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I never actually use the pritchel hole on either of my anvils. I just noticed that I couldn't see it in the picture. I haven't actually ever seen a quality traditional anvil without one, though, but I haven't seen everything.

Anything stabilized will work great. That means you can just shop by what looks good to you. I use a lot of bocote and black walnut.

If you are sending it out you can start with just about any steel you want. There's not gonna be a whole lot of noticable difference for someone just starting between any of the common steels, as long as they're annealed. Probably want to avoid the "super steels", though ( those with high...

Well, I would have recommended starting with 400 anyway.:) Keep it cool and it'll make a really good blade.

From what I've experienced and from what I've read, that's correct. Finer grained needs to have a faster quench. The fully hardened blade in the test above did have fairly fine grain, about the texture of velvet, I guess. The other one was more like the texture of my printer paper in the...

Wonder where the pritchel hole is? For that price, if it's too soft, you could have a hard face welded on, or a hard surface welded on and surface ground true.

"Does that mean it will withstand lateral stress better than some of the other stainless steels that are commonly used in knives?" 3V is far from being stainless, but it will withstand lateral stress far better than any commonly used stainless.

Josh, I had basicly the same thing happen on a W-1 blade a few years ago. It was full quenched edge down (horizontal as opposed to vertical). I had normallized it five or six times, trying to see how fine the grain would get. I also quenched an identical blade, except it was only...

I don't use a cut-off hardy very much when bladesmithing (I used to use one a good bit doing ornamental ironwork), because it isn't much faster than using my bandsaw, which leaves a better cut without an angle on one side. (That sounds confusing, I know.) A spring fuller is great, almost a...

I noticed on my box of TSP that it says not to let it come into contact with glass, but gives no explanation. Anybody know why that is?

Congrats on the fine anvil purchase! And on the daughter! Don't bother with the palm stump. It'll come all to pieces under the pounding. My traditional anvil is mounted on a big chunk of red oak, and my post anvil is in a bucket of cement. I really like the looks of that three legged one...

I rough mine in on the side of the belt with it tracking over the side of the platen. Then I true it up with a half round file. Sandpaper in progressively finer grits wrapped around whatever is handy that is round and the right size to clean it up.

I probably made 25 or 30 knives before i finished one without bleeding somewhere in the process. Still do occasionally, and have used all of the above first aid methods. I like a combination of superglue and electric tape.

That actually sounds like a good Idea, to me. I've got a post type anvil that I do most of my blade forging on that is 4" x 7" x 20" set in a bucket of cement that works well, but I'd like to have a harder face. I've thought about hard surfacing the face and then having it surface ground back...

I've got Norton coarse, medium, and fine India stones, a Oachita stone, a paper wheel, a leather strop and green rouge, and have used the slack belt on my grinder, but I find it easier to get the working edge I want with cheap EZ Lap diamond stones. I have one that is hand held and has a...

Well, I thinned this down with three parts water to one part dye. It turned out ok, but, lordy, it took forever. I must have put twenty coats on this thing before I got full, even coverage. Still got to put some conditioner on it, but it looks alright, I guess. I feel like I could have done...

Thanks for the help, guys! I'm gonna thin this down and use it on this sheath (it's for me), and then try something different, maybe the Feibings. Todd Robbins

I had a great time forging with Ralph and his dad! I'm kind of a slacker, though. I've cleaned up the profile and ground in the bevels on two small fixed blades I forged that day and ground all of the forge scale off of a bigger bar, but nothing is close to finished. I'm looking forward to...

I'm preparing to dye a sheath with Even-Flo dark brown dye, and I'm wondering how much to thin it? It says to thin with water, and I tried a few test pieces to see the outcome. I did one without thinning, one mixed 1:1, and one mixed 2:1 (2 parts water, 1 part dye). I couldn't tell any...

I do basicly what Mike recommends on a flattening plate, and it works well for me. I've noticed what you're talking about when planing boards on my father-in-law's planer. Todd Robbins