ZachNiedjalski

Hey Everybody, First of all I apologize if there is a topic on this already, but I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for drill bits that can drill through 5160 without taking an hour. The drill bits i have are not doing the trick. Any help would be much appreciated. Zach

All really good feedback thank you. I am definitely trying to get approval to take it home. Definitely going to keep looking for something better, but ill work with what I have.

So I posted the other day in "Show me your anvil", and got some pretty helpful feedback. Just so happens I have stumbled upon another improvised anvil. Its been laying around at work for years apparently. It is extremely heavy, I believe the base is made from a chunk of telephone pole. But I am curious what everyone thinks about it, I am new to this, so before i try to take this thing home (it will be difficult, I cant even lift it an inch off the ground) id like your feedback again on this.

thats exactly what i meant.

Du, is that a hidden tang or partial tang? just curious how you go the pommel on.

Thats some pretty good info, and no worries about the criticizm. Im super new to this, and appreciate the blunt honesty. Just got wrapped up in the size of the face i guess, figuring the bigger the better. the whole anvil weighs about 80lbs i would guess. I only minimally welded it to the base, so there is always the possibility of me cutting the welds and putting it on end Lou, the bracing i have is the side walls i guess you would call them. its not much, just 1/8 inch steel. you think the track would warp that much?

I was thinking about cutting out the horn in case i wanted to branch out from bladesmithing. It was a lot of work, probably should have asked around first. A main part of it was that i just bought a new welder and wanted to play around with it. Ill definitely look at that thread. Ill probably take your word for cutting out that horn though, didnt think of the whole flexibility vs rigidity.

Just finished resurfacing my railroad anvil. Its still in the process, as you can see i still need to cut out for the horn, and then add a hardy hole. I welded some plate steel on the sides of the track and filled it with sand to (hopefully) reduce some of the noise. Same with the stand i made, filled the legs with sand. Any input? suggestions? should work for my first anvil. Mostly going to be bladesmithing.

I am simply blown away by this. amazing!!!!

Looks pretty good to me. I like the old style rustic look

Any tips on creating the eye? Im new to everything, but axes have definitely intrigued me.

Thats amazing. I can say this is a big reason why ive wanted to get into knife making. What kind of etching did you use?

Thanks everyone! I live in Terrace, BC, Canada. But i will be sure to put it into my profile and seenif anyone is around me! I guess ill get to reading!

Hey everyone, I am looking to get into blacksmithing, and I was curious if anyone had some advice on forges? I have watched a couple youtube videos, and I think im going to try building my own propane forge. Does anyone have any pointers, or insight on this? Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated, and not just tips on forges but anything to do with blacksmithing. Cheers,