panzertank27

hey strantor, just so you know. it was your video on you tube bowie and kukri that finally pushed me to start bladesmithing, was thinking about it for a while, always loved knives but needed a kick. thanks eternally greatful......

the anvil (rail) is so loud , i started using earplugs . sucks for the neighbors though. i will aquire an anvil one day,

im sorry but i must steal that design. i like how wide the blade flares in relation to the handle width. kinda looks like spear too cool. hope i dont offend , i dont know the etikit in stealing designs , heck i cant even spell it.

twist before hand yes thankyou, i love this site, thanks frosty

so finally found my cam and here are my first knives started some are more grinder some are more hammer.

ask around for people who change their own cars oil, get it from them its free

well im just a total newbi but i forge, grind,anneal/normalze,heat treat,temper, draw, finish bolster,handles on,shape handle,finish all. spit shine , done

last weekend i went to a flea market and i found a guy that was selling old files (and other junk too) i searched and found a stash of 16 inch long 1 3/4 wide and about 3/8 thick flat bastard files . all globe made in canada. 50 cents each. i grabbed 10. so i guess i want to know if its a good price. and if you think i should use water or oil to quech( i guess i could test to see as well just wonder if its rules of thumb forfiles in water) ,also what kind of steel are old files. oh yeah should i go snag the rest . there are heaps....

i didnt know osage orange wood was good for handles or that it finished so nice, i just happen to have 7 osage orange trees in my front yard )they are protected by the city nobody is allowed to cut them but when i big branch fell off when a hydro truck hit it i kept it and still have it) now i know what to use it for. boy those green brain looking things dont really look like oranges.....

thanks for all the info guys, yes it will take a few more forge uses i guess. ill anneal after i straighten it maybe even anneal twice? cant hurt i guess. then ill harden it. I have to make a big blade cause i already promised ot to my nephew on his 18 birthday and he likes big scary knives (not to use, but to hang on a wall , i hope) i plan on heating to non magnetic then hot oil quenching, then temper, then draw the back with a torch but.. i have a question. i see the nepal guys treat the kukri with just pouring water on the cutting edge of the blade and i think thats all they do, so iknow the kukri is also leafspring( same steel as mine, at least close) my blade is as large as a kukri so can i do this also or should i just do it the propre way (which i probably will for my first knife, also ive have 5 blades started in case of failure)?????

im making a 17"knife from leafspring im done the forging part and filing and got a good start on the sanding.when i finished my last forge hammering i left it a little bent and then filed and sanded anyway because i use a charcoal forge its too much time to heat it up for 1 bang so ill wait till ill heat treat. so my question is; i heard i can straighten with a leather hammer to not inflict any damage to finished blade so can I straighten it without any hammer marks . do i just use regular "railroad rail" anvil. also I will make my own leather hammer by wrapping an old belt tight around an old rubber mallet (should get about 1 inch of leather or more thick) is that okay. sorry bout all the dumb questions but i looked for a while on thise site and saw nothin like this,... also this will be my first finished knife as its a birthday present for may 14..

looks like a knife to me which is more than i could say for my first knife like object.

new to blade smithing but cunstruction half my life. ive found you get what you pay for with bits .cobolt makita seems to be the best ive used and of course proper slow speed and i use 3 in 1 oil as lube. ive used this on unannealed leaf spring slow and careful. oh and if drilling big holes start with a smaller diameter and progress up.

nice setup .mine is similar and im still using my rail as an anvil iv only used the forge 3 times as ive got a 4 month and a 3 year old at home ready to play all the time. mine cost me bout 50 bucks 10$ for bout 18 inch rail; 20 pipes(incl i used only bout12$ because i changed my design and didnt use flange and 't'(went to liveley style too);20$ for refractory cement(used half) (i had, old vacuum, old bbq,hammers,vise grips, vise , files grinder, etc)i bought 10$ huge bag of lump charcoal (took me three forge uses of about 3 hrs each use , but i make my own charcoal i have bout 2 garbage bags fulllll)oh yeah and 20$ for 3 3foot leafspring from toyota minivan( from auto wreckers- so it was expensive) when i figure out how ill post pictures of setup and first 5 'started' knives

can one really add alloys (vanadium ,etc) to steel in a home type setting ??? cause if i can........ whoa i see lots of experiments in my future...

beautiful kukri., i look 4ward to the day i can produce such beauty. just a couple of questions.... 1) are all old files of the w series of steel? cause i have a few that i will use one day, iknow i should test b4 i use it and i will. 2) are the w steels always hard to work with files or grinders even after annealled/normalized ? once again sweet kukri (although im biased as that is my fav shape to knife)

hey rice. im from welland (bout an hour from t.o.) where do you get your steel from (not junk but the new stuff ????) i cant find anything close to me.

sorry about the first title guys, i work at construction sites so my language tends to go vulgar sometimes, i apologize i realize this site is for everyone(kids too) i have two young children at home. it wont happen again, sorry...

so last sunday i finally used my forge. it was awesome ,at the last minute i changed my design from a central blast (for use with coal ive heard) to a a longer (15 inch) long firepot i kinda copied from the lively design.i realized this is better for heat treating blades when they are done. i let the refractery cement cure for 2 days then cranked up my forge sunday morning. the cement directions say to heat up slowly (actually gave me percise temps to hold and for how long, ha ha ha ha. anyways after i disconected my 9 volt powered hairdryer because it was to slow, i then used a vacuum cleaner and my forge started a series of explosions(lol dont worry just some surface cement) so i went back to the hair dryer for about 2 -3 hours heating nice and slow(directions said heat slowly in increments for 24 hours ,again lol) fire not really hot enough to heat steel yet. so noe i crank on the vacuum agin this time with a valve to open (rheostat its called i think) sweeeeet i have forge fire and no more explosions. cut my 3 foot leaf spring in 3 pieces took one and put it in my coals, few minutes later i was hammerin. so i stared with a kitchen chopper because i figured i might be able to actualy keep wife happy and play with forge at same time.my blade part is done next weekend ill work on the handel/tang.im sooo addiicted ive done steock removal a few times but i wnted to try forging. i really made the forge to heattreat my stock removal knives but i think ill be a forger too.why cant there be more time in the day????????????? ps how do you get an address for sending in pics to this place?????

thanks for all the info guys, my rash is almost gone (lots of antihistamine) i did some research on the net and it could have been from something in the steel like chromium or nickel both very toxic. also im a carpenter and i know im allergic to walnut and cherry wood which sucks because they are such beautiful wood. ill take full precautions when i get back to work on my knife (gloves, longsleeves taped to gloves , mask,etc...)

well just wanna know if anybody else is alergic to steel dust. i broke out in a huge rash and my doc said its probably from sanding my leafspring knife. as this is a brand new hobby im quite xxxxxx, anyhow im not giving up my doc (who also has made his own knives)said to just where gloves all the time and plastic on my sleeves and a mask. wish me luck goona try as soon as this rash goes away (my knife is calling to me, finish me finish me wooooo)

ok so i meant the same flux as plumbing flux not plumbing solder.

so i got my knife almost all rough cut, it started out wanting ti be a bowie but ended up not so much like a bowie but i still think its cool. i wnted it know if i can silver solder some of the spring steel onto the knife for a hilt or would i wreck the temper and harden(when i do it) to solder a thick piece on for a hilt and gaurd as the tang is about 3/8 inch thick and ill want about a quarter inch thick piece on both sides ?? also the silver solder i bought says it doesnt need flux as it has a 'flux core ' but i cant help but think ill need some flux like when i do copper pipes for plumbing, can i use the same solder for plumbing if i need it??? thanks .

i used charcoal (homemade) and hand bellow and lots of elbow grease. im using a mastercraft 4 inch grinder to cut with cheap discs(does it matter if cheap or expensive discs???) oh yeah of course if im grinding it im heating it up where i cut, sometimes the obvious eludes me. also i just finished trying to anneal it by gettin it all red hot(ok orange hot) when a magnet failed to stick i left it for another few mins then took of coals and left it in the ash. i just want it softer to work on with files after rough grinder cut. i dont know too much about steel as im a carpenter by trade but im reading lots and thanks for all yer help..... im makin a bowie type knife for my first ( ive redone handles on many of my knives but thats the extent of my experience... ty

i was wondering if i could anneal or normalize a foot of 2 inch leaf spring in my wood stove if i crank up the heat. i want to cut it with a grinder cutoff saw and its way too hard it took me 1 hour to cut the foot off of the main leaf and thats only 2 inches.im going to build my charcoal forge soon but bc of my stupid design (which i refuse to change bcim stubborn and it took me a long time to come to the decision.. blah blah blah....) anyways i cant pour my refractory cement until i get 3 days of 10 degrees or more and the forge is in my un heated garage, and i got a 3 year old and 3 month old at home so not much time on my hands... but if i could anneal it (evenhalf at a time) i could work on it much easier. ps. i probably already ruined it cuz i got excited last night and when it was red hot i took it out and beat it straight, took me 3 heats about 25 hammers per heat but its straight, but i probably wrecked the moleculer structer or something. so thanks for my opertunity to ask a 'quick' question...