Summary

Well, we're all but finished at this point. The only things left to do to the blade are finish hand sanding and sharpen it up. The next phase involves creating the handle and guard. Unfortunatly, I haven't taken that class yet, so it'll be late May 2005 before I put any info up here about handle making.

A few interestging little tidbits I'll throw in for those of you interested in or involved in bladesmithing:

• To make detail sanding with 1" wide sandpaper easier, get a hockey puck and cut it right down the center. Each half makes a nice little sanding block to wrap the sandpaper around.
• Here is a nice little temperature data chart that you can print out as a reference to keep near your forge.
• If you are going to make blades to sell, test every single blade before you hand it over! A good way to test a blade is to get 1" hardwood dowels from the local hardware store and hack through it. Then make sure the blade is still sharp. To test the tip, stab it down into a soft 2"x4" such as pine. Bend it sideways until the tip pops wood out. If it breaks, at least you found out before your customer!
• If you'd like to see how damascus steel goes together, you can simulate it by taking 3 colors of modeling clay, pound each of them flat, fold and flaten a number of times, and then cut through it to see the cool patterns!

Well, that's all for now. If you have any questions or comments, you can send me an e-mail to john@REMOVEpozadzides.com. (Just take out the word REMOVE.)

Beginning - Definitions - Forging - Normalizing - Grinding - Hardening - Tempering - Summary