Rich Hale

I cut the length I want,,8 or 10" or so and heat it up,,then with bolt tongs stick one end in the hardy hole and pull. If you want to keep the piece nice and round you can finish straightening on the anvil with a wood mallet. If you are going to flatten just flatten and finish straightening as you go.

This is really not a cat fight, however never ever trust that something that has been done before is safe. Andy if you back up to one of my earlier posts you will see that I suggested drilling two holes each one sixteenth of an inch in size,,which that makes it a container not a closed container. In thirty years as a first responder in the fire service I simply cannot tell you how many folks that I have spoken with that are severely injured that have said to me,"It never did this before" And indeed I have heard that from the surviving family and friends of the departed. And no I have not seen anyone die or suffer an injury from welding a closed container rupture in a forge. while makeing a welded billet. Based on my experiences what you did is not a safe act and I would never suggest anyone repeat it. About the posts about water vapor..good point,,I do wonder if the shavings were clean or if they had a solvent or lubricant on them..In my shop they are oily. In this wonderful country we can do what and how we wish. This is not a directive for your work..just thoughts,,,be safe.

Jens I read pipe with welded on caps,,Methinks that is different than a fabricated can, but iI do tend to go towards the safe side of things..One rule in my shop is to look close at what I am about to do and think about what is the worst thing that can happen here.. Rt You may lookk up some 15N20, it is the same as L-6 for everything I know to do with it. K and G has it in small quantities. E me if y9ou need contact info...enjoy.

Continued from above. Think about what is in the future for this billet you have in mind. Is the billet made from iron shavings and drill filings going to be up to what you have in mind. And of course what was drilled to obtain these filings? If you make something ornamental almost anything looks great. If you have a cutting edge or whatever you wish you need to consider the billets make-up,,And remember as bad as smithing is an addiction,,,damascus is worse!

What you describe is indeed a pipe bomb, I drill two one sixteenth inch holes close together on the end that will will have pointed away from me in the fire. As another level of protectrion do not walk in front of the forge in any area that the pipe could rocket out and hit you, Unlikely but who knows. Personnaly I would never use pipe for this as I do not want the material pipe is made from to be part of a knife blade. Nor do I want the hassle of grinding it all off of the billet. You could weld up a container of a material more appropriate to a billet and then let it be a part of the whole.

I apologize for the size of the pic in this section. Believe me if I knew how to post it larger I would, However the spirits that keep me from doing that were looking the other way when I posted a larger pic of the same knife in the gallery,,,,,Hope you enjoy it Trailing point damascus blade with presentation ironwood burl handle with african blackwood spacer. Nickel silver guard and spacers.

No matter whether you make you damascus, forge or grind blades or just have some carbon steel knives to look at and enjoy,,There is an issue of rust. I use a product called renaissance wax. Most knife supply houses carry it and although not real cheap it is a bargain. When I get knives ready for sale I protect them with a couple of coats , blades, fittings and handle material,,,I think of it as an insureance policy agains rust or stains. If I lived in a more humid environment I would likely check them daily but not here.. enjoy

Let me be the first to mar this really clean board. Material selection for knives; Most of you that have discussed this area with me will know that I almost always suggest that we buy and use new steel for blades,,I feel that is simply the way to eliminate a problem in used steel that may cause a failure in a blade later on in the process. Does new material guarantee success? Of course not. Will it new push the odds in your favor even a tiny bit? Maybe. I order new steel mail order. For 1084 1/8"x 1" for example I pay $2 a foot plus shipping. I order one day it is here the next. If I want to get used material I need to print out the list on here that tells me what items are made from what steel and go find them at recycle yard or auto salvage yard. If I forge a piece of new and it shows a crack in it later I know pretty well it is something I created. If I use recycled steel and a crack turns up was it there or was it me? There is a nice feeling about makeing something out of something else. If I use all my powers to heat treat and it does not hold an edge? Is it the steel or is it me? Enjoy

You have really made some improvements. Looks well thought out and in good order. One thing I notice right away is it appears to be really old and aged with bright wood in a few places. I wonder how it wouid look If you took the shine off the new wood. I have used watco dark walnut oil,, wipe it on and wipe it after it dries a bit,,,Not to get a furniture look, but to tone it down,,,likely a lot of other products that would work also,,,

The blade is 1095 that I added pure nickel to,,it has about 100 layers

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/504/thumbs/blue32.JPG New Blue, Trailing point hunter with presentation grade ironwood burl and african blackwood handle. Nickel silver guard and spacers.

I wonder how many that look at these pics see there are left and right shoes,,,:)

I have a Harris welding and cutting set that I got well used in about 1965. It is all I need and I have used it a lot. If I were to replace it today I would likely buy a Victor set as the dealer I go to has them and I can expect service/replacements or additions at any time in the future. Get a basic set. Youshould heave a Cutting head with a couple of tips that will cut this stuff up to one inch or so. Welding tips should start at 00 or maybe 000 and go up to a 3 or 4. The dealer will know the capabilities of each of them. Since this seems to be a new area to you get a small set and then add to it in the future as you find needs. With a big set of tanks and either buying or making a cart to carry it on this is a sizable investment. It is not a place to cut corners by buying an off brand or one that you cannot get repaired or additions to. Enjoy

Actually there is another solution to this problem, which I will get to later in this post. For a long time I have heard of the old smiths that could increase the amount of carbon in a bar of steel with hammer and forge and coal...And have also heard of charcoal being used. Now I supose there are couple of questions that we need to find answers for. One you can do as some claim, sprinkle a bit of coal or charcoal dust on the anvil and pound the hot bar onto/into it and after a few rouinds of this you could spark test the piece and compare it to a piece of the same stock you kept as a test sample. You could also forge weld a piece of high carbon steel to the low carbon and cut stack and reweld it until you get enough layers. . If you wonder why a smith would go to the trouble of all of this work to get a higher carbon steel it is simple. They did not have the resources then as we have now. Here is the other solution,,,buy some high carbon steel or recycle some..get what you want and make what you wish from it. Enjoy

May have been about 40 years ago I got a piece of steel in my dominant eye. I let it go a couple of days until it got a nice layer of rust around it. The Dr. said the best course of treatment was for him to clean the area with a high speed rotary grinder, (dremel?) Althought the area was numb from meds I was absolutely terrified. All went well and I have no visual loss from the injury. However I do have an almost paranoia from the incident. I wonder if the injury caused blindness what I would have done throughout life as a result of my not wearing protection while grinding. In the chat room I have heard others relate similiar tales. I feel very strongly that as a smithing community we should look out after each other in this area and not feel offended if someone offers a pair of glasses or a full face shield when we are about to put our vision at risk. If you visit my shop you will get the offer for sure. Pictures of events on here recently reminded me of the need. Work safe and get on with life with both eyes.

Almost any woods can be stabilized and work just fine for handles on knives. It is a process taht sucks the air out of the material and then a material is pressured into all the voids. I have used quite a bit of redwood and it is not useable any other way. I have not seen any home dome stuff that matches what the pros do. (that should get a lot of replies)

Not sure if I got it right but if I did: I think you said you mig or tig welded to make it air tight, If that means you are going to forge weld two miecles together and did this as a method of holding everything in place,,think about how flux works,,You will get scale in a forge weld, I flux as soon as I think the flux will not fall off,,most of the time the metal does not show color yet when I flux. The flux does things that are best left to others to describe by the book but let me give you what I see happens, The flux tends to not only prevent scale from forming on the steel while you bring up the heat, it also helpt to remove any scale in the joint. To do that last part it needs to penetrate the joint. If welded all the way around and water tight it will also be "flux tight" (maybe). Ellen gave you a real key to a good weld, First hits should be taps. Even with light taps you will see a lot of stuff come out all sides (seeking flesh). A lot of that is flux but it brings with it scale that may prevent a good solid weld. At each heat I wire brush real fast and reflux before going back in the fire. Take a piece of half inch square mild steel and heat it and fold a couple of inches back onto its self. This when welded is called a faggot weld, and is the best place to learn welding in a forge. Do some destructive test on your welds,,try and chisel them apart. Get those welds right and move onto two pieces,,a tack on one end to begin is alright to hold in place. Then weld something everytime you fire the forge up. You will find the anvil sucks the heat right out of the steel. With a hammer in one had remove the welding heat piece from the fire and do not touch it to the anvil until you can tap it, Repeat everyday...good luck

Cool knives and anvil shaped objects: second things first. You can buy an anvil shaped object for alot less money than yuo will spend for one that is correct for the usage. The ASO"s just don't work out as they are not the correct material for the task. Now to the first thing. Cool knives. I like the look of those knives in the pics but then I temper that with some thoughts: If you research steels that are correct for knifemakeing and compare the the steels in knives similiar to the ones in pic you will find a mismatch. Theer is a differernce in composition. One that should be considered ..especially if you are new to knife making. An experience hand like Billy Merrit can do amazing things with steels That a new person may not be able to duplicate. For someone getting started you are best off learning how to move metal, what metal does when it is hot and spend a lot of time on heat treating and some shop practice with that. Then to improve you success rate start with simple knife steels that will make you look good. I prefer new steel but there are sources of used steels you can learn a lot from. Good solid basics pays off forever. research from reliable sources makes it easier. Have fun

Making sheaths is a really nice part of my knife work. One of the easiest ways to see what you like is to look at everything you can. Gun shows are everywhere and usually have examples you can touch and feel. Knife shows are farther between but are even better. Tandy leather used to have some kits for knife sheaths. TAke a look at the wooden sheaths. Woody has posted recent pics. As you mentioned some leather sheaths are lined with wood or metal. I make mine from heavy cowhide and stitch by hand. Big item here is to put one or more layers between the outer pieces so the cutting edge does not cut the thread. Look at everything you can. Good luck

I am impressed that you asked for help. Keep in mind that most smiths know exactly what you feel as we have been there,,,several times over along period of time. Go back into the files of bps on this site or go to anvilfire and dig into the demos there..select a few and print them out to use as study guides and work notes..Pay attention to materials used. they were selected for the task at hand,,that will be a valuable thing for you now and later. Yu may want to begin with mild steel. I think you already get it,,start with something you can succed with and you will feel alot better. Good luck