ChiefLittleBair

I'm in the middle of a knife build off between some friends. We all will forge a 5" blade and then torture test them. We also are forging a gift to give to the winner. We have throigh the month of July to forge our blades and gifts. We will have the torture test in August and the winner will choose the next forging challenge to make. I finished my knife and started on my gift. It will be a little camp ax out of some trailer axel. After 2 laid back nights of forging, I have it to the annealing stage. The knife is made from 8670 btw. My first time forging and heat treating that alloy, but I must say I'm really impressed with it so far. The test to failure in August will tell....

I know its completely usable as is. I already have several other anvils i use on the regular though. Bought this one for a fun project. It would definitely be germish lol. My main question was on the variation of the cross since I can't find any pics of a j wilkinson with this style of cross.

Hello all, I picked this up for a song while I was visiting a friend in North Carolina. I was wondering if anyone had seen the cross on a J Wilkinson like this instead of the classic "hot dogs"? The stamp around the cross looks to say "J WILKINSON & SON" and underneath is the remnants of "QUEENS DUDLEY". The only other markings are the hundred weight on the other side, 0 3 7. No stampings i can see on the feet under the horn or where the heel used to live. My original thought for buying it was to use as a striking anvil, but I'm toying with the idea of standing some 3/4 inch plate on edge and rebuilding the heel in a German square horn pattern. Maybe add a cute little upsetting block? I could also add a section of round stock to the far edge of the face like some German anvils have to aid in drawing out? Just playing with ideas. Rebound is probably 85% or so, and it rings nicely. I think a little 100lb German/English anvil would be fun, and im not out too much money if it fails. I'd give it the typical preheat and post heat, but honestly probably just weld with 7018. Not doing any welding on the sweet spot of the face where heavy hammering would be done, and what I'd be welding on shouldn't ever see much heavy work. Thoughts on my crazy and evil intentions? And back to my original question, has anyone seen this style cross on a Wilkinson? Thanks, Keith

Welcome to the forums Hoosier! I'm just east of you in Columbia City

Tonight I finished up the shop work on a knife for my father in law for his birthday coming up here in May. Just need to give it a sharpen and make a sheath now. Blade is made from old Nicholson files and mild steel. I wasn't too sure about this combo for edge retention, but after heat treating and polishing for etch I saw a hamon traveling across the entire blade so I believe I got a good carbon migration with the many heats I took at welding temp. Handle is Corian for a bolster, bloodwood, and walnut. I also inlaid a cross made from deer antler into the pommel.

Yes. "Technically" the "flint" we have here in the states isn't actually flint but rather chert. It is workable and will throw sparks, but I'd like the higher silica content of true flint that is found over the pond. I started flint knapping about 15ish years ago. I got pretty hard core into it and would knapp anything from glass, to old porcelain thrones. Unfortunately I set aside knapping when I got married as I've had waaaay too many other things going on, (like blacksmithing), but I still occasionally pick up my tools and work rock a little. The "flint" in the lock right now is actually some chest I knapped out of Keokuk. Just wanting to try some English flints and for the price of flints, I'd rather be lighting up the forge while they are shipped to me lol. Now to find where I put that dang broken spring so I can show the grain.....

To harden, I heat to what I see as a bright red/dull orange. It is at that point that it is non magnetic. A blacksmithing buddy of mine sees it as more of a cherry red, I just see glowing metal differently I guess lol. Quenched in warm motor oil. It passed the file test. Shined it really quick with some paper and tempered it with my little propane torch to a bright peacock blue. Set it on my anvil and let it cool down slowly. The grain was really fine. I couldn't see any cracks that would have developed during the quench. I'll see if I can get a closeup of the grain. Very good point. I actually noticed this while comparing the two springs and made another one but this time left a gap where the spring folded on itself. Heat treated the same as the first one and it works great. Just waiting on some new flints to arrive. This was actually a really fun project that required a lot of tedious hammering and careful attention to detail. I'd like sometime to make an entire lock. Maybe wrought iron and case harden it.....

I actually used my short handled pick up tongs for 99% of the forging on my spring. The fine pointed bits on them made handling very easy and the short reins made for very fine control of the hot steel. I used my 1 pound straight peen for drawing out the stock from 5/16 round, but the rest was an 8oz ball peen. Very delicate work and I really learned to appreciate short handled pick-up tongs

Yesterday I made a new mainspring for my flintlock since the old one had been broken and riveted back together. It had some good snap to it and threw great sparks, but nay have been a tad stiff. Gently worked it back and forth about 50 times until I got it to full cock then worked it back and forth from full cock to all the way down. Felt comfortable with it so I fit the lock back into the gun and on about the 5th test fire the spring broke.... so does that count as making 2 springs?

Thomas that trivet is really neat!!! I'd be tempted to heat it up and brush the scale off and oil it to preserve the antiquity and story of it. I do that to old wrought iron horseshoes I find. Its neat to see the grain on an old piece forged wrought and imagine what the smith 100+ years ago was thinking when he wrought it and what he would think if he knew someone would be holding and admiring his work all these years later... Today my brother came back over and worked as my striker again to finish forging out my ax eye drift. Tomorrow I'll grind and polish it, and if time is left I'll fire up the forge and see if the welds on my camp ax hold up to being drifted.

I roughed out a small camp ax/tomahawk using the wrap around method with wrought iron as the body, and 5160 as the bit. All welds went good and got to the point of drifting the eye and drawing the cheeks when it struck me that I didn't have an ac/tomahawk eye drift so I set out making one. Started with probably 9 inches or so of about 1.25" roundstock. I drew out the handle then started tapering the drift end when my brother showed up to help strike for me. After roughly an hour of work we got it tapered out pretty nice. He is coming out after work tomorrow to help again and we will finish flattening out the taper we have, then beveling the oblong drift to tear dropped shape. Super excited to finally have an ax eye drift and really happy how my forge welds went tonight. I've been really challenging myself to do some sort of forge weld every time I light up my forge to get more comfortable forge welding, and this project I think really pushed the limits of my rivet forge burning charcoal. Coke is a LOT easier to build heat and weld in with this size or forge and lack of a fire pot

Hheneg very nice! I may steal this idea for my shop. I need a way to organize my punches and chisels, and I have a bunch of scrap tubing at work

Chimaera, I make stone points, at least I used to. I was to the point where I could do matching flake patterns, fairly deep narrow notches, made several clovis points, made a jig for fluting folsom points, the whole 9 yards. I let off quite a bit when I got married going on 7 years ago, but I still make an occasional point. Its like riding a bike. You may be a bit rusty after not doing it for a while, but its a skill you never lose once you learn. Don't have any pictures of my work on my phone unfortunately, but I'd be willing to make a few for your display. I'd like to get back into it.

I did not mark the teeth to put them back together the exact same. I didn't tear the gearbox apart just to clean the grease, I know a pressure washer with degreaser would have done that just fine with only taking the lid off. I was after a full restoration and painting everything individually, not a quick wash and rattle can it while its all together. I've got a decent mechanical mindset head on my shoulders and growing up on a farm and working in a repair machine shop, I've had a good deal of experience dealing with gearboxes and tinkering with them to get them to feel right. I've only had 3 blowers pass through my hands, but all 3 of which have gotten this same treatment and came out cranking easier and looking way better when I was done. I enjoy rebuilding and take pride in it to an extent. I'm sure collectors and purists are tearing their hair out seeing what I did to the patina and original paint, but my goal at the end of the day is when a tool or piece of equipment passes through my hands and onto the next owner, it will be as solid and clean as the day it left the factory and ready for another 100 years of service before another nut like me tears it apart for another rebuild. Also, I counted 80 some odd teeth on the big gear and 20 on the small gear, so I'm not 100% convinced marking tooth for tooth would have made a huge difference. I believe it was 84 teeth on the big gear, so every 5th turn of the big gear would have "reset" the little gear to the starting point, but little gear would have been offset (and hit every 4th tooth in between?) until that point. The main point was getting each gear set by feel one at a time as I reassembled the gearbox. Nowhere near as many gears as a transmission, and I've played with the gears in many of those for fun. (and they still work lol)

Thanks George. From what I could tell under all the dirt and grime, the original colors were a nast puke green on all the castings, red on the fan and inside the fan housing, and gold lettering. I didn't want it to look like a Christmas present, so I went with green on all the castings, and black on the fan and crank handle. I used a silver sharpie paint marker on the lettering. This way it would match the green/black on my post drill in the shop.

I bought this blower and the remnants of a forge a few weeks ago. I've been looking to build a more permanent forge to replace my Champion rivet forge, and found a guy on Facebook selling this blower and forge. The forge is just the remnants of a wooden forge with a Buffalo Vulcan 14 fire pot. Atleast I got a decent firepower to build off of. The blower was in decent shape, no slop in the gears. Someone decided to pack grease in the gear box though. It made everything tight and it felt sticky. I went against everything I've read about not tearing apart gear boxes and tore it apart. Lots of simple green, acetone, and some spray paint later, here we are. It took a bit to get the gears running smooth. I set the spindle for the fan first and took out all end play but for a few thousandths as it is only adjusted from one end. Then I set the brass gear that drives the fan spindle according to it, and found the sweet spot side to side where it turned like butter. Then the crank gear was last and its easy to set and it just rides up against some washers that act as a thrust bearing. Trying to find that sweet spot for the brass gear was a chore though.... Does anyone know if the Buffalo 300 was supposed to have a counter weight on the handle? I've looked but I can't find a bunch of info on the 300. What I have found pictures of, some have counter weights and some don't. Not sure if the ones with were added, or if the ones without were lost.... thinking about forging one for mine to help it coast when I let off the crank.

JHCC I got a hardy cone mandrel from my I laws for Christmas. I honestly don't know what I used to do without it. It comes in handy for sure making rings and such. Yours looks great!

I slotted and drifted the handle, then rasped the face and struck end. Heated the face to bright red/low orange and quenched in oil. The thin cross section of the face hardened up enough to actually skate a file. Heated the struck end and let the heat seep in to the face until it was a nice golden purple color to temper. I've not been able to heat treat 4140 hammer heads this way before, I've considered quenching my 4140 hammers in water before to achieve file skating hardness. Just glad I achieved it with the thin faveof the flatter in oil.

Worked on refinishing the fire pot i got in a bundle with a buffalo 300 blower. Next up I just need to refinish the blower then build a more permanent forge in the shed to replace my rivet forge I've been using. REALLY looking forward to the increased air flow and work space with a more permanent forge and bigger blower

Thanks for the advice everyone. I was leaning towards not wedging it, so you just reaffirmed my plan. I actually really enjoy making handles. From the cabinet shop I work at I have pretty much unlimited access to hickory, maple, and oak. Although the hockey stuck idea is a really good one!

I assembled a guillotine kit from Roy at Christ Centered Ironworks on Sunday, and its maiden voyage was drawing out the body on a flatter. Flatter is made from 1.5 inch round, squared the body to 1 inch, upset the head in my hardy hole and squared it to a 2 inch square with heavily broken corners. I'll punch and drift the eye next time I light the forge and touchmark it. Then all it needs is a little filing and a heat treat. P. S. Do you guys wedge the handle on a flatter, or let it float a little and rely on the taper as its a struck tool?

I have a "west" brand anvil. Only paperwork i can find of them is a newspaper add from the 1930s I believe stating theire anvils being "solid cast vanadium steel". That is all i know about the history of "west" brand anvils so someone please enlighten me. The rebound on it is 90%+ in the sweet spot. I've never forged on a Swedish anvil but wouldn't trade my west for a Swedish anvil of twice its weight.

Rojo and BillyBones same here... I drink cans though, I'm not high class enough for the glass bottle pop tops although every now and then I get a hankering for some good stuff. Most useful tool in my shop would probably be my coal rake/poker I made. Use it for moving coke in the forge, digging clinkers, moving hot steel around, use the point to scribe metal, it will even scratch my back for me lol. I had to think about the question a bit before I realized I had my rake in my hands more than the steel, tongs, or a hammer. I guess that would make it my most useful tool.

Those are some neat bottle openers! I need to get ahold of some axle shaft to make a few hammers and top tools. My elbow is doing surprisingly well today. It itches more than it hurts, so it must be healing up.

The only pic I have of my most recent blade. Forged as close as I could to finish, heat treated and tempered, then hammered it cold through a piece of 3/8 round stock without a bevel to prove it put. Drove it straight through the round stock and left a ding in my anvil #smh forged out of leaf spring, quenched in used motor oil and tempered to a lovely straw gold