As I prepare to get into making knives (after hopefully recovering from successful cancer surgery next week) I wish more were posting here in the knife making section. Seems forging knives is becoming more popular than just grinding and heat treating. I have done that but I hope to make it through and get strong enough to bang some steel. Possibly even make a few things that aren't meant to cut something. Just reading this sight I have learned how to improve my Devils Forge with proper refractory liner and adjust the flame to where I want it. Pics and descriptions of your knives are inspiring.

I don't make knives but I like to help if I can. I'm making a pot of chili. I used a knife to cut the meat and onion!  I'd offer to post what I put in it but that section if Vulcan's Grill. I use knives when I BBQ! 

Give me a little time I'll think of something that SHOULD be posted here.

Better?

Frosty The Lucky.

I'll hope and pray more for your surgery and recovery than more posts on knives.

 I like seeing everyones work as well. The posts always keep going, let's hope you do too. 

ARGH! I got involved in trying to lift the mood and forgot to offer my prayers for success all round. 

Get well soonest Brother.

Frosty The Lucky.

May each day be better then the last.  Start with the small things so you can easily find success, then build on that success.

All the best.

I'm willing to bet that after you finish reading all 180 pages in this section, you will be fully recovered and like me a cancer survivor.

This is my 2nd go round. extreme radiation and chemo 1st time. This time I am having half my esophagus and part of my stomach removed then resected. Going to have lots of time to read. OH did I mention I love pictures. Yah I love pictures.

Howdy Blackcloud.  I live about an hour from the south end of the Bighorns. Maybe not far from you?   Praying for your full recovery.  Wish I could post some pictures of knives I've made.  Maybe some day.  For now I just admire those whose skills far surpass mine.

Blackcloud. hoping and praying that you will beat it.  I'm assuming that you are in Wyoming although it is possible to be in MT and still be at the foot of the Bighorns.  But you could be anywhere from Lovell around to Sheridan or Tongue River and meet your description.  Not too many 307 folk here, pretty much gmbobnick and me except for an occasional pop up from someone else.

I'm afraid that I can't post many knife pics since like some other blacksmiths I'm not terribly fond of knife making, too much bench work filing, grinding, polishing, etc.. when I'd rather be hitting hot iron at the anvil.

Keep us informed of how things are going for you so that we can keep the prayers and support coming.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

PS for non-Cowboy State folk here "307" is another way of saying Wyoming because it is the area code for the whole 97k square miles of the state and the 582k folk who make it their home. 

I am in Sheridan. I made knives MANY years ago for the "buckskinners" I hung around right after I graduated from MSU in Bozeman. However they were all made through material removal via bench grinder, files, and hand sanding. Going to a little hammer work this time and see if I can learn to move the metal around in  a fashion that suits me. Worked as a carpenter and general woodworker for 20 years. Retired on disability because of my back. Working on a set up that I can sit and swing a hammer or run a bench sander. I enjoy seeing others work. Oh did I mention I like pictures?

  I've only made a couple of spike knives and don't have the nerve to post them on here!    I am wishing you well.

Scott

I don't post pictures either. I'm planning on starting. Half of the problem is that I just don't think to take pictures before I give the stuff I make away. 

Here's to a quick recovery Blackcloud. I took care of my Mom during both of her bouts with cancer. One of the most important things you can do is make sure you eat a healthy diet. There's things you can do to eliminate the lack of appetite and upset stomach. I'm pulling for you. 

Pnut

you have been a member here less than one month and you already read the over 70 THOUSAND POSTS in the knife section and are board already?

15 hours ago, George N. M. said:

PS for non-Cowboy State folk here "307" is another way of saying Wyoming

Alaska's 907 We have lots of zip codes though, some places are so small the only address you need is your name and zip. 

12 hours ago, Blackcloud said:

I enjoy seeing others work.

You sound like a supervisor to me. 

There've been a bunch of threads about smithing from wheel chairs and otherwise seated. You'll be far from alone here.

Frosty The Lucky.

Actually I was a foreman for a home construction company. Trouble is i had to wear a tool belt and constantly show many why they were worn and how they were used all day long.

NM used to have one area code; now we have two---getting crowded round these parts!

 I am originally a 406'er

I go way back before area codes...BR549

Oh MAN, I remember my first phone number and it was pre area code or zip. Empire2 3432. You had to dial 0 and have the operator connect you to the operator on the switchboard where the person you wanted to talk to lived to connect you for a long distance call. 

How many other parties on your party line? There were four parties on ours. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Our party line had 4 also, our ring was 1 long and 3 short rings.

Ours was 2 short rings. Bringg bringg . . . . bringg bringg. Pick up and listen to see if anybody's using their line before dialing!

Don't let Mother catch you listening in on someone's phone call! 

Cousins of Father lived on a farm well out of the closest town and had a hand crank phone. I believe their number was 4 and their closest neighbor was 2. Two cranks pause two cranks and wait to see if they were home. I don't really recall their numbers but there were only a few folks on that line so they all had a number. Everybody heard the bell on every crank so everybody knew who was getting a call. 

You got the operator by tapping the hook you hung the ear piece on. 

I remember it being a beautiful piece of cabinetry hanging on the wall by the back door. 

I really REALLY wanted to call somebody but . . . <sigh> 

Frosty The Lucky.

" Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia,

Tidewater four ten o' nine." 

I showed my daughter an old rotary phone once and she could not figure out how to use it. 

My parents still had a cord in the wall in 2009. And it was just this past year when my dad gave up the old flip phone, becuase the company did not have them anymore he had to get a smart phone. 

I still pay a few bucks a month to keep my old land line, although it is really VOIP now.  That is the phone number I hand out anytime I am required to give one.  As a result, all of the spam and robo calls go there.  The phone ringer is off.

I miss my landline a little, it was fun messing with the folks notifying me I'd won a car and a wad of money. Sometimes I could keep them on the line for quite a while and when they started calling me names I could start telling them just how pitiful they were being professional liars and thieves. 

Many years ago handling solicitors and scammers was even better, the connection didn't break until the person receiving the call hung up. So when a pest called I'd just lay the hand set on the shelf net to the phone and go back to what I was doing. It was a lot of fun listening to the caller trying to get my attention while I read or watch TV. They'd have to use another line to contact the phone company to get disconnected. It didn't take long before my number disappeared from call lists or maybe it was marked as a poison number. That doesn't work anymore unfortunately, it was sure a nice way to punish phone mills.

The phone company pulled the same trick on us and all they had available their computers were programmed to accept were Iphones. I LOVED my flip phone, I don't do anything but talk to people and take pics with my phone. I don't text, surf the web, use gps, etc. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I am still using an archaic phone that has a physical QWERTY keyboard.  They told me it would stop working when they went to 5G and it's certainly getting more iffy and doesn't accept emoji's.  I'm trying to get my money's worth from it after all I paid a good US$10 for it at a yard sale!