Archie Otteson

Thanks George for the pleasant welcome. I did make a knife shaped object very early in my "career" mid 1980's. I used a chunk of broken leaf spring from a 1970's vintage ford F700. Really had no idea about heat treating or any of that stuff so I got advice from one of the old coots in the shop. (still have much to learn). Anyways it was strictly grinding and sanding to remove most of what didn't look like a knife. I used an acetylene torch and heated until bright reddish and quenched in ATF until stone cold. No annealing or anything else. Made the handle out of curly maple and treated with aqua fortis, heat and finished with tung oil. I was just starting off building muzzleloaders around then also. It was beautiful!! I used it to punch to holes in oil and fuel filters during PM services on Cat 3306 and Cummis M11 motors. I never did use it for anything else and it eventually just disappeared. Back then we didn't have computers or cell phones so sharing pictures was not really a thing. I still have a chunk of that same spring out in my scrap pile.

I used undiluted copper sulfate on this steel frame. It reacted almost immediately. Be aware it should probably be diluted with water. if you don't neutralize that stuff it will eventually turn to brown rust. Not really a good rust preventor like bluing or rust brown (aqua fortis).

Here are some pics of the Pewter nose cap poured onto my 1884 trapdoor project.

Turns out those barrels are not as tough as you'd think, 5500 rounds of sustained fire will melt the rifling right out of them. Weird, huh?

I'd start with a penetrating oil like Kroil, Marvel other similar products. let is sit for a bit and start working it and applying more oil until it moves. Take it apart and start with wire brush. That will not fix pitting.

Hello people, I am excited to get started in the world of forges and manipulation of steel in new and exciting ways. A bit of my history is: I am a 40+ year Journeyman Heavy Truck Mechanic, Welder, Fabricator, Gunsmith, Butcher, Carpenter, Plumber and PITA. Never been afraid to try something new to add to my knowledge and skills. My home shop is filled with all the equipment normally seen in a heavy truck shop and some stuff that is a mystery to even me. I can firmly plant the blame for my presence here on the FIF TV show. It's all just so interesting. A few months back after many hours of FIF I decided to find out if shaping knives is something I'd like try my hands at. So off to the internet and the you-tubes to see what it's all about. It didn't take long and I said "hey, I can do that." So started shopping for tools and equipment. When I recovered from the sticker shock it became clear: why the XXXX would I buy that stuff when I already have the tools, material and skill to build a majority of it. With that being said, the rat rod belt grinder is in the last stages of the build. All I need are the wheels to drive the belt and that will be complete. Some of it is kinda rusty but that is what gives it the panache it deserves. My Grandfathers anvil came out of the "weeds" and I have everything to build a small gas forge. I recently inherited many tools including more rusty files, hammers, and gobs of old redundant tools than I may never use. They look like good steel to play with. I am certain to have plenty of questions but probably won't ask until it's already tried and maybe even failed. The biggest gap in knowledge that I can identify today is in specific types of steel and how to heat, beat and grind that BRT or BFT into a KSO. Previously I'd grab a chunk of steel off the rack or scrap bin that looked right, heat, beat, weld it until it resembles its former shape, rattle can the XXXXX and kick it out the door. We call that the 30-30 rule. 30 feet at 30 miles an hour and it looks great. I am excited to be here and thanks for allowing me to participate.