bobasaurus

I use shade 5 welding glasses, then judge temperature by comparing the steel color to the tip of a thermocouple I have in the forge.

Serious nice work there, wow. Love the twist.

Thanks a lot. I did a few quick wipes with a diluted mix of ferric chloride and white vinegar.

Not really, it's pretty solid.

Thanks Will and bnewberry. I try to tessellate the chain evenly and tack weld it in place before forge welding. It is a crappy material to work with but looks neat in the end.

I forged this kitchen knife out of bicycle chain with a 1080 steel backer. It is hollow ground and has a single bevel edge (for left handed use). The cutting edge is entirely 1080 steel, the chain is just for looks. Redheart wood handle.

These look really nice and symmetrical. Wish mine were that good, the one pair I made is an abomination.

I made this rivet heading/upsetting tool today based vaguely on pictures I saw online. I think it will work all right, I plan on using it to make some tong rivets soon. Stupidly, the center of mass makes the spring side dip down when trying to clamp it in the post vise... I might shorten it up someday so it doesn't take 3 hands to use this thing. I'll also take a die grinding bit to the countersinks and round them over some more tomorrow. I clamped a shim in the jaws when drilling the holes so they will grip the rod well. The holes are 1/4, 3/8, 5/16, and 1/2".

I've noticed that O1 spark tests differently than 10-series high carbon steel. The sparks seemed closer to how mild steel behaves.

Chile forge recommended this one to me: https://www.omega.com/pptst/KHXL_NHXL.html I ended up ordering a slightly different one with better shielding on the wire. I use a cheap PID controller that accepts K-type thermocouples as my reader. This is the part number I ordered, works great for me: TJ36-CAXL-14U-18-SB

Excellent axe. Is it wrapped or punched? I've never tried one, but really want to.

Very nice work. The hatchet and spoon gouge are my favorites.

This is mild strapping, I have the original box and looked up the part number. But maybe it did have some carbon migration. The heat treat on the original was to try and make the etch cleaner and strengthen the thin prongs (which backfired on me). This one I left soft, and it seems plenty stiff enough to use.

I forged this pattern-welded damascus fork out of bandsaw blades and pallet strapping. It's just a simple twist pattern, but I think it came out well. My first attempt at making one failed, as I managed to snap off the tips after heat treatment when trying to un-bend them from a warp. So this is the second fork from the remainder of the billet. I didn't bother heat treating this one, I don't think it will need it (and the pallet strapping is mild steel anyways).

That looks awesome. Never tried a cube twist before, I might have to give it a go.

That is absurdly nice, well done. I wish I had your forging skill.

Thanks. I'm getting a little better now, but not much. My arms are still surprisingly weak.

Thanks a lot everyone. Dave, I did stamp it on the bottom (though it's light). Moemdown, the handle is one piece. I drilled a row of holes then drilled and chiseled out the areas between them to get the mortise for the tang. I used west system g/flex epoxy to hold it in.

(I couldn't really figure out the right category for this, so we'll call it a "Knife".) I forged this pattern-welded damascus spatula for my Mom’s birthday gift. I offered her a knife or any other thing I could forge, and this is what she chose. Never made one before, it was lots of flattening work with a cross pein hammer and a ton of grinding. 1080 and 15n20 steel, hardened then tempered at about 550 deg F for extra flexibility. The handle is redheart, one of my favorite woods. It’s pretty, really easy to work (hand planes beautifully), and doesn’t have large pores so it finishes smoothly. I hand planed the block to size, then bandsawed out the shape, and block planed everything smooth and roughly to the final shape before sanding.

I forged a low layer count damascus billet from 1080 and 15n20, then made this knife from half of it. It's a thin chef knife with a Tasmanian myrtle wood handle. The x pattern comes from the core of the twisted billet, which I cut into and exposed before re-welding the pieces. Even 1/2" back from the tip is only 0.010" thick, including the spine. I had trouble with it warping in heat treatment, but was able to straighten it.

That's pretty neat-looking, Theo.

I always thought packing was BS. I hear about it all the time online and in old texts, but it never seemed right.

Twisting up some damascus today. Thought it looked cool with the scale popping off.

Thanks. That was a touchmark I messed up. The concave area underneath it caused the metal to squish rather than stamp normally, then the stamp was crooked when it actually contacted the anvil. I need to practice with it more.

Thanks a lot. I thought about it, but it seemed too busy with stripes everywhere.