Deep Punch Forge

05/18/2026

Alrighty, then...got to work yesterday (before the next week of rain sets in) on my next attempt at pattern-welding. THIS time, I made a nine-layer billet of sandwiched 1095 and 15N20, which the internet assures me is about the SIMPLEST way to get Damascus. Apparently, if I can't get this to stick together, I need to dismantle my forge, offer it as an act of contrition in apology to the Gods, and go live under an overpass in the Midwest.

SOOO...got to work. It went well, I think. Sounded good and solid, was ringing as I hit it--not a dull *THUNK* like I was getting with my last attempt (at the time, I didn't know that was apparently an indicator that my steels weren't adhering). Smashed it down to about two-thirds its original size, and...

The 'handle' I'd welded onto it gave way. D'OH! So, I was done for the moment. I let it all cool down, cleaned it up a little bit and got that re-stuck, but by that time it was getting late. I'll try to work more on it throughout the week, since I won't get any shot at it for Memorial Day Weekend.

I'll keep y'all in the loop as the Circus continues!

05/13/2026

Soooo...last weekend's project was ANOTHER attempt at forge-welding. I had some 1095 and 154 CPM steel laying about, and I had gotten some tips from a couple of AMAZINGLY helpful people down at To The Point Knives in Elgin, TX (at their 10th Anniversary show back in April), so I thought..."Let's see if this'll work."

The primary tip I got was to completely MIG-weld the layers together, effectively sealing out air and preventing scale from getting in between the layers and preventing the weld.

Got it. Did that. I started simple, with just three layers (two 1095 and a middle layer of 154 CPM). Got it all nice and glowing in the forge...boraxed the Holy CRAP out of it, and it felt really good under the hammer. I had HIGH hopes that my welds had taken and that this was going to work.

"But," I hear you say, "But, Stupid...you can't forge-weld high-carbon and stainless steel together." Shhhhh...I was rolling. So, I got done for the day, and went back to the day job for a couple of days.

Finally got around to cutting it open tonight to see what we looked like inside. "Hey, that's not too bad," I thought as I looked at it. Sure, there are three distinct layers, but I thought, "Maybe it's just the steels."

So, moment of truth. I took the billet to the anvil, turned it on edge and gave it two or three good, sound blows with a three-pound hammer. And quickly learned what the ENTIRE Internet was already telling me. I had perfect little cracks, neatly following my layer lines. So, apparently the laws of metallurgy DO apply to me.

Oh, well. I came back inside and ordered some 15N20. I'll put it together with some more of my 1095, and see what I can do. While I am saddened that my experiment did not work out, I'm not defeated. I'm gonna get this. It may kill me, but I'm GONNA get this.

04/14/2026

04/14/2026

Several pics of past projects: A group of Frederick's Crosses I made for a regional meeting; A knife from an old wrench; a larger Frederick's Cross; the sappy gift I forged out of an old horseshoe for my wife for Valentine's Day last year; a paring knife I made while we lived in the fifth wheel (i.e., without anything more sophisticated than an angle grinder)--that's purple heart for the handle.

I never claimed to be great, or even good, but I love making stuff!

04/13/2026

Omigod...these are so OLD!! I made this pair of daggers for an Iron in the Hat Event on Bladeforums.com (shameless plug) probably twenty-five years ago! While it was super-cool concept (twin daggers in one sheath, one edge inside the curve, the other on the opposite edge, both chisel-ground), the ex*****on was not completely what I'd hoped for. Still, the cocobolo was beautiful! I hope whoever wound up with them was pleased.

Oddly, I feel like my skills really haven't progressed a lot...I guess that's what you get when you're a shade-tree maker with too much on your plate! I keep lying to myself, telling myself, "One day...I'll get serious about it...one day, when I have the time. And the money. And..."

We know how THAT song ends, though...don't we?!?

04/13/2026

Good grief...it's been FOREVER since I added anything to this page. Mind you, I've not been super-busy at the forge (😭), but I HAVE done a few things. I'll post up whatever pics I can find digging through my system! I'll start with a Rubik's Twist I did a ways back. It came out reasonably cleanly, and I hit it with a brass brush to highlight some of the edges. If I remember correctly, this wound up as a keychain I gave during Yule one year.

02/12/2024

Well, I'm still around!! The last few years have been REAL thin, as far as my ability to put much together--I moved into a 5th wheel trailer with the wife (and dog, and cat). We moved the trailer. We moved again. We lived tiny in the most restrictive circumstances imaginable (but the rent was CHEAP!). Finally, we bought another house. With a garage (that was incontestably deemed MINE). The only hangup now is, I work two hours south of that house, and I still live most of the time in that 5th wheel trailer!

And no, we didn't get divorced! It's complicated, but it's a work thing. So, after spending almost a whole WEEK at my house (which is weird, because it's STILL like I just moved in, although I've technically had it for six months!), I've ALMOST got a forge set up again! I'm in the process of making an anvil stand, and I cleaned up my three-burner Majestic Forge and test fired it to make sure I didn't do any damage in the process.

I even managed to squeak in some time to do a few things for the Missus! Gadzooks--it was like having a real life, there for just a few days...

Back at the trailer, now, but I'll get another bit of time in a few weeks, so I'll be back down and see if I can't actually get to beat some steel! Keep watching the skies, True Believers! I may YET turn out something!

12/13/2021

Had a great day at the forge...started out working on making a hardy hot-cut, but that became too upsetting (*rimshot*). So, I switched to starting a set of tongs. Got half the set done when I realised that the jaws on the tongs need to be forged PERPINDICULAR to the rivet boss. Apparently, it only helps to plan ahead if you have the slightest idea what you're doing, in the first place.

So, after setting those aside, I decided to work on a couple of blades that I've been tinkering with for some time. I got them to a point and decided I'd try heat-treating them. By golly, it seems to have worked! At least, from what *I* can tell. The file test seems like a "pass". There were some faint scratches, but I think that was just scale.

Anyway, now I have to figure out how I'm going to temper these suckers. Even if I wanted to use my kitchen oven, it doesn't hold a constant enough temp to accomplish this. So, it looks like we're on hold, until I can get my hands on a toaster oven or something this upcoming weekend.

I'm looking at putting purpleheart handles on both of them, and maybe a brass guard. If anyone has a better idea, comment quick! I've got the bug, now, so I'll probably be working on these as much as I can between dragging myself to work!

09/25/2021

It's official! I HAVE A FORGE!

Finally got the opportunity to set up the Majestic Forge 3-Burner Knifemaker Deluxe that's been hogging my floor for the past week and fire it up. It's...impressive.

I've built propane forges before, but they inevitably suffered from being under-burnered, as I only had the one, and I mistook that building a burner was, well, rocket science. I looked at the burners with this one, and now I feel like an ass. These things are basically some parts that I could pick up, straight out of the bin at the local hardware store. Don't mistake me--*I* didn't build them, so they could be finely-tuned, highly-engineered bits that took HOURS of math and craftsmanship to build. But they don't LOOK that impressive.

That said, the result is what matters, and WHAT A RESULT! I did the break-in burn, like the instructions recommend (YES, I read instructions). Then I fire it up. As usual, my impatience got the better of me (it;s ninety outside and I was hot), so I stuck a piece of half-inch square bar stock in to start heating. The walls of the forge had just started to glow, so I KNOW it wasn't near peak heat, yet. I was running all three burners at 9 PSI, just to see what it would do. It took about three minutes to get that steel glowing!

Now, I know that I should have let it sit and get good and toasty, and I know I should let the steel soak, but I just wanted to move some metal--it's been so long! And move it did!

I made a...well...I made a flatter bit at the end of my squarish bit, to be honest. But it felt great to be working, at least. There's a TON of adjustment I'll have to make before I'm working properly, of course. I have to get my anvil stump trimmed down (it's about four inches too high, right now), and I'd like to get my forge up off of the ground. Once I tackle these small hurdles, my next step will be to get quench tanks that don't leak, and a tank for my oil, so I can heat-treat when I make blades.

BUT THE FIRE IS LIT! Maybe if I'm feeling really spunky later, and less sweaty, I'll post some video.

09/19/2021

Heh...I often forget how much we rely on context to make sense of what we're saying to one another. I was talking with friends the other day, and I mentioned that I had procured a new hammer for my forging, and that I had spent the afternoon, 'softening' it--using a grinder, files, and sandpaper to remove the sharp edges and corners from the face, so that I don't leave marks in the work piece that are nigh-impossible to get out. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So, I picked up a new hammer last week, and I finally got around to softening it today.
Friend: *Blank stare*
Me: It took a little longer than I thought, but all in all, it went pretty quick.
Friend: After it got heated up, you mean?
Me: *Blank stare*
Friend: In your forge?
Me: *Ongoing blank stare*
Friend: *Blank stare*

--AWKWARD SILENCE--

Friend: So, I hear y'all are planning a vacation next month, huh?
Me: Yep.

This, of course, keys back to more of my musings about language and has a vague and tenuous connection to my thoughts about how many of our sayings originated in 'smithing. But that's for another post.

Cheerio!

09/17/2021

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes..." --Shakespeare

Something wickedly COOL, that is! I'm awaiting receipt of my new, three-burner propane forge!! The wife probably regrets popping off something to the effect of, "...Well, he could probably use a gas forge, here--he just has to get one."

Still have my anvil (YAY!!) Had to order a hammer and some tongs (BOO!), and as I near the resurrection of Deep Punch Forge from the ashes, if you will, I'm remembering that there's a whole MESS of stuff that you need to have laying around to do 'smithing safely.

Like, oh, I dunno...a fire extinguisher. And a quench tank. And maybe some other stuff that I took for granted when I had a whole shop!

Still, I am BEYOND excited! Barring anything crazy happening, I may be able to cheap out and give hand-made goodies from the forge for Yule again, this year!