Frosty Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 17 hours ago, Edward Kocsis said: How is that not a good practice technique? It's not good practice if the characteristics of the material you're practicing on aren't a good match to the material you need to make a good product. If your intended product are wall hangers then it makes no difference at all. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Or letter openers — but who gets letters to open anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Just bills. I'd prefer to open those with a paper shreader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 No fireplace Das? It's enjoyable to watch bills turn black, catch and burn. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Ah, but to watch them get all mangled up first... muahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Yeah, that's good and burning paper in a fireplace or wood stove isn't recommended procedure. I had a friend who had a pretty good technique for reducing his junk mail load. Any junk mail with a postage paid return envelope got stuffed with other junk mail and dropped in the mail box. I don't think it works with bills, I DO know if you mail a check to the wrong utility they happily apply it to your account no matter who it's made out to. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Haha, I love the idea of mailing junkmail back to junkmail places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Kocsis Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 4 hours ago, JHCC said: That only comes from time at the anvil, which -- again -- is best invested with decent raw material. Okay this I can understand. You get a better return on your time and money. Thank your for clarifying that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Knife grade steels are harder under the hammer and have a much narrower forging range. Forge them outside of that range and they burn, crumble, crack or otherwise disappoint you. Practicing on material that can be forged outside those ranges tend to put their forging ranges in your "muscle memory" too. As you can probably source knife grade steels for free or scrap rate; why not practice the whole process instead of just part of it? Wouldn't it be better to practice keeping in forging ranges and heat treat and have samples you can break and see how changes in HT makes a difference? And if you have a spot of beginner's luck you have a *knife* and not a practice piece. So isn't any practice better than none? Yes OTOH isn't practicing the entire process better than just practicing a tiny bit of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Me too but I don't get many postage paid envelops anymore. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Kocsis Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 1 hour ago, Frosty said: It's not good practice if the characteristics of the material you're practicing on aren't a good match to the material you need to make a good product. If your intended product are wall hangers then it makes no difference at all. Thank you I can understand that. They are to dismaler to be good practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 If you really, really want/need to use salvaged steel, talk to your mechanic about getting a coil spring, preferably as new as possible (to avoid the microcracks that come from wear and that can cause a blade to shatter in heat treatment or -- which is worse -- in use). If you have decent tongs, cut the spring into appropriately sized chunks; if you don't, straighten out a 24"-36" section to hold by hand. 45 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Forge them outside of that range and they burn, crumble, crack or otherwise disappoint you. Practicing on material that can be forged outside those ranges tend to put their forging ranges in your "muscle memory" too. This I can affirm, to my lasting regret. 40 minutes ago, Edward Kocsis said: They are to dismaler to be good practice. Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavpilot2k Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 On 2/16/2018 at 12:26 PM, Buzzkill said: I appreciate the answers. I think it's good to add those things to the oft-repeated mantra "rebar doesn't make good knives." That's not exactly true. It should be: "Rebar might make a good knife...or it might not...or it might make a knife that's good in spots and bad in others..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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