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What do all the icons mean next to users names on Tapatalk? I know the "Diamond V" is for VIP, the lighthouse for long term members, but I have no clue what the rest mean. Specifically the "person with crown". What dat? An of course if you see the Tapatalk icon next to a name, it means they...

When I was in my teens, when I first started leather work (15?), I made a lot of knife sheaths, gun slings, belt-tool-holder-thingies (to hold tools like hammers on my belt) I also made a few holsters for myself and one of my friends. Wet formed holsters specifically. I'd wrap the gun in plastic...

So, I've hear the term "blacksmith" used to describe pretty much anyone who forges metal. But, not all smiths are blacksmiths. Someone asked a question about what a whitesmith is on a website and they got what I think is a pretty interesting answer. Not sure how true it is, but it makes sense...

Anyone else here have shop pets? Mine are seasonal. I get spiders about 1" bigger than the one in this picture inside the shop and I have a pair of wrens that nest above the forge at night. :D you're not afraid of spiders, right?

So, it seems a pretty common thing to do is to add a glass platen to your grinder. What about ceramic tile? Just wondering.

Just like the title says - anyone else here using a coal forge? I forge with anthracite coal. Works great and I don't have to deal with propane cylinders. It only takes me a couple minutes at the start of a day to get the forge cleaned out and lit. And a bucket of coal lasts a good while. I...

Just in case any of yall don't know what zinc looks like when it burns, here's a picture I took earlier. I had some 1/4" steel that I needed to put some funny shapes in and it was galvanized. I knew this going into it... don't breath the fumes. Makes you sick. The flames on the right side of...

Was out in the shop a minute ago. Drew blood for the first time in a few months. Layed open the end of my pinkie on my left hand with a pair of av snips. With the handles, though. Not the blades. I just figured I'd point this out so y'all don't make the same mistake. (It's like a bad blood...

I was looking at a Kershaw knife with a "composite" blade. 2 types of steels joined with a copper braze joint. I was looking at the melting temp of copper and it's plenty high enough to be able to braze a blade, then do all of your heat treating. Phosphor bronze has a fairly high melting temp...

What's your favorite knife handle... Talking SHAPE and material, but mostly shape. I mean, you could have the best materials in the world and with a uncomfortable handle it wont matter... So SHAPE first, material if you feel inclined to add that. I'm talking about production knives mostly...

I was looking at vises on the interwebs - as one does - and found THIS. Kinda weird... but I like it. I think the jaws are made from pieces of large diameter pipe that wad flattened and bent towards the actual jaw pads.

A few years ago, I noticed mosquitos in my water quench tank. I don't like mosquitos. It isn't like I can go without a water tank and I didn't want to add any "real" chemicals. So, I started adding dish soap (not a whole lot) to my water and I don't get any mosquito larvae in my water anymore...

I've never made a touch mark. I know what it is going on look like (5 and 2, slightly overlapping) and I have the stock to make it. How should I go about making it, though? Am I going to have to carve it out with a rotary tool or is there a better way?

I bought a Continental Contitech rubber hot water hose with GHT threads (it's a fancy garden hose) about 5 or 6 years ago. Been hanging outside since then. It's fantastic. I think I paid around $25 for it. I know I didn't pay much more than that. Maybe $30 at MOST. Anyway, Compared to a regular...

I found a "NuWave Induction Cooktop" when I was cleaning out a spare room in the house. It's basically a fancy hotplate. Singe burner, digital controls, induction. McMaster has a VERY similar looking induction heater for bearings, so my first thought when I saw it was to keep it in the shop to...

I was cleaning out a room the other day and found a single burner induction cooktop. I'm gonna keep it in the shop and use it as a bearing heater and to heat up liquids for finishing handles and whatnot... Anyway, any of y'all using induction heating for forging? Not sure how well you could...

Made a meat cleaver out of 316 stainless. Turned out nice. I welded a section of HSS to the body to make the cutting edge. Had a slight warp from welding, put it in the forge, flattened it on the anvil, quinched it... huge warp. I tried a couple times with varying degrees of warpage. Going to...

I'm new here. Also, I know this is an often discussed topic... Anyway, I'm making a knife for someone right now. It's a clip point skinning knife with about a 4 inch blade forged from some alloy steel. I HAD the blade hand sanded up to about 1000 grit and put a scratch in it (came out of the...