Chimaera

TP- Not sure what steel they are. Had a few projects in mind- Spear head, folded eye hawk, possibly some big chopping knife. First they need to be flattened out, though. Whatever I do, I expect it to fail, so I won't be disappointed when it does. I need a ton more work and practice. Should be able to get a lot more soon.

Your beautiful work looks even better in a beautiful home.

Got half a dozen mower blades. Not the best, but good enough for me. I won’t feel bad for ruining quality steel.

Tried a bit of carpentry... quickly regretted it. Supposed to be a stand for chisels and punches.

Chad J, that blade looks awesome for a push dagger! Might consider trying it sometime.

Sorry, coal.

Pnut- that makes sense. Wait, is it discount in the spring??

Pnut, any tractor supply co around? It’s anthracite, but it’s cheap and clean. Oh, just read that you make your own, so free. Nm

Sorry for the confusion. I’m used to natural edge being used in reference to wood turning bowls, where the bark is left intact.

Same here. Very nice wood, love the natural(ish) edge.

Worked on my second piece of mokume. Had a friend come over, and he also made a piece. I have the more brown one, his is the blue. Both full of delams and coldshuts, but it’s getting better. Made from quarters.

Frosty, TP- You are two of the most active guys on here. Obviously you are saturated with knowledge, even outside of forging, but what do you guys make? Most of the people on here have distinct regions of expertise- Alexandr does huge, mild steel pieces; teenylittlemetalguy does mokume; I make garbage. I hear about your projects, eg frosty’s dragon heads, but it seems inconsistent, there’s no theme. Are you two just so experienced that there are no limits of expertise? Just something I was wondering.

We’ll see. I’m not ready to use any silver in mokume, but when I am and have more time, I might go roll hunting. Also, munchkin is incredible. Especially pathfinder munchkin.

I might, it's just those boxes are $500. It makes no sense, because you're still getting legal tender, but that kind of investment scares me for whatever reason. We'll see. I know that my dad has quite a few silvers (including a lot of lady liberties) in his coin collection, but that wouldn't be too nice of me. Thanks for the offer, but it's not worth your time. I might be able to purchase some from the bank, maybe not, either way it's alright. If I got some they would be for low layer mokume gane. I need to try half dollar first, though.

Well, got a call from the bank that they actually had 190 rolls... yesterday they said they had none. Got 5 rolls, no silvers. oh well, I wasn’t looking for silvers in the first place. TP, got any left?

Yep, Mr. George is once again correct. I will have to order a few rolls from my local bank.

George- You might be thinking of "gold" dollars. I believe halves come in $10 rolls. However, everything else you say is correct. If the credit union (I'm going right by it anyway) doesn't have some readily available I'll look into ordering a few rolls. Now one thing that I'd really like, and I'm not sure they can even order them, is a few dozen "Ike" dollars. They're copper/nickel dollar coins the size of morgan dollars. They would be good for very low layer mokume. I've only got one, though.

Slightly, but I'm not sure if it's actually the case or a placebo. I think that there is an actual different sound, but compared to a 90% (I've got some 90 quarters from my grandfather) it's very limited. These are still 60% copper, what makes up most of a normal half dollar, so it makes sense that it wouldn't be as intense. It does have a bit more metallic of a ring, though. I'm hoping to go to a credit union later (this bank only had three halves) to get some more halves. We'll see if I get any more silvers. This one I noticed on the ride home, I just realized how bright it was, checked the date, and there it is. JFK halves were originally minted in 64 with 90% silver, then in 65 they switched them to 40% silver. To thwart scrappers, however, they minted some 40%ers in 1965 and 66 that were labeled as 1964!

Went to the bank for some halves for low layer mokume. Ended up with a 1967, 40% silver. Unfortunately not a 90% silver, but still interesting to see. Here it is compared to a normal nickel/copper coin. The silver one is on the left.

The city museum is a lot of fun. Granted, I haven't been there since I was a child, but I loved that.

Deimos, you're right. Next time I should just stick to bacon and ham. After all, thumbs just don't have enough meat on the bone to make it worth your time!

Last night, making scalloped potatoes, I discovered how sharp mandolins (the cooking utensil) are. It took the tip of my thumb right off... wish I could sharpen a knife like that. It was able to cut free floating paper. No question as to what it would do with the paper test.

No, I certainly am not capable of forging anything more complicated than a small knife or a cube twist fire poker. I'm getting there, though.

I suggest you ask this bicephalic bearded dragon before reaching that conclusion. They very very rarely live to adulthood. He (they?) is a pretty boy, regardless. Can't imagine the shedding, poor guy.

With your location, what percentage of the entries are going to be live scorpions someone picked up in their shoe?