mind if i steal the buckle design?? I need a new belt and would love to make the buckle rather than using a manufactured one on a homemade belt

M.J.Lampert

Biggun, my best answer at this point is so far so good. However, I don't think I have used it enough to say anything definitive about edge retention. Leather can be tough on edges, but the amount of cutting required to turn a couple of 1.5" vegtan strips into 1.5" belts isn't much of a test. The blade I used did not have carbide teeth and was 0.050" thick. It sparked like the lower end of high carbon steel, but it was new enough were I wouldn't be surprised if it was some special purpose alloy that would be hard to ID by a spark test alone. My test piece hardened in oil (McMaster 11 sec, preheated) and had a tight grain structure after a break test. I'll add that it while it skated a file it was slightly more flexible than some other common blacksmithing alloys before it snapped. I suppose that makes sense since you really don't want a saw blade shattering at ~3k RPM...

The thickness of the blade and my decision to use the arbor hole where it is turned it into a banana after my first attempt at hardening. I reheated to a normalization temp, flattened it out, let it cool, reheated, quenched and clamped the blade in the vise between 2 pieces of wide angle iron (pretty common practice). That left everything nice and flat. Tempered once at 375F and again at 350F.

Sharpening wasn't all too bad. I roughed in the bevel (holding at a ~10 degree angle) with a 200 and 400 grit belt, then I went to an 800 grit stone, then 5000 grit stone, then a ceramic rod and finished with a steel hone. The arc on the blade made it a bit of a challenge, but it was manageable. Certainly not the sharpest edge I've ever done, but it did what it needed to do without fuss. 

Of course, different blades, unknown steel, YMMV.

MJ, it's not my idea by any means. These are pretty much a copy from Torbjörn Åhman's (Tubbe here on IFI) video. From a forging perspective they are pretty straight forward.

My best advise is don't skip the filing steps and do a test fit before you sew everything together. It took me a couple of tries to get the length/bend of the prong right it so releases when you want it to. Then again you said homemade belt so maybe yours snaps together rather than sewing... either way just keep in mind the prong may need a little fiddling to work properly.

I finally finished up a hammer that has been sitting on the bench for a few weeks waiting for a handle. I tend to use the edges of the hammer rather than a pein, but because I've never used one I decided to go with a diagonal pein. A 2#er made of 4140.

I used it today and so far I like it. Granted I haven't used the pein yet, but I'm sure I will at some point.

 

Real nice Frazer. Now you need one with the opposite peen direction. 

Nice work! I'm betting that will be your most used hammer for a while. Since I started using a 2 lbs. hammer I hardly touch anything heavier.

I tend to use my 3# rounding hammer most often, but sometimes 3# is overkill. I've been using this one quite a bit since it's new.

My dad got me a Curtis Jere sculpture for Christmas, which took a while to arrive. I wanted to make something a little unique to hang it with. Certainly not the easiest way to hang something, but it looks nice (even though it's covered up by the sculpture itself ).

I might look around for a different light fixture as well. This one isn't doing it for me. Dramatic shadows though.

  Beautiful work on the hangers Frazer!  And that's an awesome sculpture.   Is that a forge I see in the barn?    Rosa Sapiens!  Nice display, lighting and all.

That is really cool..  Both pieces..  

Nodebt, yes, that's a forge. It's hard to see in the picture, but above the right door there is a sign that says blacksmith. It's a copper/brass sculpture of a blacksmith shop. My only question is why is there no anvil? Not even an improvised one!

Thanks Jennifer. It was a little fiddily getting it all to fit together right. Mostly fitting the to the 4 irregularly spaced holes I had to work with on the back.  One of those things that makes me (once again) wish I had a proper torch for spot heating.

With all the leather scraps I have laying around I made a slip for some chopsticks I made a while ago. The chopsticks are 304 SS, passivated with citric acid.

Nice iron wall hanger. I'd suggest that on the two "U" shapes, you do forged right angle bends to dimension. Simple and clean looking.

Yes nice stuff all around. The hanger has just the right amount of too much!

Just the right amount of too much... I like that.

Thank you

I went to one of those axe throwing bars a little while back and after talking to the employee working our lane I decided to make a throwing axe per the World Axe Throwing League specs. The head weighs 1lb 9oz, blade width 3.5", overall length ~14".

Wrapped and welded, mild steel body HC steel bit. Tempered at 475F, then differentially tempered for the colors 

Naturally it needs a case with a belt loop.

And last, but not least, eye pics for Jennifer. I had to use Latticino's round chisel trick (mentioned on page 10) on this one. It works a treat!

 

Thanks for the eye pics.. Very nice work.   

Are you hooked on the ax throwing?

Your diverse blacksmithing exploits are awesome.  You do some really nice work.  Simply wonderful. 

9 hours ago, Frazer said:

Latticino's round chisel trick

Wish I could take credit for that, but I learned it from James Austin

I can't necessarily say I'm hooked, but it was fun. After I heard you could bring your own axe I figured I should make one in case I go back. There are quite a few folks over there who are very into their axes and making them might be a marketable skill in that circle.

I went with more of a forward swept toe this time. Sort of like your bowtie axe, minus the central ridge you added in. I figure since the point of these axes is to stick -- and more often than not it's the top half of the blade that sinks in -- keeping the material up there might help.  Not sure if that logic will hold, but I guess we'll find out.

Latticino, he taught you, you taught me and so the line continues. It does work quite well to clean up that area.

Been thinking about trying to market hawks to that crew as well, though might be tough to meet the price point of some commercial suppliers.  In my limited experience with throwing I find that I agree with you on the typical point of impact for the top half of the edge.  I actually like a bit of an upswept point there for good penetration on impact (see Francisca axes), but a flat top works well also.

Agreed, there might be one or 2 who are willing to spend a little extra, but in talking to the guy there a lot of the people in the league use the ones they have for sale there (imports, available on Amazon, etc.)

I think tomahawks would need to be wedged to meet their rules.

Quote

Axes Heads that have become loose or have an axe head that is easily removed (ie. heads that are clamped or held into the handle by screw or pin) are not legal for sanctioned events, unless otherwise approved by WATL.

I'm not sure if a slip fit classifies as "easily removed".

Nice looking hatched Frazer, the eye is beautifully done. I'd be bragging if bought it.

When WATL was getting established in Anchorage I was approached to forge custom throwing axes to be awarded as prizes. I don't make blades, certainly not for sale and passed the offer to the club but nobody was comfortable with the potential liability.

Axe throwing at lumber jack games are typically double bit with the heads turned upside down to present the point of the "beard" to increase the odds of it sticking. 

The straight edges make sense but were I making them I'd make them up swept and maybe down swept as well to present a point to the target and increase the probability it penetrates and stays.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 3/28/2022 at 9:33 AM, Latticino said:

Been thinking about trying to market hawks to that crew as well, though might be tough to meet the price point of some commercial suppliers.  In my limited experience with throwing I find that I agree with you on the typical point of impact for the top half of the edge.  I actually like a bit of an upswept point there for good penetration on impact (see Francisca axes), but a flat top works well also.

for throwing I really like a swept forwards top edge.  1 and 3 photos would be my favorites. 

It strikes me as somewhat funny the style they "adhered to" for an official throwing ax. 

I'm with you on #1 Jennifer, #3 a little less so but it still looks good.

Throwing axes have straight edges so they're less likely to roll out of the target if they hit wrong. They aren't made to cut, they're made to stick.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

Frosty years back when I was "Into" figuring things out, I spent a bunch of time with different ax or tomahawk profiles.. 

First thing I noticed was most were way to heavy.. Really bad for the shoulders..  I found the same thing with throwing spears. 

I found the rounded edge did nothing to hinder the "stick"..  A bad throw is a bad throw..  Interestingly it's amazing how many blame tools vs skill..    

It's a much different world today and what was going on way back in the 70's and 80's would be considered wasteful by todays standards.. Or if anything misunderstood.. 

 

Back in the '80's there was a time when I threw for an hour after work most days.  However I didn't throw some "specified" design; I threw anything I could find as I wanted to learn to throw, not learn to throw 1 specific design.  I had 14 different blades and half a dozen hawks/axes plus some spears.  I've had some shoulder work done about a decade ago and they told me that the other one may need work sometime too.  Probably some of that was due to the throwing.  But boy was it fun to pick up some random blade and be able to peg it in the target back then!