VainEnd84

Cheers for the replies, 22" is indeed short, outside of special ice carving saws I haven't found any that were less than about 38" many now being 42-48" My customer wants one for early ice, (5"-10") hence the shorter blade. I'll know one out of mild and one out of 4140 and see how they perform. Thanks again folks I'm curious, does your company/team cut ice blocks for ice sculpting or is it for something else?

It has been quite a long time since I have been on the forum and my search-fu skills are a bit rusty, so if this has been asked before I apologize in advance. I have been asked to make a "prototype" ice saw for fishing. Having never made something like this I have a question about what type of steel to use. I have mild steel, 1045, and 4140 readily available. I also have access to smaller sizes of 1084, 1095, 15n20. While stainless steel is generally preferable it os currently not an option. The design is based on an old Scandinavian ice and snow saw. The blade will be 22" long with half inch teeth that have a half inch space between them. My initial thought is either wholly 4140 or 4140 with forge welded 1084 or 15n20 tips on the teeth but I don't really know much about how steel works on ice. So to the actual question, of the steels mentions above what would anyone recommend? Any help is much appreciated.

Most of those steels are special order through Metals super markets and the prices are way above market value. I'm in central Alberta and I've been trying to track down h13 for about a year, I've called/visited 30 different steel suppliers who have it listed and so far it's cheaper to drive into the states and buy it there.

Didn't have a whole lot of time in the shop today but I had a lot of fun forging my first spoon as part of the pub spoon challenge. I also forged my first flint striker from an old broken file, now all I need is to find some flint and try it out.

Can you post some pictures of the hammer, that will give a better idea as to how to go about putting a leather grip onto it. Some steels rust more than others depending on the composition, even stainless steels can rust, it just depends on the conditions they are subjected to.

A quick Google search yielded this http://www.feblacksmith.com/org.htm if you scroll down a bit you'll get to France, I didnt check if any of the links were still active but it might get you going in the right direction

Ni! <In a night pitched squeaky voice> You must bring us a shrubbery!!!

I've heard some fairly offensive variations frosty, but that is the general idea yeah

On top of this standards from one city/state/province/region/country differ greatly

But a brain is roughly spherical so the volume calculation is V=(4/3)πr^3

That's still enormous, at 16" long with an internal diameter of 11" you will have a volume of about 1520cubic inches, a well built 3/4" burner heats 350cubic inches to welding temps which means you will need 4 3/4 inch burners. That will be a gas hog. Now if you are set on a forge this size you can build an internal baffle wall to reduce the internal volume when you only need half of the forge, but even then it's still quite large.

Lou, that is looking really good, I love the idea of using the ducting, it's simple and looks to be very effective!

That's a thing of beauty

Many get confused and think we are making an object or item.. ( making a bolt, or tongs, or a handle).. Truth is we are making a skill set applicable every where.. jlpservices

Lou I just dont think your trying hard enough Someone needs to forge a set of armour that looks like a baggy tshirt and khakis lol