DaMaakus

Thank you Glenn, I will try that.

Nice idea, rocketman! 58er, those look very good! Desmato, well, crossing my fingers they don't hurt themselves. I made something today, too. Tried my first flower, since I thought it might become a christmas gift. It didn't work out like I wanted. The inner petals tore apart, so only two instead of three layers. Peening the stem didn't work, so I had to weld for the first time. Looks bad and the inner leaf still rotates a little, despite the giant blob in the middle. I also forgot to round the edges of the petals. It's kind of a disaster. I'm still tempted to gift it, though. If I find a way to stop the rattle.

The shape looks very nice! Keep us informed.

Desmato, your work is really neat! Not sure what to think about the "kids will play with the pointy metal bars", though.

I really like the engravings! And the raindrops look very good as well.

I think it's regulated in the EU since 2009. It seems like people used Borax as nutritional supplement, like magnesium and stuff. And it looks like animal test showed, it can be dangerous in larger quantities. I'm pretty sure, salt can be dangerous too, if you eat 5kg of it. Yet it isn't banned. I have no idea what this is about. Maybe they still sell it in pharmacys... If you come around to test the welding sticks theory, let us know how it went! That is a good idea.

Thank you toadboy for the explanation! And for using metric. That rifle looks pretty nice! I actually have the fever dream of one day making such a rifle by myself. Unfortunatly, I would have to get a gun license which is expensive and usually hard to come by here. You had a coal forge on your balcony?! I'm not even allowed to set up an electric grill on mine...

Thank you guys! That is some good information and I will look into it. I didn't want to hijack toadboy65 's thread, sorry for that. Just a last remark - Daswulf : Exactly that shop is a good example. They sell borax, but they might want to see your business license. As I said, mainly private persons, like I am, are forbidden to buy it anymore. But thanks guys! I will see if I can get some, seeing that a small amount might go a long way, and / or find some alternatives.

Hello ThomasPowers, I live in Germany. Borax has been banned here a few years ago, it seems. It's now classified as poisonous or something. You can only buy it now if you have a business AND you have to bring evidence, that you really need that stuff. It's a bunch of bull, if you ask me. But, here I am, not able to buy borax like the rest of the world. On the other hand, I'm a beginner and can't even get a nail right. So, forge welding (and especially making Damascus) is far off, anyways, for now. Maybe I find another way till then. Also, I don't even know how much borax a person needs. Maybe I could get my hands on, like, 500gr. But I don't even know if it's worth the hassle for that amount, if I need the whole batch for one connection between two bars or something. Anyways, it's a little discouraging.

Thank you, Daswulf! Then I might post here in the future as well and hope there will be some recognizable progress.

Thank you! Yes, indeed, swinging hammers and hitting steel is neccessary to get better, so I'm not discouraged by my pieces being ugly. I only hope the weather this weekend will be good enough for me to fire up my new JABOD version and try it for the first time. It will probably be one of the last times till spring comes around. But I'm antsy about getting some hooks and maybe some more nails done! Also, cutting up some spring steel and make a chisel or punch or so.

Not sure if my noob stuff qualifies for this thread, but I took a beginner's class over the weekend and made this: My first ever nail (head was way off), below it a bottle opener and on top a bulls head I probably will nail to my JABOD forge with the second nail I made, to cover the ugly hole in it. That second nail was still ugly (i ground the head round), but I made it a lot faster than the first one. That's something, I guess.

That is very cool, congrats! Did you work the billet by hand? Also, maybe you can answer me this question: Making damascus seems to be a flux intensive endeavour. I can't have borax, so I already asked myself, if canister damascus could solve my problem. So, did you need borax at any point of making the billet? I also like your anvil! And your little helper, of course.

That is good to hear, thank you for experimenting on your wife!

The staining might be a problem, true. Don't know about the oily feeling though. I sprayed the cross, wiped off the excess and didn't have that feeling while handling it afterwards. But maybe that's just me. Yeah, the smell fresh out of the can is weird. But I had the impression it's hard to detect once it's on the piece and not in the air anymore. What does your wife say at that stage? My sister didn't complain about it on the cross.