The earliest adhesives appear to be plant resins (also known as “tree sap”), crushed and allowed to cure as the moisture evaporates out. Such glues are surprisingly good, since they’re basically doing what they evolved to do: congeal and hold things together. According to the internets there are glues dating back to 70,000BCE, which consist of powdered stone (ochre) mixed with resin.
This was a really quick build. I completed the top part and the sides, then let it age against a wall for nearly a year, while I more or less decided that the problem it was intended to help with was endemic and it was no use to finish and install.
Most bladesmiths have a “shelf of shame and woe” or a box labeled “fucked” in their shop. If they’re busy smiths, it’s generally pretty full.
Michael Bell, the master smith at Dragonfly Forge has a sort of traditional-looking Roman workbench that he uses for blade shaping.
Monday, I set myself on fire. It wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely not any kind of good. My face felt sunburned for a couple days, and my mustache was all crispy. My eyebrows are still OK, along with my eyeballs, but my bangs are gone. I got my arm up and covered my face (put it out) pretty fast.
Once the forge body is all assembled, the next problem is to see if it can get hot enough to weld in. The whole exercise is completely pointless if you can’t use the thing for its intended purpose.
I’ve had my blade-making operation shut down for the last 2 years, because my old forge began developing awkward melted holes in the shell, which allowed long burning jets of propane to go shooting out all over the place.
Sheath-making is a fascinating sub-genre of leatherwork. If you have leather carving skills, btw, the recent interest in knives has made teaming up with a knife-maker a very attractive opportunity.
I thought I’d sell my old anvil and get a new one. The surface of the anvil was pretty pitted, and if I tried to forge down an edge, the steel often picked up the pits. Also: new anvils are pretty!
When you form the tip of a japanese-style war-blade, you cut the steel at a 45-degree angle then hammer the back over to form the tip. Usually, the cut-off piece goes in the bin, but with oroshigane or tamahagane, the material is valuable enough that you can’t do that.