Hollon

the only thing I ever tried to make from rebar was a tong clamp, and it broke after the second use...after that, I've never used it again

hmmm... Paperclips are deadly when inhaled.

The steel was a HC railroad spike, it was forged, but had not been heat treated yet. As I said though, I did cool it in water from a black heat, but I didn't think this would harden it enough to cause cracks. I did not anneal before forging as I thought it would be unnecessary. If you have other questions, ask them, and I will answer.

I was grinding on a knife yesterday and I noticed a crack. I proceeded to bang the knife against the floor once, which snapped the knife in half. My question is what could've caused this? I did cool it from a black heat, and did straighten it cold some, those are my guesses why. Anyone else have any idea. Also it was made from a HC RR spike

I believe you used the wrong name. Around here its "that xxxxxxx Sherman".

I have most of the foxfire books, and found all of them to be a good read. My only question was does the foxfire magazine still operate? Probably not, but one can be hopeful.

This makes me wonder, could you just use hardfacing rods? Or are they not hard enough?

What kind of music does everyone here listen to? I listen to a blues station on the radio while I'm working, but at home, mostly Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. I would imagine that I'm a minority around here, but I was wondering what everyone else listens to?

The file I was using appeared to never had been used, though it was rather old (and had a light coating of surface rust). As for demagnetizing the file, do I just heat it and quench it? Also the scale had already been removed with a bench grinder.

Just out of curiosity, where and what was this person fighting? Did he wear these to the bar or something? (small bad joke there)

When I file in bevels (therapeutic...haha thats a good word for it) I will be draw filing right? As for draw filing (and I know I had a post about this earlier) do I pull it straight down towards myself like in the the direction of ↓ or do I move it in more of a diagonal line, so that the file is moving both left, and downwards (sorry if this doesn't make sense). My intepretation before was to just move it straight towards myself, but that was leaving scratches, so I started moving it in a diagonal line. This worked well, but the finish was not as fine of a finish as it was described. One last thing. Should I worry about brushing out the filings that become attracted to the file after it becomes magnetized? I had been doing that, but it was taking a lot of time just cleaning the file. Thanks for the information so far. -Hollon

Anyone got any ideas for this? This is going to be done a bench grinder (not a belt) since my belt one is only 1/3hp, and my bench grinder is 2hp... And since I'm new at this, is this a bad plan to go about making this? 1. Forge to general shape 2. Hit blank with grinder to remove scale 3. File till flat 4. Use grinder to put in bevels 5. Use belt grinder to get rid of grind marks 6. Harden and temper. 7. Remove scale 8. Buff 9. Sharpen I realize that some people forge in bevels, but as a beginner, that seems to be leaving to much to chance for me, but I will try this later. I figure also that some people put the bevels in by hand, but I haven't developed the proper hand eye coordination for this yet.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but why are there no/less sound restrictions on motorcycles than there are on cars? I've never understood that.

I just got a new buffer (actually free old grinder + buffing wheels) and found out how dangerous they are, especially with one of those loose cotton wheels. Luckily it never actually left my hands without my intentions

I know this is sort of off topic, but is anyone else witnessing a HUGE amount of those Crane Flies/large mosquito looking things/skeeter eaters/whatever else they are called. Does anyone know what Im talking about?