newlad Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Hello I found some old knives in a drawer with funny pattens on the blades I wondered if it is possible to make them into railroad spikes as I have allways wanted one thanks RIK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Hello, How many RR spikes do you want? I pick them up evertime I see one. I got a small pile of "HC" spikes here the other day. just begging to be made into something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Dont waste a perfectly good knife on an RR spike. They are sooooo easy to get. go for a walk on the RR tracks, and youll find at least one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Hello, Nolano, he's an Englishman in France, I doubt the French athorities would like him walking along their tracks! Sounds like trouble to me. I'd stay off of those tracks. I'd send you some just for the cost of UPS shipping. Let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlad Posted August 20, 2005 Author Share Posted August 20, 2005 Come on guys It was a bad atempt at humour turning a damascus knife into a railroad spike I was hoping to lead it to a discussion on knifes and blacksmithing slowly not to anoy anyone because whilst doing my theory learning I have sifting through loads of blacksmith sites and about half of them make knives and some even swords. What I can not understnd is how come there are so many knives around do people loose them or are there people out there that collect hundreds of them and swords why would anyone want a sword you should not use it to chop firewood and one more thing while I am talking piffle Is it right to encourage young people to make knives like young archie on this forum if I had a young son I would be a little worried about that I think he should be making boring things like tool sets for fires and the suchlike maybe it is that in the UK we are only allowed to touch a knife on boyscout camp under stict supervission of a older person The only thing I can think is that the old smiths are hoping that by getting young lads interested in fun projects they hope to slowly steer the youngsters into more formal pure blacksmithing at a later date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodtick Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Don't worry newlad, the humour wasn't lost on me. I laughed just reading the title. Unless you're a wanna be railroad Baron with no money why would you wanted to make a spike for anyway. hehehe :mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 And then when you're done with the spike, maybe you can make a bicycle chain out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Newlad: Excellent. I laughed when I read your original post, and probably should have said something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 HA, Ha, On the question of younger folks making knives and such, I'd say it depends on the additude of the young person. If they have their head screwed of right I'd say ok, if not I'd try to turn them away from it. I'd also take into account the friends they hang out with. Their influance on him might be strong enough to talk a "good" person into doing something they wouldn't normally do. You'd have to be the judge. I have strong opinions about people that dont take responsablity for their actions, I also have the same level of thoughts on people that think they need to save everybody from themselves. I'd say judge for your self as to letting a young person make knives or swords. Just think after they make the sword they can then beat it into a plow shear! Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnsrgn Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 I should probably stay out of this discussion, but what the heck, the posts are comical to me. I think it is all the fault of the movies and some bad TV shows we have nowadays. All the sword fighting ,even laser swords, LOL It seems the public especially the younger generation have a fantacy about swords in general, even in my small backroad area I have had several youths and even a coupla older fellas come in the shop and want me to give them a couple of hour long lessons so they can go and make their own sword. Kinda gets them when I hand them an old plowshare and tell them to have at it. After all weren't plow shares made out of swords in the first place.LOL On the other hand can't you just see two rival gangs fighting it out on a city street with swords, lots of limbs laying around and lots of pain and yelling for Mama, but at least no inoccent bystanders riddled with bullets from automatic weapons and hand guns. Kinda like the middle ages, they drive by each other at breakneck speed in their lowrider cars with one of them hanging out a window yelling at the top of their lungs while holding on for dear life while the car is jumping up and down like a jack in a box and swinging a sword wildly. Next thing you know flag poles will come up missing so they can joust with them. LOL I don't think you will ever see two rival gang members facing each other in the street yelling at each other "My sword is sharper and longer than your sword", no chivalry in a one on one battle in their warped mentality, not good odds to say the least. A fella could get hurt doing stuff like that. Oh yeah almost forgot, I have never seen two blacksmiths facing off at 20 paces with hammers either. LOL Your humor was appreciatted on this end Newlad (after I figured out you weren't serios) that is. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 Heck..I got ya all beat....I take knives and make files out of them!! I will not comment on the sword thing for obvious reasons... JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan B Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 Newlad, When I was younger I had an interest in knives. Now my son has a serious interest and he is 17. With knowledge comes responsability. My children have been raised and TAUGHT how to properly handle firearms. How to hunt, Skin, and butcher should the need arise. Teaching a younger person doesn't mean you are encouraging misuse or abuse of what they are making. I make damascus knives and my son has several but he knows what they are for and the dangers involved in abusing them. Any smith on here I am sure would encourage skill, ability, and most of all responsability. We are not here to train terrorist but to continue a dying trade for future generations to enjoy. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Before I teach someone under age to smith I get their parents permission; before I will teach them knifemaking I demand a talk with their parents about what's involved and what we will be doing. Then for a young person we do it all by hand, (tools hurt; powertools *MAIM*), generally by the time they have filed and sanded a blade down and I have demonstrated what abuse can do to it they are *NOT* interested in letting it get abused! (actually 9 out of 10 will never finish that first blade; those that do tend to get an open invite to the shop!) Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 The first "craft" I tried as a youngster was jewelry making. My dad and a cousin were rockhounds so when I was 9 or 10, one of them bought me a tumbler, followed by a wet grinder and small diamond saw. Soon, I was buying silver and making cabochon mountings. However, before too much more time went by, I was trying to make knives from files on the wet grinder. Never mind that I already had 3 or 4 good pocket knives - I just had to make one. I still remember the first one was from a 6 inch file and took several days to grind on that slow stone. I also ruined the wheel for rock work and had to buy another. My point is that almost all young men in their early to late teens want to either make or play with weapons. I think it must be natural human behaviour to burn off all that testosterone. However, as said earlier, very few kids who start one ever finish it. I have a nice shop with all the bells and whistles and none of my sons ever finished a knife - they all started one but it either took me to finish or just wound up in the scrap pile. They find out pretty fast that it's harder than it looks. BTW, many people do collect knives by the score. I had a professional knifemaker tell me that he considers it jewelry for men. He builds knives in the $1500 to $2000 range and has a 6 month backlog - many of the buyers are repeat customers. Guns are sometimes considered controversial or too hard to exchange with all the rules and regulations but anyone can buy and sell high-end knives. I have one pocket knife and one hunting knife - both are very sharp and cost less than $100. I suppose I am no knife collector... sigh... :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandpile Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Hello New Lad-- I have made knives for a number of years and started several other people in the trade. I have five Grandsons and four of them make knives. The oldest is now 15 and the youngest is 9. There has never been any play acting or talk of cutting, stabing or how much damage could be done with a knife. There has been a lot of talk about how a knife should be made for different uses. They seem to lean towards making camp knives and skinning knives. One boy has made a knife to cut himself loose if he hangs up to a run-a-way horse. He fashioned a sheath on his leggings(chaps) , so he could get to it faster. We attempt to equipt these young people with the mind tools that it takes to get along in this everchanging enviroment. We teach them all that we can--sense of fair play, respect for others, welding, carpentry, horse/dog training, gardening and any thing else, if they have a leaning towards it. By the way--If someone fears that teaching this tool making will be harmfull to these kids. They should look at what the alternitive is. All the violent playstation games and the violence in almost every movie. This contributes a terrible amount to the young people going haywire. The folks that are so wound up in their own lives, let the kids tell them what they want. Then the kids will entertain themselves, with the wrong life lessons. I no more believe a young person will go bad because he has the knowlege and equiptment to make knives, than a young girl will turn into a prostitute because she has the equiptment to do so. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlad Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 Hello Looks like the only naughty young man thats played wrong with knives was me then, My dad was in the forces and when we came back from singapore he brought some Koockerys (no idea of the spelling) and I used to take tham to the woods and throw them in trees they used to bounce out and go all over the place .untill I got caught that is I suppose that because I was not allowed to touch them I wanted them even more which is a good reason to teach kids the right way Anyway after working hard at my forge going through the basics I thought I would treat myself and make knife out of a old file I got it hot and started to beat it to a knive type shape, about the third heat it just fell in two so I thought a small knife would be more practical for me to make untill that broke as well and it was to small to try to make a very small knive so I decided to leave knive building to those that know and built another set of tongs Its all that I seem to able to make Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandpile Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 newlad--You and I need to team up. You show me how to make the tongs and I will show you how to make a knife.GRIN.. I can make a knife but have trouble with tongs. I have a tendency to make left handed tongs. They don't always turn out just the same,either.Grin Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnsrgn Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Newlad, things that are easy for one person may not be for many others. when you find something you are good at, practice it till you are very good at it, then teach your way to someone else and they will generally teach you something you would like to learn, You are probably the envy of lots of smiths with your ability to make tongs. oh by the way files are hot short as they contain a lot of carbon so they cannot be worked at an elevated heat or they explode or breakand they can not be worked at a red heat or they will crack, next time try annealling the file a couple of times before you start working it. try working it when it is non magnetic, which is 1460 degrees, scale starts to form at 1550 so you can use that as a guide till you get used to the color you want to work it at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Sandpile newlad--You and I need to team up. You show me how to make the tongs and I will show you how to make a knife.GRIN.. Let me know when, and I will watch and take notes....... Speaking of knives. It is of my humble opinion that you should use new steel for knives as there is so much blasted work in them. SO why risk it with unknown metal? ALso a piece of 1084 steel from a 'drop' bin is cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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