JPH

SGM: Hello: To maybe answer your question ref the weld failure..I have been doing this for a couple of years now and I have found ( I could be wrong here ) that most weld failures are due to three things: 1: Dirty weld surfaces..Make sure you clean the weld surfaces and you use a good flux 2: Not hot enough: Do a "soak:" at welding heat until you think it is heated through and then give is another 15 seconds....DO NOT OVER HEAT. 3: (Not really a weld "failure) Steels welded have non-compatible working characteristics..Ie they move under the hammer at a different rate..This is more of a weld shear than a "failed weld".. Looks the same The photo you posted the steel looks pretty clean so what you are doing seems to be working... These are just my unsolicited suggestions as to what could of went sideways.. JPH

Howdy! Here are two Wootz blades I just finished for book IV .. Both are single edged and flat ground.. 10 1/2" blade lengths on the two with phosphor bronze furniture. The Kard has an impala horn grip and the belt knife has some of my bovine ivory... Both blades show very fine crystalline structures (they are from the same melt/crucible)... All in all didn't turn out tool bad for an olde fart working out in his front yard.. These two will be listed on my website shortly... Thought I would share.. JPH

NS: The only fish we can legally noodle down here in Florida are those Plecostomus (armoured catfish) PITAs that are running amok all over..I am not so keen as to be sticking my hands down a hole...might get a snapper turtle or worse,..run into a gator.. although gators are tasty..just need license.. They had a guy looking for fossil sharks teeth last year down this way diving a hookah rig in a not so large creek get grabbed by the head by a 6 foot gator.. Lucky his buddy was watching and pulled him outta the water.. Still he got a whole lotta sutures to show for it.. JPH

NS: Impala.... heh heh heh

Howdy!! Just finished these two "feather" pattern knives..one is a "traditional feather" and the other is my Quetzalcōātl feather pattern.. Both are 1084 and L-6 steels..one with blackened bone and the other has an old chevy horn grip....Phosphor bronze mounts.. Turned out pretty much OK... JP (still troubleshooting that mill) H

Update on the Mill from Hell... Ok It was suddenly working again..all was well and good..now it stopped.. I am trying to figure out what is going on..i got the schematic and all and so far everything seems to check out..I am at my wit's end here.. I gotta be missing something someplace..it works for a bit then stops...ten t works again and stops..then DRO lights up.and that's about it.. motor is as dead as Julius Caesar... short somewhere or? Any ideas?? All help is appreciated.. JPH

Howdy!! Well after breaking into the circuit box and all..looks to me to be the switch. It's just kind of odd (well maybe not cause I am not an electrifical type) that it would just go kaput like that... So Monday I am calling to get a replacement..hopefully that will do it.. So it's back to slotting guards by hand till then.. More as things progress.. JPH

FMM: it hit 28 degrees down here in Pasco County the last week..very cold for here..I am going to try to break into the box later this evening and see what I can figure out.. JPH

LH: Yes I can move the spindle...no problem..I dug out my multi-meter and now I gotta hunt up a schematic for this beast so I can get an idea as to what is inside this thing without causing any further problems.. and to figure out the proper way to disassemble it other than using a hammer...This just stopped outta the blue..worked fine a week or so ago... JPH

Howdy: OK I need some advice on my little Grizzly bench top mill... I have power. .the digital readout lights up...but the motor is deader that Julius Caesar . I checked the fuse and that's OK..not burned out so,.. Spindle directional switch is also on.. doesn't work in either direction....Any ideas? It was working fine last week when I was slotting guards.. but today zippo... I dunno if this has any effect but it has been below freezing down here the last few nights.,..around 28F and the studio is not heated but I doubt if that would have anything to do with this...but ya never know... Any help is appreciated. Thank ya kindly JPH

in retrospect...I have been getting a lot of calls about other makers passing on lately..which is..I admit to be expected. I have been at this for 50 plus years now..yeah I am long in the tooth as they say...Yet knowing that these calls will be coming doesn't make it any easier to bear..I have seen folks come and go over the passing of time..I know quite well that my time to cross that bridge and stand before the Wise Lord will happen..It is the way of things.. I just don't want all that I have learned to follow me to my grave.. One reason why I am doing my YouTube videos and finishing up my last book..yet still there is so much more that I can show folks that are willing to learn..that isn't in any of my books...Yet sadly..there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to invest the time or even has a serious interests in learning in the 'old way" of one on one mentorship.. My kids are off living their lives..no intertest there..and that's fine..I wish them long and happy lives ..yet still I keep hoping that sometime soon I will run across a youngster that has that fire in the belly to learn this stuff..Until then the search continues..I just wonder what will become of my equipment..anvils..hammers.. materials and all once I finally do walk across that bridge and stand before my God.. JPH

well folks...we lost another Master....Ed Fowler passed on..He was a real character and a bit controversial. You either loved him or hated him..either way he was a real craftsman.. He and I would have some great discussions over breakfasts back in the day...Another one gone...rest well amigo.. JPH

Frosty: Ok since you asked...this melt was targeted for 150pts C... I added 9 points V and 3 pts W.. No Mn at all...the C content was from graphite..not the best source but usable...powdered limestone was added as a flux and the whole melt covered in crushed green glass as a seal... Melt was held at 1480C (once at liquidus ) for 45 mins to allow for outgassing and all... and then shut down to slow cool in the furnace overnight.. Once cool the slug was "roasted" at 925C for 15 minutes prior to once again allowed to furnace cool prior to the actual forging into a bar... Interesting stuff to work..I'll say that.. JPH

Hefty: It is interesting..right now, as it is the "state" of EWootz research is about the same as what pattern welding was back ion the late 1960's early to mid 1970's ( I made my first pw blade in 1972).. Not many folks back then were doing it..However several do come to mind...Beau HIckory and John Anstee and a few others...Contrary to popular belief the art of pattern welding was never "lost".. Wootz on the other hand was almost "lost"... however there were folks that were doing it..mostly in eastern Europe, Asia Minor, parts of North Africa and in the Indian sub continent. There was a gentleman with the last name of Job that was doing serious investigation into this material, and he was working with I do believe Berber tribal smiths in North Africa. He did produce several nice pieces... I do not know what happened to him..He sorta disappeared.. As it is presently, there are a few of use delving into things and interest is starting to grow but it'll be a while I think before it "catches on". We are trying though..so the research continues... JPH

Howdy All!!: The latest from the old man in his front yard: This one is a Kindjhal that was featured in my latest video series on YouTube: "Hilting a Wootz Kindjhal.. This dastardly deamon of a blade fought me every step of the way..starting with the melt, to forging, to heat treat, to grinding.. to the fittings and the sheath.. What a pain this was to finish...but here it is below.. The blade is wootz.This is the largest wootz blade I have made so far..I have three "sword length" pieces that I hammered out from earlier melts (but I need more experience in heat treating this stuff before I am doing a sword length piece...). I have made a bunch of (like 3 dozen or so) smaller knives that came out pretty well...so swords will be in the queue shortly once I get caught up a bit more... This blade was hard .. and that was after three furnance cools..still hard...! Burned up three carbide drill bits drilling two (2) holes..geeze Louise...But I got them drilled..finally..and that was after furnace anneals...wow... Grinding it was a real experience...this stuff is very wear resistant.. worse than the old Vasco-Wear!!..went through quite a few belts...but I took it slow and steady..Cooled it it every few passes so it didn't overheat. The Wootz grain is very fine and quite interesting to see...Turned out ok for an olde fart like me.. ( I do need to get a better pyrometer so I can tell a bit better as far as the tepps go during the melt) This has a 13 1/4" blade with a single fuller each side... Phosphor bronze bolster and pommel plates...Black buffalo horn grip panels..( I was considering using some of that ivory I have around here, but given the "demonization" surrounding that material I decided against it...). The sheath is leather and is mounted with phosphor bronze chape and locket with a 47.3 carat Labradorite stone set on the throat. I cut the stone myself ( I'm gonna get back into that..gotta make the equipment first...another project for the olde man I think it turned out OK for someone working out in their front yard..... So here it is!! JPH

Howdy... just finished these three for my YouTube channel..Post Apocalypse knives.. Made from HC rail Road spike...left rough and all.. didn't turn out half bad either.. Thought I would share.. JPH

Howdy!! Here is where I usually go... [link to Tools for Working Wood website removed] Now the place I have been using for the last40 some years went out of business last year so I had to switch to the place above,,, You will probably have to fiddle around a bit with the dyestuffs and see what works best for what you are doing.. As for the water based going "bad"...it breaks and separates and when re-mixed it gets sorta "funky" looking when it dries., JPH

Frosty: Ohh great question!! I mix my own..I mostly use powdered wood stain..now there are several types...oil, water or alcohol based.. Oil is way too messy to use and water turns bad after a while..So I use the alcohol based dyes..They come in a vast variety of colours and you can mix you own custom colours when you do the dye powders.. I have my "Commie Red" mix which is what I used on the knife I did above, plus I have a more purple/red.. a deep amber brown (I use that to "fossilize" stuff), nut brown and of course very dark, deep black.. I am still working on decent green and blue mixes as well..I'll figure those two out eventually.. It is very cost effective when compared to the pre mixed dyes..I can get a good gallon of my own mix for about the same price as a quart of the pre made stuff...

Frosty: The bone I start out with mostly just plain old cream/white colour ...steam cleaned and all...and I go from there.. Now sometimes I can get my hands on some fresh bone..usually from deer that roam around all over down this way and get hit by some sort of motor vehicle.. I got a contact with the powers that be that dispose of the carcasses so I scrounge the leg bones as well as others that I can use and those I treat a bit differently as the critters down here can have some assorted diseases and all that I do not care to become acquainted with... so these are sterilized before they are processed... Dye stuff is applied under a vacuum and left to soak for 12 hours or so..after that..they are left to dry and then sealed and they are pretty much set to go for the next steps... Not all that hard really.. It is a very interesting material to use.. JPH

Hello: I have no idea and I mean NO idea as to what I am doing with these videos and I am only doing them to shut folks up cause they keep telling me I am NOT getting any younger and it would be a bloody shame for me to go to my grave knowing all that I know and not passing it down to the younger generations. This is why I wrote those books and all.. So I am trying the video route and working alone.. trying to get my arms around a tripod and all is a real feat..buit I am sorta doing it.. It's a steep learning curve that's for certain.. Frosty: The drain snake is supposedly improved plowshare steel and that is as per the manufacturer.. which is basically 1070. It welds up pretty well and it's not too much of a PITA if you use a bottom swage during welding which will help hold everything more or less together under the hammer. The fit/finish comes with experience and doing a LOT of these things...As far as the bovine ivory...I love using that stuff.. JPH

Hello: Those are two decent mixes for materials...LPG/Gas is well more or less "standard" now for forges due to all the environmental stuff the hit folks that use coal with. I prefer a coal fire but I'd get nailed for serious $$$ if I do... On wiring stacks...I have been doing it that way since day one...in fact when you use the really thin materials I do (less that 0.050" or so..some much less) wiring then stack allows for the expansion of the layers preventing them from "springing" apart and causing problems..Plus there is no contamination from the flux used in electric welding getting in between the layers... JPH

"These were just some for myself, so I just went with what felt best in my hand. If I was selling them I would have done them differently." Hello...As someone who's been doing this sort of thing for a couple of years now...why would you "settle" for mediocrity? "Good enough" and "it's just for me anyways" are the banes of craftsmanship. I myself am still learning...every piece I make shows me something different. presents various challenges and at times they can beat me up but I work my way through it...Sometimes I win..sometimes I don't. You really should place the same level of care and attention to detail into everything you do..This way you will start to maintain a base level of skill and build upon that as you go.. Just a bit of advice.. The steel you have shown is a solid start..still a but rough and from what I can see you need to get a bit better at judging welding temperatures..Once you get those worked out the welds will "look cleaner" and a bit "crisper"..It's hard to describe in the written word.... What materials did you use and what did you weld in?? Just curious.. JPH

Hello; Just finished this...this was done for my YouTube channel... www.youtube.com/@jimhrisoulas Welded wire from a re-purposed drain snake.. with red bovine ivory grip...turned out ok for all the 'working around the camera" I had to do..15" blade with fuller on each side along the spine... JPH (Listed on my website)

Frosty: Bob Engnath. as great a blade grinder that he was was.... is a man whom I will say was the best traditional scrimshander in the world when he was alive..His attention to detail was amazing and most of his work looked like a black and white photograph..I am proud to say that he was my best friend..He and his wife Stevie were Godparents to my three children. I was heartbroken when I got that call from his Stevie saying that he passed peacefully in his sleep.. I lost a brother that day and my life was diminished, but I am a better man for knowing him.. JPH

Frosty... rofl. belt butter...heh heh heh I got ya there brother... I was tutored by one of the all time great knife grinders..the late Bob Engnath..that man was a grinder god.. JPH