Rich Hale

Pink I bet

I have made several knives with D2 and have ground the blades to shape with a belt grinder. Along with a correct heat treat they are really great knives. Although not a stainless by the book they are real close,,,a bit of care with use and they stay clean and sharp. To mirror finish is a bit tricky,,however if you get a nice finish and bead blast they look real slick...And did I mention that I like the stuff? hahaha

Thanks for all the great comments. I am about done with shoulder rehab and will be back in the shop soon. Will post pics of new works as it is completed..

Pam you will do great,,,I do small items and at times will give one away to a young person that shows al ot of interest....At that times the crowd usually drifts away and i rest until they start to gather again,,,If folks are not stopping just starting a new piece is like a magnet. If it was every day all week long I would schedule times for demos on a visible white board. But for the threee day thing I just work when It seems right...I have another person around for lunch time ,,,and I go away from booth for that. Have fun and let us know how it went.

When you heat steel to a red heat it begins to scale on the surfaces. Flux helps to remove this scale and we see that as stuff comeing out the sides as we begint to tap things into one mass. I never bring steel to red before fluxing,,,I think a good coat of flux helps prevent the scale. I heat the stock to just a dull red so the flux will adhere to the steel. then I bring up the temps to welding. I also do not weld chain into billets so keep that in mind also...You will solve your problems before I ever attempt chain. I grind all surfaces to be mated to remove any surface junk, That would be hard to do on chain and methinks there are areas in chain that may tend to trap stuff inside a billet. I wonder which end of the billet did not stick,,,the one you started the weld on or the other end...the more heats,,the more scale. One more item that I have to watch; If I have an area giving me trouble I have to be careful not to hit it harder to make it stick. Tap it lightly, brucs and flux, get it back into fire before it cools and do it again,,,calls for gentle touch,,,good luck

Keep in mind that you have a half ton,,,springs will not change that,,,The components are not made for heavy continuous useage. One thing that may help a bit is a set of air shocks,,you can inflate them when carrying a load and let them down a bit for normal driveing. Do not go over the weight your truck is rated for when you load it up. Simply not safe. One more thing to check is how your tires are rated, if you have passenger car tires on your truck it may not even be safe when you load it to its maximum allowed weight. Just some thoughts.

You may have to get help from someone to watch you,,,let youir hammer arm hang down by your side,, then just raise your lower arm up until it is parellel to the ground. When you ar hammering do not let your arm out from your side any more than in what you just did above,,,,Forge something and have someone watch to see if your elbow is moving away from your side,,,If it is that may be the source of your pain and it is common,,,Another source is cold steel,,use heat for all shapeing,even tucking heels in,,,Your body can only take so much impact over a period of time. Not sure if these items will fit your pain ,,hope so,,,

If I had the time and money I would come to your shop and see if we could get a nice working edge on that really nicely done knife,,,then we could field test it on a small herd of caribou

That is a wonderful find for you or any smith. Remember that they are made from a tool steel that is shock resistant,,an S series tool steel,,,most likely S-1. there are different steels in that line but the important thing is to just remember what it is for. That is important when you use it for anything other than jackhammer bits. You will find right away that even at a good heat it does not move very well under a hammer. So just plan on takeing a little longer to get it to size than if it was made from low carbon or mild steel. That is also the beauty of it. It does not deform under uses it is made for. It is not made to hold an edge like for knife blades, but for hot cut hardies or punches it is really right. It will still not deform if while useing it as a tool even if you let it get a little hot. Like a real dull red. If you forge it while too hot or not hot enough it will crack,,,if You get it hot and put it in water it will likely crack also,,,,,Play around with it and see how it works for you.

RAmbling on: The winner of the worlds smithin contest each year will travel widely and give clinics. Almost always they are hosted by state or local shoeing groups. They are not really pricey, Usually Saturday they will demonstrate shoe making and shoe a horse to high standards. The rest of the day they will help those that attend with shoemaking at whatever level they are at. Sunday is usually hands on, And they will work more or less to your level and desire. I have attended clinics with at least five of the champions and It is certainly worth the time and effort. Even if you do not shoe horses the techniques, tools and skills are worth it.

Woody in fact shoeing and shoe makeing is only part of what they compete in,,,for instance a few hyars back they had to make a length of chain,,then it was tested with a forklift and heavy weights,,they kept adding weight untill all bu one failed. They have also had a class that that they had to mang a pair of tongs,,then use them to forge a horshoe,,the tongs and the shoe were critically judged. Another test was given a piece of metal make something artistic with it,,,everyone got the same size stock. One more thing of interest is that all anvils and forges are provided...Contestants draw for a station. Can use your own hand tools only. Only in the last decade or so has the USA been able to compete at this world level. If you should decide to attend next year Woody,,,Run by and pick me up,,,,,,,,,,,,,See ya

Considering what you have and your personal goals,,,,spend the money on a few classes if you can find some you can attend. The best money you can spend is on steel for forgeing, If you have basic tools and can spend long hours at the anvil you will advance your skills a lot more rapidly. I believe the most important consideration in acquiring and useing a power hammer is a good solid understanding of how metal moves by hand.

In the big picture my repair was a small speed bump in lifes road,,thanks to all that helped put me on a downhill smooth avenue,,,,,,,,,,,,

The enjoy the comment about a bad grinder being better than no grinder at all. I have a very expensive knife grinder that I make knives on, It tracks perfectly the wheels are true and I have several attachments that make it do more things. One of the very best features is sadly lacking on fixed speed machines, I use it mostly turned down to slow speeds. 2" x 72" is about the best thing going, there is a real big selection of belts availeable. I have the Grizzley that you are looking at. The motor is in the way of one side of the wheel, Everyone I have seen has a problem with the contact wheel not being true, The platen has to be repaired , as it comes it is just not right. I do not like the fixed speed. I use it every day I am in the shop, I use it for almost all things other than hollow grinding knives. I have a small diameter buffing wheel on the other end, It allows me to buff soft materials without digging into them... If it breaks I will buy a new one like it the very next time they are on sale,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Each year Calgary hosts the worlds blacksmithing competition,,,either the week before or the week following the stampede......try and atten,,,Youi will see the worlds best at work......

Let someone else know you are getting too hot. The downward spiral of heat troubles can be faster than you expected. In spite of how bad you want to finish what you were working on you may have to rest a bit. If light headed shade a fan water inside and out and your feet up while you lie down will feel good. Later signs like lack of urine or darker than normal urine is your bodies way of saying stop and recover.. It will not take any more until your recover, A rapid pulse is a sure sign that your body is trying to help . Learn to take your own pulse and see what it runs. most folks run 80 or less when at rest or light work, depending on your own, Stressed it gets higher and in trouble may even go higher. take your when you have stopped working on a normal day. then you can recognize what is too high for you. Some folks do not tolerate lots of fluids,,,speak with your Doc ahead of time. Hope I have not bored you. But I did drink some water while I wrote this.....

Your core temp,,,the temperature inside the large part of your body is what you are trying to maintain. Your body will give you clues as to what is going on inside. Irn mentioned that he stopped sweating. And he recognized that as a big red flag and dealt with it. Other symptoms that you may feel are a little weakness, that may lead to stomach ache. These are also big red flags and must be dealt with. They are your bodies way of telling you that you are indeed heading for trouble. . To maintain that temp and keep hydrated, fluids and slowing your pace, limiting your exposure and Cutting your work load may all help. Keeping your head wet, and as mentioned a fan to keep the water that is on your outside evaporating and aiding the cooling are keys. Humidity is not your friend when trying to keep cool,, If you feel week you should stop immediately if you feel it is from heat and rest, even a water hose over your head helps. More to come

I live in a rather warm part of the country, In my past life I fought fires for aliving, Including one fine June day that the temp outside was 123f, and we were inside a burning house with full protective gear on. So with that back ground let me give my survival tips. First,,read all the above posts as each of them work for those the shared them. Think in terms of avoiding problems and -prevention. I always downed a couple of glasses of a sports drink before I put my gear on the truck for start of shift. Prehydrate, If you start off short it will not get any better. Sports drinks mostly have alot of sugar in them ,,try mixing one third sports drink and two thirds water. Cool but not icey drinks go down better for me. Clothing. Cotton works well for a couple of reasons,,I will smolder and not melt to you if you get a spark or scale on it. and it holds moisture to help cool you. Early post mentioned a wet hat.. a vital key to cooling is your head, Like a radiator. Keep it wet and you will reduce your core temp. I will post agin for more.

I have braided alot of rope and a tool like that would be real handy,,,

Rick I have a web site if you would Like to see more of my work. http://www.richhaleknives.com

It is difficult to see if that is a hollow ground blade or not, If it is useing a stone will not work real well. Try another method..take a popsicle stick and use it to push down lightly on wet or dry sandpaper,,you can get it at auto parts stores or home improvement centers. I would start with 120 grit,,,moisten with water as you sand lengthways down the blade,,,,do a little and look a lot in good light. When it looks as if you have an even finish go to a 220 grit. Next a 320 then a 400 last and 600 and you should see a big improvement. When the surface finish is what you like, sharpen with a stone...This will wrok if the blade is flat ground or hollow ground as the stick will countour itself as you work,,,keep it wet....Good luck

Ray welcome to smithing. And what you mentioned about different techniques with different steels may be somewhat true. Kind of a vague answer?....Lets first look at Spring steel. I work only with new bars of steel as I know that up front there are no stress cracks in it and I can be sure it is the steel I wanted to use. A starting point wouild be to bring it up to non-magnetic and see how it moves. while remembering the color at that heat. If it will move nicely at a heat just under that,,a bit darker color I will go with that, If not go back to the color of non-magnetic. Different ambient lighting and different interpretations of colors make it really tough to go by what other folks say a color should be. Dull red in day light may look really bright at night. I cracked a real nice blade in too cool of quench oil. A great way is to take three pieces of the stock you are forgeing and bring them all up to heat. let one air cool. one in 120 degree oil and one in same temp water. Premark them clearly so you do not mix them up after quench, Temper each the same and test them. Then should take and hold an edge,,,they should bend and return to shape. This simple rudimentary testing will sort them out really fast. Have fun

Alan, I spent a lot of mine and Glenns time getting pics to look right,,,Some basics for you,,Damascus is easier then mirror finished stainless. The pic you posted had a glare problem..figure out where that came from and it will get better. My guess is it is from a flash. It is hard to predict what the flash will do to a pic unless you use it a lot. Make a three sided tent kind of thing maybe two feet each direction,,,Anything will work for frame , cover it with the material they make womens slips from..cloth supply has it be the yard. Use three lights one from each side one from the top. I use 100 watt bulbs in a clamp on reflector,,,put them all on a plug in strip with a switch, easy to turn off when you are not ready to shoot. Turn them all on and study what they do to the blade,,if you like it, turn the flash off and do a test pic. If you need more light fold about three layers of the same cloth and hold it over your flash,,,,If that does not help e me and we will try something else....