Donald Sawyers

I was watching a video on the internet (must be true if it’s on the internet) about how to get the most life out of the belts. At the end of the video he gave some info that someone had shared with him. He said to take a piece of good hard steel that was quenched but not tempered. Make sure that it had a 90 degree edge and lightly touch the belt with it. This will knock off the wore out high spots on the belt allowing a new section of abrasive to be available. This was only for the lower grit belts (36-40 etc). I also watched a knife maker video who is a stand in judge on Forged in Fire use a piece of tungsten to do the same thing. So has anyone tried this? I only have spring steel to try this with but I don’t know if it will be hard enough. Hope I haven’t be suckered.

Thanks Anvil, that cleared up a lot of confusion for me.

After reading how to temper in the oven, and then holding that temperature for 1 or 2 hrs, and then letting it cool, and then doing it again, I have to ask: how does treating with various methods in the forge while watching the colors change work? It seems that it is heated for just a few minutes and then quenched. Does the oven method create a better blade due to changes internally in the steel while the forge method just makes it less brittle?

A few wraps around welding rods will magnetize them enough to pick up filings. They now have whiskers and will start welding when the whiskers touch the metal. I was showed this trick back in the day when I was on a reweld crew at a power house. We had to grind out and reweld defective welds. Some were extremely hard to get to and even harder to scratch start the rod.

While looking through a web site on historical Wyoming, I saw this photo and thought it might be interesting to share with the forum.

The tube inside of a High Pressure Sodium lamp works great. Most Electrical workers have access to burnout ones.

George In answer to the last Question, no we are not vaxxed. Not anti just scared of catching from the shot. Wife has heath issues that put her in high risk. Good friend has same issues and shot almost killed him. 32 days in ICU and now has to stay on oxygen. We stay isolated naturally due to location. Only go to town when we need groceries. My wife is also very concerned about the virus so she keeps us at a distance from folks. I would love to visit and see your shop but probably won’t happen for a while. I plan on building a coal forge this summer for outdoor use only. I enjoy Black Bear very much. My closest neighbor (1 mile) is building a ribbon forge so I hope that will solve the low heat problem.

Just joined today so I hope I’m posting this correctly. Retied and needed something to get my backside out of the recliner. After watching a few shows of Forged in Fire, my wife suggested that I give it a try. Ordered a cheap forge and started making knives( at least they look like a knife) out of RR spikes. Watched several videos on internet to learn a little. Made a few out of a coil spring and other than my arm getting tired I think I will be doing this for a while. My biggest problem at this time is getting the gas forge hot enough (8300 ft). Thanks for letting me join.

George n. M. I live up on the summit at 8200 ft. Would like to meet you and pick your brain about how you worked out these issues. Donald S.