Brasilikilt

Sorry for the double post

Hey all The company I was working for as of yesterday announced last week that they were "slowing down a bit" due to higher fuel costs. I noticed quite a bit less work to do for 2 guys, and the fellow I was working with had been an employee for about 20 years, Me with a 7 week old son and a 5 y/o daughter...wife on maternity leave....guess who gets let go? I'm not looking for a sword-making apprenticeship, or some kind of unrealistic blacksmith position, So I figured I would simply throw this information out there: I am a certified FCAW welder, but am also proficient with GMAW I am also an *excellent* grinder and have been doing so every day for the last 6 months. I would be THRILLED to work in a blacksmith shop at least until I get hired by a good company, if things work out of course other arrangement could be made. I have absolutely no problem doing cleaning and grunt work, but in exchange I *need* to be taught some skills that might give me an edge over 'the other guys' and at the very least be given a bit of compensation for gas money....I simply need to stay busy during my down time and possibly be able to use you as a reference. I don't expect this post will bear fruit, but I figured I'd give it a try

I really don't understand how someone with half a brain could let that happen to their anvil. Seeing things like this make me want to kick the culprit in their junk with steel toed boots!

Hey all It's funny that this topic has seen recent activity. Time for blacksmithing has been non-existent since the baby arrived a month ago. With a new baby comes the fact that as working parents we need to pay much more on daycare for 2 children now. My mind got going, and I figured if I could make a few knives and other trinkets a month, that would add a few hundred bucks to the family coffers. When the weather is good, I have to clean something in the house, and help with the kids....When I have a little time to do hammering, it's dark and/or raining. It's happened more than a few times, it's taken me a half hour to get soaking wet coal going and another half hour to dry my anvil, brush the rust off the face, heat a chunk of iron plate a few times to warm the face up...and then it starts raining again!!! Enough is enough......I'm going to Home Depot this morning to buy some corrugated tin roofing, and keep my eyes open on Craig's list and the local reclaimed building materials yard for any usable lumber. The next step is to construct a gas forge that's big enough to heat 2 or 3 projects at once and hopefully be reasonably fuel efficient. Hopefully the gas forge will allow more efficient use of my time, while the coal forge will still be useful for forge-welding billets for blades. The welder will have to come next....I've had a Miller 225 v. CV/DC machine in my garage for about 2 years...I haven't been able to use it for lack of a bottle of shield gas and mig wire. With a working welder....constructing my own hardy tools, jigs and other gear will be much easier. Next is some kind of power hammer....I already have an electric 1.5 hp motor scavenged off a tread mill....I suspect that this will work for a home-built hammer for a while until I find something better. This ball gets rolling as soon as I can get my butt out of this computer chair and go to Home depot to pick up the roofing to get my forge and anvil out of the rain :-) Thanks and take care everyone As always your feedback is appreciated

Hey all....I have been able to get some photos uploaded for those who are interested in seeing them :-) And far be it from me to not share this picture of the princess of our family :-) Already she has been incredibly enthusiastic and very helpful to her Mama. Thanks to all of you for the outpouring of congratulations and well wishes. It's nice to know that a red-hot, greasy, dirty and abrasive trade can produce such a caring and friendly organization. Yes...I'm glad someone picked up on his name. Indeed his mother and I are Heavy metal enthusiasts....It was her idea to include Megadeth's Dave Mustaine in our wee lad's name. And I *REALLY* hope that I will have some sort of a mechanical hammer before my daughter, let alone my son gets too much older. If either of them act as strikers, it will be to keep them physically active and fit while they learn something. Seriously...any boy with half a brain will think twice about messing with a girl who grew up with a knife she forged in one hand and a Barbie in the other :-) Anyways, many thanks once again to all of you for all the kind words and well wishes. By the way...does anyone know of a good blacksmithing project to make for a baby? I've been thinking and so far I'm coming up with nothing :-) Thanks again and take care Iain

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You can think of it like this.....They're too busy utilizing the knowledge they gained on this forum, and putting it to good use in the shop :-)

I think since Television is taxed in the UK, they don't let people in other places see British programs for free. It's too bad because I wanted to check it out. :-(

Hey there I'm up here in Portland, a few hours drive away and have a modest but functional forge setup (as long as the weather cooperates). I seem to remember hearing about some smithies on the coast...do some digging and I'm sure you'll run into them. Good luck and let me know if you ever head up this way Iain

Exactly my thoughts.....they had an anvil right behind the power hammer.

Hello everyone Just for kicks I decided to make a utility blade that I could use for rough jobs, and not care if it got mucked up. I used a chunk of 5160 which was previously a blade that I screwed up during forging and tossed on the ground. The handle was simply a stick that was just laying around after someone cut their hedges....it is a type of hardwood, but not sure exactly what though. The copper ring was cut from a section of plumbing scrap I had picked up who knows how long ago. The button was a slug I collected from the floor around the punch press at my old job. All in all I am quite pleased with this product from the scrap heap. It is made intentionally ugly...but perhaps "rustic" is a more appropriate word to describe it. Right now the blade has simply been forged, edge quenched in used cooking oil and polished up a bit. The blade is quite hard with my files unable to get a bite off the steel. I suppose today I will set it in the toaster oven at 350 deg. for a couple hrs to see if that takes a bit of hardness out. After that I guess I can clean up the lines a bit and then peen the tang onto the metal "button" Thanks for looking Iain

Here's a shot I quite like (goofy face and all) during a run to the store while at a rendezvous last year.

I don't have Anvilitis!! I only have 3, but DON'T tell anyone! It's just to get me through the day! The other 2 are only railroad track and a block of simple mild steel...so they don't count I tell you! I try really hard not to think of them, but still whilst I drive around I tend to take the long way home through industrial areas just to possibly catch a glimpse of a large chunk of steel that could be used as an anvil. I ran an errand for work the other day to pick up some steel cable, and they had a beautiful little 120 lb-er on a fabricated stand........I did very good and did not make an offer for it....I did still stare at it and run my fingers over those beautiful contours. I only stopped when they got mad at me for grabbing their hammer and ringing the anvil about 70 times. I have "recovered" from anvilitis It's a difficult process, but I feel much better being free from succulent ring of carefully tempered steel. Free am I from drooling at the sight of a chunk of railroad track or block of steel larger than 50 lbs. I can only take it day by day and pray that I don't go into full relapse

Wow....that's incredibly well done....puts my Scot's dirk to shame! Now you need a targe to go with that :-)

Hello I can't quite recall the specific origin of this reference, but I do remember reading about makers of Bowie knives in the mid 1800's "crimping" the brass strip on the spine of the blade. The examples of "Bowie" knives in the 1820's and 30's I have seen (the ones in museums with proven ties to the Bowie family) never had the brass "blade catching" strip on the spine. They were a later invention likely to "dress up" an otherwise plain blade to add marketability. Something to think about Hope this helps Iain

Scott Last year I had to take a road trip of several hours to go get a 178 lb Trenton for $400. In my "anvil poor" area most considered that a reasonably decent price around here. It boggles my mind that you're wondering if you should get it or not. As Mainely Bob said. Get off the computer, and go pick it up!

My anvil has the horn pointing south (since I am left handed?). I didn't exactly use my compass to line it up perfectly. It's funny to think about how all the natural materials you're using and how they're effected by all timing, alignment, heat, gravitational pull?? We'd probably have to get an Astronomer, Geo-physicist and maybe even a far-out metallurgist in the same room to start understanding it. Very interesting subject to get the mind working this morning\ Thanks

The anvil sure turned out to be a beauty when you finished grinding! Handrails are sweet too.....very nice flowing lines and a great organic look to them

If I were in the military, I'd take that dagger into combat any day.....I would paint the handle though :-) Excellent work!

Hey all, thanks for taking a look. I'm not looking to sell this blade, it's one of my first, and (especially now!) there's a few too many mistakes with the blade and handle for me to try to sell it for what time I have into it. I would prefer to simply weld the tip back on, instead of reshaping/re grinding. The blade is a shade under 1/4" on the spine so it does have a decent amount of thickness. It's also an older dirk blade pattern which is a steep triangle. With a more modern 'bayonet' style military dirk blade I could probably make it work, but with this style, grinding the tip down would look odd to me...I'm guessing you more experienced guys would do a good job of it, but I would likely just make it look worse. Obviously I have a lot more to learn about making blades, because I have yet to know exactly what normalizing is. Maybe I've been doing it all along and just don't know it. :-) So, what's a good way of correcting warpage at or after this stage of the process? I was told that a rawhide mallet on a block of wood was a good safe way. Thanks again Iain

Hey all I did an oil hardening on some blades yesterday, and as I expected, they warped a little bit. I knew that the blades would be brittle before tempering, but silly me I tried to correct a little bit of the warp-age on a Scottish dirk....the first little tweek in my vise got a lot of the warping out, but the second......*SNAP* Broke the tip right off! Yes I know.....I have already given myself the appropriate amount of scolding and the 'You knew better, but did it anyway' speech. I've already kinda-sorta made up my mind to forge another blade....but I would like to salvage this one if at all possible since I have so much work invested into it already. I'm wondering if forge welding it back together is feasible, using a scarf weld and then draw it back out? I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. thanks for taking a look Iain

Just to let you all know, I did manage to get a few layers of leaf spring and old files to sandwich and stick together. The billet is NOT pretty, but it's a start....I am saving pallet strapping from work in preparation for welding those. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks to everyone here for providing the info as it did help a lot. Iain

That thing looks pretty sweet! Is it completely home made, or built from a kit?

For now my little operation is Northwest Highland Forge....Until I think of something better :-) I thought for a while, wrote down a bunch of ideas. I knew that I wanted a name which had something in it to identify my location, and also had something in it to represent something I'm interested in....Without sounding too childish or fantasy oriented. I have gone to several rendezvous and other events wearing a great kilt, so lots of people know me as a Scottish Highlander, I also make a fair amount of Highland dirks and sgian dubhs..... If you live in Oregon or Washington and want a Scottish style blade....where do you go? Northwest Highland Forge. The name also works for when I work outside of the reenactor's circle. I eventually would like to be considered a serious professional...and I think my choice of a name will do little, if anything to hinder that.

Hey everyone Sorry to take so long to write back, I haven't been feeling too well and have been much crashing like a kamikaze into bed shortly after I get home from work. Anyways, here I am now, and I have to thank all of you for all the responses. It's pretty obvious that you guys put a lot of time and thought into them.........There's definitely a lot of valid points for me to consider. Just so you all know....I'm not going to quit my job and jump into this thing with both feet....That would be pretty reckless and foolhardy...It's a much safer bet to keep my current job, and use this time to get myself known, and build up equipment, product, raw materials and get to a spot where I feel I could spring into action and start producing on a larger scale....If things go well for my venture, I might think about getting a part time job somewhere to allow more time in the shop. I currently have a few knife commissions I'm finishing up, and hopefully that will be enough to get some welding supplies, and build a separate forging area onto the existing shed. I have to make stuff and get feedback from people to figure out what would sell well.....Is it going to be entirely blacksmith made items, or am I going to incorporate wood and leather working into the mix? I heard my Blacksmith instructor say that for smaller items, you don't want to spend much more than an hour from start to finish. One big thing I have working in my favor is where I live- Portland Oregon. People here are big on, bicycles, beer, art and supporting local businesses....especially if they are eco-friendly. Whatever I make will likely sell a lot better if it's made using reclaimed materials. I already had someone asking me about welding together some bike racks....I kicked myself for not having a card to give them! One thing I was thinking is pretty much what DABlacksmith suggested is to spend time building up a supply of products to sell at events. Try living the life for a little bit to see if I feel I could do it, and if I could make it economically viable. I'm already known somewhat within the local rendezvous scene as a guy who builds and sells powder horns, so my name and products are already out there to a limited extent. I totally hear you guys when you mention not having any debt!!! It's going to be hard enough getting this venture to float on it's own without having extra bills to pay. For now I figure I sell something and put the proceeds back into the shop for supplies, or to maybe upgrade an existing tool...Better yet it would be good to put a part of the profits into a separate bank account set up especially for the smithy, and start keeping records of what's coming in, what's going out and what's left over when everything is said and done. As for training....I did complete a welders certification training course and got good grades throughout the year.....I still am NOT a good stick welder, but did fairly well with GMAW and got my certification with FCAW. I have a wire feed welder here at home...I still need to get a bottle of gas and wire for it :-) Anyways.....I have to get to bed now, but I appreciate all the advice that has been given. I will write more as time allows. Thanks again Iain