosed and given three months to live. I want to thank you and everyone for their prayers during this time. They are absolutely what has lifted me beyond pain, beyond worry, beyond negativity. Hint of fall in the LA air. More soon as I do more tests to determine next moves. Love to all, Victoria/Vikki

In addition to all the above it is skin absorbable. It is extremely toxic stuff. You are right about "Mad as a Hatter" hat makers going crazy from mercury fumes and also from the mercury absorbed thru their skin while working with mercury to form the hats. Also the Dreamy Draw in Phoenix, Arizona is named so because of the gold miners who used Mercury to seperate the gold from the black sand, then boiled off the Mercury to obtain the gold. In doing so they were exposed to the Mercury vapors and since it effects the centeral nervious system, they tended to nod off all the time. Soil contaminated with mercury is considered "Hazardous Waste" when the concentration of mercury exceeds 7.5 mg per cubic meter of soil so don't even think of throwing it out on the ground. There used to be a recycler of mercury who would send you a shipping container to ship it to them. If you like you can IM me with your email address and I will see if I can find the info on the recycler.

I have 3 20 lb bottles of propane, that should be enough to give me a new address in 17 different zip codes if the garage catches on fire. Also have about 120 lbs of coal on hand.

Remember that HC on a RR spike does not mean HIGH CARBON, it means HIGHER CARBON than the mild steel run of the mill spikes. Carbon Content of a HC spike is 30 points or .30%. To be fully hardenable plain carbon steel must be at least 60 to 65 points carbon that is .60% to .65% carbon.

They make several "instant case hardening compounds" casite or something like that is one of them. Be very careful when using them, get the MSDS and read it thoroughly before use. Some of these compounds contain very toxic materials. I have heard that some contain cyanide but I have not documented that myself. It is a very slick video but instead of the bluegrass music it would have been nice if they would have mentioned what steel they started with. It wouldn't be hard to get a Rockwell 55 our of a piece of W-1 but it would be much more difficult to get the same results with a piece of mild steel.

In the old days blacksmiths didn't have the luxury of being selective about the coal they used. They either used what was available or fired the forge with charcoal. For quite a while till other coal became available to me, I forged with the supposed useless coal that comes from Wyoming mixed with some stove coal (anthricite). I made about 6 pattern welded blades with it till someone told me it was no good for forging. For blacksmith purposes ideally you want a high BTU low sulfur coal. Pocohantas is just that and many smiths think it is the best coal available. It is exceptional coal and once you have forged with good coal you will know the difference. With some of the less desirable grades of coal it just takes more of the stuff to do the job. If you can get the best, use it, if not get the best of what is available and use that.

When using commercially prepared flux get a MSDS and READ IT! Many of these products contain fluorite which when heated in the forge gives off Hydrogen Fluoride Gas which is extremely toxic, those are big words for DEADLY if you breathe enough of it. When a forge weld fails to make, it is usually not flux that is the problem. Most forge welds fail for one of the following reasons reasons, either it wasn't hot enough or you hit it to hard or the metal wasn't clean. Try bringing it to welding heat and squeezing it together in a vise.

Andrew is doing better, he will be going home in about a week, here is the latest update from his Mom. Update 8-i think Posted 2 hours ago Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Andrew went into surgery last monday to clean out that area around his left lung. Happy to say that the fever has gone away. We are still in the ICU, but we only have 7 more days left and then we can go home. So hopefully next Sunday we will be home. Woo Hoo. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since the surgery day. It seems like it has been forever. Well the hard part is over and now all we have to do is wait. Thank you all for praying for my little man. Sasha- 27 days in the PICU

I am not sure what type of steel they are but jackhammer bits etc are usually S series shock resistant steels S-5 comes to mind. If you like message me with your email address and I will send you a junkyard steel list along with other info I have put together over the last few years.

Beware when using fluospar, the fumes given off by heating it are very toxic. Hydrogen Fluoride to be exact.

All you need is something to heat the metal, something to beat the metal with and something to beat the metal on. Looks like you have everything you need. Good luck.

Most welds fail for one of two reasons. 1. Not getting the metal hot enough, 2. Hitting the metal too hard when trying to fuse the weld. My guess is that you are not getting the metal quite hot enough. Remember that color is a relative thing, what looks like welding color in one shop may look differently in another shop due to variation in lighting between the two shops. Also if you hit it too hard with the first few blows you will cause the almost molten face of the metal to be squeezed out of the joint and the weld won't take. I would shuggest that you get a vise close to your forge, clean the metal thoroughly, heat to dull red, flux with borax, then take it to welding heat and put it in the vise and squeeze it together, see if that makes your weld stick. Also mild steel welds at a hotter temperature than higher carbon steels and some alloys.

A miracle happened last night, please see the latest update on Andrew, on behalf of Sasha and the Tender Hearts Support Group I thank you all for your prayers. God is good. With all of your prayers, Andrew is doing much better. The nurse told me, "I dont know what happend, but everything just went away" I know what happend, God healed him. His is bright eyed and bushy tailed today. I just love my little man. He is getting his attitude back which is a great sign. Sasha-Day 17 in the PICU

My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family. May God work a miracle in her behalf.

hammerhandsyd: Please message me with your email address and I will send you about 20 or so pages in MS Word format on the properties of various junk yard steels and info on hardening and tempering various steels.

Andrew and his family are acquiantences of my daughter and her family through a support group that my daughter started for families of children with congenital heart defects. He has Open Heart Surgery a couple weeks ago and has not been doing all that well. He has made great progress but now is having more problems. Below are the updates that his mom Sasha has posted to his care page throughout his ordeal. Please include this little boy and his family in your prayers. . Posted Aug 27, 2008 12:14pm Well, Andrew had his big surgery Monday. The surgery itself went well. They went in and repaired the Tri-cuspid valve took him off of bypass and Dr. Harrell just wasnt 100% satisfied, so he put Andrew back on bypass and worked a little more to where he was satisfied. He then came down to the PICU where he started to mis-behave. I just new that something was wrong with him when it took the surgeon 2 and a half hours to come out and talk to us. He told us that once they got into his room, he started to bleed more that expected. (his chest is open by the way) they worked on him for a while and they were about to put him on ECMO when Andrew started to show improvment. They doc said that we should be able to go in in 15 minutes. It was another hour and a half, a nurse came out of the icu and told me "he is STILL coding and we cant get his heart rythym back. that is when the long stretch of codes started. He coded for 30 minutes and they shocked him 9 times. They were trying to get him hooked up to the ECMO machine. They got him hooked up and eveything is the same as of right now. I have never been so scared my entire life. I dont see how parents can loose their children. The pain that i was already going through was already unbarable. I am just so glad that he made it through that hard part. I hope from here on our is nothing but good. Please pray for him and our family to get through this tough time. Please pass his name on and add him to every prayer chain possible. Sasha-day 3 in the PICU. Posted Sep 1, 2008 5:55pm Sorry it has been a little while since the last update. We came off of ECMO Friday morning. Woo Hoo. He has done being off of ECMO. We have taken baby steps in the right direction. Saturday Dr Harrell put a few training sutures in and he did well with that so Sunday he closed the sternum and left the skin open. They were able to close the skin today. Our next big hurdle is getting off of the vent. He has alot of fluid on board at this time, but we are hoping with time he will be able to pee some of that off. I have been reading him books and his blood pressure goes up some. So i am hoping that he can hear me and know that i am there with him. God is wonderful and I cant thank him enough for what he has done for him. We still have a little ways to go, but things are getting better ever day. Thank you for all of the prayers and support. Sasha-day 7 in the ICU Posted Sep 2, 2008 11:02pm Andrew has had a good day. He has pee'ed and pee'ed. Poor thing. He is looking so good. God Is Good. He has a broncial scope done today to look at his left long. It has not looked so great on X-Ray. They were able to suction some of the yucky out and so hopefully the AM x-ray will look good and they will be able to extebate him tomorrow.That is our next hurdle. Nothing else to report, so just keep the prayers flooding and pray for all of the other little ones in the hospital tonight aswell. Sasha-Day 8 in the PICU I know that my papa is looking down just guarding Andrew and wrapping his arms around him. Posted Sep 7, 2008 9:08pm Andrew has been doing pretty good. He came off of the Vent Saturday. That was huge for him. He is still not able to recognize faces just yet. he is still on the Methadone. So i think that is why he cant focus on anything. He looks so frail and weak. I am just happy that he is getting a little better each and every day. Still keep the prayers coming. We still have a ways to go. Sasha-day 13 in the PICU Posted Sept 9. 2008 Andrew had a great day yesterday. He sat up for the first time in 2 weeks. He didnt like it much, but he still did it. One of his first words to say again was "ouch". I felt so bad for him. I know that had to have hurt. He has had several cups of apple juice which was so good. I got to spend the night with him lastnight and i held him forever. It seems like he was able to get in some real sleep in my arms. That is so rewarding to see him wanting his mother.It is amazing to me that a little boy that was so sick, on ECMO and on the vent as long as he was is able to even funcion already. It seems like it has been forever, but it has only been 2 weeks. What an amazing God we serve. Well, I just thought that i would update everyone and thank you all for all of the thoughts and prayers. Sasha-day 15 in the PICU Posted Sept 10, 2008 Well, it seems like we took 5 steps and head and 3 back. He has been running fever the last 24 hours and they are unable to break it with the Tylenol. His sats went from 85-88 at one liter of O2 to 65% at 2 and a half liters. He may possibly need the VATS procedure (Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery). That is for the build up of blood, tissue and fluid around that left long. At first the Doc's thought that it would heal on it's own, but now they are beginning to question that theory. Just pray that his fever goes away and his sats come up. I know that this has taken a huge tole on his little body and i dont know how much more he can take. Sasha-Day 16 in the PICU

Tio My prayers and sympathy are with you. God Bless and keep you all. Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her may she rest in peace Amen. Woody

I have a bunch of the stainless kick pannels from the bottom of commercial doors, I use it mostly for spatula blades use some on knives for guards and butt caps.

Steel doesn't know what is getting it hot, gas or coal. The damage can come from overheating the steel with either. Sulfur in coal can cause problems with a forge weld, but as far as introducing anything into the steel from the fire, that is next to impossible. I would recommend you read some material on metallurgy and disregard a lot of the "alchemy and legends" that pass for factual information in the knifemaking world.

I have a salt and pepper spoon set carved out of wood that were made by my uncle. He told me that before the advent of salt and pepper shakers, salt and pepper were served in little bowls with small wooden spoons. The one for pepper was smaller than the one for salt but I don't think they dated back to mideveal times. If you do a google search for "salt and pepper spoons" it will bring up lots of hits

the normalizing process is a function of time held at temerature and then slow cooled. the normalizing temp and time is different for different types of steel. Many attempt to accomplish by repetition what is best done by holding the piece at the proper temperature for the required amount of time and then letting it air cool.