Last Flared Rivet

[tito]

Don't know why, but this wkd has just been one aggravating thing after another. This is my first flared rivet attempt. Of course I didn't screw it up until I was completely done. Everything was fine, but I wanted to seal any gaps by peining the edges of the tubing down. Last one, crack.

I also noticed that my bead blaster is throwing grit in between the scales, liners, and tang of another knife. It was seamless before blasting - something I checked carefully. It's like I worked all wkd for no good reason.

 

[Whoever Wherever]

Sorry to hear that Tito. I know how you feel. I have been trying to get set up for forging and it seems to be fighting me. I had two orders show up incomplete leaving me sans needed parts to finish my forge and then had problems figuring out how to work my blower (thanks to the forumites who helped me figure it out). At least it was Halloween and I had candy to eat when I was frustrated. Hang in there. If knife making was easy everyone would do it. That's weird about your blaster. Is your media worn? If so you may have dust in there that's much finer than usual. If you clean it out and put in fresh media it may help.

 

[tito]

I think it's a combo of grit size, using too much pressure too close, and probably some more stuff I'm too dumb to figure out. The media isn't all that old, but I had to take it all out, transport it across the country, and then re-deposit it into the hopper again. No telling what shape it's in. It's 120 grit silica - I've been thinking about going with a finer grain, but now not so sure.

I've decided that this weekend was extremely useful in the sense that I learned a lot of minutia, which will pay off in future work.

 

[Longstrider]

I've decided that this weekend was extremely useful in the sense that I learned a lot of minutia, which will pay off in future work.

Exactly what I was going to suggest They say we all learn best by our own mistakes. This means, of course, that one day I'll be the smartest guy in the class, coz oh boy, I cock it all up often enough to be learning heaps ! (Allegedly)