Recent content by Salem Straub

Nice knives, Stephan. 52100 is good in the kitchen for sure.

Hey thanks, fellas. Good to see you around, Josh.

"Chert" model drop point hunter. This series of knives features blades forged of 52100 steel with drop points, and dovetailed bolsters for a little dress. They are designed to be solid but not overly heavy in the hand, with fairly thin slicing edges. HT consists of triple normalization...

Hard or impossible? Not at all. I've forged 2" round 52100 into 1/4" flat bars by hand. THAT sucks. Now I have a power hammer and those days are over. I think if I was starting with 1/8" 52100 and wanted a 3/32" blade I'd just grind it from the start. I both forge and stock remove, many...

AKS had it last I checked, for very reasonable prices. I got a few bars from them in 1.25" round, it works like butter under the power hammer. It does NOT work like butter under sandpaper. I've only made a few blades of it yet, the last one was a BIG blade and quite an ordeal to finish to 600...

Looks fine to me. Not something I would make personally, but not ugly. I'd carry it. It's obviously made to use, nothing wrong with that.

Seems to me like some of the best grinding machines available can be fairly easily approximated for a shop-oriented person. The recipe for success is pretty simple to me: rear wheel drive, direct with variable speed, good adjustable tension and tracking, tooling arm design, built solidly. I...

PM or e-mail me if you've not found anybody, we can talk it over. Salem S.

Huh, I use Rhynowet paper too. I thought it cut more aggressively than any other paper I've used on steel, and left a slightly less "polished" surface at any given grit than comparable paper. That's why I use it, it saves me time and paper. I've not tried the Black Ice paper, however. Do you...

Good God. Stunning and inspiring. A bravura performance, Bruce. I already love it, the fat lady be damned. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all... I'm slowly climbing the mountain towards having the shop, patience, and skills to do this kind of work. Thanks...

One more thought. Forges are like knives. There are factories that do a real good job of basically making them; however, the user/custom builder can spend the time to "trick them out" better. Some things would be prohibitive in time and cost for you to do. Let the forge buyer do these...

I thought about a system of forge components. Many kilns can be taken apart in sections; why not a horizontal pipe forge? Using Kaowool, the sections would be pretty much "gasketed" when connected. You could buckle them together with SS tool box type catches. You could offer blank rings and...

4" Skinning knife w/quench line, 5160, jade ghost G10. Sold Pending Funds. G2G “Julep” Skinner: Clay-quenched forged 5160 blade with quench line, clip point, “Jade Ghost“ G10, full flat grind with distal taper and fully tapered tang. SS tube rivets, a mosaic pin, green fiber liners. Light...

Nice plunges. Great leatherwork. Kudos.

Wow, to say that whoever collected all of those photos was obsessed with belt grinders might be an understatement. There are some beautiful machines there I have never heard of. Haim?