Has Mokume Gane been used yet?

I would love to see us Discuss our Bladesmithing heritage here in the US.

This comes from something that came up at the round table discussion at NESM. I feel we have forgotten or ignored a large part of our heritage, other than the Bowie, and hawks we tend to forget about those bladesmithing traditions from the US. I refer to venerable Companies like Queen, imperial and Collins axe but also to the trade knives of the 18-19C made in new England. Every area of the country has some tradition/style that we could talk about and I would love to hear what every one has to say on the subject.

MP

How about the latest techniques for making Damascus. The basic patterns have been covered previously, but how to make more complicated patterns or members' unique patterns would be very interesting.

I would really like to see some advanced forging and grinding techniques, for instance the making of a Cris, or flame blade, leaf dagger, etc. Or in general, the curved blade.

On the finish work side of things, working with exotic handle materials, like mammoth ivory. Set our sights on comprehensive discussion. Starting with selection of the materials (what to look for and what to avoid), working the material (shaping, drilling, inlays, etc.) and finally the polishing. Don't limit the discussion to ivory either. It could be "exotic materials" and people talk about their favorite ones. That would lead to several successive topic of the month discussions one centered around each exotic material.

Then there is always embellishment.What are people's favorite forms of embellishment? anyone have any new ideas for embellishing techniques?

How about using wrought iron for fittings? This is a pretty finicky material, and it has some incredible qualities in color, texture and grain development. I'd like some information on how to work that.

How about a discussion of the "must have one in your shop"? People could start talking about the odd tool or jig they made or purchased that they couldn't get along without now.

I apologize. I tend to rattle away sometimes.....

Caleb said: "Has Mokume Gane been used yet?"

An excellent subject, and something I know a little bit about, so I'd have something to add as well as learn.

Matthew said: "I would love to see us Discuss our Bladesmithing heritage here in the US. "

Another excellent subject and something I know almost nothing about, so I would learn a lot more than I could hope to add.

Brion, It occurred to me that three years is a rather long time in this business. Things change, people change, techniques change, interest rates fluctuate, forum membership increases, etc. Perhaps we could take a look at some of those topics from 2011-2012 and revisit them? I just went back to the early days of TOTM and saw topics with less than 20 replies (some with less than 10). I think that if some of these were posted today, not only would more people respond, those who responded back then might say, "well I used to do it that way, but after spending a week at Joe Dinglefutz's shop, now I do it like this."

You might look at topics from the past that have the most views and find a way to expand upon those topics.

Thank you all for the ideas. This is what we were looking for. Keep them coming.

Brion

You know Joe Dinglefutz??!! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

How about different methods of fluting a dagger handle?

|quoted:

You know Joe Dinglefutz??!! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

Yeah he and I go way back. I spent a month at his shop one weekend. I can't really remember what we did, but we had a great time.

How about forging jigs? What jigs do you have for forging stuff at the anvil, on your power hammer, or with your press? I've got a few I made, tried, used a few times, and then left them on the shop floor.

I too would like to hear more about damascus. Specifically pattern development.

Not sure anyone else would care much for this suggestion, but I'd be interested in business related topics. Things like what warrantee do you offer and how do you go about honoring it (was the knife abused or not, etc.), unfortunate experiences with customers or dealers that have changed how you do things, part time sales vs full time makers and differences (if any) in running the business.

I'm not too sure those ideas fit well with the ABS mission, so I completely understand if they would be tossed out. Just my morning ramblings... <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Jeremy

Thanks to everyone for the topic suggestions! We will add your requests to our list of potential topics to post.

Joshua and John mentioned revisiting some of the old topics for updates. To clarify what you are suggesting, do you want us to just re-post an old thread and ask for updates?

Something to remember; although these topics are posted on a monthly basis, the threads are never closed. You can add to any of the TOTM threads at any time. Please feel free to do so. The Topic of the Month Sub Forum, is becoming the easiest to search reference area on the ABS Forum. If you have some information that you want to post on the ABS Forum, it may be a good idea to see if there is a TOTM thread that it would fit under and post it there.

Thanks again for your suggestions!!