pure vanity

[gfish]

I heat-treated the new machete blade this afternoon with the help of neuro42 and adularia. Unfortunately the clay spalled off almost immediately after putting it in the forge. I need to experiment with baking it beforehand to make sure all the moisture is driven off. I'm still sorting through the deluge of pictures neuro42 took of the process, so I'm not going to document things here. I just wanted to say that this is my new favorite pictures of myself, even though I'm squinting horribly. Work jacket, steampunk goggles, dorky tshirt, juicebox. Hello, world.

Comments

Clay suggestions

[blackanvil.livejournal.com]

Something you can use for longer blades when differentially hardening is, once you're done with the clay application, wrap the blade with some iron or stainless steel wire -- I use annealed MIG wire, I used to use stainless steel fishing line, which is already soft enough, but I can't find that locally, assuming it's still being made. One wrap every 3-4" seems to do the job, you'll have to go back and smooth the clay back down where the wire has disturbed your pattern, and to cover the wire up, but that only takes a minute or so.

If you've not read it, Bob Engath did a great write up of how he handled differential hardening over at http://www.engnath.com/public/claytemp.htm .

--doug