Rantalin

A similar situation happened two summers ago. A man was trying to light his grill, but couldn't get the coals lit. Frustrated, he put the coals back into the back and went inside to take a shower. Some of the coals were smoldering, and he had set the bag against the building. This was a large apartment complex, and most of the building his apartment was in went up in flames. A few of my dad's employees had to go check out the building to make sure it was electrically safe. We had another job at that complex a few weeks later, and the damage was pretty bad. Glad you're ok Archie.

Two books, Besieged: Siege Warfare in the Ancient World, and Classical Weaponry of Japan: Special Weapons and Tactics of the Martial Arts. Which I guess would make that some sort of karate/kung fu S.W.A.T. team. :-D A slitting chisel and a pair of 1/4" V-bit tongs. The tongs are on backorder however and I have no idea when they will arrive. Also got a Barnes and Noble Gift card that I'm using tomorrow to buy the book Weapons, which covers almost every type of weapon used since the beginning of time, all the way up to current firearms and artillery. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Yep, not a white Christmas here either, it sleeted a bit, but no snow.

Very nice looking! I especially like the green handle. What's that made of? I also like the distinctive hamon lines.

Actually Sam, most Sword distributers classify "battle ready" as being high carbon steel. And a lot of these a hand forged. Example from museumreplicas.com, "Real museum quality sword, knife and dagger reproductions that are hand forged like the originals. Made from high carbon steels and other authentic materials these blades handle and flex like the real things. The fully tempered, full tang blades are battle ready for your next crusade or just display ready for your office or den." or from SwordsofHonor.com, "All swords are of the highest quality, usually forged out of high carbon spring steel, and are battle ready." I'm sure there are many sites and stores that make the claim "battle ready" for SS pieces of junk meant only to sit on a shelf, but most if not all of the places I've been too only make the "battle ready" claim on the higher quality swords.

It looks and sounds as though it might be used for making impressions in leather. That's my best guess...

One word. Beautiful.

I don't know about how easy it would be to forge titanium, but the cost of materials would kill me. Through Onlinemetals.com, a 3 foot by 4 foot sheet of 1/8 inch sheet is $US 2,000. Not something I'd be willing to pay. I make chain mail armor in my spare time, which is diminishing since summer ended and I'm back at college. It's not hard, but its very tedious and takes a long time. Since about a year and a half ago, I've managed to get a sheet about 16" by 12", and I'm starting a mail shirt, so I've got a square that goes over my head, which isn't more than three rings wide. Whenever I have time I coil, cut, or weave the rings and do a little more, but to coil, cut, and attach about a 16" length of 4-in-1 rings takes somehting like an hour and a half to two hours. With regards to the helm, Anvilfire has a handful of videos about armoring that include forging a norse helm. If I remember correctly, the helm is dished out to an extent and then a cone stake is used to finish the top. The smith in the video used a steel cutout of half of the shape of the helm to check for high spots and low spots, and then hammered them down (or up) to flatten the surface.

The MA General Laws do not define daggers or dirks, I did a search for dagger, and came up with only one hit, the law saying you cannot carry them. In that case, I would go to the dictionary definition of a dagger or dirk. In the case of a dagger, I get "a short knife with a pointed blade used for piercing or stabbing" The problem with daggers ISN'T that they are double edged, it is that they posess the thrusting and stabbing power capable to penetrate deep into tissue, and in some cases through ballistic body armor. A dictionary search for Dirk gets me "a long straight-bladed dagger, especially from Scotland", illegal for the same reasons as daggers.

It varies, but many US states are pretty strict about their dangerous weapon laws. I know the MA laws like the back of my hand, and carry a copy of them with me in my wallet. In MA, it is LEGAL to carry a single edged fixed blade knife on ANY length. Switchblades over 1.5 inches, daggers, dirks, stilettos, ballistic knives, and various other bladed and non-bladed weapons are ILLEGAL. The Karambit seems perfectly legal in MA according to what I see, as long as the false edge along the spine remains a false edge. What state do you live in Mooch? I could look up the knife laws and send them to you in you want.

Could be wrong on this, but the way I pictured the procedure, the "can" actually becomes part of the blade, and later gets ground away to reveal the pattern.

In my mind, a well balanced knife is one in which the the point of balance is directly at the hand guard. Balance points on knives and swords can be more of a personal preferance thing also. Some sword have a balance point that is about 6 inches above the hand guard, with others, the perfect balance point is closer to the hilt. The purpose of the balance point is to keep the sword easily wieldable. For example, if you hold your hammer at the end of the handle and try to swing it, the momentum of the head makes it difficult to control. Flip the hammer over and hold the head, and your speed and control increase greatly. The same principle works for swords and knives. The closer the balance point is to your hand, the wasier the sword or knife is to control. When dealing with swords however, to make the balance point that far down the handle is impractical. The pommel would have to weigh as much as the entire blade to balance it out. As blade length increases, eventually the point is reached where an unbalanced, but lighter sword is preferable.

I've never made a gas forge, so I can't really input on that, but the one I bought works really well. Immediatly after it's lit I throw something into the chamber to heat. As the forge gets hotter, I throw another piece under the other burner. I can get a railroad spike (about 3/8 inch square) up to an orange heat pretty quickly. It's been a while since I've used the washtub forge, but from what I remember it took a little bit to heat up a spike. The catch with the gas forge I've got is that the max I'm gotten the forge to is about a yellow-orange. I want to get some fire bricks and reduce the size of the chamber, which I'm hoping will increase the temperature of the forge. It usually took about 15-30 minutes for me to get up to a nice forging temperature with the washtub forge, from lighting the match to hammering the steel. I've only been smithing for about a year and a half, and this was the first year of that time, so I wasn't exactly an expert at getting the fire going. The great thing about the gas forge is that I turn on the gas, adjust the regulator, and light. Then I'm pretty much set to go. In a few minutes the forge is hot enough to start working.

I used the wash tub forge for about a year, my first year smithing. It worked great. However, I ended up spending too much time tending the fire and not enough time forging, so I switched to gas. For my birthday, my dad got me a gas forge off e-bay for about $130. The construction of the wash tub forge is incredibly simple. As soon as I thought the adobe was dry enough, I threw in some sticks and used a small desk fan blown into a small cone to direct the air into the tyure. I was able to heat some pieces of metal up to a mid-range red using just scrap wood. When I switched over to natural hardwood charcoal, the forge worked even better (as expected). I eventually ran out of hardwood charcoal and had to use charcoal briquettes, not my favorite thing in the world. My parents were able to find and get me some Nut Coal last Christmas which worked really well. It was amusing to see my relatives in a state of confusion when I told them I had recieved a 50 pound bag of coal for Christmas and was excited. I then found that pea coal, due to the larger surfae area, burned a lot better than nut coal, and thats what I stuck with until the switch to gas. Although I do plan on building a new coal forge eventually.

definatly, but it isn't so much that I burn things, as well as myself, but I can feel myself begin to fail. Hy hammer strokes aren't as precise, my arm is feeling heavy, etc. At that point I call it quits and pack up before I really screw something up.

Alan, the reason that thre Romans are not listed as Celtic is that they were actually enemies. The Celtic tribes that came in from northern England were a threat to the Roman Empire, and I believe the reason why the Roman Legion's became such a powerful fighting force.

Although not a natural disaster or large scale emergency, I figured I should post this link, just to get word around. I know there are at least a couple of smiths from Iowa that use this site. This student was reported missing by his parents, and was last seen at Grinnel College in Iowa. He left a note that could be interpreted to say that he wished to disappear for a while. His parents want him to come home. I'll leave the rest of the reading up to you. Paul Shuman-Moore Is Missing

Ew...knob and tube...not fun...I dealt with that all summer working for my dad. Definatly the most dangerous wiring type I've ever seen. Although I've seen some very poorly done wiring from today's electricians that's even more dangerous.

In my garage, which my father uses to store his inventory and has power tools in, there is an extension cord on a reel. I assume these can be purchased at a Home Depot or other home improvement store. You pull the cor away from the spool as long as you want it, and every few feet the reel clicks, engaging the gears that keep the cord from retracting. keep pulling until the clicks stop, and the cord will retract into the reel again. It's really easy to use, and is about a 25 foot cord I think. This extension cord is used for the table saw, drill press, and belt sander. All other power tools are directly plugged into outlets in the walls.

No, I'm not. For a while I never had an interest in kukri's, I always thought they were kind of ugly. But for the past few months I really like them. I'm not sure about the usage of the term.

The fullers on a kukri have their own "special name". They're called "aunlo bal", meaning something like "finger of strength". The aunlo bal is usually deep and narrow, and really close to the spine. The kukri fullers usually run just from the handle to the "corner" of the blade. Kukris can also have larger fullers called "chirras" that are in the actual "belly" of the blade. That kukri combines the two into two smooth flowing fullers.

Unfortunaly, my normal source for material doesn't have ANY information about fullers, under any name I can think of. So after doing a quick wikipedia search, I ended up with this website. Blood Groove -- A. G. Russell Knives Enjoy!

My dad is an electrician, so in the summer, I get to haul home some of the scrap copper wire. Its pretty expensive, and "the guys" usually bring it to a scrap place for cash. Sometimes we'll make over 200 dollars per job. I think in centeral MA stripped copper sells for something like $1.80, and out towards Boston it goes for almost $3.50 or so. I gather what I can and take it home. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping to be able to melt it down and do SOMETHING with it. It's worth a shot asking if you find a construction site with electricians at it, they might give, or sell, some of their scrap. Other than that, Either a scrap yard or a supplier would be the best bet.