1080 vs 1084

[WNC Goater]

Originally Posted by Ray Rogers

The good news is that simple leather sheath designs are not hard to make. A simple solid leather sheath can be made in just a few hours using simple tools.

^^This^^





Additionally, Jantz has a decent selection of unfinished sheaths with dimensions. Get the closest thing to match your knife and *wet form it to your knife. About $14.50. Not ideal but it works. and the price is right. I'd prefer that over kydex any day. Just not a fan of cramming a handcrafted knife into plastic, but that's just me.

*Wet form. Wrap knife in saran wrap, thoroughly wet the sheath, insert the knife then use a smooth tool, or your fingers, to rub and shape the sheath to the knife. Keep working it until it starts to dry down a bit. Let it dry or mostly dry before removing the knife. When the sheath is dry, it will "fit" your knife and be very stiff. Finish with dye or shoe polish, a little waterproofing and you're good to go. Personally, I make a sheath to fit the individual knife but this is a cheap and simple shortcut that will work fine if you don't want to get into making your own.

[dtec1]

wnc goater....thanks yeh what you had in the picture is what i need to start doing. I was thinkng next week buying some leather and start to mess around and see what i can come up with. i also would rather make the sheath for the knife than buy one that kinda fits.

so i finally got around to making a proper stand for a rail road track i am going to use as a anvil. the stand is solid i think i went a little overboard but i guess thats better than not enough. i took a few 6x6's lag bolted them altogater also screwed in conectiong plates on the sides then dug a hole stood up all the 6x6's and dumped in 3 bags of concrete. The post itself is really really solid that thing is going no where. problem i am running into is with actually mounting the rail on the top...i was going to drill a couple holes through the vertical section and run steel cable through conected to turnbuckles and a lagbolt drilled into the wood. well lets just say drilling holes through this rail has so far proved imposible. i have tried everything that i can think of with no sucess i was also going to drill a couple holes in the botom for lagbolts to go through and into the wood but again can get through it.....i have tried a couple other things but nothing holds it tight it always wants to wiggle a little bit.. any one got any ideas on either how to drill a hole through this stuff or another way to mount it all togather?

[Ray Rogers]

RR track has holes in it for the spikes to pass through. Sounds like you need one of those pieces. Other than that, drill some holes in a large piece of angle iron and nail/bolt the angle iron to the wood base letting the edge of the angle iron pinch the bottom portion of the track...

[dtec1]

hmm angle iron seems like a very good idea (something i didnt even think about) ill try that tomorow and see how it works...i was also thinking the rail road has to have some way to drill through the rails when needed. i am going to ask my brother in law who is a mechanic for the RR (the one that got me this piece of rail) how they do it. if its something simple like a special drill bit or something that isnt a huge piece of equipment. maybe he can bring it home with him for a night. i think that would be the best way cause then i could bolt it right to the wood and also run cable through it as a added meauseure but i dont know if thats a option but if not the angle iron seems a really good idea too. that why i love this something so simple and probilly work real good probilly poped into your head with out too much thought....where as i been thinking for two days and did even think of anything close to that...see what i can do tomorow i think i may have the perfect piece of angle iron for the job to

[Ray Rogers]

I doubt the railroad ever has to drill a hole in a piece of track since the track is made with the holes already in it. If they do drill it, it would probably be such a rare occasion that the tools for doing it won't be easily available.......

[dtec1]

Really..i have seen track with holes in it but i though they would be drilled in after actually making that section of rail. its raining anyway cant do nothing today and my sis and bro in law are coming over after dinner tonight so ill talk to him see if he has any ideas. also i was thinking about using the angle grinder to put notches in the edge of the bottom so i could sink a bolt through the notch and into the wood its probilly not as good as having a actual hole but i thought maybe do 2 notches with bolts on either side and then use your idea with the angle iron in between the notches and on the out side edges of them. i think the combination of the 2 should be very solid.

Also i have been thinking about how to run the bigger forge i am making. so right now as far as burners go i use one of the venturi burners from high temp tools. it attaches to a propane tank with a 0-30 psi regulator. i have seen that there are 0-60 psi regulators to. if i had a 0-60psi one would i be able to get that burner alot hotter or is there a limit to what it can do? Also i have that original venturi burner i had got with the forge i dont use that one now as its smaller. i could still heat treat with it if i wanted i just dont think it would be hot enough to forge or forge weld by it self. So i was thinking of making another venturi burner just like the one i got from high temp tools. But i also want to have the option of running that smaller one as a third burner if i need it. so what i am trying to figure out is the best way to run the three of them. I have 2 propane tanks so i was thinking keep the one i have just the way it is with the 0-30psi regulator. then maybe get a 0-60 psi regulator and have the hose split and run the new burner i am going to make and the smaller one if i need it. or maybe it would be better to have the 2 bigger ones on the 0-60 psi regulator and split hose and the smaller one on the other tank with a 0-30psi regulator. or maybe it would be better that each burner has its own tank? i have 2 tanks i could get 1 more in that case would it be worth it to get the 0-60 psi regulator or just get 0-30 psi ones would it make a difference? I havent ever used more than one burner since the forge i have is small enough and with the coatings it keeps the heat in pritty good oh and all i have been using it for is heat treating but since the weather is getting nice now i wanna try to forge a couple blades this summer. so i am not sure whats the best way to go about hooking up more than one burner. any advice? how would you do it?

[Ray Rogers]

First of all, have you ever been able to run any burner at 30 psi? Probably not. Most venturi burners use about 11 psi at most and many can get by with less. Using more than one burner might create a need for higher than 11 psi but not likely the need would exceed 30 psi. If that turns out to be true then there is no need for a 60 psi regulator.

All that being as it may be, if you run multiple burners at 11 psi you are going to gobble up a significant amount of gas in a short time. Use forced air burners instead and you can likely run the whole mess at less than 5 psi and have more heat at the same time.

Finally, no matter what burner you use, if you use more than one then you should probably figure on running all of them whenever the forge is used. If one burner is left turned off then the heat from the others will probably just melt it. That's what happened when I tried it....

[dtec1]

ok....really only uses 11psi? when i run the forge now with one burner with a 0-30 psi regulator it continues to get stronger as i turn up the regulator even if i open it all the way so that means that if its open all the way its only using around 11 psi not the full 30? ya know i was thinking about trying to make a pair of blown burners but thought it may end up getting much more expensive since i would want to make 2 plus a good blower.... if i made 2 blown burners can i run then both off one blower? i guess if the blower is strong enough it could right? if i did go that route how strong of a blower would i need to run 2 burners. it wouldnt really make much sense to make 1 blown burner and use the venturi i have with it right kinda defetes the purpose of using less gas and controlling the atmosphere. of course i dont want to cut corners and end up with something that is strong enough or doesnt work well but as of right now i am on a budget and trying to keep cost down. that may change a little in a few weeks but i want to try and get something going before then.....forging may turn out to be something i dont end up doing much or maybe it will who knows but either way i want to learn how to do it even if i dont do it much and my situation it needs to be done out side so i want to take advantage of the good weather throughout the summer while i can to see what i can learn

[WNC Goater]

FWIW, I could be wrong but I don't think RR track has holes. As a kid, we used to hang out ocassionally on a local track, looking for old spikes and such and as I recall, there was a type of steel plate of sorts that had holes in it. It overlapped the bottom of the rails and that was the part that was spiked into the RR ties.

It works pretty much as Ray described above. The bottom of the rail has a flange. The plate, (or angle iron as suggested), would overlap that flange and THAT is what would be bolted or lag screwed into the solid base, clamping the rail down solidly.

Now the disclaimer...it has been a LONG time since I was a kid and I could be remembering incorrectly. Maybe RR track does have holes and my memory is foggy.

[Ray Rogers]

WNC,

I don't know that your memory is faulty, been a long time since I was that close to a track too. It seems to me that I have seen some track that had square holes in it for spikes but maybe the ol' memory is playing tricks on me. In any case, if there are holes in the track I'd bet money that they were hot punched when the track was made and not drilled.

David,

If the regulator says you're using 30 psi then that's what it should be. Problem is, if you are using 30 psi you may have what we in the forge building community refer to as a 'crappy burner'. I'm sure most any venturi can be run up that high but there is a point of diminishing return and twice as much gas doesn't mean twice as much heat. If you are running 30 psi you should have a huge amount of orange flame spraying out the ends of your forge. If so, that's wasted fuel.

You can run multiple burners off one blower if the blower is strong enough but most of them aren't. To be an effective forge blower you would want to have a rating of 32 - 40 oz of static pressure. You aren't likely to find a static pressure rating on any blower that isn't intended for forge duty or some similar use. But, you can consider building your own - go back and look at my DVD again.

See what we said about getting side tracked and spending time on stuff other than making knives?

[dtec1]

Ok guys so my brother in law didnt come over with my sister last night so i am going to call him when he gets out of work later to get some more details on this. but i did a lil more research. and from what i found ray as you suggested some parts of the rails do have holes put in them when they manufacture them. now i am not sure if it is drilled or punched but i think i would agree with you that if its done during manufacturing punching it would probilly be the way they do it. sometimes they put these holes in the webbing (vertical section) and some times on the bottom depends what its for sometimes its for a certain bracket to hold it in place sometimes its for connecting 2 ends together and sometimes to run wire or cable to them. either way the piece i have doesnt have these holes....i also found some info about when they need to drill a hole through it after its already been made and yes there are special bits but there are also a few different kinds of special drills the biggest being basically a gas engine driving a drill bit that clamps it self onto the rail....there are a couple others i have seen that are smaller but i dont know what type they would use at the rail yard where my brother in law works and if he would be able to take it home for a night. I also was talking to my uncle on the phone yesterday and he offered to give me a oxy / acetylene rig that he doesn't use any more. now i dont have much experience with that at all i have only used one 2-3 times but i would tend to think that would be able to get through the rail. it may be a sloppy mess of a hole but i think it would be good enough to run a cable through the middle and tighten it down and maybe cut holes for lag bolts in the bottom also. problem is he lives almost a hour away and with no car i aint going to be able to get it that soon....he might come visit in 2-3 weeks he said so if i have to wait i have to wait...or use the angle iron idea and when i do get it add the cable and lag bolts for extra strength.

As far as the burner goes i dont have a gauge that shows exactly how much the psi is but the regulator is a 0-30 and i can turn it all the way up.....yes for this little forge its overkill especially when i am HTing.....i never have it turned all the way up then heat treating. the burner i am using is the venturi burner from hightemptools.com when i do have it all the way up and both ends are open yes flame does come out but not ALOT unless i block the air intake on the burner or i fire brick up the openings.....maybe ill try and take a video so you can see what i mean and yes there does get a point where the diminished return affects it lets just say i have it half way up then i turn it all the way up it doesnt double (or increase 100%) its more of have of that like a 50% increase instead of 100% Yes ray i do remember you making a blower and you also said you could use a mattress blower in a pinch right....i will have to watch it again to remember the details....quick question as i said i have a venturi form hightemptools and the sightly smaller one i started with. now if i changed to blown burners on this larger forge i would have to make 2 burners get or make 2 blowers and i have one tank and a regulator for one and a second tank for the other but i would have to get another regulator. wich right now would be a decent chunk of money when its all said and done. so now i am wondering if i can make 1 blown burner and get or make one blower and use it with the venturi burners i have already on the newer forge so it would have definitely have 1 blown burner one venturi burner and the option of a second smaller venturi if needed. would that be ok for now until i get a lil extra cash somewhere down the road to do a second blown burner. as i said in my last post i guess it would defeate the purmose of completely controlling the atmosphere and using less gas with blown burners. but other than that is there any reason it wouldnt work good?

[Ray Rogers]

I think you're over thinking the rail tie down situation. Use the angle iron and call it good. You will never get a cable tight enough to make any difference. If you do the angle iron well enough then adding bolts through the rail won't make it any better either. Its OK if the rail moves around a little, that doesn't matter as long as it can't jump off the stand.

Never saw a forge made with a venturi and a blown burner so can't say for sure how that will work. Could be all right although there could also be a chance that the forced air burner might interfere will the venturi's operation a little. Try it and see ...

[dtec1]

Yeh i think your right about holding the anvil down....i think i may just do as you said and use the angle iron and see how it works out if it moves around to much i can always try to torch a hole and add lag bolts later if needed.

[dtec1]

is there any rule of thumb how much space a blown burner will heat to forge welding temp? (like the style seen on hightemptools.com ) i think its a 1 in burner tube with 2 in body it says the 3/4 in venturi will heat 350 cubic inches but nothing on the blown.

[Ray Rogers]

Not really. Even the 350 c.i. for a venturi is just a rough estimate. I could make an equally rough statement that a forced air burner of equivalent size will heat at least as much space as a venturi burner to the same temperature and probably in less time. No matter what burner we're talking about, it comes down to how much properly mixed fuel air you can burn in a given amount of time AND how well insulated and contained the combustion chamber might be. Lots of variables there....