- Joined
- Feb 4, 2011
- Messages
- 1,429
Finally! I found an anvil! Kohlswa, now my Bladesmithing begins....
A little back story to introduce myself.
I was 16, 1988, in Boise Idaho and my best friends Dad,Bill,took me to a knife show at the fairgrounds. He and I hung out together sometimes more than I did with my friend until Bill passed away when I was 18. Bill had told me He'd someday give me his favorite knife, a Randall. When he unexpectedly passed away, the knife went to his widow, then his Stepson, my friend.
No big deal, I figured I'd just buy myself one. Alas
foot, I got married at 18 and never realized the dream of owning my dream knife. 18 years and 4 kids later I started looking at Randall's again. I ran into a local custom knife dealer on the job, and when I spoke with him about a buying a Randall No1 Fighter he was eager to sell me one until he found out
Gasp! I was going to USE it....
So, fast forward a couple years, I picked up a copy of the October 2010 Blade magazine and saw an article about Raymond Richard,his knives to me, were beyond what I ever dreamed possible. (Ray, thank you for the inspiration) and realized that I could actually MAKE my own knives... How custom/handmade knives ever escaped my attention all these years I cannot fathom. . . I ran out(literally) and bought 50 Dollar Knife Shop. (it should be called the suck your wallet dry knife shop)
Since then,it's been the beginning of fulfillment of a lifelong quest to find an artistic outlet. In years past I tried photography, wood working, guns,(poetry) and nothing ever truly resonated with my "Soul" until now. So hard to put into words... Several books later, hours and hours and hours online reading articles, threads, drawing knives, handling knives etc and I feel like I have a decent base knowledge to start making knives. Honestly, I couldn't stop if I wanted too.....
I've saved every penny I could in the last six months, have 2 forges built, just need lined, with 2 Zoeller type burners ready to go, bought 30# OF 1080 from Kelly, ordered a GIB from Jaimie, belts, wheels, etc etc from Tracy at USA Knifemaker. A Motor and VFD coming from Wayne Coe. I've read all the stickies, searched continuously through past posts absorbing all I can. . . Tonight, for the first time, I heated steel and pounded it out to start my first knife.
I found a 119# Kohlswa Anvil on Craig's List today and brought it home. I sat it on the floor of my garage, and the thought of it sitting there in my garage, unused the very first night was killing me. So, I scabbed together a firebrick forge and hammered out a piece of 1080 steel.
Boy, was that hard, and totally awesome! It's soooo much easier in the books.....
Thank you to everyone here on BF. Without all of your questions, answers and sharing of your vast knowledge, I'd be shopping for a Randall and would be still be trying to figure out what I want to be when I "grow up"....
Question now.... The face of my new anvil is almost perfect. Perfectly flat, no sway at all. rebound is almost 100%. But, the edges are all pretty rough. The guy I bought it from runs a machine shop. He said he'd mill the edges if I wanted for a fee. Do I just work with it as is? Can you mill the edges, since it's a cast steel anvil? BTW, $150.00 for the anvil
(thank you, thank you, whoever it was that suggested SearchTempest)
My goal, is to complete this first knife without any direct advice on the knife itself. Just using all the generous advice posted here in the past.....I've yet to find a question that I had that couldn't be answered using search. And, enough people ask questions I've never thought about that I don't seem to need to ask them myself.
I'm upgrading my membership so I can post a WIP thread.And, because if I actually "engineer", my knife, then I'm a knifemaker.... And, I'll post pictures, because I know it's not real until I show you guys...
I thank all of you for your inspiration!
Brian
A little back story to introduce myself.
I was 16, 1988, in Boise Idaho and my best friends Dad,Bill,took me to a knife show at the fairgrounds. He and I hung out together sometimes more than I did with my friend until Bill passed away when I was 18. Bill had told me He'd someday give me his favorite knife, a Randall. When he unexpectedly passed away, the knife went to his widow, then his Stepson, my friend.
No big deal, I figured I'd just buy myself one. Alas
foot, I got married at 18 and never realized the dream of owning my dream knife. 18 years and 4 kids later I started looking at Randall's again. I ran into a local custom knife dealer on the job, and when I spoke with him about a buying a Randall No1 Fighter he was eager to sell me one until he found out Gasp! I was going to USE it....So, fast forward a couple years, I picked up a copy of the October 2010 Blade magazine and saw an article about Raymond Richard,his knives to me, were beyond what I ever dreamed possible. (Ray, thank you for the inspiration) and realized that I could actually MAKE my own knives... How custom/handmade knives ever escaped my attention all these years I cannot fathom. . . I ran out(literally) and bought 50 Dollar Knife Shop. (it should be called the suck your wallet dry knife shop)
Since then,it's been the beginning of fulfillment of a lifelong quest to find an artistic outlet. In years past I tried photography, wood working, guns,(poetry
) and nothing ever truly resonated with my "Soul" until now. So hard to put into words... Several books later, hours and hours and hours online reading articles, threads, drawing knives, handling knives etc and I feel like I have a decent base knowledge to start making knives. Honestly, I couldn't stop if I wanted too.....I've saved every penny I could in the last six months, have 2 forges built, just need lined, with 2 Zoeller type burners ready to go, bought 30# OF 1080 from Kelly, ordered a GIB from Jaimie, belts, wheels, etc etc from Tracy at USA Knifemaker. A Motor and VFD coming from Wayne Coe. I've read all the stickies, searched continuously through past posts absorbing all I can. . . Tonight, for the first time, I heated steel and pounded it out to start my first knife.
I found a 119# Kohlswa Anvil on Craig's List today and brought it home. I sat it on the floor of my garage, and the thought of it sitting there in my garage, unused the very first night was killing me. So, I scabbed together a firebrick forge and hammered out a piece of 1080 steel.
Boy, was that hard, and totally awesome! It's soooo much easier in the books.....
Thank you to everyone here on BF. Without all of your questions, answers and sharing of your vast knowledge, I'd be shopping for a Randall and would be still be trying to figure out what I want to be when I "grow up"....
Question now.... The face of my new anvil is almost perfect. Perfectly flat, no sway at all. rebound is almost 100%. But, the edges are all pretty rough. The guy I bought it from runs a machine shop. He said he'd mill the edges if I wanted for a fee. Do I just work with it as is? Can you mill the edges, since it's a cast steel anvil? BTW, $150.00 for the anvil
(thank you, thank you, whoever it was that suggested SearchTempest)My goal, is to complete this first knife without any direct advice on the knife itself. Just using all the generous advice posted here in the past.....I've yet to find a question that I had that couldn't be answered using search. And, enough people ask questions I've never thought about that I don't seem to need to ask them myself.
I'm upgrading my membership so I can post a WIP thread.And, because if I actually "engineer", my knife, then I'm a knifemaker....
And, I'll post pictures, because I know it's not real until I show you guys...I thank all of you for your inspiration!
Brian
