K. Bryan Morgan

If only I didn't live almost 8000 miles away. :blink: Looks like everyone had a wonderful time. This is definitely on my to do list.

Hope to get it close to finished today. Its either L6 or 15N20 either way its good and hard. As long as I don't let it get too hot I shouldn't have to do any heat treat to it.

Hey there hope your doing well. I look forward to seeing your version.

I started making a skiving knife today. If I'm going to be making knives, I have to work with leather and a good skiving knife is a critical tool to have. I could have just as easily bought one but this is much more fun. I have a large piece of bandsaw blade from an old wood sawmill. I got it cut to shape and ground out. Then started the tedious task of sanding all the rust off. I got the handles roughed out and the pin holes drilled in the handle and in the blank. Then go it sanded to 800 grit. I don't know if I want to go much further. I don't have a buffer. Its on the list though.

Try this.

Why not just cut some angle iron shims and place them in the hardy hole? You only need to shim up two sides. Or, if you feel ambitious you could do all four.

http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Welcome.html There's his site. Class schedule is listed on the first page.

That is a perfect demo size. Really nice. Great find.

Frosty I'm so sorry. I was so busy helping Renee with the dog show it didn't cross my mind. (insert chastised look here). On another note, we weren't killed by the insane drivers in Wasilla. So that was good. We did have a good time, and were exhausted after the long drive back. I'm planning on a trip down by myself. When exactly I don't know. Again I'm very sorry I didn't call.

I do the exact same thing. I believe its a step forward in human evolution. -_-

Very beautiful view Frank. I love that part of the country. Maybe some day I can visit and take a class. I would love to do that. Beth, those are wonderful pictures. I particularly like the one of the sheep in the meadow. Very restful. I believe we need to see breath taking views of nature to help rest the soul and inspire the mind. I can't help but feel at peace when I see such beautiful scenes.

We were heading to Palmer Ak. a couple days earlier it was totally socked in. Covered in clouds and not visible.

This is one of many reasons I live in Alaska.

Get a copy of "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander Weygers. I got my copy at Barnes & Noble. There is an entire chapter dedicated to railroad anvils. Besides that, there is a huge amount of information in this book that every blacksmith should know. Its a must have in any blacksmithing library.

LEFTIES OF THE WORLD, THROW OFF THE YOKE OF RIGHT HANDED OPPRESSION! :P Ok now that I have that off my chest. As a lefty I find it very helpful to use my right hand as much as possible. For unknown reasons, I write lefty but do most everything else righty. Including hammering. I also will use my left hand to hammer when I need to give my right arm a break. Once rested I go back to using the right side.

I always enjoy looking at your work. Very nice knives.

I've seen people use brick pile side draft forges for quite a while. Put the bricks under cover for a few days. Sunny porch ect. and then get busy. Bricks are fired between 1800 and 2300 deg f. So I don't think you will get them near that.

Both excellent ideas Chinobi and Thomas.

Arthur C. Clarks "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

OOO Track pins... I hadn't thought of those. I'll go to the John Deer repair shop here and ask about it. Also the hinge pins for the buckets might be found there too. Taking notes taking notes. I hope y'all have a great time at the lesson, I know I would like it a bunch. Renee has two of our dogs entered in the obedience trials and has been working with them for a while to get them ready. It looks like it will be a fun weekend. I don't know if I can get away though. I will be driving our motor home down and won't be able to drive over. Of course that doesn't mean I can't get away for an afternoon to play. Maybe we can work something out.

Good grief, Traveler, there's a blast from the past. I remember Chainmail, D & D's progenitor. That looks like a nifty project. I bet it would be fun to do and well within your abilities. You will need basically four things. Something to get metal hot with. Forge, OA torch ect. Something to hold the hot metal with. Tongs, vice grips, channel locks. Something to hit the hot metal on. Anvil, big hunk o'steel, large rock. And something to hit the hot metal with. Ball peen, cross peen, rounding hammer, or even a smooth faced claw hammer would do in a pinch. And that's about it. Make a bow shape, think omega, Ω and fasten in the middle with a small bolt and nut. Or as was suggested a rivet. Good luck and post pics.

Excellent ideas there Frosty, I'll do just that. One idea I had was to get 1045 from an online source. There are several that will ship small cuts for not huge money. 4140 12 inch piece 2" is just under $30 from Online Metals and I can get 12 inches of 2" 1045 from Speedy Online Metals for $21, both add shipping of course. And of course larger sizes are available if that's what I need. Unfortunately no, I won't be able to. I really want to. Thanks for that invite and I will come down when I'm able to. I just don't know when that will be. There is a dog show at Palmer end of this month on the weekend of the 26th. We will be there for that. We'll figure something out. Maybe I can come down for a weekend forging get together like I was able to a couple of years ago. That sure was fun. It was great to see you and everyone else. I hope to do that sooner rather than later.

What he said.

I punched some plate I have and it went through without any distortion so I guess it works well. I plan on making a set hammer and a leafing hammer. Might jump up to a larger forging hammer later. I need to get some stock for that though. I will do a drift next. I have a good amount of the sucker rod to work with thanks to RTheabeu. The one inch is about the same as a 4130 from what he told me.

I made this hammer eye chisel over the last couple of days. Its not perfect but it does punch a hole. I ground off all of the scale that's why its so shiny. Its made from one inch sucker rod.