dlpierson

Graceful and clean. I like it.

Speaking as a stock removal maker who's just starting in to forging: Properly done both methods can product blades of equal performance and quality (however some steels are really not friendly to forgers). However, forging is more fun, gives you more flexibility in the shape of blade you can get out of a piece of steel, lets you work with steel that doesn't happen to be in a nice flat bar and uses less steel to make a knife of a given style. And did I mention that it's more fun?

I think someone is hoping to be very lucky. Unless they're all in really amazing condition, there's not much profit a reseller will make at $2.50/lb plus moving costs, etc. He has to hope for a rich collector.

Sweet! Also the first time I've seen one of these pattern welded.

The pics work and the spider is really cool! Thanks for showing her to us.

That came out stunningly well!

I'm just a beginner looking on but I really appreciate these Grant. Need to save them some place and start making some of them once I *finally* get the forge working this weekend.

Looks like some swage blocks got mixed in there by mistake -- with stands no less! Oh well just send up here and I'll take care of them so you don't have be embarrassed by your mistake :-)

So his scale was wildly off? I was believing it rather than the marking. Still a good price though.

I think the technical term for getting a Peter Wright in that shape for $1/pound is "stealing". Good find.

Those are something special all right. I especially like the beard on the smallest axe and meat tenderizer war hammer.

Very nice knife. Shear steel is such cool stuff and the piece you used shows a lovely pattern.

Kevin Cashen showed some photos of a damascus cavalry saber he made with a t-backed blade on bladeforums a couple of years ago. Said that he made some special power hammer dies to forge it (actually them, the first one self destructed in the quench).

Note especially "I will not reply to emails". He's trolling for suckers.

Anyone have an Anyang 33 to run this on? It'd be interesting to see how it compares to the other lighter hammers. The 88 certainly seems to be holding up its end of the competition.

Not to hijack the thread, but you have some very impressive work there James! I like your style a lot.

It's what's known in US knifemaking circles as a frame handle. I've seen them where the frame (middle slice) is metal, wood or micarta. Haven't made one yet but it's on the list.

I think that pattern welding being a recent invention is only partially correct. I've seen photographs of ancient, mostly rusty, viking blades which definitely had pattern welded centers with carefully designed patterns in them. Of course Javanese kris and such are another counter example. However I think you are correct both in that the famous Damascus blades were not pattern welded, at least not normally and that today's pattern welding goes far beyond anything we have historical evidence of. I seriously doubt that ancient tooling or steel was up to anything like the family of twisted W's patterns for example.

The required quench speed is determined by the "hardenability" of the steel. Less hardenable steel requires a faster quench. Less hardenable steels are also called "shallow hardening". For example: 1095 requires a very fast quench, O1 and 5160 will get fully hard with a slower quench. Using a faster quench than required will not cause the steel to get any harder and may increase the chance of warping or cracking.

I've been grinding and heat treating knives for about six years. Keep saying I'll get a forge some day. About three weeks ago I went to another Hammer In down in New Bedford, MA and much to my surprise won a 6" propane forge. Also got a long line of friends telling me that I was in deep, deep trouble if I didn't use it... Last weekend I went over to my local used anvil dealer and got a 197 pound Peter Wright. Still getting the pieces of a shop together. Plan to make an anvil stand out of 2x12's using a design from anvilfire that seems interesting. Given the way my small lot, surrounded by oak and maple trees slopes, I'll have to set up inside my current shop. Safety, especially CO is a big concern of mine. I've been lucky enough to know a number of very good bladesmiths and have had some casual instruction from them, but it's going to take a lot of work and practice to get any good at this. While I'm interested in general blacksmithing as well, most of my all too limited free time will probably go into bladesmithing. Dan Pierson