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I Forge Iron

Sandblasting after hardening, blackwashing


Chimaera

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Just now, JHCC said:

I'm partial to Lopsang Souchong, which does well both with and without both sugar and cream.

Somehow, boba just isn't the right fitt for me.

For me, it's just an occasional thing. Been out doing yardwork? Nice cool, chewy boba is good. For the most part, though, it's not right. 

Very interesting how this went from being a discussion on bead blasting and blackwashing a knife to people talking about their favorite teas. I kinda like it.

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Right before the lockdown we made a mad dash for the little mom&pop import store that stocks the Ahmad teas, (80 miles each way) and bought 4 or 5 pounds of tea to hold me to we were free to travel again.

Some teas profit from adulterants and some do not; having grown up on "sweet Tea" as a tenet of Life in the Southern United States and now a Type 1.5 diabetic I rely on near toxic levels of Splenda when necessary.

At times I get a hankering for a cup of Oolong, lovely to watch the leaves unfold...

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1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

At times I get a hankering for a cup of Oolong, lovely to watch the leaves unfold...

I grew up on getting up at 4:00 a.m. to sit on my dad's lap drinking a mixture of 1/4 coffee, 1/4 sugar, 1/2 milk while he started work... I miss those days... I eventually moved to tea, as  I would be able to get more flavor:bitterness compared to coffee

1 hour ago, Jealdi said:

I'm browsing this site Chimera posted... I think my wallet is going to cry when I'm done adding things to my cart.

That is one of the biggest compliments I've ever received! Glad to make your wallet cry! In all seriousness, from my tea tour, my three biggest recommendations are the cream earl gray, calming blend, and irish breakfast. There was also a coconut rooibos that isn't my favorite, but lots of other people like it.

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I could not possibly spend enough money to have a tea collection rival my alcohol collection. My wife and I have amassed quite the bourbon selection on our bar (30+ different bourbons last count I believe).

What can I say... I like options in what I drink.  The cheap bourbons go great in my hot tea in the winter after work too, though I do use a cheap tea for that. No point wasting a good tea or a good bourbon for those.

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The Sisters of Mercy in Perth, Australia make a tea out of the naturally shed fur of koala bears. It's got an interesting earthy flavor with hints of eucalyptus, but it always has wads of matted hair and similar crud floating around in it.

Why, you ask?

Because the Koala Tea of Mercy is not strained!

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Rerun pun John? ^_^

About the original question. Can you polish Parkerized steel? If yes, phosphoric acid is available in small quantities in various concentration, as concrete cleaners for reasonable at the Home Depot. Read about the hazards of phosphoric acid though, it can do B A D things on contact with some things. The stronger concentrations sold for cleaning masonry, stone, etc. are meant to be diluted.

I brew Lipton gallon size bags for iced tea of which I knock off a good 1/2 gal a day, easy. Sun tea needs Red Rose, best sun tea anywhere. I prefer green tea for hot with Splenda and 1/2n1/2. I pick up different flavors when I see them but a lot just take up space for a long time. I find myself drinking peppermint tea more frequently, I love the stuff and it's good for easing the stomach. Inhaling the steam off a cup is a good decongestant too. 

For a good local wild tea we have: various parts of wild rose, lots of Labrador tea strains, some folks drink almost any kind of tree leaf tea:rolleyes:. For medicinals willow teas are strong pain relievers if your stomach can take it. Devil's club root tea is actually pretty good stuff with much of Ginsing's benefits. It has an earthy almost metallic flavor that isn't diminished much by sugar and cream.

Cream makes lots of tea flavors effect your taste buds more strongly. Lays nicely on the tongue. It's the fat, our taste buds are more attuned to high value foods which is what makes fatty foods "rich" and desirable. Who wants a dry burger? 

If you're picking your own tea, be absolutely SURE you know which are the toxic plants! 

Frosty The Lucky.

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I realized I kind of glossed over your original question in a way... and I hate tea.:huh: I know... i know... lol.

But, I've sandblasted a couple blades before. I have watched many of bladesmith jason knight's videos on YouTube, and there are a couple where he's blasted them to give them a matte finish. A much finer abrasive would give a good smooth matte finish. The down fall of this is bare metal that would have to remain oiled at all times, or coated somehow.

Another of my hobbies is custom cerakote paint jobs on guns. I didnt think, but cerakote is another possibility- albeit more expensive... for a good, dark black finish. The firearm has to be blasted bare metal for cerakote to bond to it. I use a minimum 120 grit media so that the paint will adhere. The downside is that cerakote is much less abrasion resistant. However, it has amazing corrosion and rust resistance properties. My EDC pistol I cerakoted around two years ago. Its scraped, and worn off in areas down to "bare" steel from daily carry. Not one bit of rust or corrosion.

Good to see a fellow buckeye Smith! Looking forward to seeing what you go with.

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100 yr old shotgun before, during and after cerakote.

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Edited by Welshj
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23 hours ago, Frosty said:

If you're picking your own tea, be absolutely SURE you know which are the toxic plants! 

Frosty, you got nothin' to worry about. I've spent YEARS staring at plants.  I know exactly which ones to use. Sounds like I'm being arrogant? Nope. Look at all this sasafrass I got yesterday! I'll have tea for years! Poison ivy: How to recognize it, how to get rid of it

21 hours ago, Welshj said:

But, I've sandblasted a couple blades before. I have watched many of bladesmith jason knight's videos on YouTube, and there are a couple where he's blasted them to give them a matte finish. A much finer abrasive would give a good smooth matte finish. The down fall of this is bare metal that would have to remain oiled at all times, or coated somehow.

Yes, my hope was to Blackwash, probably with Ferric Chloride. I will take a look at cerakote, though.  That shotgun was gorgeous! I thought the beadblasted matte finish would be pretty nice, but as you said, would have to coat.

On 11/6/2020 at 3:43 PM, Jealdi said:

I bought 9 different teas from that site to try.  I'll be in tea for a while. :) 

May I ask which ones?

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Certainly!

I took your advice on Cream Earl Grey and Irish Breakfast. I also snagged Black Dragon Pearls, Blackberry, Peach Oolong, Peach Rooibos (my wife loves peach, thought she might enjoy), Strawberry Fields, Sweet Nectar, and Wild Strawberry.

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1 hour ago, Jealdi said:

Certainly!

I took your advice on Cream Earl Grey and Irish Breakfast. I also snagged Black Dragon Pearls, Blackberry, Peach Oolong, Peach Rooibos (my wife loves peach, thought she might enjoy), Strawberry Fields, Sweet Nectar, and Wild Strawberry.

I'm not a huge fruit tea fan, but I liked the Peach Rooibos and sweet nectar, and other people have loved my strawberry fields. Good choices ;). Both the CEG and the Irish Breakfast really do profit from a little cream, or at least milk. I encourage you to try it. Also, watch out for oversteeping the CEG. It gets NASTY if oversteeped.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ah, sorry to keep you hanging! I'm still working on making a knife (made one over the last couple of weeks, but friend who was making it with me wanted scale). However, I took just a piece of scrap, used an angle grinder flapper wheel to smooth it out, and bead blasted it. Granted, I forgot to harden it, but I think it'll still work. That turned out with just the finish I wanted, matte, just slightly bumpy. Still awaiting some ferric chloride for a deep, black etch, but an onion patina turned out really nicely, so might go with that on the knife.

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