Red Cloud

Yeah wrestling should help with the stamina part. I only recently got into blacksmithing and actually have zero experience in forge welding but I plan to fix that tonight. Thanks to the "old way to split rail road rail" thread I have plenty of rail to try. I was thinking of a way to make just the head but I figured for now I'll try to go with the all metal handle for now and try just the head later. Thanks a bunch for all the replies. Kyle

I was thinking in geometry class today and came up with the idea to take a cross section of some rail I have lying around and forge a hatchet/ belt axe. The idea is that I forge weld together the bottom flange and form the handle, then bend the inner web to 90 degrees and flatten the back to form a flush hammer head on the spine, then widen the top rail and forge in the bevels. What do you all think? Thanks much, kyle

While I was hunting to day I noticed the abundance of black walnut trees on the property and I was wondering if quenching in walnut oil gathered from squished hulls would do much. That stuff dosn't come off of anything and I was wondering if it would leave kind of a reverse hamon on the blade from an edge quench. anyone ever tried this?

I've been hanging around here for a while, soaking up this vast amount of information and experience which I thank all of you for sharing. But now im at a sticking point in a project im doing for a history fair, of course it deals with the early history of knives, tools , iron and steel but by what i've learned, sommething called the Catalan Furnace was used to transform cast iron to wrought iron.problem is, I cant find a picture or diagram for my backboard. any sketches, drawings, or help at all would be greatly appreciated thanks kyle