KLO

I was digging up the old forge on my property and found 2 pieces of steel from an old horse drawn cart and was wondering what I could do with it. it moves well at orange heat. They both came off the same cart/sulky and I would assume they both have the same carbon content, they both came from the forge area so I assume they were being repaired. I would appreciate a bit of help with what to do with it, I have tried to form a small section into a knife.

we used one of these for a firepit on one of our forges, using the hole for the airflow

this remind me of that time I used a bit of iron bark for a handle or that time I made a temporary handle out of a plank of pine without a wedge my arms haven't been more sore and the dent is still in the concrete. me being stupid with handles hasn't permanently damaged me but has come close

what would you like to id from here? I can name most of the bladed tools and axes from the second photo.

yeah the horseshoes aren't hardenable so they are letter openers for family I didn't realise this fact till later and I thought I did the heat treat process wrong, then I came back to this thread and read this and now it makes sense.

great work, im working on twins, made from the same horseshoe, at the moment and they aren't event facing up to these two

very nice looking a lot better than my horseshoe twin knives are, but then im only using hand tools to make them. very creative, 5-stars, but id hate to have that stuck in my gut

best idea is to wear gloves on both hands because I have been burnt on my hammer hand from a flying spark, and even after it has cooled for 20mins it is still hot enough to burn and that inhibits (and endangers) you more or as much as fatigue, gloves are a much overlooked safety item though not as much as proper headwear or an apron.

bit too big I reckon, but if it works for you, im not judging

to double the time of total use, maybe try cover it with a soft tin or cheap sheet metal and whenever the sheet metal wears out just replace it or throw back into the scrap heap to use on another project. brass or tin are a good choice but not copper as it is a bit expensive. but I just use at the moment a stick and a slab of wood or a chunk of rolled up sheet metal heated up until it sits flush will also work.

just use a file or old rasp to remove the mushrooming then harden the pein and bevel the edge of the head somehow so as to not damage your work with the chip in the side, I hade one similar but soft all over and it wrecked the work when I hit it off-centre

I don't know but I think i'm addicted to metalwork in general; 1. I use wd-40 as deodorant . 2.i used 60 gigabytes of internet usage browsing these forums. 3. I spent 3 days straight forging and making my forge work for me. 4. I have a collection of hammers and tools to rival my mothers sewing collection. 5. I don't care what the weather is, I'm forging today.