Rich Hale

Interesting discussion in chat room as a spin off of thoughts in forum:,share thoughts on files if you will. Do you oil them? if so wot kind of oil and how?,,dip, wipe, spray, another method?

Oil and files do not mix?..I oil all of my files on a semiregular basis......do not understand that statement.

" no sharp edges that would prevent cold shuts" Really?

I" have an appt with Doc tomorrow for yearly physical....Gave blood sample yesterday..Among other things they do a heavy metal poisoning test. Big player in that is testing for lead. Not to be taken lightly.

Cannot be an easy task to somehow capture the craftsmanship your work exhibits in a video. It indeed happened and with the same level of skill and artistry that befits your work. Thank you for sharing and thank you for contributing on this site!

Wow this has taken on a life of its own: I need to 'splain; I wrote this little whiny thing in a thread where a person had asked Steve to write up how he did something and post it....That bothered me a lot as he and I had done that with the knife making lessons. I just wanted to vent a bit and did. I did not split that off from that thread or title this thread. Nor do those two items bother me at all. For sure it allowed a lot of folks to read and respond in their own way and for their own reasons. And I did not write any part of this to get a pat on the head for wot we worked hard on. I have read and tried to understand as much as I can each and every post in the thread and will continue for as long as the posts continue. Thanks to all for the thoughts.

I covered all kinds of guards in the knife making lessons.

i certainly will not speak for Steve. But I will take this opportunity to get something off of my chest. The idea of why don't we just write something up and post it has been a mainstay of this site and will continue to be...It is the life blood of the site. Steve and I stepped up and did just that with the knife making lessons. We both took our personal and shop time and prepared a lot of information for folks of any experience level to use as they saw fit...Free! Most of the time on the nights we presented the classes live here there were less than ten folks joined us. Less than likely would have been here without the classes for a normal chat night. We were prepared for that but hoped that as it was posted in the forums,,many times the same night, there would be more than just a few that appreciated it. Apparently we were wrong. Several times I have suggested in the forum that when someone asks about something we covered in those lessons I suggest they read them. Gasp!. Research the easily found info,,,,say it aint so! And i have had several folks tell me in the chat room they would just as soon I retype it in the chat window rather than they open up the forum and peek,,,even when someone in the room posts a hot link. Steve may indeed share this info for all the folks to see and appreciate....Not I.

Just a whiny little add on here: The question of why does Steve not write this up and post it for all to see has already been answered by the lack of response to wot he and I did in the way of knife making lessons we toiled over and posted some time ago. We stopped the live portion of them as on a given night we posted the new sessions there were barely ten folks attending. Almost daily here there are questions posted in the forum that ask us to once again type out basic help that are in those lessons. I not longer type out the long form of those answers, I suggest to person hit the forums for the longer version with pictures..Many times I have folks in the chat room tell me they do not wish to read it all in the forum they would rather have me type it once again in the chat room. Dang I think I feel better now!

Realistically now: Don't use Plated metals in smithing for all of the above reasons. But think about wot you are asking here; If you use a chain to hang a pot from over an open fire, For that chain to get hot enough to burn off the zinc the bail on the pot, which may be smaller might have to reach an even higher temperature...maybe even a deformable under the weight of pot and product red? The product in that pot would isolate that from happening unless the product was entirely consumed? And to carry on,,,Could only reach that point if someone was to continue to add fuel to the fire if its was a solid fuel. Jus sayin!

When you forge certain SS alloys a big problem is a ton of tiny cracks all over when you are done...Only in some alloys...

I always put finger guards on hunters.

And of course we covered forging and finishing blades in the knife making section of the forum. And included a list of suppliers for knife making supplies that have been used by members of this forum.

People and many things exist for myriad reasons..Gasoline,,to pick on one of the aromatic hydrocarbons only exists for one reason! To find a source of ignition.

Actually John I do not think I missed the point at all,,,the horseshoe item was part of a rabbit trail tacked in here....The statement was made the if you put another's name on a generic item it would bring more bucks. I will stand by my statement on that...

You for sure have put in the years,,,but at wot weekly rate? a couple of hours a week or 60?,,,,If doing long hours then you need to get guidance from a more experienced smith,,,,

The fastest route to the symptoms you described is to try projects you have not developed skills for. The basics,,as described on this forum quite often if you look back through the threads are a base to forge anything you wish. Body mechanics, correct tools, proper fire control all these and more reduce the failure rate. It we were talking about vehicles it is like entering a long distance race in a car that yo have not learned about the transmission selections,,,and which pedal is go and which is stop. Turn sq stock to round then back to square...long tapers again with sq to rd and back...roll nice circles, make scrolls...make stock longer and thin,,and shorter and fat. punch holes ,,slit and drift etc...As you do these pay real close attention to wot each part of the hammer and anvil do to steel. Forgin steel is so easy I learned it...I did not learn it fast. Forge one item. Say a long tapered piece...then two weeks of hard work later forge another one and compare them...and if you have not found and joined a group so you can see how others do things you are going to be a few years into this,,,,but only if you spend a lot of time at the forge.

In the meantime I would suggest you build skills that allow 100 % success on welding two different kinds of steel into billets...then learn about welding in a can..there are tips on this site that will guide you along the way,,,even a few pointers in the the knife making tutorials in the blade making section.

"This is true, but if you put a generic, nicely crafted item down and tried to sell it what could you get. In comparison put a famous name, that the only change. How much did it go up? It's all about perception for most folks. And lets not forget, there are games that are played in all of the arts to create positive perception (advertising, getting work published, having good reviews in magazines and such). There are only two reasons people buy stuff, they think they have a use for it or it has a perceived value (some body else wants it). If a maker has 50 of the same item or an example to order I still believe he's going to sell more orders at the high price just due to the "collector's" preception. Andy, one of the best raquets I've ever seen was a guy who made miniature horse shoes with a name stamped in it. He'd get a kid "appentice" to work his bellows as he made one with their name. After he's finished with his "appentice" the parents had to buy the item. lol" I have to reply to this late as I have been away. If you put any kind of name on a generic item other than your own it is simply theft. If you put a name of a well know artist on it it is almost a sure way to the end of your work in this area. Folks that know the name will see it as a fraud right away and as I said earlier word spreads fast. I think that anyone interested in truly spending some time in studying this part of the business needs to spend some time where folks display and sell their wares. Above someone mentioned the Atlanta Blade Show, If blades is wot you do then make a point to go. Buy the three day pass, as you will not possibly see a small portion in a few hours or likely in the whole time of the show. I encourage you to take a coupe of your knives along and compare them to wot you will see. Ask if any of the makers will give you their thoughts on wot you have created. Look up purveyors and see if they will do the same. Ask them if they will sell your work. Then back to the issue...think again about putting any of the front row makers name on your generic work and think again about wot that may do not only to the value of your piece but again,,wot will it do to your reputation. And by the way get there real early on opening day. You may indeed find that many famous name makers tables are empty and have a sold out sign displayed. The evening before and early mornings day of shows there are a lot of sales. Makers and buyers are in one place and do that. The Blade Show is the biggest that I know of..but there are many regional shows that have the same kind of learning experience only on a smaller scale.

Really nice work. Shown well in great pic.

Putting a sold sign out if not true is first step to f business failure. Word spreads fast. B Some folks do sell out fast. They have made their mark via their work. Not a gimmick.

May help if Justin would clear up a few things,,,are the "top smiths" welding high carbon steel? If they are getting it to sparkly heat are they able to make a blade from it later that will pass some kind of shop testing,,,,maybe similiar to the ones used by ABS? The person he says is getting 100% success,,,,is that on high carbon? The video shows fluxless welding on wot I supposse is mild steel considering wot it is going to be used for... He also mentioned kerosene,,,is this for mild or high carbon,,,Have any videos or information on that? I use twenty mule team and success is really high for the high carbon steel billets and the knives I make from them. They pass shop testing here for bending and edge holding and the important looks folks want.. I have rammable refractory in my forge and it is not affected by the flux.....at least not after only a decade. I would consider a change if the right information led me to it. But now with the price of steel and the prep work I put into it before the first weld I am not gonna try and fix something that for me is not broke.

Tha is a fine piece and if you forged it you are all set...or shall I guess it is the item you wish to make? That in the pic is forged using basic smith skills,,easily acquired with long hours in the shop,,,a bit faster if youi seek some personal or group guidance and continue to practice those skills. that is not a starting point to learn to forge. SInce that is likely considered a knife,,,you may wish to look in the knife section for more ideas? The knfe making lessons are in there.

I think that is really cool. If I owed it I would clean it up without removing the patina and wife would find a dispay place in house,,,likely near fireplace like Tom suggested.....

How well did you follow the directions for building this set up? Did you follow a proven pattern to the letter or did you change things? Any changes from the plans will change how it works. There have been a large number of folks built those burners and they worked. There have also been a lot that did not work..everyone of the latter had changed something when they built that was not in the plan. Go over your burner step by step and see wot needs to be for it to be like it should. If youi still have problems teel us wot they are and post a lot of pics so we can see wot youi see.