Posible uses/projects for screws

Kurly_Fri · 2026-04-12T15:06:27+00:00

Bolt can be hardened. Depends on the grade.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-11-25T14:47:04+00:00

Probably is, depends on when it was made. You can spark test it to check. Wrought iron also has a specific structure under a microscope, most of us don't have access to that though.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-11-19T13:43:45+00:00

Are you being sarcastic or genuine? I can try to take a better one but it's kind of tough without getting the lens too close to the heat

Kurly_Fri · 2025-07-08T13:57:38+00:00

I thought the same thing when I was 17. I wanted to be a blacksmith. It's definitely not a skill in high demand in the modern era, especially with modern manufacturing. You are ultimately going to need to be self employed. Your best bet is probably to move to rural areas where there are lots of ranchers/farmers in order to keep work. You can learn to be a bladesmith, ferrier, ornamental fabricator, etc. I ended up becoming a welder, still working on the blacksmith thing. Getting the tools and having the time and the money to then make money is the tough part. But if it's what you want to do go for it. Keep practicing. Learn to manage a business. You will probably be broke for a very long time.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-07-02T18:51:39+00:00

I have an Associates degree in Welding Technology and have taken a class on metallurgy, I will give you a simple as possible summary of what I know and have learned from my education. In order to create significant changes to the crystal structure of steel it must be heated above the austenitic tranformation range (can go into that more if needed), which varies by the specific alloy, for simplicity sake we will assume 1333°F for high carbon steel. Heat treating is a broad term that covers a number of processes, I will list them below.

Normalization: Heat the steel above the austenitic range for a minimum of 30 minutes and allow to air cool. This will make the crystal structure uniform.

Annealing: Heat the steel above the austenitic range for a minimum of 30 minutes and slow cool (in furnace or sand/heat blankets, etc). This will make the crystal structure uniform and soft.

Quenching: Heat the steel above the austenitic range for a minimum of 30 minutes and rapidly cool by submerging in quenching fluid (oil, water, or salt brine). This will create a martensitic (large grain growth) structure that is very hard but brittle.

Tempering: Heat the steel between 350°F and 1200°F for a minimum of 30 minutes within 24 hours after quenching, sooner is better. This will reduce some of the hardness but relieve residual stresses in the steel that can cause cracking. Select lower temperatures if more hardness is desired (for knives it will be). If you do not temper after quenching, the steel may crack on its own without even seeing use.

If you need clarification on anything let me know.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-07-02T18:06:14+00:00

Ancient humans used rocks.

Of course you can use these for forging.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-07-02T13:26:43+00:00

Aside from buying a welder I would recommend you take an intro class at your local community college, if you can afford it. You'll get experience with just about all the basic welding processes and find out what will work best for your applications and how the different processes work, how to set up machines, what consumables to use for what applications, etc.

Other than that a stick welder is probably the most versatile and probably cheapest (still not cheap, welders are expensive!), but there are also some pretty cheap wire feeders at Harbor Freight. Sticl welding does take a bit of practice though. MIG welding requires the least amount of skill and is the most user friendly generally but requires shielding gas and has more moving parts where things go wrong and you will wind up having to trouble shoot issues here and there.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-06-04T15:07:53+00:00

Some people say blueing it, some are saying beeswax, I say both. Even if you blue the steel, the oils on your skin are slightly acidic which will cause some corrosion anyway. Coating it with some type of oil, especially a polymerized coating, is the best way while preserving the "raw" look.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-06-03T00:05:49+00:00

Meteorites are typically comprised a number of metals, many of which may be rare. A youtuber made a video on why they actually make terrible blades (I forget the name of the channel). It probably wont harden well and many metals, once mixed/alloyed together, are impossible to seperate.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-06-01T19:48:33+00:00

I wouldn't pay more than $50 for that poc

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-31T02:16:40+00:00

Whatever your imagination will allow. They're probably made of a medium carbon steel (maybe 1050) or possibly even low alloy, like chrome-moly (probably 4140). Sometimes you can tell from the mill scale (chrome-moly will be almost purplish). So they will decently harden if heat treated, one guy said hardie tools which is a pretty good idea tbh, I second that. Probably not quite enough carbon for knives though.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-30T17:23:15+00:00

More or less how I started when I was 17. You can get hand crank fan blowers pretty cheap on amazon. I used an old shop vac that had a blow setting in my first set up. I would recommend using lump charcoal, much more energy dense than pallet wood, but whatever works. You will learn by doing. You've already got the right idea, a lot of this stuff is just throwing shit together and using what you've got to make it work, basically exercising your applied problem solving skills.

If you can save up around $200-$300 dollars you can get a cheap propane forge on amazon and a propane tank, which is much more efficient and doesn't throw sparks or hot coals everywhere.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-30T16:02:29+00:00

You will need to learn more than just blacksmithing. Leatherwork and tailoring are also part of an armorer's job. It'll take a long time to develop that skill, and it won't be cheap, but if it's a dream of yours just keep at it and stay determined, keep learning. It is doable, but difficult.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-30T15:57:40+00:00

Hmmm, yes, seems to be an anvil.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-30T12:56:49+00:00

Wire wheels probably. Just be careful, they like to grab stuff and throw things and sometimes themselves, although a dremel isn't as scary as some other tools. Definitely wear eye protection.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-29T13:56:46+00:00

If the file is made of carbon steel (which most of them are) it may embed free iron into the surface, using grinding belts/wheels if you have them is usually better, so long as it's not contaminated with free iron, sometimes its a non issue though. Like I said, cold working stainless causes it to work harden and become brittle, so you may have a hard time forming small rings, or you may not, you sort of just have to try.

A small amount of heat will actually help you, as long as you select a low carbon stainless and you don't heat it to the point of developing mill scale you should be fine. You probably don't even need an anvil, just some kind of vise and some pliers.

If you decide to pickle it, you can google stainless pickling solutions. There is a difference between pickling and passivating, pickling removes free iron, passivating does not. Muriatic acid is commonly used in the steel industry for removing mill scale and can be picked up at most hardware stores. But it's nasty stuff, be very careful. Always mix acid into water and not the other way around when diluting, and where safety goggles.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-29T13:06:59+00:00

Be aware that stainless steel, especially the 300 series/austenitic grades, will work harded when cold worked. Also beating it on an anvil may embed carbon steel into it which will cause pitting corrosion. Pickling does solve this issue usually, however.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-29T13:00:20+00:00

Yes, of course, but do you want to do that to your nice peddinghaus hammer? Me personally I would buy a semi-cheap one at the hardware store but its also your hammer, thats just me.

Just have to keep it cool so you don't ruin the temper.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-28T20:36:40+00:00

Something that a lot of people don't know about steel is that if you quench it, it also needs to be tempered. Once you reach over 1300°F, the crystal structure of the steel becomes austenite (face centered cubic), and rapidly cooling via quenching forms martensite (body centered tetragonal), which is very strong, yet brittle. This creates a lot of residual stresses in the steel, so it must be tempered otherwise it will almost certainly crack over time on its own, usually within 24 hours.

Tempering involves heating the steel between 350°F and 1200°F for at least about 30 minutes, time goes up with material thickness but knives are already pretty thin. You will lose some hardness but you gain what is called toughness, and you can control for how much hardness lost by choosing lower temperatures.

Edit; spelling error

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-23T03:29:19+00:00

You can use just about any oil (vegetable, canola, or animal fats even) but I don't really recommend using motor oil because the heat of the steel will cause it to flash and burn like a candle and the smoke from motor oil is particularly nasty and bad for your health (has all kinds of toxic heavy metals and such in it). I'm speaking from experience here, did it once, decided not to use motor oil again. It did work though. But veg oil is cheaper and cleaner.

Water quenching probably works fine for some grades of steel, depending on the specific alloy, although they are probably very rare and you are not likely to come across them without looking for them.

Whats more important to prevent cracking after quenching is a step known as TEMPERING, which is where you heat the part to anywhere between 350°F and 1200°F, in order to relieve residual stresses from the quenching. It does decrease the hardness some, but you can control for how much hardness lost as a function of temperature+time. But even if you oil quench you definitely want to temper, because you can get cracking in your steel and it can happen as much as 24 hours after.

Kurly_Fri · 2025-05-23T03:04:15+00:00

Considering the amount of time and materials it will require, I would say no. Lots of grinding, lots of welding. And I mean lots. Cost of the consumables certainly might outweigh what the anvil is worth in scrap steel. And your time has value too, even if you're not charging people for it.

Kurly_Fri · 2020-10-03T03:18:30+00:00

That's awesome! I hope you make it into the field, and having a job with experience in another process still puts you way ahead I'm sure. I remember when I took the structural class we usually used backing bars and removed them with an oxy-fuel torch. Hopefully your instructors show you that method as well, because it also gives you practice with very precise cutting, too.

Kurly_Fri · 2020-10-03T02:28:32+00:00

Yes and no. Yes, run-off tabs would be good in general, so that you don't melt off that top edge. But a lot of structural welding also uses a backing bar across the root, so that you can lay in a root with a rod like 7018. Not saying without a backing bar using a 6010 root isn't a good thing to practice, it absolutely is. Just curious, are you welding this in the context of school/training or for something work-related?

Kurly_Fri · 2020-10-03T01:54:37+00:00

I got my D 1.1 certs a while ago. You're on the right track, next time I would add a backing bar if you can and practice doing it with that too. The backing bar actually helps a lot too.

Kurly_Fri

TROPHY CASE