Will W.

I laughed a little TOO hard at this lol... I have a side draft hood on my forge as well, now I've only used that single one so I'm no expert, but it seems to me that you would want that forge (and hood, consequently) far from the door. Otherwise the hood and the draft from the door may be conflicting, leading to a smoky shop. Mine is on the other end of my shop from the doors and I've had 0 problems with it. Just my speculation, hope it helps! Good luck.

Very true. And ideally from Osage you want the Heartwood for bows, one of the few woods where you do not want a combination heart and sapwood. Worth a shot though, there's few, if any growing in my area.

I can offer no advice regarding production. However, I would be very interested in obtaining a decent size piece of Osage Orange if you have any left (if you get this going, I wish you luck with it.) As a bowyer, I'm always looking for Osage, it's like gold.

400 pounder?!... I want it... Though I don't know how much my Honda would appreciate me lugging it back home...

Wow....

It's been noted before (and I've seen it myself) that if you do a lot of grinding on high carbon steel with a particular wheel, pieces of that steel can become trapped in the wheel. Then when you go grind some mild, you'll see some branching sparks that make the metal *appear* to have a decent amount of carbon. Try to use new wheels or belts to identify scrap. Or, to circumvent such a problem, forge thin, quench, and break.

Pros: Profile looks nice. Those scales are AWESOME!!! Tube pins look well executed. Plunge line and ricasso are very crisp. Cons: Center pin is offset, and looks a little odd. Bevels are a little short. Overall, nice work. I really like it.

Nice work. Looks stabby!

Ha! True.

Nice job Reb. The file work is really cool!

Perhaps that's what it's intended for

I realize you didn't ask for critique, but if you round the edges of your scales, it makes it feel better in the hand (opinion, I suppose.) I also do most of my knives using hand tools only. Typically, the only time the steel sees a power tool is when I'm cutting the stock, and even then, you can usually just use a hacksaw. You don't need fancy expensive equipment to make good knives. Excellence is a decision (to quote one of the curmudgeons) As far as the ricasso and bevels go, Steve Sells has a topic here somewhere (in the knife classes I believe) about making a very simple jig in order to line your ricasso up on each side and make your bevels even. Check it out. Doing it freehand is difficult, but you seem to have done a good job on it.

Take a wire brush (not a grinder!) and clean up the actual forge if you so desire. I don't think it's really necessary though. It may help in determining if there are any small cracks in it, however. I have a blower identical to that one that I'm working on restoring, so I have a little know how with them (very little, in truth.) First thing you're going to want to do it unbolt it from the forge and remove it from the tuyere. Then undo the bolts holding the two halves of the blower together, and split the housing. Take the half with the gearbox and remove the machine screws in the top of the gearbox and remove the top. From there, you'll have a clear view of the gears and you should be able to determine the problem with the crank. More than likely, some gears are rusted together. As a side note, at no point in working on this thing should you be forceful with it! That cast iron is old and brittle, believe me. Be careful undoing those machine screws too. I stripped a few out on mine, and had to drill them out, VERY carefully. Try to avoid that. Good luck. Keep us updated.

Just out of curiosity, what are you using as an air supply?

Nice. The pattern is very interesting, but those scales! Wow! I'm a fan. Did you do the initial heat treatment on it before having it cryogenically treated?

A quick internet search revealed innumerable gas forge companies in the UK. I would start there, were I you.

I agree. My main hammers are a 1.5 lb ball pein and a 2 pound cross pein. I rarely find the need to reach for the 4 pounder. Technique is often more efficient than brute force (and more accurate to boot!)

As far as the barrel goes, getting 100% solid welds should be your main concern, and how the pattern looks should be secondary. I would practice this. Back when I was in welding school, to test ourselves, we had to make a 2'x2'x2' cube out of plates. We would then drill a hole and weld a nipple to hook to an air compressor to, submerge the cube in water, and add air pressure. If ANY bubbles came out around a weld, you failed. I would recommend practicing a few barrels and doing tests similar to these on them before putting a detonation behind it. Having it x-rayed it a good idea as well, but to put all that work into it just to learn it has defects would be terrible. That's why I recommend practicing it a few times first.

Also, during the rebound test, make note of the noise it makes. If it's more of a "thud" it's probably a cast iron body with a steel face, but if it rings like a bell, your probably have a fully steel anvil.

"Ouch" is usually the one of the nicer things I yell when I injure myself. It's usually more along the lines of words I can't post here haha.

I would try to get this one of I were you, like scrambler said, don't wait if you can. It looks go be in great shape. Just check the rebound and look for a makers mark.

Now that's a daunting task. That is a very nice looking anvil. It appears to be in good condition. I agree however, that ease of transportation depends on weight.

I am no expert, but my assumption is that it may help with heat transfer. The wood is not as cold as the anvil, so less heat would be robbed, or it would steal it more slowly I guess I should say. The idea that the burning wood would heat the metal is a fallacy however, wood burns somewhere between 400-500 degrees F, iirc, and the steel has to be up to around 2000 degrees F to weld, again iirc (this also depends on alloy.) The wood, even when it's on fire, it still going to suck heat out of the metal. It's possible, I suppose, that it may also help reduce oxidation, since the oxygen in the ambient air may be drawn to the chemical reaction of the burning wood rather than to the steel, but that I do not know.

What dimensions are you trying to achieve as well? Based on the first picture, it looks like a chunk of leaf spring would work pretty well for you. 5160 is a common alloy for leaf springs, but because it's scrap steel, the same rules apply as with other scrap. 5160 also makes good heavy use tools like axes and picks in my opinion. Just temper it appropriately.

Thomas I see. I suppose I would be better off just collecting scale. It will take longer to get the same amount i have of grinding dust, but if it's better, then it's worth it. Thanks.