Ya know what grinds my gears?

Whaaaaa????

Yeah, just leave your old leaf springs, lawn mower blades, and cast iron window weights by my front door...just in case I can use them.
 
tkroenlein said:
Whaaaaa????

Yeah, just leave your old leaf springs, lawn mower blades, and cast iron window weights by my front door...just in case I can use them.
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I will admit that my very first knife was made from a leaf spring...a 1/2 inch thick leaf spring.
After spending 4 DAYS grinding on that piece of junk...I thought there had to be a better way. Admiral Steel was my (first) savior.
 
Sean Jones said:
I will admit that my very first knife was made from a leaf spring...a 1/2 inch thick leaf spring.
After spending 4 DAYS grinding on that piece of junk...I thought there had to be a better way. Admiral Steel was my (first) savior.
Click to expand...
Hê-hê.....;) Mine was a ride-on mower blade of about 5mm thickness, and I persevered with disk grinder, files & sandpaper till it was done.
 
Random pieces of steel magically show up in my yard from time to time. Last week a 5 foot piece of 1.25” wide by .750 thick piece of mild steel showed up. I am a blacksmith though, I can use it for sure.
 
tkroenlein said:
I was given a couple of buggy axles (because those must be good for knafs) but heard later they may be wrought.
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If they are axels and not wrought they will make great punches and drifts. I would NEVER SELL a blade made from salvaged steel but I have made many a machete from a leaf spring for personal use. They make great adzes and bowl gouges too. I have made hot cuts, veining chisels and such too. It is great steel for prototype projects like learning to make a specific blade. I made my first sword from a leaf spring. I am not fussing or anything but salvaged steel gets a bum wrap among blade guys. You just have to use it for the correct project and its great and free.
 
Here's a gear grinder for ya...

You just layed the most dead center, even from tip to choil grind on a blade, with uniform .015" flat right down the center, with mirror image radiused plunges...I mean, they're going to display this under one of those collimator things at the Smithsonian cuz it's so dead perfect and Blade Magazine is sending a guy out to document the first perfect free hand grinded blade in the history of mankind.

Then you roll it over and a train wreck of metal crafting hits you in that tender spot between your nose and upper lip and you see that you've ground the distal taper about 70/30 cuz you was so focused on getting that perfect centered edge...and now you gotta drop back to 120 and straighten it up without changing the centerline of the edge... :confused:
 
tkroenlein said:
Here's a gear grinder for ya...

You just layed the most dead center, even from tip to choil grind on a blade, with uniform .015" flat right down the center, with mirror image radiused plunges...I mean, they're going to display this under one of those collimator things at the Smithsonian cuz it's so dead perfect and Blade Magazine is sending a guy out to document the first perfect free hand grinded blade in the history of mankind.

Then you roll it over and a train wreck of metal crafting hits you in that tender spot between your nose and upper lip and you see that you've ground the distal taper about 70/30 cuz you was so focused on getting that perfect centered edge...and now you gotta drop back to 120 and straighten it up without changing the centerline of the edge... :confused:
Click to expand...

Now thats not funny but Funny!
 
Miscommunication.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by saying he'd like me to make him a damascus kitchen knife, but he and his wife don't really know what they are looking for either type of knife or handle shape. I told him that I had a couple of my previous knives hanging in the kitchen (a guyoto, a deba, a santoku and a petty) that are my daily users, each with a different shaped handle, that he could try. When I went to make dinner last night, I saw that he had taken all of them, and didn't leave me one to use....
I guess I wasn't 100% clear.
 
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What grinds my gears is that little gnome that follows me around the shop and moves my small tools. My pencil I was just using. My calipers. That #10 drill. I mean really - I was just using my pencil - how in the heck did it get in the refrigerator?

-Getting old is not for sissy's!
 
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