I have two FB pages Dos Gatos Forge J.States Bladesmith

Last week I put a couple of pucks through a series of roasting cycles and tried again over the weekend. Here is a link to the latest process.

Forging these out has been quite the steep learning curve. The carbon content is somewhere in the 1.5% to 2.0% range making them rather fragile. The f...

I have made six "pucks" or "ingots" all in the 1 kg range using a small variety of carbide forming alloying elements, or just adding carbon to pure ir...

The following is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth. The performance test is designed to show the smith's ability to produce a blade w...

Is this your most recent work?

I second the benchtop mill as the next item in your toolkit. Especially if you are planning to test for your JS. Guard slotting is much more accurate ...

Looking good Matt. You will rapidly find that making specialized press dies is your next endeavor! I have seveal sets: Flat for welding, drawing die...

Is the knife at the bottom of the photo the shape you plan to use for the test?

You have a rotary tool. Try using these:/p> They come in a variety of grits and are perfectly flexible to comform to those curves.

Thanks Kevin. Here is a closeup of the blade  Etched-blade-2.jpg

They each have a fixed pomell cap.  Pair-of-caps-top.jpg

Thanks Bobby. If you have any questions abot the build, fire away.