new guy

i usually drill a hole, make the tang tiny and burn in the handle.

ok yeah finnr i did not know that thank you. And mr. sells i often mix up terms i mean cooking oil like soybean or somthing. thanks for the posts. also i have someone who wants to buy a couple of little do dads from me so that may finiance my hobby. thanks for the posts.

ok that all may be true in the UK. but where i am smack in the center of yuppie-ville it is hard to find linseed or flaxseed oil. i know where i can get peanut oil for cheap. also i will use this knife for food. if i give people knives as presents they may not listen to me if i tell them there is poisonous oil on them. better to be on the super side of saftey then take any risks at all. $5 is about 2 pounds or euros to the best i know. so i am doing this on the cheap! whatever i buy will have to be usable as a qeunchant. just so ye know! thanks fot the posts.

well. yeah you guys are right. but i got free steel and it was a decent lesson. i need to get oil, for sure, but look to me 90% is pretty decent considering i am a noob. also my time is not worth a cent me not being a pro in all. but thanks for the posts. and when i mean cracked i mean i was not even sure if it was scale flaking off or if it was a real crack. better to be uber safe than uber sorry. i guess i sound upity for a 15 yr old (i am a teen after all!) :)

good to know and thanks again.

actually steve i do not have oil. and that was the first knife i have had fail in the quench. also the guy i got it from was a fellow smith and said somthing along the lines of 'if it is just above critical it will work 90% of the time.' and it worked for m skinner (a thinish blade). it was just me not normalizing. i learned the hard way on that and normalized my skinner twice not once. also Mr. hale i made serveral knife like objects in mild steel. i wanted something i could use and i use what i have.

matt87 i am taking into account a $5 budget and what i can improvise or make. i don't have acces to raw linseed oil and i may or may not have some mineral oil in my basement. i will not put myself at any risk of poisoning. i know if i have hurt myslef forging. but posoning is not obvious.

this was an old leaf spring at non magnetic. i quenched in 180 degree water. it was a heavy blade so i thought i could get a way with hot water. it was a tiny hairline crack that i nearly missed but i checked just beacause you mention cracking a blade. i could have saved the blade but i chose not to bacause i do not feel like it was worth the risk of having a cracked knife (even a wall hanger it was probably going to be used once or twice).

ok thank you. i think i like the idea of crisco better beacause my mom or gandma will probably use the mineral oil to preserve the wood on their (kitchen) knives. I just read up the on the forums and came to this concluision: heat the crisco and soak the wood in it for an hour or so. then have your metal at 150 degrees farenheit and rub you preservation solution on the blade. that sound righ to you guys (and girl)? thanks again for the post.

ok i have to agree about the rancid part that is annoying. but i will be using this knife as my primary boy scout knife (i am a boy scout and 15). the linseed is not good for food. and who said it was virgin oiliv oil? i would buy the cheap stuff that is just olive oil. although mineral oil would be great. the cvs in my area only sells the super scented stuff and i don't want to have a knife that smells better than i do! but i used cooking oil and it stopped smelling after a week or two. so slow setting epoxy it is. maybe even bacon grease after my mom cooks (or i do) breakfast. Charlotte: by solid white shortening do you mean crisco or shortening? i have heard of shotening just not solid white shortening. just asking. thanks again for the posts.

ok this weekend i cracked the cleaver i was making my mom when i quenched it. that i chalk up to only normalizing it once before i quenched it. although i did make a nifty skinner from the chunk i cut out when i made the tang.

oops. looks like i need to read up on chemistry! although i did mean at room temp. thanks again for correcting the incorrectible newbie (me).

thanks charlotte. those all sound like great ideas. although define slow settin epoxy. i have heard people call 1hr slow setting so i just want to know what you mean by that. also do you think i could use olive oil in stead of mineral oil?i can get olive oil by the gallon at costco.thanks for the ideas and post.

well i finally got some boric acid (borax just not akaili to those other newbies out there). i will try to weld this afternoon. thank god i do not have to sift sand and make salt(i met a smith who said sand and salt is an OK flux).

i am like Pault17. i helped out as a striker at the mystic blacksmith shop for 1/2 day. i ended up with the horn on my right and that was the first time i used an anvil and it feels right. but i do dance alot (around my dog and my parents). although having a horn is a luxury some take for granted! :-)

frosty those kids are so cute! that put a smile on my face! the other video that had your dog in it with the cute widdle goats snuggled up against it was so cute!. thanks for posting that link.

ok. i really do not have any money to buy stuff. i know i guy who may want to get rid of some antlers. i really only have acces to oak and softwoods. i think that the sheet metal is the most pheasable. although Mr. Mayo, you did give me an idea: reenforce a peice of wood with sheet metal! real 'iron wood'. i know of muscle wood trees in the area (the new england name of iron wood). thanks for the post. and i am really impressed with your friction folders. i actually decided to make one after seing your folders. thank you again.

i am thinking of making myself some friction folders for fun and i would like to know how to make friction folder handles. i think i can hot form sheet metal over a form to make a handle. i dont think that just a cut in a wood handle will hold up well. i think re enforcing the handle with sheet metal will work. i probably just answered my own question but, other people know more that me so i though i would ask anyway. thanks if you post. ;)

get a block of steel or get a rr track. good luck finding and anvil though. i hear even mild steel will work.

that knife looks like a khukri to me. it is still very cool. i have found wood ash works well (along with everyone else on this thread). good luck

where are you located? try to click user cp on your control panel (i think). i would love to see some pics of that smithy. good luck seling all of the tools. try to get an anvil for yourself.

ten hammers: i think that you summed up why i love to dabble in the art of blacksmithing. the history and problem solving or simple every day work. i appreciate modern society far more no that i know what led us here. the simple everyday blacksmith. without them there would not eb sky scrapers or bridges or even knives or wood tools. the every day things that hold soceiteys toghether on the farm or in the city, i think, are based on good old fashoned blacksmiths.

hmm. funny that is strted this as it seems that other people have gotten more out of it! too bad all of th ewelds i have done have ntuck themselves. at least it was an attempt. i have to clean my pieces more. clean steel+welding heat+borax+a hammer+anvil+person to use said things= decent forge weld. :)

that is really cool. too bad about the surgery. I hope you get well soon.

that sounds cool. but i doubt it will hold an edge well. good luck.