adamj

the reason i know about one my uncle brought up the fact wondering just how hard one of my knives was and he told me they had a rc tester at the plant he works at

rockwell hardness is tested by a machine that pretty much hits the metal mith a small center punch and measures the hardness of the metal from what i have heard. correct me if im wrong

that is a very nice looking knife

im the same way its 45 min one way to get my coal for $23 or so but its all i got to work with i borrowed a farrier propane forge and dont care for it. when i move to my new place i will have somewhere to put a ton at a time (after i decide where to set up shop)

great looking knife LDW i love that handle. as for the original question you should make your first knife out of a solid piece rr spikes are good starters easy to work and simple then you can move to higher carbon steels. my first knife was out of a piece of 1/2 inch cable the best way i know of doing one from cable is to take it apart and clean everything out with a wire brush you may have to soak it in kerosene to soften any hard oils. then put it back together and forge both ends if you are gonna forge the whole piece get the entire piece hot to an orange hot and stick on end in a vice and twist the other end tight to get rid of air holes then forge to shape. be sure to use plenty of flux tho. hope this helps some

idk if i will or not i havent been to one in close to a year not had time

yeah dragon it was us we stopped to look at the mini excavator i believe

very nice i would like to see how it performs

thanks chadj thats what i had in mind molding it somehow now just have to find me a good clear resin

all you have to do is find some people working on the railroad and ask them for some they usually tell you to go get some

thats a nice knife i love the file work and the overall shape of the blade

this is my chainsaw chain knife made from a single 20" chain with a welded on tang. the front guard is a recoil spring from a saw also, forged still round then "squished" so that the layers all run the same way in the spiral of the spring. the blade is 7" long 1.25" wide and 3/16" thick. and the guard is 3 3/8" long 3/4" wide and just over an 1/8" thick. now all i need to do is put a handle on it but i cant fighure out what to do my friend has some mahogany but what i would like to do is wrap a chainsaw chain around the tang front to back then mold it up and fill it with a clear epoxy resin so you can see the chain inside the handle so does anyone know how i would go about that. and any other comments or criticism are welcome. thanks

this is the first rr spike hawk i have completly finished usually i make them then throw them in a box cause im to good with the wood working for handles and such. this one is just a basic rr spike flatened to a throwing hawk sanded to 220. the handle is just a hammer handle stained with 2 coats of medium stain.

sorry for the double post

nice knife i love the pattern

i just remembered i have to finish the finger guard and get it on before i can put a handle on

i will what are you doing later today

nice knife sammy i have 4 that need finished might send then chainsaw chain to you for a handle like that. but very pretty knife

i agree with thomas learn to do basic forging before starting into knives no matter what it just makes it easier. also you can try making a knive out of mild steel since it is more forgiving than high carbon steels makes for good practice.

that would be awesome i would love to see that done

try wrapping with wire in a few place along the length then one lengthwise so they cant move either way. just make sure you get the wires as tight as you can without breaking. then at temp just lightly tap to set the weld so they dont try to move as much.

Railroad Spikes by here is a link with some pics of damascus rr spike knives

while i was out my wife carved a blacksmith pumpkin with an anvil for me for halloween

i made a pair of bolt tongs for when i do spike knifes all they are is a ring type similar to yours with small angle iron to make the jaws square when closed and the angle iron is like an inch long and 3/8 or so wide on both sides works good to grab right next to the head or hold the blade cross ways when forged out. hope this heps not make it worse.

tools arent intended to look pretty all the time sometimes you just need something to get the job done