Old lineman, new knife maker.

Mike Harrison

Active Member
Hello everybody, my name is Mike and I've been a power lineman for many years and just getting started good in knife making. I'm trying to get some decent equipment so I will be ready to get more serious when I retire in a couple of years. I started playing around doing some blacksmith items and have now made a few knives as well. I live down on the Southern border of Az. There are some really good knife makers in the area that I had planned on getting some training from but a little fight with cancer slowed me down. Now ready to get started again. I have a 2 burner gas forge, an old post vise, an old peter wright anvil and a new KMG grinder. I also have a wire feed welder and torch so I'm pretty well set up for a beginner. I am looking into getting a press while I still have a good paying job. I've been looking online at the uncleal 24 ton press from Riverside. Anyone know much about these presses.? I also have a good wood splitter but don't really want to convert it. Thanks.
 
Welcome to KD! I can't answer any of your questions, but would really love to see some pictures of your knives!
 
I've got pics of my first one which I forged out of a railroad spike that isn't perfect but was fun to do. I also have pics of a couple more I made for my grandkids. They are on my phone so I'll have to figure out how to post them.
 
Welcome! Sorry to hear about your bout with cancer. That's really rough. I have heard that the Uncle Al presses are some of the best around but I haven't ever used one so take that with a grain of salt. Sounds like you have a good setup!
 
I've got pics of my first one which I forged out of a railroad spike that isn't perfect but was fun to do. I also have pics of a couple more I made for my grandkids. They are on my phone so I'll have to figure out how to post them.
We all started some where! If you need help posting pictures off your phone I can help. My phone is the only camera I have.
 
With pictures do you see the two rows of buttons above where you write your comment? If you click the one on the far right in the upper row that looks like a picture frame it will give you a option to post pictures from your phone.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1366.PNG
    IMG_1366.PNG
    102.2 KB · Views: 4
Welcome to our place Mike. This retirment hobby can and does take up more time than when we were working for a living.
 
Welcome to KD. I had a hard time figuring out how to post when I first got on here so here’s the issue I had and how I resolved it...

Every time I would upload a pic, a warning would come up saying the file was to large. Sooo... I found out it had to be resized thanks to BossDog (Tracy Mickley). 800x800 is about the perfect size to resize to in order for it to post and still look pretty good. I’m definitely not well versed in the more technical aspects of photography but at least now I can post my pictures. Anyway... I downloaded an app on my phone called Image Size. It is really easy to use and is how I resize all my images now before uploading to KD.

E5CEF8F8-1926-4422-A1FE-50F7E94DF7CC.jpeg
 
Welcome. My step-father was a lineman for Georgia Power most of his career so respect to you. Also, congratulations on completing your treatments sir. Its too hot to forge much in the summer so you are getting ramped up at a good time. I am not familiar with Al’s presses but there is a place in NC that makes turnkey presses for around $4300 and within the next 15 years I intend to score one. I will post the name when I find it.
 
Mike it looks like others have already shown you the right way to upload pictures. You can get free photo resizing apps for free at the Google store. The first on I used was some what difficult to use because it saved the pictures in the app. The current one automatically saves them to my gallery making it easier to upload to the site.
 
This is my first knife, I hammered out of a railroad spike. Had not put an edge on it yet. Still working on inserting photos.
 

Attachments

  • fullsizeoutput_12b.jpeg
    fullsizeoutput_12b.jpeg
    947.3 KB · Views: 13
  • fullsizeoutput_12e.jpeg
    fullsizeoutput_12e.jpeg
    971.3 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
Mike it looks like others have already shown you the right way to upload pictures. You can get free photo resizing apps for free at the Google store. The first on I used was some what difficult to use because it saved the pictures in the app. The current one automatically saves them to my gallery making it easier to upload to the site.
Thanks. It looks like I do need to work on the resizing.
 
Back
Top