When the switch on the power hammers’ pedal broke for the third time it was obvious that car door light switches just weren’t quite robust enough for the power hammer.
I made the switch with some scrap wood, copper pate, a small coil spring, two washers and 8 screws.
It works perfectly and it comes apart easily.
I have listed myself on the Knifemakers Directory and you can access my listing by clicking the following link: http://www.knifemakersdirectory.com/Listing.asp?ListingID=67
If you ever wondered what my Makers Mark look like you can simply check the logo on my blades.
It looks like this…
Note to self and other forge makers:
Using terracotta tiles in a gas forge is a stupid and dangerous idea.
I do not even know why I thought it would work in the first place.
I made a cement plug with a terracotta tile stuck to the front of it for my Hot-tentot forge in order to plug off the front chamber when only using that part.
About 5 – 10 min into the process of testing the plug, the terracotta tile exploded just as I openend the door of the forge. Luckily I had my safety goggles on or I would be busy removing tile fragments from my eyes now.
The bigger pieces of the tile is still in the forge and I have substituted the tile for ceramic fibre blanket as you can see in the photos below.
It has been a while since I made a hunting knife and since I only had a couple of leave days left it was the perfect chance to make one.
The damascus was made a while back and it has a butterfly type pattern and is a mix of 3 different steels O1, L6 and W2.
I first wanted to file the back in a decorative pattern but then decided to make it more functional by adding a bottle opener. This is why I call it the “thisty hunter”…because it will suit a thisty hunter :p
The guard and pin is brass while the handle is Wild Olive with a Black Ivory inlay.
After completing the Hot-tentot forge I was inspired enough to upgrade my Post Box Forge too.
I upgraded the top lid so that I could open and close it easily and added the adjustable gadget for holding long pieces of steel or a billet with a handle.
The reasoning behind opening the lid is so that the forge can double up as a brass or copper melting furnace.
My old welding forge built in 2006 was in a bad shape and it was not worth fixing up anymore.
Since I was on leave and needed a new forge for welding, there simply was no better time to build the one I had in the back of my head for more than a year now. Here is a video: Hot-tentot Forge
It is my first forge with two burners and also two chambers…somthing that I have not seen before. The two chambers will allow me to work in only half the forge or both chambers if I wanted too.
A nice edition is the doors at the front of the forge that opens and closes by the pull or push of a lever. It also has a door at the back end like the old forge did.
The burners is 1 inch pipe with flameholders and a tap to close off the one burner if so required.
All painted black with high heat spray paint.
I am still waiting for the refractory cement to cure but I am litterally burning to use it.
I made a nice big knife for a change.
The blade is made from 5160 high carbon leaf spring. Forged, grinded, hardened, polished and “blackenised”.
The handle is of 3 piece construction with two pieces of dark hardwood on the outsides and a slender piece of whiter hardwood for the core. I wanted a real snug grip for the handle to stop the blade from slipping from the hand when it’s chopped about through the air.
The sheath is a combination of cow and croc with brass for the belt loops which I think gives it an interresting look.
So the gas ran out again and my old charcoal/coal forges are all in a pretty sad state so I decided to build a quick one.
I had the perfect pieces of steel just lying around the workshop, and had my eye on a thick concave piece of steel and an old grinder stand. They fit together like peanut butter and jelly if that makes any sense.
I also made a kind of airflow valve for adjusting air power to the forge and added a thinner pipe on the side of the main airflow pipe where the blower attaches. It was a real quick build…and you might bethinking “damn but it looks old and rusted”…well it just because it was made with rusty steel.
I call it “Flower Power” as it looks like a flower and works better than any other charcoal/coal forge I have built in the past.
I forged the blade from turtle shell / chocolate block damascus I made in June (L6/W2). This is the thinnest knife I have made so far…I think…and it was quite a fun project.
Yeah yeah…I know the blade is not as long as a traditional Yanagi ba, but I still call it one as it resembles the shape and will be used for the same functions and that was the aim when I started out making it.
The handle is made from black ivory sandwiched around a slender of wild olive. A copper ferrule strengthens the handle.
The blade was forge profiled from a piece of cable damascus and then grinded to final shape. It is my first dagger with a hollow grind and quite like the hollow grinds on a dagger.
The guard and pommel is made from an experimental piece of 5160 / high carbon steel nails damascus that had a couple of inclusions and not good enough to make a blade from.
The handle is hardwood and brass.
