What's going on in your shop?

tkroenlein said:
This fellow has some relevant info as to welder settings. If your wire seems to be "lurching" out and then burning back, then you are probably right about the tip. Note also that if you bend the lead in a short radius, the liner can bind the wire and present the same effect. Drive wheels that are too tight and/or tight wire spools can cause the same issue.
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Thanks for the information. I didn't notice a problem with the "lurching" until I started working on the base. It's possible I'm binding the wire also in that position.
I'll pick up some tips tomorrow and try again.
 
A couple months ago, my 12 year old daughter started making jewelry out of my handle scraps. I told her that if she got enough made, I would get us a table at a local craft show on October 5th. I knew I shouldn't have challenged her. She went overboard and has been way ahead of my knife making.

So, about 2 weeks ago, I got started on knives for the show.



Tonight, I finished up about 1/2 of the batch. I'll try top get the rest ground and sanded and have them on hand for people to pick their own handle material.

 
Sean Jones said:
tkroenlein, This is my welder. It came with an 8lb spool of .030 Lincoln electric wire.

I haven't practiced much. I got anxious to get going on this project. The tubing is 1/8 inch wall. I think I just need more practice. Also learned to really clean the metal up thoroughly so I have a good connection for the clamp.
That's basically it.
View attachment 70308
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Turn the welder to max, and slow your wire speed down just below 3. Core wire in low amp machines can be kinda finicky. The wire likes low feed rates, and higher amps for penetration. If the wire seems to melt off before new wire hits the material, in small increments turn the wire feed up.
 
Sean, I've got an old Century mig, I believe it's a 90 amp maybe 100 with four heat settings. on most stuff I run it on the #3 heat and the speed at about 4.5.
Being you only have two settings I would suggest running it on hi, like Ty said. low is probably too little for everything but the thinnest steels.
Practice on some scrap doing a banana shaped weave pattern or circles. the good news is migs have a short learning curve.
I got to say I laugh every time I see someone on forged in fire struggling with a mig. those things are so handy and easy to learn there should be one in every shop and the owner should be somewhat proficient with it.
 
Thanks Steve and Ty. I will do as you suggested. I'm planning on being in the shop tomorrow. I picked up some new welding tips the other day so I'm good to go on that part. I'll let you know how my practice runs go. Lack of patience always gets me.
 
Gene Kimmi said:
Thanks, Chris. Here is what she is making.




I do the band saw work and she does everything else. She's learned to use the belt grinder and buffer doing this. She's begging me to let her start making a knife, so I guess we'll start that pretty soon.
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Nice work!!
 
Gene Kimmi said:
Thanks, Chris. Here is what she is making.




I do the band saw work and she does everything else. She's learned to use the belt grinder and buffer doing this. She's begging me to let her start making a knife, so I guess we'll start that pretty soon.
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That is really great. I keep most of my wood and metal scraps just in case something like this comes up. My son makes wooden knives and he sells them when we do craft type shows...He always sells more than I do...
 
Digging around in my reject drawer I found these two "cowboy" knives. These were a couple of the first ones I tried to make. They were pretty messed up but after looking at them I thought "Hey, I can fix these". So for all the new knife makers don't throw your rejects away. As you gain experience many of them can be saved and that's a good feeling.

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I am working on a couple of my small hunters. One coat of Tru-oil. Lots of work left on these two. One is curly mango with Blackwood bolsters. The other is curly walnut with black/white paper micarta bolsters. Crappy pics. My bad.

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7088-A511-C519-42-FE-B14-D-E513-EC20-F363.jpg
 
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