agsolder

My wife bought a little Delta belt/disk sander for her dollhouse/miniature-making and we took it back the instant we opened the box at home-- cracked casting. Delta, like so many other fine old names in tools, ain't what it used to be. I think for hollow-grinding, you need as big a contact wheel as you can get, maybe 8-inches for a minimum, and I suspect most pros use at least a 10-inch wheel. The problem with some commercial grinders is that the position of the motor relative to the belt interferes with working on one side of the blade if you want to do it same way as on the other.

Do some experimenting with the grader blade before the quenching/tempering. I am not positive, but I suspect it is-- or some of it at least is-- air hardening.

By the time you glued enough 6011 or whatever rod into the side of this old beauty to bring the dinged-up side up to grade you'd have heated the poor thing to the point where whatever original temper the top had would be long gone. Leave the poor tortured beastie alone. If you want a pretty anvil for the audience to look at, buy a new one. Or as the man sez, Bondo this one. Do NOT weld on it. Please.

Pascalou does fantastic copper work, perhaps might be able to help answer this.

Nothing is, nor meant to be condescending, uncivil, or off-track in the least about my posts. Your views are indeed touching. Mine are the expressions of more than 60 years of experience with switchblades and their inner workings, and the law, lawyers, courts, judges, and juries. As to what state I am in, electronic flux, alas-- I exist only as a transient configuration of pixels on your screen every now and then, mostly then from now on.

Ah, if only the law meant what it seems to say, as Matt so touchingly seems to think it does. But then, where would all the lawyers and judges and jurors and bailiffs and court clerks and stenographers be if all the courthouses were empty? Obviously the law never means simply what it seems to say, but what a judge and or a jury decide(s) it means. Let us hope if ever the need arises, that your faith is borne out. Beware, however, that just having a switchblade on one's person bespeaks a certain predilection for using it, for premeditated mayhem, in other words. I wish this were not so. I love the little darlings, so cleverly engineered, so beautifully crafted. As with other instruments of death, like Lugers and black widow spiders, though, few can see past the horror to the beauty.

matt87-- Seems to me the question of whether state and local law trumps Federal law was settled conclusively in the U.S. some time back around 1864 in something called The Civil War. Misguided demagogues like George Wallace and Lester Maddox and Orval Faubus believed to the contrary and again were proven wrong at gunpoint. Read the statute. You are grievously misinformed and are grievously misinforming the readers of this forum.

matt87-- interesting interpretation. I wish it were correct. Try telling that to the DEA, the AT&F people, the FBI, etc. and watch em roll around on the floor.

Original question was How does a switchblade action work? As far as I can see, it works by violating the federal statute banning the manufacture, sale, carrying and mere possession of these knives. The slick knife mags clogged with ads and covers showing and selling them and the manufacturers of same all seem to glide blithely past this law, but the law is, as far as I know, still on the books, and it trumps any state or local law permitting them such as Idaho seems to have. The federal statute is waiting for some cop looking to make sergeant to throw it at whomever she catches with one. I would appreciate some enlightened comment on howcum this is. Thanks

Black iron is an approved pipe for all gas piping This needs a hard check before you invest a lot of time and money. Black iron USED to be okay underground in New Mexico, but is no longer approved unless it is wrapped in some sort of plastic sheathing or, I think, boxed. We just were required to dig up our several hundred yards of underground propane lines and replace them with plastic-- or the propane company would no deliver to our 500- and 250-gallon tanks because of new code.

I have a 250-gallon tank for my forge, outdoors close behind my shop. State of NM a few years ago declared all buried propane lines have to be plastic or black iron specially wrapped, so my 50-year-old old buried steel pipes from the 500-gallon house tank and from the shop tank to the forge all had to be dug up and replaced. Not much corrosion on the old lines, but some and scary enough that it makes sense. Follow the UPC code if there is one in force in your area or even if there is not-- it's your life and property that are at stake. If you do the plumbing yourself, be SURE the gas line surfaces outside the shop before it enters, so if there is leak in the line twixt the tank and the forge it can not follow the line indoors. Be SURE the reducing valve/pressure gauge at the tank and not downstream by the forge. The plumbing line usually cannot handle full tank pressure. If you use rubber hose for a small barbecue-sized bottle, be sure it is LP-certified and bes sure to use a hefty-enough regulator. Note that the codes and the fire marshal won't allow keeping a tank indoors and usually won't allow pressures going into a building greater than 11 inches of water column, which ain't much, not enough for a forge as a rule. Mine runs around 7 to 15 psi gauge at 7,000 feet.

Agsolder, of course, means silver solder, and I have no idea why that is my alias here, unless it is because of my deep fondness for silver brazing. The proprietor bestowed it upon me as I arrived. Elsewhere I post as Miles Undercut. It doesn't matter, because neither persona really exists in the material world, only here on the Net, as transient configurations of pixels on your screen, abd only now and then. Mostly then on some websites, and totally then on at least one, British Blades, where I visited briefly, but developed a severe allergic reaction. By contrast, this is a wonderful site-- where else would I get to see the work of such talented smiths as Pascalou!!

Thomas-- Thanks-- the way navajas seem to be made-- at least this one is and so is a similar one, same maker, Exposito, is, they stick a little wooden shim up against the spring to protect the edge of the blade when closed. I doubt the mineral oil would hurt it. Seems to me there might be a considerable risk from a slow virus like mad cow, and maybe chronic wasting disease getting into the chitinous extrusions such as horns and antlers. I just milled out a slot in a small deer antler to receive a blade and wore my respirator. Thought you'd be coming by after the smiterama last Sat to get those 2x4s I called about....

I would buy that anvil instantly-- and I would not touch it with a torch or an arc welder. That crack is of no importance.

Questions-- what's the danger with bone dust? Mad cow? Also, related, somewhat-- friend brought me back a lovely navaja from Spain, but in the dry air of New Mexico, a hairline crack is appearing. Will mineral oil stop it, d'you s'spose?

I've been down that trail. I've been teaching blacksmithing short courses for 38 years. When lapping two pieces together, it is more difficult than when you have a single package, as in say, pattern welding. I use borax first, and it gets tacky when it melts. Then I use a proprietary flux, E-Z Weld, on top of the borax. E-Z Weld contains tiny iron filings, swarf, and when the iron filings melt, you're ready to hammer-weld. If you can't find E-Z Weld, you might try mixing swarf with the borax. With present day carbon steels, you have two welding heats as seen in a coal forge fire: 1. a light welding heat with the absence of sparks which we sometimes call a sweating heat. The surface of the metal has a liquid composed of molten scale and flux. It looks "runny" and is a near white heat, a yellow/white color. 2. A full welding heat, where you get a few incipient sparks. You don't want a big shower of sparks, or you're burning the metal. We sometims call it a sparking heat. The sweating heat is used on high carbon steel. If high carbon steel is given a sparking heat, the steel will crack and crumble. If welding a high carbon bit into a low carbon hatchet or tomahawk, it is all done at a sweating heat.

It's just coal gas, methane, that accumulated down in the tuyere and a spark got in there and ignited it is all, the pressure from the blast went back into the pipe. Like the pop you can get on a propane forge after you've shut the feed off, and then bleed the line into the hot forge. Scary but not life-threatening-- as far as I know, anyway. Sure gets your attention, though, doesn't it?

Interesting, extremely well-illustrated how-to on building an electric heat-treating oven at British Blades :: Custom Knives - How to Build a Heat-Treat Furnace - Page 1 If that doesn't work, try British Blades :: Custom Knives - Tutorials & Howto's which gets you to a list of articles on the site, look for how to build a heat-treating oven. . When you get to the how-to, note the links to suppliers.

Anybody who oxy-acetylene welds or cuts anything without a mask to protect vision, or who grinds anything, galvanized or not, without eye and respiratory protection-- a mask with filters-- is a fool. Couldn't these enterprising souls just stick the ends of the posts in a fire, outdoors, plenty of breeze to blow the nasties away, and then use a hammer to put the points on? Send my standard moom pitcher consulting fee plus demurrage to Glenn as a contribution to the site fund drive.

philip, steveh-- Many thanks! I have made caps out of old boots, worked fine, but I don't have any now that I want to cannibalize. Think I'll make some out of rawhide, waterproof the xxxx out of them, and try to stay in the shop and out of the rain.

I neglected to say that indeed is an admirably handsome sheath!!

Speaking of leather, somebody posted something, maybe here, not long ago re: "cowboy Fiberglass," in which a dog chewy is unrolled to its natural state, a sizeable sheet of rawhide. This can then be formed into a tough sheath, or shell, or whatever. I want to make some protective toe caps to keep my handsome and costly new boots from getting nasty and daily scratches and scuffs that will destroy the waterproofing, and don't want to pay the c. $20 Redwing et al want for theirs. Question: what's the best way to soften the chewy without destroying the integrity of the rawhide? I fear boiling it would just make chewy soup. Many thanks!!

Miller 250- 350 amp 1972 Dialarc, Miller 1998 250 amp MIG, Miller 19?? gasoline, two Harris/Craftsman oxy-acetylene rigs, Smith Little Torch, Hoke oxy-propane, Prestolite acetylene torch.

Only swage blocks I have ever seen that look as if they might have been milled or even dressed with any care are Wallace Yater's unbelievably beautiful blocks. I have two really old and well-used blocks that show every minute of their age. Like me. No Botox for any of us if I have any say.

Larry-- No-- stick uses consumable flux-shielded electrodes, O/A uses consumable bare steel rods. Some general thoughts: first of all, get an absolutely totally safe, clean, uncluttered place to work, well away from anything combustible, anything you might trip on. Sunlight is a great idea, but the wind can be a problem with MIG, maybe not with flux-coating, dunno. I agree starting with O/A is the ideal way to go. You can see the puddle better. But if that's out of the question for now, work on getting comfortable while you are welding, wear lots of protection, jacket, gauntlets, high-topped lace-up boots, cotton or woollen cap, brace your elbow and hand if possible when running a bead. Work hard on learning to see what is really going on down there amid all the sputter and spatter, the razzle-dazzle of the sparks and smoke. Problem with MIG is, it can look great but have no really solid penetration. After taking care of all that, it's like the old bopster joke says about how do you get to Carnegie Hall-- practice, man, practice!