easilyconfused

IIRC, normalizing is a quick and simple version of annealing where the steel is heated up to/beyond non-magnetic and let to air cool by the fire or such while annealling is cooled slower allowing a better conversions of the crystalline structure, making it softer than normalizing.

They look to be a pair of universal tongs for holding flat, square and tapered square from the angle you've shown.

It's just a ruse to trick possible threats into thinking it's an easy target.;)

I seem to recall reading that a bladesmith uses slightly cracked springs and such in folded axes and damascus where the forge welding will seal up the cracks. And of course, like Don said, proper heat treating and forging is key or you will induce cracks no matter what steel you use. As for using new files, while I haven't looked into prices, logic would tell me that it's cheaper to buy the steel new than pay for a good file just to use in a knife. I also seem to recall that many of the alloys used in knife steels require lower temperatures to forge and reach welding temperature faster. Therefore there is no true "forging temp". If you treat it like mild steel and toss it in the forge for as long and as hot as you would for it, of course it's going to burn. The key is paying attention to the metal's colours and plasticity at each colours. Of course, what you see isn't always what you have for a temp as the colours change depending on the ambient lighting.

I suppose that's why you see most of the smith's in 3rd world countries that use ground forges sitting while forging.

While I haven't been formally trained, I did grow up on a farm where cresent wrenches were the only one's you could consistently fine. I found that having the fixed end trailing the rotation so the fixed end would be away in this scenario, reduces the amount of slipping and stripping the nuts. Of course these were with cheaper wrenches so the movable piece has some play and seem to be able to spring out when used they are sustaining the force of the pull.

I love the odd find from the dumpster. While I won't go diving in most dumpsters, what's on top is fair game for me. Just the other day somebody must have been upgrading because there was a good large home stereo speaker I figured was blown and would get some shop magnets, but no, it was in working order. The 25" TV I figured would have been blown and was going to see what I could get out of it for copper wire/magnets worked. Only the little 15" or so was blown and i got enough copper wire to plait together a few braclets and what have you, not to mention the screws and there were some clamps and the usual wires. All sitting on top or beside of the dumpster outside the apartment Kind of make you sad when you think of the waste that goes on. And he was likely eating organic food and preaching about taking care of the environment too like numerous activists I have run across. ;)

Something tells me it would be more inviting. How many of us love that sort of stuff? ;)

I've read that they make wonderful fullers and such for hand hammers so I don't see why they wouldn't work for power hammers. You can heat treat them but you'd need to experiment starting with too soft and working up. Always remember to use your head and check things over for cracks and chips. I'd also test them by hand, just to be safe as I wouldn't want a shattered piece of cold steel from a power hammer flying across the room.

Ah, I guess I'm just going deaf or never paid attention then. I blame the ringing of the anvil :rolleyes:

Would that be related to the scarfing then? I've never heard that but I try to make sure that I have the scarfs formed to the edges don't contact first, allowing the flux and such to be forced out from the center.

How are you hanging it? That can be a major problem with dampening the sound.

I suppose anything that has acetic, citric, or phophoric acid in the ingredient list would work well in a pinch but you'd be wasting the food then :D

If nobody will let you use a good scale or you feel industrious, you could always rig one up and use water as your balance if you do some math since 1L of water = 1Kg.

There is nothing wrong with letting any steel cool in the fire overnight. I'm not a metalurgist for the specifics, but I the slower it cools down, the better it is annealed, particularly carbon steels. Railway spikes shouldn't need anyspecial treatment although cooling them slower to anneal them better might be a good thing as, if they are used, they likely have work hardened as opposed to new 1095. I try to work on things that need annealing last and let them cool overnight in the forge fire overnight after I shut down or stick them in a barrel of old wood ash I have kept for that purpose. Sticking it in ash works well too as the ash insulates and I've had things still hot enough to burn 2 days later during the summer.

I believe what he was trying to say was that it's not just adding a plate to the anvil. Like what Ice said, they need to be meshed other wise you have a lot of absorption. However, I am with Beaver in that a plate underneath the anvil isn't necessarily a good thing for a smaller anvil if you are working too hard on it, as it will, at some point give out, as Jayco said. I'm no physics major but what I do remember from physics 101 is the law of inertia and such. The kinetic energy has to go somewhere and if the metal you are working is not able to absorb the kinetic energy, it is passed to the anvil and so forth which can lead to bouncing if the force of the hammer is large enough to move the larger mass, the anvil. Essentially, the anvil is caught between a rock and a hard place. However, we don't want the energy being transfered into motion of the anvil. We want the anvil to stay relatively put, either by increasing the mass of the stand or the anvil. And I've lost my train of thought...... there it comes again. What about rigging up the plate of steel so that it has a way to strap it down tight to the top of the anvil? Say with chain? That would add to your mass and protect your anvil better than underneath.

That's what he's doing. Not to give him any excuses because I know there is info out there on this, but isn't the reason the website is here is to research the collective knowledge we've built up? And there are lots of websites that lead people astray. I for one would rather take a couple seconds and type it out, WITHOUT the chastising, than hear on the news about a kid copycating something he read on the internet and getting hurt. Gives us a bad reputation IMO. Sam forgot to mention a safety tip in his post, but I remember him saying that you should run a cable through the spring and tighten it so that the hammer doesn't fall completely if the spring should snap.

I think you're forgetting a couple factors that affect how quickly new technologies are taken up, namely Machine upgrade costs, transportation costs/availability, and sheer stubbornness to new technologies shown by people not wanting to take a risk. Even if it was cheaper, they would have had to look at how much they would save and how quickly the new machine would pay for itself versus the cost of replacing their old equipment and how old the equipment was. If they were ready to replace the machine, they also had to factor in the availability of steel versus iron depending on where the factories were. The cost of transportation of things can really impact what materials and methods you use. Of course, as many of us can attest to, there is the general feeling that my way is better and I'm not going to take the risk on a completely new technology until my neighbor has thoroughly tested it first. On the methods to determine the difference, I'm not too sure how to do it without spark testing or possibly polishing a spot clean of rust where it won't be noticable and acid testing it. As for the time line, you'd have to check individual manufacturers and see when they changed them.

I can't remember which one it is but there is a blue print on here too.

A pic would be nice to see what you're talking about. I may have missed it, but how's the rebound on it?

I think I've read those ones two, back in the day.

I've read the series and it is really good. I give it four thumbs up.....and a half.

It should, but I seem to recall hearing that it can be overwhelmed if there is too much air.

It depends on how much air you are using and the size of the fire. You are likely too low in the fire in this case and you are getting oxidation in the fire due to the air from the blower not being used up enough. Or, it's completely unrelated and you're just missing your forge welds and need to keep practicing and fiddling around with them.

Here's another post on the same topic. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/first-last-fire-3292/