White Nomad

In Eastern Europe (where both he and I are from) the word for spicy and sharp and more or less the same. It's a pun. He's putting the peppers (spicy) into the steel for the blade to make it sharp(sounds the same as the word for spicy). I'm not sure if I've communicated it well but that's what's going on.

So, my question is: Could you melt and cast metals such as copper, brass, that sort of thing, using a side draft kiln running on wood. I saw a video online of a guy in the bush building a crossdraft kiln from earth clay and it got pretty hot inside while running on no special fuel, just bush wood. It was hot enough that the clay ceramic pot he had put inside was glowing. Would a construction like that be able to reach hot enough temperatures to melt metal?

Hello all, I'm looking for pieces of literature, imagery, art or anything that shows blacksmiths of the medieval and ancient worlds, particularly about their forging practices and just any general information anyone may have. Anything is appreciated. Thanks - Novak

This is some very valuable advice. I haven't been directly affected by the increase of steel prices, however there have been steel shortages in a few local hardware stores.

Got it!

Ok, I see. Thanks for the help

As the title suggests. I have a bunch of wrought iron (and yes I know it's wrought, not mystery metal or mild, it has grain). which I got from a friend's property when they were talking down an old shed. I've had a few attempts at forging with it, however it tends to split on me. I know you need to work it at very high temperatures compared to other forms of steel, but does anyone have any extra tips to make using it easier, and also how to forge weld it? Thanks in advance. -Novak

I see

So, I'm looking to get a relatively small induction furnace to melt and cast copper for making bars and other things from scrap. I'm looking online but all I find are those $300 induction ones and I don't overly trust them. Does anyone know where I can find a decent induction furnace for less than $500 AUD, and yeah I live in Australia so if it ships there, that would be great. I'm not too concerned at the size, 1KG will be enough.

I see

So I have a knife I'm making (what a shock) and I plan to use some red wood that I found to make the handle. I don't have the equipment to stabilized the wood and I know that moisture and such will cause the wood to warp if it's not stabilized. My question is, if I use linseed oil on the wood, will it protect the wood from absorbing excess moisture and warping? Alternatively, is there any way that I can stabilize the wood without having to make some elaborate vacuum chamber? Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading. - Novak

That's fair. The first ever attempt I had at making one was horrible. It's really up to personal preference, and different tools have different uses

It's been a while since I've looked at this thread, but for anyone wondering, I've found that using a sen knife has made it very easy to get the bevel formed.

I've tried hot rasping a few times, but I'm very cautious of accidentally burning myself on the hot metal. Also I find that I have sometimes accidentally bend the work piece from putting too much pressure on the filing strokes.

It's a bit of a long video and mainly focuses on the making of a sen, but this video has some stuff in it:

*note: I figured this would be the place to post this but if it needs to be moved, sorry* So I've been forging for a little bit now, and due to financial constraints, I have been mainly doing all my grinding and whatnot by hand with files and sandpaper, and only with the last year or so bought myself a small bench sander. I've been using files for a long time, but with the files I have, I've found that the process of filing a blade down and smoothing it out can be quite a tedious task. Then I discovered the sen knife. For those who don't know, a sen knife is an old Japanese (from what I know) tool, which I can best describe as a thick drawknife for metal instead of wood. They're used to shape katanas after they'd been forged but before the heat treating. Where files make a series of small 'cuts' in the metal and make a lot of small filings, a sen scrapes the surface almost and makes a chip similar to one you'd see on a metal lathe. While it may just be my inaccurate judgement, I feel like i can remove a lot more metal a lot faster using a sen than regular files. I find it great for shaping bevels and just all round blade work. I would even go as far as to say I remove more metal with my sen than using my bench sander, however it's a very small model and I only have fairly cheap and basic sanding belts, and I'm not that great at using it. I believe that if you have the time and resources, you should make a sen knife and give it a try. If you do use them, let me know what you think of them. If you do decide to make one, here are a few tips from experience; Spend time making sure the bottom of the blade is flat and that the blade itself isn't curved or warped. If the blade isn't flat and straight, you'll end up carving deep channels into the metal rather than creating a smooth surface. Another tip is to not push down into the metal too hard. All you'll do is run the blade deep into the metal and/or have the blade jump across the surface. If you make one, use a HC steel, I made mine from a chrome-vanadium masonry chisel. And finally, do anneal and soften your work piece before using hand tools on it, it's a far easier and better experience. Anyway, these are just by experiences and observations, if I'm wrong about something, do correct me. And if you have any questions, tips or other comments, do leave them, I'll try to reply to anything that pertains to me. Thanks for reading -Novak

Looks pretty good so far!

Alright, I'll take your word on it. Is there anything I can do about the heat produced by the motor though?

Just as the title suggests. I have a small 370W Ryobi bench sander and grinder, and I'm wondering if there are any modifications I can make to it to help with knife making? link removed Something to help remove more stock, or to prolong belt life, increase torque, reduce heat from the motor, pretty much anything that will improve the machine. Thanks in advance -Novak

No, not a blade like that, I mean instead of the blade being flat or curve away from you before the tip, the blade bends inwards towards you before the tip, I'll upload a pic when I get home and if I remember. I ended up using a really short sen knife and files and just creating the bevel like that, and then used a curved sharpening stone and ceramic to sharpen.

Yes, I can try other clays. The clay I dig up is an orange colour, but there is a clay source near me that is a white/grey colour. Would that be any different? Also I have used bentonite (cat litter clay) before, however it shrinks a lot when drying, though that could probably be fixed with a plasticizer like lime or ash.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been busy. The most accurate I can get with the classification is that it's mild steel, and quenches pretty well in water. If there is another way I can find out specifically what I'm working with using some method at home, do let me know. I'm asking into annealing for these materials because I hand file everything given that I'm only just learning how to effectively use my bench sander/grinder, and it would be easier and quicker if the material were softer, and for the bench sander, I figured a softer material would make the belts last longer. I also would just like to learn about the process and whether using kaowool would have been viable (I know it's not now, instead I use lime powder), so that in the future if I had to anneal, I knew what I was doing.

Thanks for the comments guys! I think the final verdict is that it was the tannic acid in the palm tree. I'm thinking about possibly tapping another one of our palm trees and experimenting with using the sap as an etch. I'll post a picture here soon to show what it looks like.

Yeah I know that mild is bad for blades. I used it to test out a design for a blade before I actually made it from the more expensive high carbon or tool steel I have.

I'm not sure where to post this, but I figured here seeing as it's to do with reactions and such. So the story is, I'd made myself a machete from some mild steel flatbar (not sure what SAE exactly, just from the hardware store) and I was using it while gardening just to see how it worked. I was hacking into a palm tree which had to be removes and the sap/tree juice was staining the metal a weird blue purple colour. This coating would really whipe off and I had to take to the blade with some fine grit paper to remove it. Does anyone know what's going on here? Is something in the tree reacting with the metal? If you know anything do let me know.