Goods

I’ve seen that before and I took it as an effect of the actual saw cut, kind of like tooth chatter. Try making two cuts rotating 45 degrees between cuts to see it the pattern alway follows the cut direction. David

You can throw in some chips from a bandsaw to help with the slipping. Just make sure it is all steel, you don’t want to get any aluminum, brass or copper chips mixed in… David

I went with dimmable LED lighting in my shop and they’re great, but a little pricey. It’s fantastic working in the bright light until your trying to carefully judging just the right temperature for quenching or if there’s still enough residual heat for tempering… Only thing I would change is to have the dimmer by the forge and not by the entrance to the shop.

Josh, how about cutting the center marker at the rivet. Then have a punch with slots riveted in between the pivot joints. That way the punch is always centered, but can slide in and out to mark central easily on a wide range of widths. Could take a couple different versions/tries to make it work… Did you make it to Kevin’s last weekend? I had other commitments… David

Sir Thomas Powers does have a good ring to it…

Just watched the video. Too bad the SD card filled up, I would have liked to have seen more of the thread forging both external and the internal threads! I also enjoyed watching the other video on this channel. If you or your shop puts out more videos, you’ve got at least one more viewer! David

What size forge?

Les, be very wary of using the propane forge in the shop with the doors closed. It’s easy to tell when the smoke from your coal forge isn’t clearing out, but you can’t see or smell the CO from a gas forge. At the very least get a CO detector in your shop. I personally was very surprised how fast the CO builds up in my shop when I thought it was well ventilated! Keep it Fun (and safe)! David

That’s a scribe? I wondered what it was. (How deep are you scribing with one that big?) I do agree about the embellishment makes a big difference… Keep it fun, David

On the knife I’m working on, I wasn’t real happy with the guard/bolster fit up and wanted it very secure without pins. I ended up soldering it in place. It served both purposes well, but it did require some cleanup. Keep it fun, David

I got part of my wife’s Valentine’s Day gift covered today. Still have to finish the knife for her as well, but I’m not sure when that will happen. Keep it fun, David

Les, I like those hawks. Good job.

JHCC, have you considered forge brazing the seems closed on those cups? David

Had some time the last couple days and got more work done on my knife project. I got the rest of the handle roughed out: Got the blade heat treated ground and etched: And started finishing out the handle: Doesn’t seem like much left, but I’m worried about how long it’s going to take. Keep it fun, David

Chimaera, lump charcoal is a fantastic fuel for forge welding. Just don’t give it too much air. Too much and you’ll just blow you charcoal out of the forge and have too much oxygen around you weld area. Build a deep fire and keep your part in the upper 1/3 of the fire. David

Spent some time working on my next knife. Got it forged out and cleaned up a bit. Then started on the guard. No, the guard is not going to be so ridiculously large. It was much large and needs a lot more. Keep it fun, David

Here I though you were going for a change in diet…

Tonight got the gomai knife billet welded up and drawn out into a 12” x 1-3/8” x 1/4” blank. Planning on forging the blade mostly to shape. Not worried about that part, but am I crazy thinking about doing a through tang with guard and pommel for my first real handle? Keep it fun, David

I have had the same thoughts. (Just a thought exercise, I can’t/won’t drop my day job.) Just be weary of environmental concerns with old gas stations. I’m not sure if it’s possible to buy one of these properties with out soil analysis, but if it wasn’t required, I’d make sure it was done!

We’ve got two meetings coming up in February (local IBA chapter and the state meeting, back to back weekends at the same place.) So, far both still happening.

Josh, no still a few weeks out on the power hammer, assuming no issues at the port. It’s funny how show and tell items make there way to the iron-in-a-hat table…

Josh, that looks great. You going to bring it to Kenny’s? I’ll have your nail header, it’s still sitting in my tool bucket. For the first time in two weeks, I spent a couple hours at the forge. Took the whole time to weld up some 1” cable. It’s now 3/4” x 1/4” x 19”. Going to try to make gomia with cable on the outside, the some heavy (3/32” thick) bandsaw blade, and maybe 1095 or an old file as the core. (I’m replacing the cable knife I made my wife that was stolen from her van…) Keep it fun, David

My wife was asked if there are any safety videos available for young blacksmiths. The question was on a homeschooling forum, so my assumption is that the parents are wanting to support a child’s interests, but don’t know how to keep their kids safe… Anyone have any good video links? (I’ve already mentioned that they should look up a local ABANA affiliate) Thanks David

What percent of nickel and cobalt are we talking about? Could make a pretty tough steel in the right ranges…

Does a fire chicken count?