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I think more and more welder manufacturers are going to DCEN these days, as it has become somewhat of a selling point. It’s been a while since I converted, but if I remember right, the older harbor freight flux cores were AC with a positive electrode. Basically you just add a rectifier and a...

Congrats. I've got an AC/DC buzz box for bigger work, but more often that not I'm doing relatively light tacks and beads, so I'll grab my cheap HF flux core wire welder. (That, and I'm just not nearly as good with stick.) It's a little 100amp 110vac welder, but I converted it from ACEP to DCEN...

I felt like a 3lb hammer would have been overkill.

Interesting. I remember getting my mild steel platen backer so hot that I couldn't comfortably touch it for more than a few seconds, and never had an issue with the tape coming loose. It did get "softer" to be sure, but was still quite tacky. Full disclosure, my backer is very flat and roughed...

I'd make sure you flatten everything out really well. Glue some paper to a piece of glass, a granite block, or even just a piece of 3/4 MDF or anything else you have that's reasonable flat. Take a pencil and shade the mating surfaces before sanding them flat. This will help you see if you have...

I've had good luck with Duck brand exterior grade double sided carpet tape from my local big box store. Every once in a while I'll give the glass a side to side wiggle while changing belts, just to make sure nothing has let loose. So far so good..... VHB tape is good stuff too.

Folders are pretty low speed with relatively light loads, so IMO, any basic light machine oil should work. I think all these modern "space age nano lubes" are just marketing hype and more/less unnecessary. The other thing is that a lot of people tend to over lube, and that attracts things like...

Here's a link to the maker who built his oven with top mounted elements: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/heat-treat-oven-wip.1407817/ Basically, instead of carving into the sides of your bricks, you thread the element onto ceramic rods and hang the rods in the top of the oven.

Haha. Never too many projects right? Basically I want to improve what I skimped on with my first build. The main "shortcoming" was not building a shell, so that will be priority #1. It'll likely be somewhere around 14 gauge mild steel. I'm not sure if I'll do a swinging door, or one that flips...

Looks like an Old Hickory butcher's knife, or one of the many similar brands that were floating around back then.

I built my own before I had made my first knife, and the cost was probably around 1/4 of what the available ovens at that time would have cost me for a similar size and wattage. That said, I did cheap out in a few regards, and there weren't nearly as many options available then as there is today...

I would think that once the oven reaches temp, the wattage used (per hour) is going to reduce at least a little bit. I would also think that for basic carbon steels, having your own oven is still going to be cheaper than sending it out to somebody else, especially if they pay the same rate per kwh.

I'm gonna go against the crowd and say get an OVEN. Just kidding. Get a 2x72 with variable speed. It'll change your life, and with the increased production and efficiency, you can sell more knives and then build or buy your own oven. In the mean time, there's plenty of companies out there that...

With only 120VAC available, you're options are going to be pretty limited (likely 1 hp VFDs or below), so it may not be worth spending too much time and effort on a backup that you're only gonna need for a week or two anyway. If you had 240VAC in your shop, I might give some different advice...

As long as you didn't get the epoxy super hot, it should re-harden after it cools. That said, I never like to rely solely on the epoxy to hold the scales in place. All adhesives fail eventually, and customers/users often help it to get there, whether they leave the knife in a hot car, run it...

If I need to bolt 123s together, I'll normally just run a 5/16 bolt through the non threaded holes and put a nut and washer on the end. To keep the edges flush, just bolt them together on a flat surface.

The sad part is, nothing is wrong with our domestic food and product supply. If people would just buy like normal, there’d hardly be a difference. Everyone wants to pretend they’re a dooms day prepper all of the sudden, and they’re really make it worse.

I keep hearing everybody talking about it. I guess I'm gonna have to check it out....

One of my earliest memories in life is hearing my dad impart some words of wisdom to my young ears while we were riding down the road in his red and silver 1985 Ford F150. I don't remember the exact events that surrounded these words (and there were many other instances since where these same...

I'm excited to see this one!