Ray Plank

A quote from a book written by Louis L'Amour. "Man has within himself the most powerful weapon ever developed - the human brain ". We had better not let anyone know that we carry these, or they'll try to confiscate them too ! Ray

Yes, we did have flux core wire, and I have been unable to even find the company on the web, so I have been unable to get any manuals. I'm not sure what type store they bought it from, but it's worth a try for the demo. I hadn't even thought of the polarity or the incoming voltage setting. ( like I said, I'm used to an old 220 AC machine ! ) I'll have him check on those. Thanks for the advice ! Ray

This Christmas a guy I work with ( and have somewhat infected with the metal disease ) recieved a 220 V, Pit Bull brand Mig welder. His parents bought it for him, and since it has been sitting in the showroom long enough for the operators manual to disapear, they got a "good deal" on it. He went to WalMart and bought a spool of flux core wire,(about .03 size he thinks ) and brought it over to my house to play one Saturday. I do my welding with an old AC stick machine, but had played with a mig some in a couple welding classes, and was remembering how easy they were to use and get a very smooth bead. I couldn't get a decent bead to save my life ! I tried every wire speed and amp setting but kept getting little puddles, not the continuous arc I remembered. It looked like the wire was hitting the metal, starting the arc, then a short section of the wire would get red and melt off, breaking the arc until the wire fed out to start the arc again. Are we using too small a wire, too slow a wire speed, too high an amperage setting, all the above, or are we just too stupid to use a mig ? ( I actually got out my stick machine to prove I really could stick two pieces of metal together neatly ) I looked on the web for an operators manual, and while I found another welder for sale I couldn't find any information on this particular mig. Any thoughts, opinions, or solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ray

You're right, I had to look Real hard to see the halo ! I haven't tried pouring a pewter guard yet, but I have been collecting mugs from various thrift shops for the day when I get brave enough to try it. Thanks for the info ! Ray

Very Nice ! I must be scrounging in the wrong places, since I've never found anything that nice ! LOL I do have a question. I assume you have the blade heat treated ( Normalized, hardened, tempered to the right hardness) before you put the handle on it. When you pour the pewter for the front guard, does it affect the heat treating of the blade enough to worry about, or is the temp of the melted pewter lower than your tempering temp ? Or, do you have the blade wrapped in wet cloths to keep it from getting too warm ? Ray Plank

Sorry, I forgot to mention, I like a LOT of light on the blade when I'm filing on it. If you can't see what you're doing, stop. Ray

If the blade isn't too hard, I've had pretty good luck with using a file to reshape the edge. I'd clamp the blade in the vice, using a wooden block on each side to protect the polish, and ( I know this goes way against the grain ) file the "sharp"edge down to where I have a smooth surface all the way up to the tip. Then if you can angle the vice some, or clamp the blade in sideways ( still between the wooden blocks ) then you can start working on sharpening the edge. I would try to match the angle of the rest of the blade, at least untill I started getting the wire edge thet HW talked about, and finnish the edge with a set of triangular ceramic sticks. I prefer the ceramic sticks to the flat stones simply because I find it easier to judge the angle they meet the edge and am more consistant than I am with a flat whet stone. This is just how I'd do it, take it for what it's worth ! ( grin ) Ray

JPH, My apologies. I certainly didn't mean to put you in an awkward position. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Now, I have some reading to do. ( grin ) Ray

JPH. You're right. I need to start reading. I just picked up "The Wonder of Knifemaking" by Wayne Goddard. Are there any other titles you would recommend ? Ray

Sandpile, Yes, it is Blueprint number B0078. Thanks. You're right, It'll take a couple reads. ( especially for me ! grin ) "Don't quench oil hardening steel in water." Makes sense ! I know there are "air hardening" steels out there, are there any that you are SUPPOSED to quench in water, or should I just quench everything in oil ? Thanks again for all the shared knowledge ! Ray

Ok, so probably what cracked my spear head wasn't forging it at too low a temp, but quenching in icy cold water. ( It was December ) This is starting to make sense. Keep the steel warm enough to move fairly well but don't over heat and loose carbon. An alternate way of gageing temp is by how the scale is forming, small and fine is near non-magnetic, large chunks is too hot and carbon is being lost. Warm up the quenching bath to around 130 degrees F, and temper several times, or let it soak at a preset temp for a couple hours. ( I'm getting an old toaster oven to use for tempering ) Am I understanding what you guys are saying ? I really appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge, and want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks for the info Rich. So far I've been playing with used coil springs and leaf springs from the salvage yard. (I'm cheap ! ) If I understood you right, you recommend working it as close to the non-magnetic point as possible, which in my shop is a dull red to light red, rather than taking it way up to the yellow ? I'll definitely try the quench test you suggested.

I've only been forging for a couple years, and mostly on low carbon steel. I have been told by several people that when you work high carbon, you keep it very hot, cherry red to yellow, but not so hot that it disintegrates. I tried making a spear head out of leaf spring, and to harden it, brought it up to non-magnetic and quenched in water. It developed the prettiest set of cracks you ever did see ! ( actually, one little tap and it broke right in half ! ) The guys at the guild said I had worked it too cold. Could be, I don't know. THEN, one of the new members of the guild ( who is actually a trained bladesmith ) did a demo on making a knife out of leaf spring, and was very careful to Never take it above the non-magnetic level, and did some work at a black heat. He brought it up to heat very slowly and carefully, and worked mostly in the dull red range, and warmed up the quenching bath before he hardened it. He had the knife at the next meeting, and spent most of the meeting chopping on a hickory wheel spoke to prove its' edge. Is the forging temp different for different aplications? Did I just misunderstand the first guys ?

Hi, I'm Ray, and I'm not addicted to coal smoke. I can quit any time. In fact, I've quit 10 times already this year ! (grin ) My father was a carpenter, but loved to tinker in his shop with projects. He actually built three or four garden tractors out of old car parts, and we used them for years in the garden and pulling down logs for firewood. We had an anvil in the shop and since I was very interested in cutting tools, I spent quite a few hours shaping iron ( cold ) into a general blade shape and then grinding it into submission. Most of what I learned was how NOT to hold the iron when you hit it, ( it will sting like crazy ! ) and the knives weren't anything special, but I played with them for years. A couple years ago I took an evening welding class to learn how to use my fathers old AC welder and one evening the welding instructor pulled out his forge and showed us how to make a hook. I was flat out amazed with how easily iron moved when it was hot, and knew I had to try that ! I read an article about how to make a forge out of an old grill with a shop vac for air, got a piece of RR track from the scrap yard and went hook crazy. ( we have hooks all over the house, from the ones holding the shotgun over the back door, to the latest made to order coat hooks for my wife ) Of course I also tried making knives , using RR spikes, and came out with usable throwing blades. One day at the scrap yard, a guy told me about this group of blacksmiths that met at the local Vo Tech, so I got in touch with the welding instructor and got info about where and when. Of course, the night I show up for the meeting, they had to move it to another location, and the directions left much to be desired, but I found them anyway ! This was about three and 1/2 years ago, and it's been great. I live about 10 miles from Ed Thomas, ( is that name familiar ? grin ) and he invited me into his shop for quite a few sessions of smashing iron. I now have a small shop of my own, and find myself sneaking down to fire up the forge whenever I have an hour or two to play.

I have only made a couple hawks, but I grind/sand them smooth with an angle grinder, then sandblast. A coating of WD-40 keeps most of the rust away, and it has a gray textured look. For handles, I'm lucky. Our guild meets in a local buggy building shop, and the scrap barrel has hickory spokes from broken wheels, already tapered. Scrape off the paint, flame temper, add linseed oil and you're ready to go.