Chad J.

I'm not sure where I saw it but there is a nice series of drawings on how to make a rail spike tomahawk. Maybe it was on a bladesmithing site. It was a very simple set of instructions, but at the time it was beyond my skill at lost interest. I have focused since then on knife blades, bottle openers, leaves, s hooks with a more complex build occasionally to test myself. My bick out of 1 1/8th inch hex stock was a huge smile on my face when I was able to complete it.

Thanks Frazer, when I had them in my hands I noticed how sharp the corners felt. A couple passes with a good file will clean that up and my next set will be that much better.

My blade is down to 2 lbs 2.5 ounces. So the whole sword has dropped below the 3 pound mark. This project is taking me a lot of time but it is forcing me to slow down a lot and measure instead of freehand...errr for the most part.

Took a couple days to make my first set of fire pit tongs. Gonna fiddle with them a bit more to line them up nicely. Started with 2 24 inch pieces of 5/8ths inch square and worked them out to 36 or so inches. My biggest challenge was getting them matched up. Also did a hook for my bathroom door. To date that has the smallest leaves I've forged. Couldn't quite get a good picture of those.

All whiskey is medicinal, along with any type of brandy. I'll occasionally splash a bit on the anvil when I'm starting a tricky project.

My wood shop finally followed me home today. It's been up at the family cabin since my Dad passed and left it to me. Only thing he left to a specific person in his will. I finally had space for both table saws, (one was mine), drill press, 14 inch band saw, various handheld power tools, a plethora of wrenches and sockets, 2 router tables, enough pipe clamps to come a camel, and other various odds and ends. Kinda makes it a bigger priority to get a wall up between the smithy and the woods working areas now. Also shelving and a few work benches are a must. Really glad the price of wood has come down.

When I first started, a smith I bought a post vice from pointed to one of those and told me not bother with it unless I had a power hammer. They're one of my favorite materials to work. I've made a couple nice wakazashi blades and a kitchen knife from them. I also thought it was also a great mental exercise figuring out how to best straighten it quickly and effectively. I can usually get them done in less than 1 heat now.

Anyone else ever have to remake a part because you misplaced it in the shop? I lost the guard for my Arming sword and had to reforge it. Granted I like this version better. I drilled it out yesterday and I'll be doing a bunch of file work today.

You seem to be asking all the right questions and getting some great information to boot. One quick thing, not sure if you've seen this tip, don't grip your hammer too tightly when you get to start swinging. It's a common mistake and easy to do. I had taken the winter off because it's Wisconsin and I didn't have a roof over my head. When I got back my mechanics were all messed up because of that and it lead to aggravating some tendinitis I have in my elbow. I finally managed to correct my form and fixed my grip by putting bees wax on my handle for a bit more friction. I've also changed how my handles are shaped and I believe a few people have knobs on the end of their hammers. Oh, and listen to your body. If something hurts stop it!

JLP how is it? I'm beginning to think about buying a nice propane forge. The neighbor had a 2 burner Devil's forge he loaned me for a couple weeks and it wasn't bad. My little one turkey burner brick forge is quickly getting too small for my projects and I have to make a new tyre for my coal forge.

Went to the UMBA conference at Centaur Forge yesterday. It always gets expensive when I go there. Bought a couple shovels to make handles for in the auction, bid on a book of decorative iron work that was actually then given to me. Funny story on that. The books had gotten there all signed to Chad, so I bid on it just for fun. I lost at the auction but when I gave my name for the shovels, two items later, everyone had a good laugh. The winner of the book just gave it to me, which was really nice and I appreciated it greatly. I had a few tongs, files and farriers rasps, mill gloves, and a block brush follow me home from the shop.

The limit is your imagination. I've never tried rusty nails because there isn't much metal to them, but I think it's George that makes baskets from barbed wire so go for it. Bolts have a little more mass but pay attention to the coatings. Galvanizing is not a good thing to throw in the forge as the zinc burns off and is hazardous. If you're not sure, it forms a yellow crusty powder on the iron. Hinges may be a great place to start, but I have the same words of caution as for bolts, watch the coatings.

Iron Fangs,The short version; run it through your normal heat treat minus the tempering. Lock it in your vice and hit it with your hammer. If it snaps it's got some carbon, if it bends make a bottle opener with it. There are several threads in the heat treat area that go over this in much more detail, mine is the over simplified version. Oh, wear eye protection. The pieces go flying at extreme speeds.

Decided to make a church key. This actually started out as 1.5 x 3 x .125 flat stock. Not perfect but it opens beverages.

Is anyone attending the conference at Centaur Forge tomorrow?

Well it hardened. I'm questioning the temper, my grill was not cooperating. It was either too hot or too cold. I'll have to do it again today or tomorrow. It looked like it took a straw color. I put it to the grinder at 220 grit last night to clean everything up and the next temper should give me a diffinative result. If that doesn't work it'll be on to plan B or C, maybe D, E, or, heaven forbid, plan F whatever that may be.

I operated light, Kevlar helmet, vest with front, back, and side plates, satchel charge (20 lbs), rifle, a dozen loaded mags, rifle or shotgun. We operated from forward locations and moved by vehicle. Anyway it's ready to heat treat tomorrow, I'm assuming my scale is lying but it's down to 2 lb 6 ounces.

Thanks, I am also trying to find a local HEMA guild to get input on feel from them. I could think it feels good and it be totally messed up.

Getting into the topic of the weight and weight distribution, I wonder how much the training with the weapon affected this. Perhaps they may have had heavier dummy weapons for practice, muscle development, and endurance training? With proper training and practice would a heavier sword give an advantage on breaking through an opponent's parry or shield? How much weight was lost over the course of a swords usable lifetime to sharpening or modification? I'm simply asking these questions as an aside. I need to find a local HEMA group I think.

It is, feels lighter than that though and we all know bathroom scales with heavy, I had to stand on the scale with and without the thing. I'm comfortable with where it's at to heat treat it, I'm concerned that if I go thinner it may want to warp on me. The edges are just over the thickness of a dime, it needs to lose an inch in length, target is 31 inches on the blade, I can work down the fullers a bit more, and I'm a bit thicker than I want. Still plenty of room to work with. The blade itself is actually 2 1/4 wide right now. If I run out of places to shave metal I'll reduce it to 2 inches wide and adjust accordingly.

Kinda mushy

Used some fairly aggressive files to make sure the bevels were straight and I'm in the process of getting the fuller right so I don't have to mess with it much after heat treat. It's a hair under 3 pounds right now. I need to shorten it an inch and rework the shape. Then it's a matter of the final grinds. Saturday is the target date for heat treat.

I won't stop until it meets my goal. It may take a bit more fine tuning of the blade's shape and taper. I'm not talking it any lighter until after I quench it. Then the goal for the blade is maybe 1 pound 12 ounces, with the pommel, handle, and guard totaling another 6 ounces.

What Irondragon says. I don't remember, do you have an anvil or an improvised anvil? I don't tend to work the far side of the anvil a much as I do the horn or using my diagonal peen hammer. When I do it's half faced blows with my rounding hammer turned slightly toward the edge of the anvil to make use of the side radius. I use the end of the heat, dull red to black, for planishing blows with my hammer. Heat, beat, and repeat. When I get close to finishing I lighten up the blows and try to even it out more.

The grinding is easier when you have a solid belt grinder but I'm about down to where I'm going to hand file it to get the fuller right and smooth everything out. A neighbor has a 2 burner devils forge that he sent my way for a bit since he's out hunting. I'll be running it through that and I'll hook up my weed burner as well to help it keep heat. I'm going to go with Steve Sell's recommendation and use my grill for tempering. Right now as the blade sits bare, it's center of balance is right around 11.5 inches from where the guard will be and the forward pivot at about 9 to 10 inches from the tip if I am measuring it correctly. With the rough guard and pommel I can move it back closer to 6.5 to 7 inches. The blade is actually a bit long still and I'll be bringing it back closer to 31 inches instead of 33. It's already very stabby and getting close to the 3 pound mark on weight for the blade. I haven't checked my taper yet if anyone was going to ask but it's there.