Will W.

I have done it many times, yes. Repeated folding, welding, and forging usually takes care of it pretty well. I have never had it affect a pattern, though i have heard of times when it has.

But i have a Fisher. I cant "ring" anything! I guess thats why all my tools go missing.

The hamster in my head is losing his marbles trying to imagine how to open filing cabinets. I mean, he would have to get off the wheel! Nice looking anvil. Oughta serve just fine. Hows the rebound on it? Does it ring like a bell when struck?

You fight with the strength of many men, Sir knight.

I agree with Frosty. One or the other. If you have the capability to weld one end... why not just weld both ends? Like i said in my earlier post, it doesnt really matter if you arc weld mild onto blade steels, the carbon in the billet will homogenize regardless.

Because they didnt temper it in the light of a hunters moon on the eve of Wodens Day after fresh snowfall! Seriously though, thats a good point, Thomas. Plus more welding means more impurities removed/reduced. Homogeneity all around, really.

People say that theres rattlesnakes in my neck of the woods, mostly over the river and a county away, but ive never seen one before. Think its a load of malarkey, myself. Its winter in upstate NY for like 9 months out of the year, snakes left this forsaken land a long time ago. Starting to think we should rename this state Alaska #2. 30s and snow, theyre calling for this weekend.... yay.... Your climate is looking mighty fine in my eyes right about now, Thomas.

You could also gas weld the billet, if thats what you have on hand. Electricity is overrated . I would prefer to TIG weld the billets myself. Lack of a TIG welder in my shop tends to make that prohibitive, but you can just fuse the corners together with 0 filler metal with a TIG. Then your billet doesn't have any mild steel weld beads that your carbon is going to inevitably seek out. But thats how i use to weld a lot of sheet metal jobs. Works great with stainless and carbon steel, not so much with aluminum. Anyway, the method of welding wont make much of a difference really, im just thinking in text here. Your method is sound. Dont worry about the WD-40, that stuff will burn off and suck oxygen away from your steel in the process. I would also recommend welding all four corners of the billet, but whatever works, works.

Just like they did in that one movie! What was that called.... king of the loop.... duchy of the wedding band... cant quite put my finger on it... ah well, im pretty sure i dont even know what im Tolkien about anymore.

If Earth's magnetic field can warp a blade to the north or south, depending on hemisphere, that means it should be constantly pulling on steel all the time, yeah?. So how are skyscrapers standing up? Why are my refrigerator magnets not being pulled north, or at least lining up with the magnetic field? Its bologna, thats why. Technique plays more of a role than magnetism.

Cool! It turned out great. Really like the blued guard, it contrasts the osage very nicely.

I prefer to flux my billet immediately after arc welding all the corners, theres usually just enough heat in the piece to start melting the flux and get it in between the layers. Then you can throw it in the fire and give it air right away.

Reminds me of a stone hand ax.

I mean, in my mind anyway, you kind of need a sign to have a name for a place, yeah? And the sign above my smithy just says "Blacksmith" Soooo......

Im with Thomas on this one. Seems spikes would be a better option. As for getting from tree to tree at 50 feet up.... I have no idea. Cant think of a way to actually do that safely. Why would you want to do that anyway? Im curious. Back to the original topic, however, Thomas' earlier point still holds very true. It depends on your skill and equipment. If i had a mind to make one, i would forge weld several round rods, only half of their length, and bend the unwelded halves to their desired positions. Taper them before welding, if they even need to be tapered. And then test for strength *BEFORE* you absolutely need it to hold your weight. It could grip it by the husk!

Interesting, thanks for the info guys. I just pyrolize my wood in a retort and burn the charcoal, never tried using raw wood before.

Genuine question here: why? I thought it was intended for charcoal. Wood and charcoal burn pretty similarly, compared to things like coal anyway. Im just curious is all.

Were all thinking it, and Frosty just says it . Seriously though, its just a corkscrew. If your going to use hardenable steel, seems to me you might as well harden it and temper according to its intended use. Otherwise, why waste the metal that makes good blades/tools etc? When you could just use mild.

That horizontal line is the seam from where the steel face was forge welded onto the body of the anvil. Its nothing to worry about, lots of anvils are made that way. As long as the face is not delaminating, which it does not appear to be, youre good. 2.60/lb @ $400 dollars= 153 lbs and change. If it is a peter wright, the price seems reasonable. But i would want proof of brand before i layed down anything. Regardless, its a nice looking anvil with plenty of life left in it. Best of luck. Edit: just realized that you were talking about the line in the face, not the seam of the face. That looks like a chisel cut to me, probably someone was cutting steel on the anvil and didnt use a sacrificial piece of steel beneath it. The fact that it lines up with that cracked mousehole is just coincidence.

Man, thats awesome. They do good work, which means you must be a good teacher, Theo. Good on you for getting the younger generations working with their hands.

It wouldnt be too bad, just hit it with a torch or hold it over your forge until its blue. Do that twice and it would be pretty hard to break it. But i dont make corkscrews, so im just speculating.

And why not just harden it and temper it to blue? If youre going to buy high carbon steel, use the carbon! Lol.

Well, ive never made a saw, so take my advice for what its worth. That being said, i would use a spring steel. Every saw ive ever used can be bent well past 90° and return right back to straight with no issue, which means theyre likely tempered similarly to springs, which, if my memory serves, is right in the blue stage of tempering colors, about 525-550 degrees F. Your going for toughness and springyness here, not hyper edge retention. You also want it to be thin! Like under .08" would be my guess. Like a fillet knife, thin blade = flexible. Leads me to wonder if saws have a distal taper....

Can we have this on a shirt, Glenn? I meant no offense, Charles. I was merely using it as an example. I would never claim that all mentally ill people wish to harm others, i know a few people who struggle with mental disorders and they are some of the least violent people you could meet.

BGD Regarding the root cause of violence, that is probably literally impossible to pin down. If you could find the actual cause of violence on a case by case basis, im sure you would end up with 100 different reasons out of 100 cases. Mental illness, desensitization, mob mentality, etc. Its a very complex issue. Im not even going to get started on the whole distracted driving thing. Just today i was stuck at a green light because the lady in front of me was on her cell phone. While it is infuriating, im glad she stopped, then texted, instead of texting, running the red light and getting hit/hitting someone.