Benona blacksmith

Can you get a friend to strike for you? You could make a bottom fuller and use a top tool to forge the troughs in using a striker. 

It will have a 12"x12" base plate bolted to the shop floor. I have most everything I need to make it I just need a new chop saw blade to cut everything. I'm also in the middle of putting together my 30hp rotary phase converter so I'm in no hurry to do this. I may have too many irons in the fire!!!

Not yet but I'm going to do some extensive tests. I have a nice size chunk I cut off before forging for that exact purpose. I also have a big knife I've made out of it that needs finishing so I have a few things to play with before quenching this. I also need to make a quench tank tall enough to fit the blade so it will be a bit before I get to heat treating the sword. 

Thank you for the kind words guys. 

It weighs 44.3 ounces and no stock removal has been done. I'm going to run a fuller down the center also.

Sooooo......I went and did it. I forged a sword from the railroad track. It still needs the bevels forged in but the structure is there. I will get some pictures of it in a bit.

No guard on a grinder is nothing. I worked for a company that cut 9 inch grinding wheels to make them remove material WAY faster than anything I've ever seen before. They have a tendency to explode in a spectacular fashion!!!!

Do NOT ever try this!!!!!!!!!!

They were cut like this.

Forging the sword will be easier than the heat treat and keeping it from warping in the quench. I'm going to make a couple long thin test blades and see how my heat treatment is on a leaf spring and on the railroad track and do a flex test on both before I go on to making a sword.

I do have a leaf spring but it is saved for my shop built power hammer. Even though I dont use it anymore but a friend is supposed to get it soon. Another reason to use forklift fork or railroad track is because who has a sword made for either of these materials

40 minutes ago, swedefiddle said:

"Blade Shaped Object"

I have no intentions of making a "blade shaped object"!!!!!!! My intentions are to make BLADE!!! If I was going to make a blade shaped object I wouldn't be here asking which of the 2 steel types to use. I would just make it from the first suitable piece of material I found!

42 minutes ago, swedefiddle said:

Start by putting your piece in the scrap pile, before you create Negative Carma.

So basically I should just abandon the idea that I can make a sword?

I'm going to start my first sword and I dont have and leaf spring and I really dont wanna buy and steel for it because it's all in fun and I really like working steel under the power hammer!!! So my forklift forks are somewhere in the 4140 range and my research has brought me to a 1084 range with added manganese for the railroad track? I've made a draw shave with the top of railroad track and I'm going to try and get it heat treated tomorrow if I can get some propane for my gas forge and see how it heat treats. I've made a lot of hammers from the forklift fork and know the heat treat pretty good but never with anything that flexes any. What would you recommend between the 2 steels?

I think it is a C frame press. I have one very similar to it.

I really like the forged finish on the spine!!!  I'm sure they will really like them!!!

Here is the 4 lb hammer and a shot of it next to the 3 lb. Now I need to do some grinding to round out the faces a bit.

Both hammers are ground and one is handled. I will get pictures of them sometime tomorrow. 

The spring hammer with the snow block off set and a bottom die/drift(?) thing to forge the poll was crazy!!!!

Yes it is really chunky. I can see how you can catch your knuckles on the anvil. How are these supposed to be ground? Also I noticed that there is distinct differences between the forged and the cast hammers!!! I made another one that is 4 lbs. 

I ordered anvils from Austria and had a great experience working with Emerald Koch. He is a great guy and makes sure you can get your best bang for your buck on shipping. I at first ordered 1 and later ordered 2 more anvils and a swage block to get the most for my $500 flat rate shipping.

Yes I did. 

I'm 100% sure your anvils isnt cast steel. Based on the handling holes and the weld line just below the edge of the face it is a forged anvil for sure.

I bought a 426 lb german double horn a 240 lb german cutlers anvil a 280 lb German church window anvil and a 250 lb german swage block for $2978 USD shipping included from Emerald Koch in Austria. That is a beautiful anvil but I would never pay $3000 for an anvil!!!

Mark out the square you want and drill in the 4 corners then drill a larger hole in the center. Then use a cold chisel and files to clean up the sides. You could also drill from the side and meet the bottom of the hardie hole and clean it up at an angle (like a french anvil) to allow scale and tools to pass through.

Looks a lot like one I made. Mine is made from forklift fork. I have a bunch of wrought iron cut up ready to be welded and forged into another hammer. This one is 2 1/2 lbs.

The dimensions of my hammer are as follows 3 inch wide x 3 inch tall x 3 ½ inches long. Is this close to the Hofi hammer dimensions?

I have access to a bunch of black locust also. That stuff is super hard but be sure to wear a respirator when sanding it. The dust is fine and if I recall somewhat toxic?

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Our furnace is due to have problems; but it's supposed to be another 5 billion years or so.

What kind of furnace do you have? Nuclear?

Thank you for that JHCC I wasnt sure and was just about to start a search!