Hunter Douglas Martin Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hey everyone, My name is Hunter, I'm from Oregon and I'm just getting into the art of bladesmithing. I've been working with metal for about a year now. Little things like learning to weld and bend...etc. Within the last few months I've turned to blacksmithing. I started out with a home built 50 gallon drum & steel wheel firebox charcoal forge, and a cheap harbor freight 50lb anvil. Since then I've upgraded to a single burner gas forge that I absolutely love, though I'm still stuck with my old battered anvil. I started just hammering pieces of metal whatever it was. Over about the last two months I've been working on various hammer strokes and skills I'm sure any blade smith ought to know. Such as drawing out a billet, hot cutting billets, tapering, tip hammering (Though I'm still horrible at that) and so on. Anywho! I finally finished my first start-to-finish knife this evening! I've made a few other (things) but I never finished a full knife. So here it is Simple skinner forged from an old pair of channel locks. Normalized then quenched in vegetable oil, tempered in the oven at 350* for 2 hours. Then sanded from 80-2500 grit sand-paper and steel wool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hey Hunter. Welcome to IFI. Glad to have you here. Thanks for posting the picture. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Howdy Hunter so where in Or are you ? there mite be a few blacksmiths in you're area that you could go see for any help :<) I am in northern Ca ,the Real northern Ca - Not the central northern Ca lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Douglas Martin Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks everyone @IronWolf: I live in Grants Pass, so about 56 miles from the CA border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Neato. I never thought about using a pair of channel locks for raw material. Looks like you're on the right track, congrats and welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Douglas Martin Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Thank you Vaughn! I was just sort of looking around my shop area and saw a broken pair of channel locks laying there. So I made use of them :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Thats pretty neat! I was thinking of making a snapon knife out of a snapon wrench so give to the snapon dealer that comes to our shop lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluidsteel Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Nice. For your info. Channel lock brand pliers are made of 1080. It's a great steel to work with. Peter Pruyn(Brothersville knives) Gene Martin and Mike Turner are all in your neck of the woods. Don't miss the OKCA show in April in Eugene! 400 tables of knives! Welcome to the addiction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluidsteel Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Nice. For your info. Channel lock brand pliers are made of 1080. It's a great steel to work with. Peter Pruyn(Brothersville knives) Gene Martin and Mike Turner are all in your neck of the woods. Don't miss the OKCA show in April in Eugene! 400 tables of knives! Welcome to the addiction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.