Jackdawg

I have to admit I lost 3 inches of D2 yesterday, on the first heat the first time I used coke in my forge, to used to using wood / charcoal........not that I walked away, I was just doing the usual fiddling I do around the forge and anvil, setting out the hammer and tongs etc. And it wasn't just that it was burnt and was no good, it was gone......

Your pot is not wide enough at only 4 inches. Keep the bottom the same size, and widen the top out to say 6 or 7 inches. Do you have a fire rake or poker? Keep working the pile of charcoal with it, as yes if left as it is, it will burn hollow from the inside, meaning you end up with cooler air blowing on your piece cooling it as much as feeding the fuel around it. Idea is to keep poking the fuel down with the fire rake or poker. Given you don't have a fine air control - turn your air supply off when not actually heating steel, or you will go through an unbelievable amount of fuel with a charcoal forge.

I quite like my collins hammer, had it about 6 months, no issues with the quality of it.

Well, you certainly achieved your goal, it heats metal hot enough to work. Yes there are many things you could do to make it more economical, work better, etc. Some quite good tips already given, but congratulations on a successful project. !

Your jail system has a bad reputation (at least here), so I don't know if he would be better in Jail where he can at least get decent health care or not. But over here, sometimes these old timers getting locked up means they will at least get the help and care they need, as against an uncaring overworked, useless public health system. I hope he gets whatever is best for him, it is obviously a tragedy, not a felony, and his lucid moments are going to be terrible for him, and their family must be devastated.

See how you go with that anvil stump, you might need to trim it a little on the sides (ends?) if it gets in the way when working metal around the horn / hardie areas, will depend on what you are doing and how long it is. Otherwise looks a schmiko setup, just needs a sign over the top of the door - either the traditional " Blacksmith" or something politically incorrect like "Mancave - No Shiela's allowed"

One 20 pound tank, and 1 burner, insulation as suggested and firebrick floor should be good, just need to coat it. If you have a hole out the back, it will do swords as well, you only ever work a few inches of metal at a time anyway. Bench grinder will remove material, not ideal, but will work.. Anvil - see what you can scrounge, I wouldn't be looking to pay for a good new anvil at this stage, and an elcheapo cast iron one is just throwing away money. A lump of steel of some sort should be enough to knock up knives, you don't need much. You might find you local knife steel specialist does a kit to make a forge out of that size gas cylinder, - insulation, rigidiser, appropriate burner and instructions etc - the one here in Australia does. Most of all have a go and enjoy yourself.

your lucky Daswulf, here the flea markets are full of very overpriced rubbish when it comes to old tools.

Can you get the shop tank topped up when they come and fill the wife's kitchen tank ? Or do they only refill the stationery tanks?

If you bought it, your wallet will be considerably lighter if it was high carbon steel For checking scrap, JHCC has mentioned the most used tests done on the steel itself, for exotic stuff, there are some extras - for stainless you can also add is it or isnt it magnetic (300 series is non magnetic and no carbon, 400 series is generally magnetic and has at least some carbon), what was it was used for - if it is obvious what its past life was that is a big hint an old axle or drive shaft, likely medium carbon steel, ( might have a few extras like a dash of moly and chrome in it), coil springs medium and a little higher carbon, flat springs medium carbon, old grader blades or similar cutting edges etc medium to high carbon Old tools can give it away as well, files will be high carbon (as long as they are not antiques), Cutting implements medium to high carbon depending on what they were used for, you can actually file test these to see if they are hardened as you find them (no need to run a heat treating cycle) - unless totally worn out (past a working surface to a backing metal) or been through a fire, a carbon steel tool should exhibit hardness Some old bed frames tend to be medium to high carbon steel (Those thin angle iron ones that held metal mesh and springs) If it is general RHS, Square, rod, angle iron scrap, it will generally be a mild steel.

I'd love to have one of those! be really handy.

Tell him you need to see him moving all the bits of gear on and off the trailer via the ramps so you can judge what needs to be done, with a bit of luck you can then say say "well lookee there, ramps don't need changing at all"

This your local show you are going to, or are you traveling?

these things sounded intriguing, so I looked them up - they still make them, the "mark 7" being the current model! http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/

Just needs a frill! If you find keeping the cards in his gob a bit difficult, you could always turn up his front toes to hold the card base, and lean the cards against his front legs.

I had a similar experience, but not with a different size diameter, but a different thickness. Was not until I had exploded the 3rd disk in a row that I realised they now make 1mm thick cuttoff disks for 100mm grinders, and I had just bought my first box of them! Turns out my old makita couldn't bite down on them properly, it would feel tight when you did it up, but if you really pulled on them you could move the disk in the mount. The old girl just not able to clamp on such a thin disk. The old girl has now been retired to wire wheel duty only. Mind you those thin disks in my modern grinders cut like a knife through hot butter! I'll never go back to using the old drop saw for cutting steel again.

As my horse racing addicted grandfather said to me - Queensland and New South Wales, the horses go in the right direction, Victoria and South Australia go in the wrong direction

From what I can see, the concept of oil quenching an air hardening steel for a knife is that it give an effect similar to the use of a hamon (internally, not visually) on a plain carbon steel, with the thicker steel in the back of the blade being less hard than the thin cutting edge.

Sort of looks like the ones used for dog spikes, but the taper isn't quite long enough.

Horses are not the sharpest tool in the shed. All the race tracks here go in in the one direction, so horses always turn right. They reckon the hardest thing to do when you get an old race horse, is convince it to turn left!

It looks like it has cracked at the end you would not have quenched? (I'm just asking, no idea if that is a factor!).

I'd be more worried that the doctor was looking to tailor his quality of workmanship to the quality of your attorney!

The D2 I just got from the local specialist metal supplier is supposed to be air hardening according to the fact sheet supplied. It also has a sheen of rust on it, so definitely not enough chrome in it to make it stainless. I am part way through making a draw knife out of my first piece, I reckon I will still try quenching it in oil.

what sort of a question is that? He who dies with the most tools wins!

cool setup, see if you can get some crusher dust instead of the sand for the floor, it will pack down tighter and not loosen anywhere near as much under foot. That tin your putting along the front, you could convert some of that to prop up windows to give a bit more ventilation / light.