Brand new member here. Id just like to say Thank You, and its a pleasure being part of this site. 

 

Welcome; so tell us about yourself. What kind of equipment do you have?  Skills? Experience? What do you want to do smithing?

Welcome aboard Canton, glad to have you. . . . Ditto Thomas, tell us about yourself, like puns?

Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome to the insanity. We love pictures, just have to resize them smaller to get them to upload. You will find that the forum is made up of a staggering amount of sections and topics. Just to let you know the search function of the forum leaves a lot to be desired. I suggest using your favorite search engine and adding (site:iforgeiron.com) without the brackets at the end of the string. That will return more relevant hits. So grab a sandwich and cold drink and dig in.

PS: looks like a moderator moved your thread so you will get more replies.

Thank You! Well, im a recycled teenager like to have a lot of fun in whatever im doing, firstmost. I was a Slot Technician of 30 years until about a month ago. My boss didnt deserve my respect. Now when I say this I really mean it. So we started this escalation and to make a long story short. He canned me. So here I am a curmudgeon that doesnt like to take crap facing a really bad job market. So the answer was actually pretty easy for me. I decided to start making knives for a living. A life long dream. Am I crazy, a little. But, Ive been very happily after it like white on rice and getting ready to go into my initial production in less than 2 weeks. I have a reputation for being a tim allen or tool guy that likes to fabricate stuff. Im currently working out of my garage/ shop. I have a beautiful old 50's Craftsman table saw, router/table, 1x42 w disc belt grinder (for Now) a coal fired brake drum forge w 30" stand, railroad iron anvil w 1x4 x 14 plate welded to top on 15" dia. walnut log, compound miter saw on dedicated table, Craftsman 12" bandsaw, full size standing drill press, Craftsman 12"x48" wood lathe, 6" dedicated buffer, 8" grinder, and old 70's stereo and speakers. I will have Forney 140A mig welder, Primeweld 50A non touch pilot arc plasma cutter, and Rigid 3 blade 13" planer on the way next week. Ive got 40 some knife patterns and a lot of 5160 and 15N20. I will be adding a gas forge as the weather will enclose my shop. I tie fishing flies, woodwork, hunt, appreciate leather working and have a lot of leatherworking tool but have little knowledge. I really enjoy science and astronomy, and think stone masonry and wood crafting things like Spanish Galeons and post and beam construction are truely beautiful. Oh, and Im very proud of my Scottish heritage. One last thing, I plan on making my own axe and hatchet handles for items i forge and as replacements. I currently have walnut, hickory, white oak, and red oak. I will be getting some rock maple, and black locust shortly. Shwew! 

 

Can you show us pictures of some of your blades?

And if you ever get down this way the Very Large Array is 55 miles west of Socorro NM and the Etscorn Observatory has star parties when things get more towards normal.  I was looking at the Milky Way last night; we're high and dry out here and lots of good astronomy observing!

Once AGAIN it was overcast for the Perseid meteor shower here. Seems every time something good is predicted it clouds up. Friends and II used to lay on our sleeping bags in the Mojave watching the Milky Way, stars and meteors. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I was stationed at Edwards AFB Mojave Central

For some reason Im having some difficulty uploading images. Just patterns at this point still on the fly getting things ready

To upload pictures they have to be resized. There are several threads about that in Feedback & Support. This is but one.

 

Oh wonderful crypto acrobatics!

Oh yeah, the cryptobatics get . . . interesting every time the guys who own the OS decide to Up(?)date it. Then we all get to do some learning curve climbing. 

We used to run lakers at El. Mirage Dry lake. High school friends and I put together a "racer" though didn't have the money or expertise to put together a streamliner. El Mirage  is a tune up dry lake for Bonneville racers. It was also an alternate landing . . . lake for experimental aircraft including the SST and space shuttle. 

It's a wonderful place to see how fast your car really is, got my 62 Vette up to 135 once. Second time I turned the wheel and hit the emergency brake. Turns out spinning a car at that speed wasn't really much fun. Didn't barf in my car though so it wasn't a total bust.  

We even got chased off the lake a couple times when they were testing aircraft. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Anyone know a place were i can order some reasonably priced 6150

 

How many tons do you want?  Where you buy depends a lot on amount you plan to buy and sizes.

Thinking swords?

Yes Thomas swards. Not particularly much, but enough to have on hand to experiment with

I was thinking of damascus and adding specific amounts of 4140

And 11 other herbs and spices

Good Morning,

To walk, you have to crawl first. Nobody starts out going for the Olympic's.

Enjoy the crawl.

Neil

Would 5160 do?

4140 is a little low in carbon for use in knives, so if you're doing to use it for damascus I wouldn't include it anywhere that will make up the your cutting edge. You also won't get much pattern when combined with 5160/6150. Out of curiosity, what are your 11 herbs and spices? 

No Thomas, Thanks! I have 5160 coming out of my ears. Good stuff! Thats alright, it was light in vanadium anyway.