hammerforged

Happy Birthday guys - I hope it is one of the best ever!

Now that is sweeeeet right there. Nothing I like better than hunting pheasant. Wasn't able to make my trip to South Dakota the last couple of years but I look forward to the day when I will be able to again.

great pics Mike and a very Merry CHRISTmas to you as well.

Life is too short to dwell in the past - we should instead look forward to each new adventure that the Lord gives us.

A very Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours as well.

Encouraging news Lewis - continued prayers. Thanks for the update.

Is there any other?

Prayers on the way - please keep us updated.

Thanks everyone - can't afford the Ipad so I was looking at the Kindle or the Pandigital. She wants the wifi connectivity for email but mainly wants to read books on it. What is the average cost to download a book to one of these things?

Who's got one? What brand and why that one? My wife has mentioned that she would like one for her birthday in January but there are so many out there - how to decide which one to get is tough. Guidance from those who have gone before would be appreciated.

I like to get all of my shopping done before Thanksgiving so I can go to the mall the week before CHRISTmas and sit and watch everyone else. Don't envy you your day at all. Best of luck and be safe out there, who knows what wild critters you may come across.

MCH gave me a 2 year subscription to Outdoor Life in the CHRISTmas exchange. He also hinted about a package of local goodies on the way as well. Thank you is somehow not enough. :yes:

Outstanding news Joe, best of luck and continued prayers.

The Little Drummer Boy but, this one is rapidly becoming my new favorite. if you haven't heard "Where's the Line to see Jesus" give this a listen - http://www.youtube.com/user/beckykelleySTL

Thanks Luke and a very Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours as well.

Safe travels Ben - according to UPS the "package" arrived today. Hope she made it safe and that she serves your Father well.

Forge running at 2350 degrees equals 33 degrees ambient temp. in the forge room, now that is cold! Anvil is finally warming up so I can move some steel and it won't act like a huge heat sink - gotta love electric heat tape. Finally got the slack tub thawed out and I might actually get some work done today. How is everyone else doing?

Closures Signal Economic Tightening? Both Freedom Group and Smith & Wesson Holdings broke bad news for employees last week. Late Friday afternoon, Freedom Group issued a news release announcing the March 31, 2011 closure of the Wyndham, Maine facilities of Bushmaster Firearms International. Simultaneously, Smith & Wesson's announcement of the decision to close Thompson/Center's manufacturing facilities in Rochester, New Hampshire, initially announced in the company's second quarter financial results, was front-page news there. Thompson/Center employees got the news of the closure on Wednesday. Both closures have been the subject of industry conjecture for some time, but the formal announcements have once again raised the question of the overall economy's recovery. While the firearms industry ran at a near-frantic pace through the first eighteen months of the current economic downturn, sales numbers seem to indicate that the doldrums of the rest of the nation's businesses has finally arrived. Manufacturers, distributors and retailers report even the most-scarce categories of firearms and ammunition only months ago are sitting on their shelves in a critical retail season. At the same time, new products are being rolled into a marketplace that is said to still be receptive to new gear. In the Freedom Group's Bushmaster announcement Chairman John Blystone said "We are continuing to adjust our operations in order to remain competitive and continue to grow. Given increasing costs and pricing pressures affecting the entire firearms industry, this action is clearly necessary and responsible." The explanation offered by Smith & Wesson CEO Michael Golden was similar, describing the Thompson/Center closure as a move to "streamline our firearms manufacturing processes and improve our margins." No word on the disposition of Bushmaster's Wyndham, Maine facilities, but Smith and Wesson says they're looking for a buyer for the New Hampshire foundry that will be among the T/C facilities shuttered "sometime next year". Some Thompson employees are being offered relocation packages to Smith and Wesson's headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts; the remainder will be given severance packages. Acquired three years ago - at what appears to have been peak profitability- T/C has been hit hard by a change in purchasing by the firearms consumers. Bushmaster, one of the hard-charging companies during last year's boom in "black rifles" seems to be another smaller facility being phased out by Freedom Group's unrelenting drive to achieve manufacturing and distribution efficiencies. From a business efficiencies standpoint, absorption of Bushmaster into the Freedom Group's overall manufacturing facilities and Thompson/Center's rolling into Smith's Massachusetts facilities both make sense. That's small consolation, however, for the employees who will find themselves unemployed in what is a tough job market nationwide. That job market is even more challenging in the northeast where high taxes, operating costs and employee compensation packages have already driven other companies to more friendly locales. Bushmaster joins Marlin Firearms in the ranks of purchased/consolidated brands of the Freedom Group. In March of this year, Freedom Group announced they would close the North Haven, Connecticut facilities that for 140 years had been that brand's home. The Freedom Group consolidations aren't new. Beginning in 2008 with the closure of the Remington manufacturing facility in Gardner, Massachusetts, the company has continued to consolidate its holdings. The Smith & Wesson closure of Thompson/Center will also bring product lines to a central facility with sufficient space and capacity to accommodate the additions. While smaller "boutique" facilities continue in the firearms industry, it is no longer realistic to believe that acquisition targets will remain in their current locations when folded into larger portfolios.

Jeramie - I say wear what you want. Can't please everyone. A client sent me this one from Down under.

Yet another great way to do it, the P.V.A. wheels are great for this as are Scotchbrite wheels.

Tbow brings up quite a few points in determining how to and when to sharpen an edge. One of the critical points though is what type of work will the particular edge be used for? Butcher's steels are used to set up a wire edge on knives that will be used for cutting meat - thus the name "Butcher's Steel". A wire edge can be used for cutting vegetables and fruit but not very proficiently as the acid in the fruit and vegetables will remove the wire edge and leave you with a dull knife. for cutting fruits and vegetable I first set up a sire edge on a butcher's steel and then strop the edge on a leather strop to remove the wire edge but maintain a sharp edge for the task at hand. In the shop I have taken a page out of Bass Pro's book, anyone who has ever been in a Bass Pro and has had a knife sharpened by them will know what I am talking about. They use cardboard wheels set up on a bench grinder to sharpen knives in the store. Cardboard is very abrasive and disipates heat very well. I have 2 types of wheels that I use, one is set up with a coating of silicon carbide dust (the same stuff that is used in the rock tumbling kits that most of us played with as a kid, the black powder). I just coat the wheel with Elmer's glue and then roll it in the silicon carbide to get an even coating. let it dry and then run it on the grinder to sling off any loose grit. this wheel is used to re-set an edge that has been damaged or to set a new edge on a knife that I have just finished. The other wheel is used for stropping the blade, this wheel has slits cut into it every 1 1/2 inch around the circumference of the wheel, 1 inch deep from the edge of the wheel. these slits help to dissipate the heat when stropping the blade. This wheel gets loaded with Jeweler's rouge as a stropping agent. Most bench grinders come with a tool rest that can be set at any angle to the wheel, I recommend using the tool rest until you are comfortable eye-balling the angle. Also remember to place the knife edge down when using one of these setups. Edge up makes for a very nasty and maybe deathly result. For a knife that will be used for field dressing I like an edge angle of 18 to 20 degrees. A stainless blade will be harder to touch up in the field depending on the heat-treat method employed in the making of the blade and the hardness that it has been drawn back to. Buck knives are notorious for being hard to sharpen, this is due to the extreme hardness that they are drawn back to. I prefer a Rockwell hardness of 58 on my Stainless blades, this gives you good edge retention but also allows the edge to be touched up in the field. Hardness is a little more difficult to determine in a Damascus blade, it depends on the mix of steels used in the make-up of the blade, but the knifemaker knows his steel and knows the parameters he or she has to work within. I prefer a mix of 1084 and 15n20 for most of my Damascus, the 1084 is a high carbon steel so it takes a wicked edge, while the 15n20 has a high nickel content which adds some slight rust resistance and is a bit harder so adds to the edge retention. 15n20 is commonly what sawmill blades are made of, this and L6. all of my Damascus blades are made with the goal in mind of ease of use in the field, I have had customers tell me that when they have finished field dressing their animal all they had to do was strop the blade on the leg of their brush pants to bring it back to hair-popping sharpness. I don't know about that but I do know that for all the knives I have made for the competitors in the Iditarod I have never had one fail on them edgewise or otherwise. Just my 2 cents.

Schweeet! They are posing for you. Great shots Mike.

Great looking shots Matt - especially that first one.

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful!

Count me in!