Caleb Hale

It looks like the stamp says "GERMANY".

Yeah it does resemble those slim molding paint scrapers. The hole in the top where something else connects is throwing me off though.

A guy at work brought this in and he has no clue what it is. I've never seen one, anybody here have an idea? That's a wingnut on the side that tightens down something else you slide into the hole on top. The pointy piece has beveled edge on both sides, and is a little twisted (not sure if that's on purpose or not). Overall it's pretty small, about 7-8 inches long.

No they haven't been tempered at all. The last two were straight stock removal. They got hot enough in a couple of spots to turn blue/purple before I'd dunk it, but nothing near forging temp. Unfortunately I just have a cheapish belt sander, so no speed control. But dragging the tip across and off the edge of the platen with some pressure...I was consciously trying to do that to get the bevel to follow the curve of the blade. Started realizing toward the end of this last one that it wasn't really needed. I'll try it as you've described next time with stopping the tip in the middle. Thanks for the tips! (<- haha pun!)

So I'm getting better at grinding in my bevels. I still need to work on getting them parallel to the spine, probably just need to be a little smoother and consistent... ...but I keep breaking the tip off once the metal at the front starts to get thin. Three times in a row now Is that just a matter of dunking it more often to keep it cool or what? I'm using a jig to grind so I let it get pretty hot before I dunk. Thanks for lookin'!

I gave up on freehand grinding after several failed attempts and made myself a knife grinding jig: Now I just need to make another knife to test it. This was also the first time I've welded anything. Kinda fun...looking forward to practicing more of that.

Mine is made from 12 pressure treated 4x4's connected together with 3/8" all-thread rod. It was pretty easy to do...total cost is around $30.

I was a bit shocked when I saw how much a damascus billet goes for, but you can buy Chad Nichols' billets online here: http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=1022

Thanks man! Yeah I think I was scared to hit it real hard the first few times...wasn't moving much metal. That first tong took like 4 hours or so, second one probably only about 2 hours. I'd say a tank last me 5-6 hours using a dual burner setup. Thank a lot man I appreciate it!

I'm with you on the 2x72 grinder. I can't wait, but I have to because I haven't learned how to weld yet. As soon as I get some welding skills the grinder will be my first big project I have planned. My little 4x36 is ok but I go through belts really fast and it heats my work (and fingers) up pretty quickly as well. I've checked out the HABA website in the past but not lately...I'll go check it out again and sign up. That is a BC Rich. Right next to my Randall half stack (big Pantera fan) that plays metal while I work on metal!

Thanks for the info, and the vivid descriptions! Apologies for not searching beforehand. I'm rather attached to my fingers and skin (pun intended) so I'll have to start getting used to going gloveless as much as possible.

So yeah, this is the show that pushed me over the edge to try blacksmithing. I had always been interested but I thought it required a huge forge and all kinds of crazy expensive tools, but once I started seeing the other people's home setups I figured I could do that too. Anyway, I was rewatching a few episodes recently since I've started smithing on my own, and I'm picking up and noticing a lot of things that I wouldn't have even known about before. But one question I still have is why do blacksmiths not like wearing gloves when working? Am I missing something important by not having the steel touch my skin or is it all just preference? If I don't wear gloves all of my fingertips would be burned and my knuckles would look like hamburger from the belt grinder.

I made my first knife-shaped object today. I only say that because it's just some unhardenable mild steel. It will be pretty useless and was mainly just for practice. I found out my bevel grinding skills are...hmm...severely lacking. Left-handed grinding I did ok... ...but right-handed grinding was a disaster (I had a low spot in the blade and couldn't get it out, just kept looking worse and worse) It all come out pretty centered though It's fairly comfortable in the hand And it cuts very well.

I came out Saturday afternoon. The only person I met was a guy named James who owns Texas Farrier Supply out of Fort Worth...he was setup right in the front where most of the anvils were. It was just pure luck that when I bought my anvil/forge online he emailed me back that he would be at that show and if I wanted to meet and pick it up in person to not have to worry about shipping costs. I did see some really nice hammers there. I actually went with the intention of buying one, but my jaw dropped a bit when I saw the prices. Then James recommended I start out with a cheap hammer anyway to see how heavy I like it before I spent a lot of money...that was probably good advice.

Awesome thanks for the offer! I was actually out near Bryan a couple of weeks ago at a demo at Steephollow Forgeworks where I picked up my forge and anvil. It's only about an hour drive for me.