Chad J.

Measure three times, make a mark, measure again, make a story mark, measure again, make the bend and how did it do that?

Last night I finished assembling the counter twisted candle stick. Took a piece of flat, used a top tool and swage block to raise a cross pattern, punched and drifted a hole, made a tennon, and then welded it up to look nice. Also made a dozen or so nails, worked on my counter twists, and stayed making small items for craft fairs, with my first starting Thursday of next week.

Shape looks good, tang might be a little thin, and leaving the bolt hole crates a really bad weak spot. How wide is the sword? How heavy? Were you making a specific model? All of that information is going to affect where you want the center of gravity. The closer to your hand, the easier the top is to control, farther away better for chop and slash.

Went to the Aman Amarth DethKlok concert last night with my youngest and her and boyfriend. Forgot I'm pushing 50 and landed on my knee in the mosh pit. It's sore today but no swelling. DethKlok managed to break the venue, causing an electrical issue that ended the concert early.

Hey guys, thanks for the warnings and suggestions. I'll likely build this from scratch and set it up to take a forge blower. I have some good sized sheet and I'll go with inch and a half black pipe drilled for air with a small sized angle over the top to distribute the air flow evenly. I've also become a big fan of using tube stock in the forge to get a more even and slower heating. Fuel choice is going to be lump charcoal. I'm thinking length with be 24 inches and having a flat bar extend on either end to help prevent gravity from doing its thing to hot horizontal steel. I'll do a rough sketch up later for suggestions. Only issue is going to be when (or if, thank you ADD) I'll get it built.

Great tips! I'll be making enough where having a dedicated forge would be good. I can't help it, they're fun. I'll check these out and go from there.

Ok, I'm looking to build a simple charcoal forge, v shaped with an air supply from the bottom. The idea is specifically for heat treating swords. I've never really seen one and I'm not finding much info online. Anyone have experience or advice? I'm thinking an air pipe on the bottom drilled or for air flow and 1/4 inch sheet making the body. Line it with fire brick and call it good?

Monday night the blade bug bit me again after a rough day at work. Started with 24 inches of leaf spring 1.5 inches wide 3/8 thick. Currently at an overall of 36 inches, 7.5 inch tang, 28.5 inch blade little under a 1/4 inch thick. I was going to do a bastard sword but alas, not enough metal. I should have left it at 2 inches wide and drawn it all out. Not sure what I'll do for guard, handle, and pommel yet but it was nice to just blow off some steam. Going to try to make some profiling tools to help get the blade bevels more efficiently. Maybe a hardy tool to use with my flatter.

Nice Asa! The top tools can be a pain to come by used. I, in my Neverending Quest to organize my shop, got a tool stand from Harbor Frieght. I slightly modified it into a hammer stand.

Wasn't actually planning on cutting the threads off , I do need to open them up a bit

I was messing with pipe the other night and pulled these off. I squared up the pipe, fullered all 4 sides and very gently twisted them. The squared sides helped keep it from collapsing in on itself in a less than controlled manner so I tried a counter twist. Now to build a good base for it.

Yup, I get the point too.

That reminds me, I need to build an oblesk for some climbing roses I put in. Your minor projects would take me who knows how long Alexandr. Here's a grill set I'm doing. Started as 3/4 x 3/4. I'm thinking of doing a set of grill tongs to finish it out but I'm not sure how to work in the cube twist with that.

Thanks Larry! I actually had a couple guys at work ask if I had any ready to go. I bet 3 are gone by Friday. Shiny, I did with one, brass brushed one, used a combo of gold and titanium hammered finish spray paint on one, and the fourth I used a light coat of copper spray paint.

The first 4 roses of the season are done. They take me forever, but I love the different touches I'll put on them. The push is on to get at least a dozen made for craft fair season. I'm guessing that 3 of these are going to find homes before the end of the week.