cedarghost

Just finished and sold these two today. Made the pinecone scales myself.

I found the same resources AFTER I messed this piece up. To answer Thomas' question of how I know it was 5160 (good point here, by the way), I do not know for sure. I posted pictures of it with spark tests in another post a while back and the general consensus was that it is probably 5160. It is thought to be coil spring of an old railroad car. I appreciate you guys with experience jumping in. This made me chuckle.

Thanks guys. Great information.

Thanks for the reply. I know I did let it get dull red a few times while I was working it. Lesson learned. Now if I can just keep from doing it again. haha Good to know that I am on the right track with heat-treat next time. Do you quench in warm oil? I was thinking about trying an edge quech as well.

Forged from a piece of 5160. Heat treat went south. I heated to non magnetic then an extra minute and quenched in oil. Didn't harden, Repeated. Didn't harden. Repeated and quenched in water, hardened but warped. Went to straighten warp and she broke. I tried to salvage half by making the small blade below and it came out of the first temper looking like the picture below. Now... I looked up recommendations for heat treating 5160 on the forums here. Next time I work with 5160 I will normalize 3 times after forging, then will try to oil quench again then run 2 or 3 temper cycles on 400 for an hour or so. If that doesn't harden the steel without warping, I will try an edge quench. As far as the small blade below, what do you think all the cracks are? You couldn't see any in the metal before I tempered. I read that they might be stress fractures from forging or not. I am not sure whether to go ahead and temper a couple more times then test the blade or if I should normalize a few times and reheat treat then temper. Any thoughts/knowlege is appreciated. I know some of you guys have seen this before. Thanks!

It is stabilized, but I didn't know about the finish, so thanks for that.

First time using them. I really like the way they turned out.

Here are a few I've been working on using my brand new, homemade 2x72 grinder I built out of an old treadmill. The one with the black handle isn't finished yet. It's ram horn and I am trying to decide whether to try and polish it or not. The scales are a little uneven but not enough to notice and I like the natural look of the horn. So I don't know. Maybe just a wax or something? next project will be a mini press. Beating out the railroad car coil I have, while good practice, takes forever!

Awesome! Thank you sir!

Spark test it I shall. I was hoping one of you more knowledgeable fellers would weigh in. Thanks! What you say about steel versus iron makes sense. I will report what I find. Well, what do you think Frosty?

I'm going to straighten the tip on the farriers tongs and use them. not sure what the crowbar is made of yet. I don't know how to tell other than smack it with a hammer and see if it rings or goes "thud". I will take a grinder to it when I get home and check out the sparks. I'd say it's not likely high carbon but I'm a noob.

Picked these up today. Not sure if the old crowbar is steel or iron. Anybody know what they used to make them out of? I reckon I'll find out when I get home. Either way, it was a steal at $6

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

I have to disagree with not making tongs when you are first starting. Worst case scenario you will learn something. If you burn up a 5 gallon propane tank and ruin a couple bars of round stock you're still out less than a new set of tongs would cost. The important thing to me is to use the forge and anvil and learn. I'm not giving you advice. These other guys are much more experienced than I am. I am just stating my opinion. These are the first thing I forged besides beating a few knife blades into shape. Yes, they are ugly and they took forever and could've been done a lot better, but they are functional and I learned a ton while making them:

Thanks for the concern. It was unsurfaced wool. I was just building the forge. It has since been coated with refractory cement. I never had to do anything else to this burner. Once I got it in the forge it's pretty danged good. It will get to welding heat and it heats up stock QUICK. No scale forming inthe forge to speak of and it's pretty good on gas.

DNA....I get it! I bet you had a helical of a time on that handle... Very unique design!

Ouch. Noted.

Thank you. I have a lot to learn and this is a great site to help with that. Oh boy...... I notice you guys like to do this occasionally. I'm about to make a bolt for the door.....

I know one thing. This steel is hard to move. I've heated it up 4 or 5 times to bright orange and beat on it and it's hard to budge.

Man, I REALLY like this. Bet you could skin a buck in no time with it. I really want to try some cable damascus, but I am light years from that as I just started a couple months ago. What is a good source for cable? I've seen it on ebay for about $15 shipped for a 1 foot piece. I didn't think that was too bad.

I like the file work too. I'm going to have to try that on one soon. What are you planning to do for the sheath? I haven't made one out of leather yet either, but I've made a couple out of Kydex and they were super easy. Walter Sorrels has a youtube video of how to do it as do a few others..

Yes. I cleaned that fuller up a little. I'm going to hit it again this weekend. That blade was designed by my 12 year old and I let him do a bit of the work on them so there are some good memories forged into that blade. Those tongs.....oh man were they a pain. I tried to watch a youtube video then dive in. After about two hours, I gave up and put it away for the evening. Then got up the next day and drew everything out on paper and was able to finish them up. More proud of those than any of the knives! lol I am planning to put the blademaking on hold for a bit and just work on making some more tools. I REALLY enjoyed it. Yes sir. It's Jeff. Fit and finish is pretty tough for me but I'm learning every time. That last knife was made at the request of my mother, who wanted a good "tater peeler". She said it works pretty good. It was really tough to grind and sharpen on that inside curve. Oh...that brass guard on that top knife started out life as a candy dish from the Goodwill. I cut her up and melted her in my new forge then poured into a styrofoam mold packed in sand and then shined her up. Point being, that t-burner you designed gets PLENTY hot.... Thanks for the compliments!

I'm really new to blacksmithing and blade making. I've only been at it a couple of months. These are the first few knives I've made and the first tool I have made, a set of tongs. None of them are show worthy but I figured I'd post them up and just say hi and thanks for all the information you guys have made available here. I built my own forge with a Frosty-style t-burner and have picked up a few tools that I could afford. I learned a ton on each of these knives, mostly what NOT to do the next time! These were all made with scrap mower blades. Maybe not the best material, but I was able to harden them and they work just fine for practice. The tongs were made with bar stock I bought at Lowe's. Anyway, thanks for looking. Questions and feedback are definitely accepted!

Yep! I figured that had to be you! This is a great site. Lots of good people and resources here. Lots to absorb!