Frosty

If they work they're successful tools. Do you finish them? I pick up wooden baseball bats at garage sales to make mallets from. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh gosh Michael, I'm feeling timid in the presence of your looming greatness. Seriously, you're becoming a known metal man to the public. That's great news for anyone wishing to make a living at the craft. Truth is, I'll be able to say, "I knew him back in the day." Please post a link to the video if it's put online. Beautiful work on a grand scale. Too cool Frosty The Lucky.

Make a couple test punches and test them after heat treat. The test method we used in heavy metal shop class was to wrap the finished punch in a few layers of denim or other stout cloth with the edge/point only showing and give it a too hard smack with a 3lb. hammer wearing PPE of course. If it didn't mark the mild steel block it wasn't hard enough, if it bent is was a fail, if it shattered it was a fail. The first two failure modes were easily corrected anneal and heat treat again. Shattering was often the end. I have my eye on a couple LARGE coil springs a near neighbor has laying in his yard. I'm hoping to catch one outside so I can ask about them, they look like great hammer stock. Frosty The Lucky.

Paleolithic, shouldn't it be a stone blade? I haven't met many folk on a paleolithic diet who know what period they're trying to emulate and so get it WAY wrong. Paleolithic folk ate mostly meat, and grains and roots when available and lastly fruits, mostly berries in season. The "healthy" stuff wasn't much of a percentage at all, less than 10-15% over a lifetime. Bone analysis can show very clearly what diets were in various stages of life. Of course my opinion here is from my battered memory so if I'm wrong, sokay I'm used to it. As to the blade, not bad RR spike blade and I do like the wrapped handle. Otherwise I'm not so keen about Spike blades. Frosty The Lucky.

All this discussion about commercials would make the copy writers very VERY happy. When was the last time you watched a commercial that didn't make the person buying the product look like an idiot? Oh okay, I almost never watch a commercial though some are charming, like the mother and kids riding through the carwash pretending to be in a storm with dangerous octopus around. So, there are some I enjoy watching. The guy writing the Army commercial is just that an ad writer and like other talking heads, say the news casters said person doesn't need to know anything but how to work spell check and have a pleasant prose. What really bums me is commercials are the most creative thing on the tube anymore. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Matt glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in your header you might be pleasantly surprised to discover how many blacksmiths live in visiting range. It'll also mean us old farts won't have to rely on our memories when we're traveling in your neighborhood and want a snack, nap or beer. Frosty The Lucky.

You may have to range more widely too. It's been a long time since I spent any time in Nevada but there was a fellow in Yerrington who had tools and equipment for sale. Not being bashful about looking is really helpful. I'd ask about your handle but I'm afraid of suffering from TMI. Frosty The Lucky.

I hope you appreciate what a gem you got for a wife Gator! Great score, did you know what a deal you were getting when you proposed? Saltfork Craftsmen is a smithing group. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Tourg glad to have ya. Thomas has a good technique for making an anvil from a lift fork and I can't improve on his method. I'm thinking you need to widen the base on what your pics show, you do NOT want heavy pieces of steel falling on your feet or even just raking down your shins. <shudder> Isn't the CBA active in your neck of the woods? They're a darned active group and the more guys you hook up with the more tools, equipment and instructors you have available. Of course we're here and lots of us really love a good question, we'll make something up if we don't have an answer. Frosty The Lucky.

FYI They're called "scarfing" chisels generally for removing weld beads but are fine for squaring up holes and similar. Another method is to use a sabre saw or sawzall and saw the hole square. Of course a file will work and really REALLY strengthen your elbow grease. Frosty The Lucky.

Opposite sides of the planet eh Joe? No worry, lots of Ausies here, Kiwis too. I've always wanted to visit down under, ever since I was a kid and read water swirled the other direction when you flush the toilet. As I aged I wonder if the room spins the other direction when your drunk. Ah, the life so short and so much to see, taste and try. Frosty The Lucky.

I wasn't laughing at you John, this kind of thing scares the crap out of me. All it takes is one mistake to punch our card, maybe not even a mistake. I've felled thousands of trees over nearly 40 years and unfortunately I don't remember what went wrong so I can't avoid whatever made that one kick back and hit me. I don't even know if I screw up or it just went wrong. So, no I wasn't laughing. Trying to lighten the mood yes, laughing no. I was too relieved. Frosty The Lucky.

A saturated solution of borax in water but that's a rule of thumb as I recall it. I don't think you need to boil the water to get as much in solution as possible, just mix it till it wont take any more. I don't think there's a "right" solution unless it's a public safety issue, say a big top or such. Frosty The Lucky.

Whitesmith at the start of the day but how about after a few hours or do you have clean coal? I agree, little brothers can be funny. My little brother is 13 years older than I am but it's sure fun to see him get steamed when I call him little brother. Frosty The Lucky.

Aw shucks Mike. <shuffle shuffle> Nice looking blade and sheath. Well done. Frosty The Lucky.

It's good to see the craft get fair reportage and such good representation. Well done! Frosty The Lucky.

Sounds like a good score, I'll keep my fingers crossed for it's being as advertised. Frosty The Lucky.

Doesn't that depend on who is asking about the sword John? <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Amy, glad to have you! Blacksmithing is an addictive craft, few things touch the soul like using humankind's oldest tools, fire and something to hit with coupled with our brains, thumbs and eyes to have our way with iron and steel the backbone of modern human civilization. Frosty The Lucky.

I love using a tool I've made. Looking good, tooling and urn. Please keep us in pics as you work it. Frosty The Lucky.

I was going to suggest getting it wet, no need to mist it, water won't hurt it a bit and it sure cuts down on the dust. I like ITC-100 as a coat, it reflects heat well and is pretty resistant to fluxes. Plain kaolin clay at a thin slip consistency makes a good coating and it's cheap. Fluxes are caustic at welding temps and silicates are soluble in caustics so a little molten borax will go through uncoated ceramic blanket like hot water through cotton candy. Kaolin clay (porcelain when fired) is a very high alumina clay and darned resistant to caustics. The first time I tried coating Kaowool I just submerged it in kaolin slip and pumped it like a sponge. I wasn't happy with the results but that was before I knew much about the stuff and it lasted well in the forge so maybe it was fine. Frosty The Lucky.

That is wicked cool Randy and I'm no fan of skulls accesorizings. Please clue us in on your technique and tooling it has soooo much potential. Frosty The Lucky.

You're using hand tools not scissor tools, yes? Use lots of lube, sticky is as important as slick or more so. When the blank starts to fight you, just stop and anneal it. Freshly annealed it'll move like stiff putty with no rebound to speak of, as it starts to rebound after your second maybe third pass you're getting close to stiff. As soon as you feel it start to fight, anneal it and start again. Without scissor tools the high friction drag of hand tools compared to rollers makes for fast work hardening for much less progress. Patience will be rewarding. Bronze is a little more forgiving than brass for a given value for brass or bronze. Modern alloys have a lot of gray area in them so it's always ify unless you know specifically what you have. And no I don't, never did, know enough to say what alloy means what. Ever thought about setting up for scissor tooling? Frosty The Lucky.

Looking good Mike, great first. I love a quarterfoil grill. So, where are the pics of the tools? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Bob, glad to have you. Get hooked up with the local smith's group it'll make getting the tools and learning the craft much MUCH easier. Best of all you'll have a bunch of metalheads you can hang with, drink refreshing beverages with and swap tall tales. Frosty The Lucky.