JPH

Hello: Here's a pic of three of mine that I did a couple of months back, two with pierced blades, one without. Done using mild steel polls and a 1060 insert for the edge. Handles are the more or less "standard" tomahawk handles you can get from most "Black powder" suppliers...figured I'd just make a drift that would accept these handles, easier all around when it comes time to replace. Heads are slow rust browned using organic reagents and the grips are flamed and soaked in my tempering oil for two weeks...I think that the browning looks a whole lot better than the black forge scale finish...but that's just me.. JPH

Tim: Is that you?? JPH

Here's one of my favourites It doesn't have to be red to be hot. JPH

Andy: A "cold shut" is an incomplete/improper weld caused by attempting to weld at too low a temperature, but NOT caused by inclusions of foreign matter. JPH

Thank you for the compliments...but really this isn't all that hard to do...like I have said many times it is simply "Dark Age Tech"..now it can get complicated but all that means is it takes a bit more time. If I can do this stuff anyone can, believe me..If you know how to weld and have the patience and understanding of the materials and how they respond under the hammer you can do this..Just takes a bit of practice and time... The really sad thing is that 99% of the folks "out there" simply do not know that the Europeans ever made blades in the fashion, and frankly, these leave to Japanese blades in the dust when it comes to complexity of construction...For some reason the Japanese smiths get all the "glory" and the European smiths are ignored. Sigh....The real rub is the fact that the European smiths were doing this at least 700 years before the Japanese were... Anyway....Will post more pics of this once I get them taken.. JPH

Karl: As I said it is a three core blade with a shear steel edge...I am currently doing an article on making one of these for my website and I will make sure that Glenn gets a copy for inclusion here. I am in the middle of wleding the blade cores presently and I am doing this in "real time" walking through the process... JPH

Chuck: This is a very old way to make a sword...so old that no one can say for certain when it actually started being used. My own theory is pre-Migrationary Period..by the Migrationary Period, the Danes, Franks, Merogovians, Finns, just about everyone in Europe was using this method of construction..The variety of patterns one can get doing it this was is almost endless.... Jens: As soon as I get the battery charged in my camera I will take afew more pics.... JPH

Hello!! Here is a close up of a composite sword blade I recently finished. Materials are 1010/1018/L-6 and 1050 for the centre cores and shear steel for the edging. Single fuller down the centre. This is a three core blade using a classic pattern called the "serpent".. Just wanted to share... JPH

Jens: Man don't be telling me that.....that'll give me nightmares!! JPH

JWB: Ok..if you'd like I might be able to help ya out on the time line on doing these things.. I mean if it is taking you that long, I think I could just be able to cut down some serious working time. Drop me a note and we can go from there. I really hate to see folks working harder than they have to especially on something this "simple"... JPH

JWB: It took you 10 hours to hammer out 17? Man you are working too hard/long..It takes me like 15 minutes each using my 25# LG and a 8 lb hammer..(less now since I am using Julius.).. and that includes profiling and heat treating. Grinding takes like 5 minutes tops..then again I do have a rather "aggressive" grinder and I tend to really do a lot more shaping with the hammer than most so that cuts down the grind time as well... These should go really quick...at least they do for me.. JPH

Hello: My lead anvil is a tad over 500# and my "tooling" anvil is just over 200# (I have my guillotine set up on this one..) plus I have a 100# "portable" anvil I use for "remote demo" work... JPH

Jens: That's really a neat finish....never thought about doing that, then again I don't have a blast cabinet but I like that "knarly look".. JPH

Howdy!! Here's a pic of three I finished a while back..I do mine a bit differently than most... JPH

Hello: I for one do not see anything wrong in trying to end the all too common misconceptions that surround smithing, especially when it comes to things that cut.. OK I fully realise that this is a very steep uphill battle but I for one simply cannot sit by while folks repeat misinformation and downright falsehoods... Now in this particular case..as I said before...I think this was/is a troll situation..a 50# sledge hammer?? I do not know any man alive who could use one and this is coming from a man who swings a 8# hammer every day...(and I can prove that fact..). Look at what this person has been saying and well, it's about as far off base as anyone could ever get!! "Voo-doo metallurgy"..knowing what a steel contains by simply feeling/sensing it?? Oh please....Now I have heard some pretty wild claims, but this is one of the wildest. OK I WISH it was possible as it sure could simplify alot of what we do...but no..never happen.. On the cast iron..I have forged it.it can be done if done very carefully and using some really weird techniques.....I have also pattern welded with stellite and I will never do either one again...EVER...but it's not something the neophyte can do..believe me. There is simply so much plain old BS out there about this stuff that it's everywhere..I for one do not want to see this site drawn down to THAT "level" as so many other have..Glenn and all the others have worked far too hard on this site for me to just sit here and watch that happen.... Swords do not cut through gun barrels (I know where that got started by the way...the late Bon Engnath and I tracked that one down) nor were they "folded 1000 times" ether...So much wrong information is taken as fact that when the truth is finally found, no one believes it, no matter how much you try...Sigh... No, this River Gazer did not "ask" for input or advise but by posting such comments as he did,but, he most certainly "invited" it...I still think he/she is a troll or trying to start/scam something... JPH

Hello: I was turned onto the thread by someone who shall remain nameless.... ROFL..Methinks I smell a troll?? ROFL...ROFLMAOPIMP.... "sensing" the content of steel....oh how I WISH that was so...man that sure would make all our lives a whole lot easier... On the Meteorite front... probably having made more blades from this stuff than anyone else alive today all I can say is it's NOT buffalo chips, it's cattle chips...namely from the male bovine and well all know what that is called!! Ok now seriously someone is going to read this and take it as gospel and well, that wouldn't be right...and of course I will somehow be blamed and have all sorts of stuff atributed to me that I never said...sigh... There are so many misconceptions and misinformation on this guy's posts that he has got to be pulling something, some sort of scam.. I smell a rat.. And what does Damocles have to do with this??? Other than his sword?? Sheesh.. JPH

I see I got beat to the keyboard in regards to the Ontario Knife Co "Old Hickory" line... I have like 25 of them in all sizes and well, back when I use to do all that catering I sure loved using them..Granted they are 1095 so they do turn colour but who cares?? Keep them clean and dry and they will last forever..I still have three of the original knives my Papuli had when he opened up the nightclub back in the 1950's and they are still cutting today. Hard to beat a knife for $8.00 that will out cut knives that cost 10x as much....sure, they aren't as fancy or as "pretty to the eye" as some..but hey...same goes for me so... To be 100% honest, it was the "Old Hickory" knives that got me hooked on 1095 as a knife steel back in the 1960's when I started doing this stuff.... JPH

Thomas: I heard that about about Fisher's..never hammered on one so I don't know first hand..my 504# Brooks rings like a Notre Dame bell.... JPH

Howdy!! I got a bucket full of concrete hanging off the horn on my 500#dr...works ok.. I also have seen magnets on the side or under the heel...they also seem to work well cutting down on the ringing.... JPH

Ok all: Let me clarify here... First: Anyone who has read my books or watched my videos know that I am very safety conscience..I wear a very good respirator/filter NOT one of those "paper mask' things either (one reason they call me "Darth Atar" when someone calls and I am grinding...ehahahahaaaaa) Second: I have done the "water in the bucket" thing and frankly it's not working very well..I still have a dust/grit problem...see below Third: when I was cleaning after this last RPFS run I literally had a 3/4" thick layer of dust/grit/dander/what ever ya wanna call it on my shelves and any other horizonal surface in the studio.. OK granted I was really pushing production but day-um there has got to be a better way here. THis was some nassy stuff!!! What I am worried about is this..Fire... I grind/sand wood and other flammables on the same equipment that I grind metals on. Call me paranoid,m a chicken or a great big poo-poo head fopr worrying about this stuff but I do NOT have ANY desire to burn down my studio. Vacuum systems are a whole new ball game to me.I am more than a little bit of a Luddite here.....but I do know this..combustible materials..sparks and an air flow spell F-I-R-E to this old boy scout and THAT is something I do NOT want...Well not in this instance anyway.. But I gotta do something cause this last studio cleaning I looked like Al Jolson singing "Mammy" in blackface....(boy this sure dates me huh?? How many of you folks know who the Christry's Minstrels were?? NOT the new guys..the REAL ones...{NO fair looking them up on the 'net either}....).. So I am looking for info..I am healthy..my lungs are great and all (I just got my results back from my annual Nevada Guard physical..so yeeeeehaaaa..to the dismay of my troops the "Old Man" will be around a bit longer....) and I intend to stay this way...but I really need to address this grit/dust problem.. JPH

Ok I think I got a problem...what about the wood dust gernerated from doing grips?? I mean now that I am thinking a out this will I need two systems?? I mean i grind wood and metal on all 4 of my grinders....All I need is a fire being fanned by a air flow to really burn this place down... JPH

Jens: Ok so how big a system would I need to service 4 grinders?? I take it plastic ducting is out.... JPH

Jens: Oooohhhhhhhhhhhh ok...now that you explained it...I got it....so can these be housed outside in a outbuilding, like a water heater is?? JPH

Jens: ok I know nothing about these things so what am I looking at?? JPH

Howdy!! Well since the folks that gavce me my home occupation permit say I am an Art-teest I call mine my "studio".. whahahahaaaaaa sounds better than the garage out back... JPH