mini-hammerin a few pics

T

tmickley

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Apr 4, 2001
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We had a mini-hammerin at my house this afternoon. Kyle Fuglesten, my knife maker neighbor Gordon Harlow and his knife making partner (all of their knives are collaborations) Keith Peters. We poked around in the shop, etched a knife, played with the KMG and by doing a couple quick grinds and doing a cork polish.
After the garage had warmed up a bit (it's 0 degrees here today, -10 tonight) from the kerosine heater, we forged 1 1/2 knives out. Kyle lost the bet and had to take the forged blank home with him. Keith and Kyle both got to bang some metal for the first time. It's only my third or fourth time so it was really the blind leading the blind there. To finish it off,we went next door to see Gordon's shop and have him give us a quick lesson on soldering. A good time was had by all despite my not having the sense or decency to offer them a beer.
Here's a pic of the 2 burner 'knife makers' forge.
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Looks like a good day, I like the space you have.

Have you ever tried welding a long handle on your blades. To get the first half or more of a blade forged out without tongs can make it a lot easier.

I find with the gloves and the tongs it is sometimes hard for me to hold the blade without it flying all over the place. May be more practice/skill I need or just better tongs. I got used to forging
with a handle making my animal heads rams bulls and swirls.

Keep having fun
 
I had a ton of fun today. Tracy just got a new welder, and hadn't figured out how to use it yet. Holding the tongs made my hand cramp up, but I think I was the only one to make the blade go flying, but apparently Tracy had some earlier experiences with this, because he showed me right away how to keep better control of the blade. I would type more, but my pinky and ring fingers on each hand are very sore from my first experience forging today.
Kyle Fuglesten

P.S. Thanks again Tracy, don't worry about the beer:) :)
The way were pounding people probably already thought we were drunk:)
 
Wowza! .....Look at the SIZE of that shop! All that open room.....

You're not wasting a perfectly good shop by parking a car in there are you??? (hee hee) :D

Thanks for the pics!

Rob
 
Kile - had a blast and we'll do it again. I want to see how you finished that thing up we managed to bang into submission.

Reg - I picked up a small hobby MIG weldor for exactly that reason. Problem is it's brand new and I haven't had a chance to use it yet. When it gets a little warmer (July?), I'll get some practice and start welding the billets or blanks to a rod instead.

Rob - That is my 3 stall garage. Looking carefully at the clutter behind the forge, you can see the tubes to the cockpit. I had to move the cars out to the driveway to do this. Leaving the cars out all the time so I can have the room to play when it gets this frickin cold here is not an option. I want to stay married. 1 stall is filled with an unfinished 2 seater airplane that has been nagging at me for some time to finish. BTW, I may have sold for you 2 or 3 KMG grinders. I expect at least a surface grinder attachment for my KMG or Beaumont Metals refrigerator magnet for commission.
P.S. I prefer the surface grinder attachment.
 
Tracey---I sure would have loved to have been at your mini-hammerin. Sounds like you had a good time in spite of the incredibly short comings in the hosting department (make mine a Foster's--No glass, the can is fine!) Your shop looks great, my friend, much more spacious than mine. Glad to see your pics, especially the one of you. It is always nice to know what one's friends look like. This day I cut out the patterns for your goodies and they will soon get to see your shop. I am sorry about the delay but am really busting by can with the backorders. I am really flattered in your desire to learn from my efforts. I will send some extra stuff such as patterns and designs if you can use them--my pleasure! Sandy
 
Sandy, the shop I want to hang out in is yours but I can't figure out how to get time to go there and I've looked into it. I haven't bounced going to the Blade show this summer off my wife yet. Maybe then. I'll bring some Fosters.:) I'm looking forward to studying those sheaths you are putting together for me. When you get those done, I'll have more for you. Hope all finds you well.
 
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