Woody

This is a ladder pattern knife I finished today. The blade is 4 inches long. The handle is made of, from the guard out, Ebony, Mystery Wood (I think Snake Wood), Desert Iron Wood, Deer Antler, Desert Iron Wood, Mystery Wood, Ebony.

Good enough is NEVER good enough.

There used to be a guy on here that could tell the alloy of the steel by touch but he got banned. Other than that you buy unknown steel that's just what you got. I know there are those that say you can tell the alloy by a spark test but generally the best you can do with a spark test is to get an estimate of the carbon content. If spark testing were all that accurate steel mills wouldn't have analytical labs. If you can determine what the original application of the steel was, the junk yard steel list will give you an idea of what the alloy is. Other than that you can heat a piece of it to non magnetic, quench it in oil, check it with a file and see how hard it is. If the file cuts it readily, heat again and quench in water, then check with a file. If it's still easy to cut with a file you have low carbon steel. All of this was covered a while back and the information should be available if you search the archives.

I did a google search on the specifications of rebar a while back and posted the results in one of the knife threads here about Railroad Spike Knives comparing the carbon content of the grades of rebar to rr spikes. There are 3 grades of rebar as I remember ranging from approximately mild steel to a bit over 30 points of carbon or somwhere in that neighborhood. I have 2 hot chisels that I made out of rebar about 7 years ago and they are still working good. Rebar is much maligned but I venture that it is much due to hear say rather than people's actual experience with it. People say that it is made from a hodge podge of steels and it is, but the carbon content etc must fall within a specific range for the application. Remember that rebar is designed to be used in critical applications where peoples lives literally depend on it so there must be strict quality controls on its production.

check the archives here and at anvil fire there has been much discussion about them

Be very careful running an electrical current through salt water, that generates chlorine gas. Very toxic stuff. In the quantities of salt water used to etch something it is not a problem but in larger quantities can be very dangerous.

leaf spring car 5160 or 1085 leaf spring truck 1085. 5160 is a low chrome alloy contains no nickel neither does 1085.

you notice I said L-6 or 15N20 not and.

I have used a mixture of Anthracite the soft coal that comes out of Wyoming when I couldn't find anything better. Adding a little soft coal helps keep it lit by it's self it is hard to keep lit but it can be done. If you can't forge with the coal you want, forge with the coal you got. Woody

I use a lot of leaf spring steel for knives and every once in a while I get one that will crack but I will venture to say that more cracks are the result of forging at too low a temperature than from existing cracks in the material. As for welding, I have no problem welding the stuff it's either 5160 or 1095 and both weld easily. If nickel were an impedement to forge welding us damascus makers would be out of business because two of the common steels we use in our stacks are L-6 or 15N20 both of which contain about 2% nickel. High levels of Chromium make welding difficult, but the chromium content of 5160 is low.

I saw them in person and had my hot sweaty little hands on them a couple weeks ago, they are way more impressive than the pictures show. Any of you that haven't had an opportuinty to visit Rich should make the effort. You do outstanding work Rich Woody

they also make temperature sticks, they melt at a given temperature.

check this site, click on property data they may have the info you are looking for Principal Metals

I make the dies for my gullotine tool out of mild steel and I about an inch or so of the working ends in iced salt brine. I use them only for working hot steel and in 5 years I have yet to need to re-grind the working ends.

What Kristopher said! A long piece of RR track mounted vertically will put more mass under the hammer and make moving metal easier you only move metal the size of the hammer face anyway so a large flat surface under the metal is not really necessary.

Junior: my prayers go out to your daughters family Woody

Rich that is beautiful Woody

Julian: We soaked these in clear shellac and them put them together wet and screwed the butt cap on real tight. let it dry over night

This is my friend Hunter, he is a Fireman here in Rapid City. I have been helping him make a knife. This is his first knife that he just completed today.

Rich, very pretty Woody

why not take an old chisel cut it off flat, anneal, draw the reverse pattern on it you want with a magic marker and it then cut the touchmark you want on the end of it with little chisels and a diamond burr on a dremel tool it's not that hard and will only take a couple hours at the most.

why not just buy a metal stamp kit, HF has them very reasonably priced and the letters will be facing the correct way when stamped.