brickman

Thanks for the tips frosty!! I actually have 2 big butcher block brushes and a flatter, but the person i'm making this for wanted a very "hand forged" look so i kept it very rough as it i s:P.. If i was making it for myself i probably would have cleaned it up much more.. When i hammered in the bevels i had some heavy handed blows that kind of hurt my look too though =/

do you have a power hammer or press to put together the damascus? or do you do it by hand?

it seemed to have hardened really well in my quench oil. But i'm sure its nothing cmpared to my 1095 steel as far as edge retention.. This is mostly a bush chopper i'm making now so it needs to be durable and not brittle.. I'll stick to those kinds of knives for this stock

That's a very nice knife you made there though, it just looks comfortable! what finish did you put on that handle?? I plan on doing lots of full tang knives with a bolster / guard and thread and tap the tang and bolster to really seal down for a strong construction, plus i love the look of the guards and bolsters on the knives. I think the bronze and such really makes the wood stand out! Really nice damascus also btw!! I havent done any forge welding yet, but cant wait to try it out. I've got 1095, 1065, and 15n20 to work with on my first damascus try.

Good eye, it's an oak handle =] have a handful of it laying around and it's a decent hardwood so figured i would use that until i can justify buying more exotic woods.. I've done a fair amount of carpentry / woodwork in my life so i wasn't super worried about doing hidden tang because the skills to line holes up and such correctly for furniture building is essentially the same as when putting these together.. I used an tool steel for this, i think ~1050.. So edge retention wont be amazing but it should be pretty durable, which is more what i was going for.. I think this weekend i'm going to make a decent sized viking seax in 1065 and then start a skinning knife out of 1095 i also have.

Still working on this, but onto hand sanding and finish work at this point.. Here are some WIP photos.. I'm pretty proud of this as it's my first, but critique is welcome as it will only make me better! I'm dumb and realized in the last 2 pictures the guard was put on upside down.... When i'm back at home i'll have to retake them, the handle matches up with the actual front of the guard.

Trade shops???? :P.. I cant wait to build mine but i unfortunately dont have room for ALL that, it's just my big garage currently

I will be doing a bit of everything, around the house projects, hinges, hooks, decorative pieces. And a lot of knives and axes as well. As well as general shop fabrication as well. I have 1095 and 1065 and 15n20 in a moderate quantity for now for knife making and making Damascus billets (eventually). and some angle iron. Have a few coil springs and access to axles and leaf springs, i just have to go pick them up :P.

Very nice looking forge you got there, i really like your burner setup. how's it work?. It looks ike there are some assumptions as to me building this, i did not in fact build this, i only etched out some of the kaowool blocks which i got from a friend i know who actually lives up by you it looks like.. This is just my new to me forge i will be modifying a bit :P. I didnt want to jump in and build my own quite yet, i traded him for a coal forge i already had.

Kaowool bricks right now. Going to put rigidizer over at least the bottom ones sometime in the coming months. =] brickman is my first initial plus last name Brian Rickman -> BRickman.. not finished iwth the stand or doors yet. working on that still just got it up to working ability so far.. Still working on both doors i put some kaowool bricks on the back as "plugs" for now but going to mount them inside a steel door.

Just wanted to get everyones take on what common stock of steel to have handy in a shop? I do most of my stuff from salvaged material but am always wanting when it comes to building tongs and hardy tools because i dont have the stuff on hand to make it... I just want to see what everyone kid of keeps on hand generally in their shops! bonus points with pics =D

Forgot to post this the other day. Got my gas forge up and running.. Just picked up a 100# tank for it too.

Only hit it eh left side if using the edge ;).. Problem solved! Ugh, i cant wait to get my sodorfors mounted and ready for use. I'm still using my pitted peter wright, which i love, but i really want to get some work on the 'fors

The peter wright has some pitting on the face and is only 86lbs so its a little rough still to try to get a really smooth face on, but i love the anvil. The sodorfors on the ground is an immaculate face and edge minus just one spot where the farrier used the edge to set the clips on horseshoes where it has some chipping. I cant wait to get it up and mounted =D.. I really want a peddinghaus / refflinghaus ~250#+ german anvil.. I know it's way overkill but i think they're a beauty to look at even.. I'll have one someday =D

Yeah i'm not sure the maker on some of the ones i've picked up (just havent looked through the bucket yet) But i actually got some great old Nicholson files in pristine condition still in box from what looks like ~1960/70s from what i can tell. Could be older. This is my good set though and they're not going to get re-purposed.