Chimaera

Ah, very nice! I generally don't like pine, but that looks awesome!

Alexander- lovely sconces! What kind of wood is that? It looks like the grain is raised. How did you get that effect?

Congrats!

Oof. Tears are so much worse than slices. My worst tear is from when I was 11-12 and was messing around in a friend's pond. I took a step and the inside edge of my ankle ended up right next to a sharp rock, just tearing a three inch line from the sole of my foot to the top of my ankle. That wasn't too fun, but probably better than your dog bite.

Just waiting for the world to thaw out enough to do anything. I have so many projects I want to do: Chisels, drift, punch, tongs, knives, whale, elephants, mokume mokume mokume, fire poker, leaves, so many things... I've really gotten bit by the mokume bug. I carry this ugly piece of metal everywhere. I need a better one to replace this as my pocket piece. Looking to do a double pattern, raindrop on one side, ladder on the other. We'll see.

JHCC- I really want to make that whale with a piece of the WI you sent me, but we're getting highs of 40 (I know, not that cold) and my forge is in the driveway. Where a huge patch of ice is now. Not sure it's safe for me to put my forge and anvil on ice. Or myself when I have yellow metal.

Yep. I now have a machininist vise to help with that. Keeps it from being able to spin Thankfully, (to the best of my knowledge) that cut did not permanently damage any tendons or muscles. How, I'm not sure, but that freshly sharpened blade did far less permanent damage than a duller one, as this has healed up beautifully. No infection, no permanent damage, just a thick pink line running down the side of my hand. And a new realization on how much damage every part of this trade can do to you.

Also, in the conversation on slingshots- You could get scrap lead (~$3/lb), melt it, and drip it into a bucket of water. Of course, these won't be as accurate as a perfect metal ball, but I shot pieces of gravel, so... You could just sort through it, whatever is roundish you keep, the rest gets thrown right back in and melted.

I'm a bit late to this, but yeah. My latest knife I ended up putting on a handle after I thought I wasn't going to (a whole fiasco). The clamp slipped on the drill press and I had a freshly sharpened kiridashi spinning on the drill press with my hand stupidly close to it. It's healed up now, but the scar is about 2-1/2" long and the deepest part of the cut was at least half an inch. I did not enjoy that.

Sorry Frosty. I knew that but didn't do a good job communicating. How much are you willing to pay for an Irish Elk tenderloin? Now, what do I have that might fool an old curmudgeon like him... Those things were beasts, but their antlers are the cool part. Up to a 12'+ antler span.

Frosty- bull moose got nothing on the largest deer ever- the Irish elk. Absolutely massive animal, with a rack to go with it.

Frosty- probably neither. Probably just something to amuse me for a bit, if it breaks, it breaks. As a wall hanger I wouldn’t even care about hardening. You’re right, I do know that it will break, so it can probably harden a bit. We’ll see.

Now I feel ashamed... for A2 I just heat to full orange, hang up to air quench, and temper at 350 for an hour (super thin blades). Now, I have an excuse. I got thirteen feet for $10. That’s not very much. And I’m not selling mine, just messing around and maybe some to friends and family.

Yeah, I wouldn’t use this for knives. I’ll see if it hardens in water. One tine is broken off, do I’ll take a look at that grain. It’s not hardened and it’s been broken a while though, so I doubt it will tell me much. Very very rough, but that could be from it not being hardened and it can be from the whole think being rusty. Idk. As long as it gets a little bit hard, it should be fine for a spear head.

Got this pry bar... anyone know what steel it could be? Looking to possibly do a spear head, so hardened but still supple.

Biggest deer I've ever seen was eating my mesclun out of the garden boxes... He was an absolute beast. Had to be verging on 20 points.

Bead blasted my first mokume and am finally happy with the result. Next one I might put some liver of sulfur on.

Alexandr, you must run your forge on gunpowder, as I'm always blown away by your work! Ok, that wasn't my best... Absolutely gorgeous metalwork and woodwork.

I was recently asked (jokingly of course) if the crescent wrench I was using was metric or imperial. Little did they know that it was, in fact, both. It had a 6" handle but the jaw opening width was metric.

That's what I did. I just clamped them way down in a pair of 5/8 plates. If you have an oxy acetylene torch or a propane forge nozzle you could probably put them in an old vise and just tighten it as you heat them. After I had them forged out to 1/3 thickness I used the tip of a 1/2" drill bit like a counter sink to drill angled holes (if you use a small bit and drill real holes then it will collapse on itself) a little bit of the way through. Then flattened out some, drilled new holes, etc until I had the right thickness. I patterned both sides but kind of regret that. Next time I plan on using the dremel grinding wheels to do a bit of ladder patterning. Good luck!

Cannon Cocker- Nice Mokume! I'm still experimenting with my first piece, but my favorite finish so far has been sanded to at least 240 then bead blasted. You get a matte, bumpy texture with the copper a little recessed and the pattern is super obvious. If you want you can then sand it to 10000 for a shiny nickel, matte copper.

The puns never stop, do they?

Mr. JHCC was so kind as to send me several pieces of wrought iron (for free, I might add) to make a whale or something else out of. Need to find a good day to make a prototype whale out of mild steel before I ruin one of my three pieces of WI.

671jungle, what's that pattern on the one blade about? Very intriguing.

Finally buffed the mokume. Just need to let the copper darken overnight and it should be finished.