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What did you do in the shop today?


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On 10/6/2018 at 7:31 PM, SFC Snuffy said:

Ted, that's a great-looking leaf! I've never used a leafing swage, but I thought I knew how. Yours seems really deep and narrow, though. Would you happen to have a pic showing the swage/swedge with a leaf on it? I.e. in use?

Sorry I missed this earlier. The swage (sp?) was used just to bend the leaf in half. If you need it deeper, once you've made the crease you can just pound the halves closer together. 

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 I haven't been on the forum for a few days, on tuesday I finally just stuck my leaf spring knife in water to heat treat and I had to go to town so I quickly put the knife in the vise with the tip pointing out and hammered it. It snapped right off and I was pretty excited (because I had tried time and time again to harden this knife but didn't harden) so I asked my dad if he could put it in the oven for me since I was gonna be gone and when I got back he showed me the blade had cracked three times (very large). I am not really that disappointed because I got to learn a lot from this experience. Yesterday I started forging some tongs out of some of the spring steel I got and got one half done and the other one just needs the reins drawn out. They are just flat bit tongs. Also my dad is starting to fix up lapidary (rock) saws for some extra cash and a bar on one of them is the wrong size and doesn't work well so I am forging that for him. I will post pictures of my tongs when they are done I think I'm going to buy some rivets off blacksmith depot because I am not very good at doing it with just a bar. sorry for the long post. :)  

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Way to go.. don't be afraid of failures..   I've had thousands...   I harden everything in water except for springs.. Water cracks are part of the hazard but once you get a little better you will be surprised at how you can harden in water and end up with a wondferful product.. 

If you harden in water.. You can not try to straighten it like you see in videos when the steel has been quenched in oils..  

The matrix in the steel is fixed my faster hardned in water and there is no residual heat left in the metal so it drops below 400F quickly.. 

Oil hardened steel you have some wiggle room as there is a time frame before the matrix is fully locked in place.. 

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I’m with you Jennifer. I quench everything I can in water. 

I forged and annealed five hammers Monday. Did some grinding Tuesday evening and heat treated and final polish on the faces Wednesday evening. Hopefully I’ll get them hung this evening. Four 2lb and one 1.25lb that was a special order. One of the 2lb didn’t make the cut for the store order. Nothing wrong with it but it just didn’t look enough like the others. I’ve got special pans for it  

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Beautiful work Ben,   Great looking forgings..  This is the kind or work I strive for..  I can tell they are hand made but just deliciously close to factory in perfection..  Very nice indeed..  

People don't realize everything from the factory was hand made..  The reason for the comparison is the guys and gals were making 1000s of 1 item so could reach perfection and be very consistent.. 

Yup, very nice.. 

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On 9/8/2018 at 9:17 PM, sfeile said:

I use a shapton pro ceramic water stone in 2000 grit to set the bevel. Then the same stones in 5000 and 8000 grits until the previous scratch pattern is gone. After that I move to a 5+ Japanese water stone working through koma and tomo slurred to finish on just water. Roughly around 14000 grit. Strop it on leather, and it will cleanly cut a free hanging hair.

I need to come up and relearn sharpening techniques from you.!!!

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Fellow artisans,

Some blade, gouge, and chisel sharpeners proceed directly from a 2,000 grit stone.  (usually water stone), to a buffing wheel charged with a bar of chromium oxide green. The size of the particles are a half micron in diameter.

That usually gives me/they a mirror finish.

Try it,  it's a lot less work. And thus you can avoid the very expensive stones that are higher than 2,000 grit. (for example diamond grit or ceramic, etc.)

There are wet sandpapers that go well beyond 5,000 grit.  If I remember, I bought some sandpaper rated at 15,000 grit, a good number of years ago.

They are often carried by auto supply stores.

I have not looked but,  I would be surprised if the knife making supply sellers do not carry them too.

SLAG.

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You are correct for knives and tools SLAG. Also correct on the sandpaper. They also have what is called lapping film that goes up as far as 0.3 micron "grit". There again, that is not needed for tools or knives.

The quote KiltedWonder used was in relation to a post quite a ways back where he asked me what I used to sharpen a straight razor. A straight razor is quite a different animal when it comes to sharpening. The theory is the same. You are rubbing an abrasive on a piece of hardened steel to create an edge. The practice is a bit different though because you are dealing with such a fine edge on a very thin piece of steel. If you used the grits of stone or the pressure used to sharpen most knives you would flex the edge and never hit your apex all while grinding your material away at a very high rate. (I learned this the hard way while learning to hone my first razor......)

An 800 grit stone to a straight razor is roughly equivalent to taking your chisel to a 36 grit belt sander.

For tools and even good kitchen knives you are definitely correct, and your methods (as I'm sure you already know) give an excellent edge for their intended use. For a straight razor though, it takes a bit more finesse and refinement to efficiently and comfortably shave.

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Mr. Sfeile,

I am still in awe,  learning all manner of divers (not diverse) information while reading posts on this site.

Now I understand the special techniques for honing straight razors. 

Thanks.

And now for a little trivia.  Chef's knives are not usually sharpened beyond about # 1,200 or #1,500 grit.

The best honed chef's knives work much better slicing where there is a little "tooth" on the blade.

They function like tiny saw teeth, while cutting meat,  etc.

In other words,  a chef's knife  can be too sharp.

SLAG.

p.s.  JHCC is there a picture of your "mother of all tin snips"  on this site. Where can I find same?

Thank you.

 

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I finally decided to start making a hammer and yesterday I got the eye punched (not finished have to forge more today and tomorrow). It doesn't look nice and it's off center but I'm happy for my first hammer head eye. Thanks to my dad that swung the sledge a lot for me while I held it. My family and I went to cut fire wood today and we stopped to eat lunch and I noticed someone had hung a deer with a thick stick being held up on a nail and PUNCH. I saw the punch in the tree and it looked like a perfect tong punch so I got my hatchet out of the truck (still eating my sandwich) and I cut out the punch so now I don't need to buy a tong punch. :D

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5 hours ago, JHCC said:

Finished the metalwork on my new NARB;

 

I didn't put nearly that much expanded metal on mine. I cut it about 1 1/2 sections wide and it hasn't shown signs of failing since I made it.

On 10/10/2018 at 2:39 AM, Cincinnatus said:

My wife wanted some pumpkins to put around the barn.

Nice, I like your pumpkins. Good use for horse shoes consider it adopted.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I was able to get the remaining openers drifted & roughed out.

I needed 14 for Xmas gifts (and two extra in case I screw a couple up) for friends who’ve been helpful or supplied me with free steel.

Now I can focus on finish shaping, polishing & adding handles. 

Which is the part I really enjoy.

 

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Wasn't done in the shop, but actually at an event that a friend and I were selling at and demoing at. While there we forged this 3.5lb hammer and some other stuff. Ended up having to stop early cause of weather but did well at the show. The hammer we finished the quickest we have ever, took about an hour and a half. Next to it is the starting billet.

                                                                                                                               Littleblacksmith

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Here is some pictures from the show and demo.

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