Will W.

Very true. Scrap should always be tested, especially for something that is going to be hammered on, like a swage.

One of my friends' forge is only up to just below his knee. That's where he likes it. Mine is up to about my waist. I think it's really all personal preference, just like anvil height.

Great work. I would be honored to carry something like that in my pocket. I also like how your touchmark is slightly hidden, like a little Easter egg! Lol.

I like it. Especially how the handle turned out, that looks really nice. Good work.

I second that. I believe limestone can also be used as a flux when forge welding, the finer a powder, the better. So having that much of it is definitely useful.

I have one drawer of my knife making toolbox specifically for sandpaper. I categorize it by grit, most aggressive at the top, least at the bottom. Though I usually end up with it scattered throughout the shop as well lol.

If many of the saw blades are the same, quench and break test one to get a general idea of the carbon content. As has been stated here before though, never assume that a manufacturer uses only one alloy.

Yeah, that's a really good day. Nice finds.

Wearing old, torn up gloves and getting a piece of hot scale stuck IN the glove. Wearing a beanie because it's cold in the smithy still, then having a piece of coal pop, hit the hat, stick, and catch it on fire. Wearing jeans with fringe on the bottom, and then a piece of hot scale hits the fringe, lighting you on fire. Wearing any shirt with a front pocket, and having a piece of coal pop and land perfectly in the pocket. Even manages to get around your apron sometimes.

Personally, I usually don't truly anneal coil springs, leaf springs, files, etc. It probably wouldn't hurt to throw in a normalization cycle before you start, but I don't think annealing it would be necessary.

I agree with Das, nice profile. Looks pretty clean so far. How about some dimensions?

22" overall?! That's almost short sword territory haha. I like the look of it. I think you did a nice job making it look like a wilderness find. I'm loving the profile of the blade too. Well done.

Very nice. I love the handle! And the blackening on the blade looks like it came out pretty well. Good job.

They look pretty good. Your bevels do need work though. Personally, I would take them up more, closer to the spine. Use a file to clean them up and even them up, it will give you more crisp lines for your ricasso and plunge line. Look into draw filing. It takes time and patience, but its worth it. You can also use this technique on the flat between the spine and plunge line to get it near perfectly flat, and to take out all the pitting marks on the second one, unless you want to keep them in, it's really up to you. Makes it look MUCH better in my opinion when you sand it though, especially if you're going for a mirror finish. The profile of the blades and the handle work look good though.

It's unfortunate that someone took a grinder to it, but all in all, that's a pretty nice anvil. Face and edges look really clean. If those pin pricks and that one hole are the only defects, than I would say you found an awesome anvil.

I don't know how it turned out with the new anvil you mentioned, but I use a 150# Fisher and it's plenty enough to make knives and decorative things. A 138# anvil will serve you quite well I imagine.

That's sort of what I figured. The pressure differential will cause it to exhaust no matter what position the vent is in. Sorry to hear about the TBI. I hope it wasnt too bad, all things considered. Thank you again for the knowledge. Now I just to find a drum that is in halfway decent shape.

Thank you guys for explaining the wire mesh idea to me. I looked into it, and learned a lot about it. I had no idea. Frosty My old chemistry teacher would be disappointed in me. Upon further research, flame is itself the chemical reaction occurring from the re-ox process. I don't know why I beleived it was a plasma. Amazing how some things must be re-learned! Anyways, thank you for the knowledge about the retort. Laying the drum on its side does seem more beneficial. If it were stood up as drums typically are, the wood on the bottom would be receiving far more heat than the wood on the top. I'll also add a cover ("oven") of some sort to contain the heat to my design. Again, the knowledge is appreciated.

What Thomas said. If you insist on a round hole, you could always drill a small hole and drift from there.

Going off of what Vaughn said, you could take a second bucketful of tapers and turn them into bottle openers. Flatten out the big end, punch and drift a hole (if you have the tools for that, if not, get or make them) and put it on the horn, turning and hitting evenly, and turn the areas to the right, left, and above the hole into a nice even ring. Flatten the top of the ring a little to create an oval or leave it a ring, it's up to you. Then you can scroll the other end and even put a twist into it if you want (if the taper is square, if not you'll have to square it. Also great practice to go from round to square.) Make a little divet (under the hole, towards the scroll end) to grab onto the bottle cap using a rounded piece of bar stock (that's all I use) or just thin out that same area. I have has success both ways. It's a little more advanced project for a beginner, but totally doable. Just take your time and plan ahead.

I could be wrong about this, but fire is a plasma, so I don't see how wire mesh would stop it. It seems, in my head, like pouring water over a grate. It just goes around the grate. Could you explain more? Is there something I'm missing?

Blade, handle, and sheath all look really clean. Great work all the way around.

Bearded Guy That knife is smaller than I thought it was. Those pictures on your post are deceptive! Or maybe I just didn't look hard enough haha. Still loving the antler handle.

First, the letter opener looks pretty cool. Nice job. I have very limited experience with Damascus, but I have sanded quite a few knives. This is my experience: 1200 grit gives you a pretty nice finish, but go to 1500 then 2000 from there, and you literally have a mirror. I hope that's helpful. Someone with more experience with damascus should be along shortly.

Theo Well I think you nailed it on this one!