Will W.

18 hours ago, Jclonts82 said:

That advice is WELL received.

 

I wish i could remember which fellow member gave me that advice, and credit them. I cant remember my name most days though lol. 

Good luck with it. And for flux sake, take it easy on the blower. Those thin layers on the outside like to burn up way before the core is even close to hot. 

Thats actually really cool, making something like that would have never crossed my mind. I think you did nice work there, the tines look good. 

Please update when you dish the spoon!

50 minutes ago, JHCC said:

"My best advice for knifemaking [is to] resist the urge to make a knife for as long as you can." --

Pure, unadulterated blasphemous heresy, that. 

I really like the one in the last pic, Kozzy. Really leaves me scratching my head as to how i would have put that handle on like that lol. 

Those hammmer marks are not incredibly difficult to remove, and requires no power tools. Just flatten the steel while hot. Use a thick bar of mild steel and hammer it down right onto the blade. The bar acts as a top swage and the anvil, the bottom swage. Takes a few heats if the marks are deep, but it is WAY faster then draw filing it  

Interesting blade shape, for sure. What are your plans for the handle? Leaving it the way it is? I assume this because the tang looks way thick for a hidden tang handle. 

But i thought i spell checked it! Ugh...

I have much to learn 

14 hours ago, JHCC said:

That's not what I did for the ones that halve followed

Finally, the stars are alinged, and fortune has smiled upon us. The opportunity to correct the Grammar Hammer is upon me! I shall savor this;

*Have*

I always just clean up pallet strapping with a sandpaper wheel on an angle grinder. Shine up the ps BEFORE cutting it into pieces, it makes it a lot easier to handle. 

Personally, i dont care for the rasp finish. Too much opportunity for crud to get trapped in there and create rust. But thats opinion.

I like the overall shape and design. Looks very utilitarian, very practical. 

Are those your finished bevels im seeing? They look real short and broad. If theyre just secondaries then nevermind that. Plunge line is a little wobbly, but not bad.

Other than that it looks nice. Make sure to show us as you progress!

Some people frown on laminated wooden stands, but thats how i made mine and it works a treat. Just take 2x12s and screw them together until youre at the size you need. You could use glue alone, but i prefer a mechanical bond. 

As far as holding the anvil down... ive never had to deal with that issue. My Fisher has holes cast right into it for lag bolts (an excellent design choice.) Maybe you could make U shaped nails and put one on each foot? I like the idea Das gave about the chain too. 

I wouldnt recommend concrete as a stand. It may work, but i would question its ability to hold up to repeated hammering. If you go that route, i would use plenty of rebar, running vertically. 

It does help to have quality files, and many of them. I actually just counted it up the other day, i have over 40 files and no two are the same. The great part is, when a file is worn out, turn it into another tool! 

If you break a tool that you need, and cant get it until tomorrow or something, work on some other aspect of the blade until you can get the proper tool for the job. That way, youre still making progress, and youll always be working efficiently. 

And dont worry about not thinking about it. I have let far more obvious things slip by me!

I would recommend *slowing down*. Almost every mistake in your story can be broken down to the result of being way too hasty.

Saying that your patience wore thin burning the tang through so you grabbed a hammer and beat it in, well, it was too tight to begin with, hence the burning in, so you were asking for trouble with a hammer.

If youre ever in a pickle, the best piece of advice i can give you is to STEP AWAY FROM THE BLADE, take a few breaths, and think things out logically. If you dont have a proper piece of steel to make a guard, then get a different piece of steel. If you dont have the file to perfect the notch for your tang, then get a file. Otherwise, if you just rush into things hoping it will turn out fine, well... you saw what happens. 

You also do not need to drill your guards. Youre a blacksmith, after all, heat it up, punch it out, and drift it to size. 

Good luck. Keep learning and having fun. 

Olfart

Order some thin 1080 to go with that bandsaw blade. Or better yet, O1. Even if your not making a knife, the contrast will look great. 

Zero

That is a fantastic haul! Punches, chisels, knives, oh my!

JHCC

Throw a handle on, and call your striker! That peen would work a treat for drawing out thick stock. 

9 hours ago, JHCC said:

JABOD forges are effective and dirt cheap.

Duh-duh-tsss!

Im glad to see someone embracing the fact that simple implements will take you a long way. Too often new, aspiring blacksmiths beleive they need a 500 pound hay budden and a red brick forge to do any sort of work. 

Good luck to you, Bodger. Welcome to the forum. 

Keep going with this. 

If those are monosteel blades then you have some awesome damascus stock on your hands! (And a lot of it, to boot)

Your question is extremely vague. The only answer i can give you is "yes."

Whoa, thats definitely not good! Thanks for the heads up. 

1 hour ago, Tommytaptap said:

Find out who the owner is and get their permission in writing to take some before removing anything.

Agreed. Plus, you can buy better steel for fairly cheap. 

Oh me, oh my! 

Beautiful blade, stunning pattern. Very nice work. 

21 hours ago, JHCC said:

If you want to invest a huge amount of time and material in producing a crudely functional anvil rather than investing that same amount of time in learning basic forging skills, that’s your choice. Go for it, if it makes you happy. 

Agreed. 100 percent. Dont waste your time making an anvil that will probably not work as well as a simple block of steel. At scrap prices, its also far cheaper to go this way. 

Take all this free time youre going to have and, instead of making this anvil idea of yours, learn how to forge steel which is, after all, the end goal here. 

P.S. youre are farmer, so you must have old pieces of steel sitting around. I have never seen a farmer who doesnt. No old tractor axles sitting around that you could stand up on end and use?

Well urine is a weak brine, so in theory, it should quench slightly faster than water by itself. But i know Thomas Powers has a story about quenching in urine. 

What you have planned is an extremely copious amount of work. It would be leagues more efficient and effective to find a single piece of scrap metal that will work for your needs. A piece of railroad track works very well. Or a truck axle stood on end. Take a look in the anvil section of the forum and you will find numerous threads about improvised anvils. 

Remember: it doesnt have to be a london pattern anvil to beat steel on. 

O1 typically has half a percent of chromium in its matrix, its a very miniscule amount. I dont beleive its enough to inhibit a weld, so long as your pieces are very clean, up to temp, and properly fluxed. 

I have welded o1 numerous times by hand. I assure you, it does not take greater measures to do it. 

People have been forge welding by hand for as long as our species has worked iron (literally thousands of years.) That is not the problem.