Virusds

Thank u all for your suggestions! I'll probably be looking into that G-flex stuff you were talking about.

I've been looking around the internet for some type of epoxy to use that is relatively cheap but strong enough for securing knife handles. What kind of epoxy do you guys use? Where do I find it?

Thank you for the advice Thomas. I was going to fire up the old charcoal forge because it was bigger but now I know my propain forge will work just fine. Of course, I will need to fire up the charcoal forge for quenching. At I have a hard enough time evenly heating a long knife in that small propain forge. Definitely, I learned that you should make I knife that is designed for chopping if you are gonna chop with it. I've researched both of those different designs thoroughly, and I think I've settled on making a sidesword. I know I want a relatively short version so I'm thinking around 3 to 3 1/3 feet long, so on the shorter end of the spectrum for this particular type. Thank you for all of your help, I will be really careful and make sure I spend plenty of time on it instead of rushing through it.

To answer your first question, no, the dagger I had before this was made from a file, which was used already so it way have had micro fractures in it. My hope was that the leaf spring would be better as if would hopefully be less brittle. I can say that this is a much less brittle knife, from what I've seen so far anyway. To answer your other question, I am not sure yet, I am having trouble choosing, but I do definitely know that I want to make a one handed sword, as I don't have I big enough forge for a two handed one. I was thinking of making a sidesword, as that is my favorite looking sword. The only problem is that it might be kinda difficult to get it to the right thinchness. The other option I am considering strongly is just a plain and simple short sword, mabye 2 - 2 3/4 feet long. It would probably be easier to forge the shape and thickness of that blade, but I really want my first sword to be a real nice one and I don't know if I would be satisfied with that. Either way, I have a fair bit of time before I accualy start any type of work on the sword so I will have plenty of time to consider, though I would love u guy's input.

Thanks JHCC. I used it a lot today and it seems to work fine for all of my bushcrafting and what-not. And I hopefully will be capable of repurposing the handle and pomel of the dagger for my first sword project I am planing.

Well unfortunately for me, during one of the many camping trips I've been on this year, the dagger I made myself a few months back broke due to a crack in the blade that probably formed during quenching. So, I made myself a new one, not a dagger this time, but a Bowie knife, it's one of my best knives so far in my opinion. It is forged from a leaf spring and the handle is black locust.

Forged this little knife out of a lawnmower blade. It is probably the most basic design for a knife that I've ever done. Its handle is Black Locust. I accully did this in the shop like a week ago so I guess I'm kinda breaking the "what did you do in the shop today" rule.

Chris Williams u are accualy totally right on what the pommel is accept it is from a washer shaft. And u said u would have thought that I forged the shaft out into the blade, would that be good steel for a knife? Also frosty, I understand u don't like it I do but I'm going to ask the commissioner if he likes it when I give if to him and if he says no I can replace it without an issue. Thank u so much for your feedback though, I appreciate it.

Happy fourth of July to all u fello amaricans! Yesterday I finished this knife. It is a weird shape that's for sure but I like it. The guy who ordered it told me he just wanted a presentable, useful knife. So I hope he is pleased with this one. It is made from a lawnmower blade, quenched in oil, tempered in the oven for 2 hours at 400° farenheit. The handle is black locust, stacked leather in the middle, and Russian olive for the other half. It keeps an edge well and I polished this blade better that any of my previous ones. The pommel is kinda long but I like how long and thin the blade looks overall.

Oh okay makes since. No problem. Have a good rest of your day ThomasPowers.

This is not my first knife. If u look at my profile I have made lots of them. Did I misunderstand what u meant by that? Lol. I would agree with u that a Bowie is much more effective than a dagger. But I dont have any large Bowie knife as I have sold the only one I have ever made so I thought I would try something different this time as I realy love to make daggers. I don't live in a place where I am at much of risk of having to use it as a "urban survival knife". But u never know.

Yes sir. And it felt amazing. Lol

Hi all u guys! Been a while since I posted but I have been looking at u guy's projects every once in a while. I haven't done much blacksmithing at all since I last posted just because I did not have propain for my forge. But I got some on Sunday and have been working on this dagger for the last 3 days. It is finished now. It has a blade made of an old rusty file, a copper wire wrap handle, never done that before. The guard is just made of some mild steel flat stock. And the pommel is made from an old shaft from a washer that we needed to replace. The handle is not the best but I think it is acceptable for my first try. The blade also warped a bit during quenching. Definitely imperfect but it is just going go be a knife for myself as my new survival/hunting knife. So I'm not worried about someone not wanting to buy it.

Real nice! thanks for posting this, love to see other people's creativity.

For us we are just geting sun and in the 60s to 70s every other day and wind the rest of the time. It has rained but not like a lot. That usually comes during the summer and fall for us. Just cant wait for the spring wind season to be over here (which means that it isnt super winy all the time, bug there is no escaping the wind here in southern idaho.

You have my prayers.

For us its going okay. Our governor just extended the stay at home order as it was supposed to end today. He did say that we will be opening some businesses that were not considered essential. The weather is pretty harsh here at the moment and will probably be that way until Saturday. And that is super great to hear Selph! Im glad you are okay!

That is a really nice forge design Tim Lively. I will always have a special place in my heart for homemade charcoal/coal forges. That is what i started with. Mine had basicly the same concept except i used an old cast iron sink instead of a washtub never used clay for anything. Intead on the clay i put sand all around the air pipe and then put large gravel on top of it. This has helped keep the ash from cloging the air holes and it works pretty well. I would definitely say that the clay would be an upgrade as it gets rather annoying with all the melted sand clinkers bouncing around in there. I was also curious, does the ash from the charcoal ever get down in those open holes and clog them?

Very nice axe eventlessbox! I love the fire color handle as well as the war hamer like design on the head. Nice job.

Thanks for all the advise Frazer. I have already done some abusive testing on that knife and it seems that the edge has held up quite nicely. The higher temperature was mostly an experiment to see if it would stay sharper longer and it seems to but i might have just done a better quench this time. You may have missed it but i said that the pommel was made of an old faucet handle. I simply cut and ground the outside part off and then removed all of the paint. When i said i was mabye going to file the handle down i ment that i was going to file down thw wood of the handle (with a rasp) to fit the base of rhe pommel so that there is no overhang. i dont have alot of experience either but i have made alot of knives. That doesn't mean i have more experience though.... as for your dager i really love that one. The stand u made is also real creative. I have made 3 dagers, two of which wear traditional Scottish daggers that look a bit more like knives. The nicest one ive done was made with only stock removal techniques and was sold for $80. Ill give a picture of that one.

Finally finished this knife for my cousin. I spent about 4 hours in all working on it. I quenched it in canola oil (not the be as t but ig was what i can afford) then tempered it in the oven at 425° for 2 hours. It is made of an old leaf spring and has a bing cherry handle. The pommel is made of an old faucet jandle that we had to remove from our house cuz it was leaking. The gaurd is just a peice of mild steel. The curations are not rhe prettiest but they ard the first ones that i have ever done. It is pretty sharp and can chop wood pretty good. Overall im pretty proud of this one. I will probably go back and file the end of the handle down till it is flush with the base of the pommel.

Sorry to confuse you mr. Slag. But it was a joke. I dont think there will be any shortage of toilet paper and i only know that from experiences while bushcrafting.

Ya we have 5 cases now here in idaho. We decided to close our little business and many schools here are closing after Tuesday. I dont really like having to do any of this stuff but social distancing seems to be effective at fighting this thing. Just hope it will be over soon, we have a trip to texas planned and a really dont want to miss that. Also the Olympics seem to be in a major stall as thay are supposed to be in Tokyo this year. On the subject of wild toilet paper, if you are in a place with skunkweed, you may think, " oh it has large fluffy leafs that feal very soft, it would make great toilet paper." But i have to tell you, do not use it. It will work well but within the next few hours you will, um....., start to itch. And it doesn't go away for like two days, (i know from experience). It really is only irritating when you are sitting or laying down but boy is it irritating! So do not, absolutely DO NOT use skunk weed. You will not sleep for a couple of days.