gearhartironwerks

Off to the school of hard knocks... John

It's a slippery slope...and we'll all be happy to TRY to pull you back. Nice start on the dark side! John

I like to make tongs from 5160, and never quench after forging. I do cool them if they get hot during forging. 5160 is an excellent material for tongs as you can make them light and they are tough. If you go to youtube, you can find a jig I designed called power hammer tong jig. Coil springs are readily available for next to nothing. John

Imho, maple burls can be quite soft and need stabilizing. Less than 10% moisture content is a must for the stabilizing to be effective. You may want to consider cutting them into blocks/scales and having them professionally stabilized. Looks like a nice cache! They also take dyes well. John

We use Guilders Paste from dickblick.com. Colors can be mixed and/or coated over. Makes forged work look great. John

Hey, send it to me and I'll see how well it holds up to my wife's fingers. John

Really nice work! John

Looks like a beauty. Get to work and send pics! John

Yep, been there, and occasionally still am. Stuff.. happens. Hopefully you'll be able to diagnose the problem, and read Steve's suggestions. John

Fwiw, I think you should just scrap unknown material and go with a known...unless you don't care about your time/fuel etc. I'm a great believer of using found materials if I have an inkling as to what I'm working with, ie, leaf springs etc. That being said, I'm finding that as I get older, I really don't want to waste my time for some nebulous result. John

Come on Steve, don't get soft on us. :) John

Integral bolsters...I still haven't figured this one out. Sad part is that I probably have most of the tooling to make it work. I need to see it. Can someone please post a wip with the necessary tooling? I mean as in this is how you do it. john

It's always nice to know that's ones work is appreciated, and I'd like to thank those who responded. We all work hard at what we make and this is a good forum to show our talents, from those just beginning to those more accomplished. To me, the openness of the members responding is what makes the forum viable. Again, thanks to all for looking. John

You may want to try equal thicknesses of each material to start as a sandwich. I've found that hammering equally on both sides seems to center the carbon steel center, and makes grinding easier. Also, frequent dips in the ferric chloride when forging will help keep the center where you want it. John

They're better than my first ones. Welcome to the dark side! Keep showing us your progress. John

I gave upon flux. MS Bob Kramer said it's a contaminant, and I believe it. Nothing worse than getting near the final grind than to find an inclusion. Kind of ruins your day, and vocabulary. I would strongly suggest trying the dry welding. Your clothing bill will be less as well. John Wayne: Thanks for the words of wisdom Now can I have my life back?

Yep...random. Seems to be what I do best :( John

Seems like a flood to me as I've been able to complete some that have been on the bench for awhile. Here are some hunters that range from 3.75 to 4.25 on the cutting edge with various wood handles stabilized by me in paraloid b-72. Thanks for looking and comments always welcome. John

Frosty, I use nat gas and a ribbon burner, although any burner will work as long as it gets to at least 2300-2350deg. The key to success is the soak time in a rich mixture of 10-15 mins at that temp, then lightly hammering the billet for 2 cycles before going at it. It's not as quick as flux, but infinitely more clean. John

nope, none, zero flux, kero , whatever. mill scale not ground on the first weld, but forge scale ground on subsequent welds. ultra clean billets. try it, you'll like it! john

This is the first fluxless weld billet and the finished blade from it. This blade is 10" on the cutting edge Thanks for looking. John

A better shot of the blade.

This is a chef blade being donated to the Classic Wines Auction on 3-1 in Portland, OR. The auction benefits families and children in various ways. Last year, I was asked to donate by a good client, and did so. The blade fetched $750. My client is also building another house this year and wants more work. I wouldn't even think of rejecting his request. Besides, he's a good guy, and I like making pointy things. The knife is 14.75 overall with a 10" cutting edge. The ht at the heel is 55.1mm and the thickness at the heel is 2.21mm with a flat grind. The handle is stabilized buckeye burl and ebony. Also, this is a blade welded w/o flux from start to finish in a natural gas forge. John

Looks like you're on the slippery slope and doing well! Keep up the posting. Thanks, John

It's all about selling yourself as an artist and engaging people wherever you are. Those folks who sit in the back of their tents at craft fairs will never survive regardless of how good their wares are. One has to be people oriented to succeed in any economy. john