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Coat of Arms from the town of  Eskilstuna, Sweden
Eskilstuna
Volume 24 - Page 2 of 16 May 2001
Southeast Regional Blacksmith Conference
Madison, GA - May 17-19, 2001 - by Randal Guess, CSI
Rob Hudson forging a knife from W-2. The striker is Clark Powel. Prior to beginning Rob used a piece of modeling clay the same size as the W-2 to demonstrate the techniquies he would use while actually forging the blade. This gave a clear pisture of how much metal there is to work with and how to get it where you want it.

His skill is obvious. After watching fora a few minutes and he has forged the knife to such a degree that there was very little profiling left to do on the edge and spine and not much on the on the flats and bevel (though dull belts made it look longer). space

The actual finishing was done with a file and hand sanding with 220 grit paper backed with wood and leather. For the heat treating process Rob used a coating of Satinite and kitty litter 50/50, mixed to a thick slurry (looked like pancake mix). A thin coating was followed by a thicker layer toward the spine. After being heated to non-manetic the blade was quenched in hot ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid).

When the blade cooled enough to handle the clay coating was scraped off with a wooden block, revealing a clean gray blade without heavy oxidation. Though he didn't put a bolster or handle on the knife Rob discussed in detail making diagrams on the chalkboard illustrating methods he has found useful. The bleachers were full for both days and the demonstrateion fnale raised an authentic applause.

Torvals Sorenson showing an attentive crowd production techniques using anvil, power hammer, dies and simple tooling jigs. He made S hooks, horse head hooks and lifelike leaves in groups of three with speed and rhythm while maintaining a flowing lecture of how and why. He showed the importance of having tools organized at each work station. space
Torvals Sorenson

Included in the demonstration were handouts of pieces per X feet of material, time per piece and pricing per piece per hour. Detailed instructions indeed!

Torvals Sorenson
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May 2001 Edition
Comments to: Jock Dempsey editor@anvilfire.com
Copyright © 2001 by Jock Dempsey
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