Chad J.

Nice!

The weakest part will be the screws you put into the wall. But I got distracted by your footwear. Are those clogs? I was just working on roses tonight v myself. For some reason my shoulder fatigued quickly.

I have spent 15 hours on this blade. I still have maybe 20 more to go, not counting figuring out the heat treat. This is a fun challenge, keeping it straight, moving it around, getting the initial fuller forged in. But my shoulder is TOAST after three days. I had to break the Trenton anvil back out and turn her lengthwise to keep it fairly straight and work on the bevels.

Nice! The blade is rough formed. I'll post a picture tomorrow. That axel I'm using really doesn't like moving at less than orange and it laughed at me when I tried using my 1.5 pound cross peen to give my shoulder a rest. Blade is a little long at 49 inches and the tang is still oversized but I like it like that. It's still pretty thick too, so more anvil work there. I'll eventually cut it down to the length I want once it's to my thickness goals.

I'm left to my own devices as the gf is out of town. Soooooo, as I do from time to time, i started in on another sword to add to the pile of unfinished swords and knives. Looking to get it forged out today, but the axle that's in working with us a royal pain. Almost as stubborn as I am.

Resting is the worst. If I'm not active or spend too long sitting on the couch my mental health takes a hit. I messed my knee up at the Aman Amarth/Dethklok concert a few weeks ago and it's still healing up because I won't sit still. Last night I decided to try making a vase from some 3 inch round tube I had on hand. Took me a couple attempts to get it to open up the way I wanted. I then used a pair of tongs and pushed it out from the inside. Once that happened I got close to the shape I wanted. The next challenge is figuring out how to twist it or decide to cut the slats at an angle to make it look twisted.

Thank you Jennifer. I appreciate it. They really are fun to make.

Got a couple decorative hummingbird hangers done over the past couple days. I usually sell one a year but I wanted to try a new design with multiple flowers and leaf sets. I'm happy with both. Now to do a bit of filling and get a finish on them.

Did up another set of box jaw tongs I plan on taking to where we have a Thursday night hammer in. All lot of tongs have been getting beaten up and I wanted to make sure we v had some solid heavier sets. I went and made sure I turned them the right direction this time.

Put me on the list for students.

I wanna do that so bad but my yard has turned into a botanical garden and a bloomery takes up space I don't have, unless I build it on top of my fire pit... What did you use for the ore to charge it? Was it powdered or pieces?

Hey Swede, thanks! I do use the same technique for my tongs, this particular case I beleive when I was working the necks on the tongs I moved the metal around with the occasional errant blow and got the wierd boss on them. Also when I was doing fit up I changed the angles a couple times. I started another set last night and I'm paying a bit more attention to that as I'm donating them to the shop where we have Thursday night hammer ins. The beginners had beaten up the tongs quite a bit over the years.

Finished up box jaw tongs last night. I had started them last week during the demo but was interrupted by custom requests every time. I had attempted these once before and didn't quite make them big enough and they were not lined up well. These are sized for a good size piece of leaf spring or the eye section of a wrapped eye ax. Going to make a few more I think. Took a picture of it with my first 2 sets of tongs I made.

I meant to hit send on this Sunday but I was a bit tired. I spent three days at a small music festival demonstrating and selling my stuff. First day I met a lot of people that were going to be there all the days, second day things started selling. Third day, almost all my higher priced items went to their forever home while people chatted, a few guys asking how Ib kept going in the greatest after 8 hours, I hit the anvil to the beat, and even worked after dark with no lights just for the fun of it. I was a bit cautious with expectations but it was fun as hell and I'd do it again.

A few shots of the garden. Its starting come into bloom for it's thrid year.

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