Post a photo of the last thing you made

[Mike.R]

Progress on the chest of drawers. This piece is for an architect friend of mine who has done some work for me. I didn't expect him to have so much input but once an architect gets his pencil out, there's no stopping him.

Some drawer fronts have a bit of polish on them, some are still bare and a couple are yet to be veneered.

 

[Woodchip Wilbur]

Sure the kid will love it.
Now to cast my sailor's eye on those splices. Not bad at all for a first go and you got the thimble eyes reasonably tight too. They most definitely will never pull out but you only need 4 tucks per splice. Next time you can save a bit of work.
Regards
John

Orraloon says "four tucks" - I was alway told "three tucks" - but then one for a taper.

I would be tempted though, while I did the bottom splice more or less as you've done it (fewer tucks!) but I'd make the top one, not as a splice, but by tucking the whole rope back under each of the strands in turn. It isn't as neat - possibly not so strong (though plenty strong enough) but it does mean that as the needs change, so the length of the swing rope can be adjusted.

 

[Orraloon]

3 tucks was for natural fiber rope but as synthetic is a bit slippery(less friction) it required 4 as a minimum.
Regards
John

 

[MarkAW]

Yep it's synthetic rope. I read somewhere 5 tucks, but 7 for moorings. I don't think the frame would support a boat

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why not? Everything I ever did for my children needed to be strong enough to support a boat.

 

[martin.pearson]

Not the last thing that I made but my son has just sent me a picture of my youngest Grandchild who has now managed to climb to the top of the Pikler triangle I made for him.

 

[Garno]

Pen for my pal for Christmas

Rollerball Twist

Spalted Oak

Chrome

CA, Burnishing Cream and Sanding Sealer

4.5hrs to Make

 

[Mick p]

So I thought my very first turning was a failure as it broke off the lathe before I could sand and finish it and it had a couple of catch marks on the base but out of boredom I hand sanded it and put a coat of clear bees wax on it and it actually looks pretty good (to me at least) it's from a pallet block that was approximately 200x100x100mm, the stem is 8mm thick and the cup wall is about 1mm most of the way down. Not 100% sure on the wood species but it looks like it could be Iroko
View attachment 121130View attachment 121131

Hi Stig that looks fabulous I love the shape I told you it will improve very well done. This is the bit of spalted beech you left with me

 

[julianf]

similar to the one i posted last week.


note: the marks on the silver boxes were intentionally left in place. the photos are being posted elsewhere (as in places where I'm trying to sell) and i wanted to make the distinction between the "straight from the machine" parts, and ones that I've spent time on (the two options are priced accordingly)

ultimately, ill set up for powder coat and then that will, i suspect, be that.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Hi Stig that looks fabulous I love the shape I told you it will improve very well done. This is the bit of spalted beech you left with me

Thanks Mick, I'm really enjoying myself with it.
That platter looks awesome , it was silver birch though , I've got a couple of small trunk sections left but I fear they have gone too far so may look into stabilising with resin to stop chunks being torn out So will have a wait a while longer.
Hopefully I'll have my chuck from yandles in the next week or so, just waiting for some of the abranet I ordered to come back into stock, then I only have to sort out jigs for the grinder and I'm all set get turning properly.
I started a piece today but I'm not sure what the wood is.

 

[cisamcgu]

Light pull, in Laburnum (I think).

First every attempt at turning anything - made in my wood turning lesson.

 

[kinverkid]

Light pull, in Laburnum (I think).

First every attempt at turning anything - made in my wood turning lesson.

Looks like laburnum to me too. Would be interesting to compare it with this photo in a years time to see if it's turned a nice dark chocolate brown.

 

[D_W]

A bunch of kitchen knives... a small bunch. Two XHP and one in O1 (XHP is probably the steel sold as PM-V11 based on an X-ray fluorescence done by someone on a blue forum in the US...not blue like blue law, but blue background).

XHP is semi-stainless, but the virtue for knives is also that it stays very straight when heat treated compared to O1, and especially compared to something like 26c3 (very similar to japanese white). 26c3 would make a superior knife to any of them, but it is devoid of stainless properties. XHP makes a decent knife, but lacks toughness and the fine edge is not quite as uniform as the carbon steels (but this is stainless steels in general). The same issue with it exists as does with plane irons - it's got double the abrasion resistance of something like 01 or 26c3, but you have to manage to keep the edge undamaged to make use of it.

...that said, the fact that it's 2/3rds of the way to stainless means that I can sneak the black micarta handled knife into the kitchen without getting caught.

After faffing with a couple of handles, I actually like the straight one the best - it's like a reverse chisel handle with narrow taper on the index finger and then fatter toward the back of the handle.

All three of these are relatively hard for a kitchen knife and ground thin .You can't really get commercial knives like this without paying a lot as these (and all expensive high hardness thin knives) will not tolerate prying with the tip by an inexperienced user. These won't give up if they hit bones in meat, but if someone tries to use the tip of one to break ice or open a metal can lid, maybe not such great outcomes.

They have been finished further since this picture to a gray scotchbrite surface finish and all will hang a hair. Cutting vegetables, meat or bread with them is a sensory experience. The edges are sharpened beyond what you'd get with a 10k grit waterstone, but they're also buffed slightly to strengthen what's left of the apex (not so much, though -they will still catch a hanging hair and sever it cleanly).

dark brown handle is cocobolo (I think I posted it already, and am too lazy to look above - that's the O1 knife). The blank handle is paper micarta (sands and feels like a resin bowling ball - practical I guess - not inspiring!!), and the lighter brown handle is louro preto. I know a lot about what makes a comfortable tool handle, but diddley nothing about what makes a nice knife handle.

XHP kitchen knives are expensive, but the make-cost of these including belts and gas is about $50 each (about $30 for the O1 knife). I'm keeping the top two and the bottom one is going to someone who I know who likes nice things (when I make a bunch of things, then some end up being gifts).

Bottom picture gives an idea of the grind. Everything is done freehand and by eye. The subtlety of differences but guarantee that you won't find limitations imposed by fixturing things while making them is a real draw for me.

 

[Illy]

Very nice work. I've used 01 to date because I can harden in my little Devil Forge and temper in the kitchen oven - works fine but over time the tarnish detracts from the look. Stainless Steel treatment looks way beyond me in terms of heat treatment - is the XHP you reference any easier ?

 

[D_W]

XHP has a lot of chromium (13%) and would be stainless if it was lower carbon, but a lot of the chromium gets bound in the carbon (I think the carbon is around 1.65%).

The key for us using forges is that if you get it really hot really quickly and just quench it (I quench it front end in oil and then back end between aluminum plates, and then throw it in the freezer so it converts as much austenite as possible). So, like if you would go nonmagnetic plus another color hotter and then quench O1, you'd go at least a full color brighter with XHP (it doesn't mind being heated to something like 1900F, and I think the heat in a controlled environment is 1850-2000 depending on what you want out of it).

Long story short, it comes up just shy of O1 out of the quench (you can't quite file it, but you can feel that it's closer) and then when you temper it, it tempers back a little more slowly, so a good heat, good complete cool and temper around 400F will give you about 60/61.

If it's left in the open atmosphere for two long, the chromium moves around and nothing good happens, so it's very different than thermally cycling a plain steel.

Since a lot of the chromium is out of the matrix, it will take light staining and if you leave drops of rust on it, it'll get very light rust, but it doesn't pit deep and stain too easily.

What I mentioned above isn't on any schedule, but I've had coupons of O1 and 26c3 tested and I can match commercial quality on the former and better it on the latter with subcritical quenches. I don't think my XHP will match a good commercial cycle, but we'll see - it turns out fine and makes a decent plane iron that lasts with a V11 iron and suffers pretty much the same ills (the grain is a little less fine and fine edge holding a little less good than a good fine non-stainless).

I haven't tried many other stainless steels and the above is only from experimenting. I expected that I'd buy a sheet of it, cut some things (plane irons at the time) and send them off for heat treat, but before doing it, I wanted to just heat it up into the quenching temperature range and see what happens. I've also tried AEB-L, and I don't think it has a surplus of anything in it to waste, and most importantly, it's not PM like XHP is so you can't really soak it in the open environment to dissolve chromium (we're relying on the mill to keep the pre-quench structure good in PMs).

So, summarizing what's in maybe too many words - it's tolerant of things that I don't see in some lower carbon stainless steels in the open environment, but it's very expensive ($300 for a 6x36 sheet) and you need a lot of heat and fast - if the heat takes a while, it won't turn out good. I use a mapp torch in a piece of large exhaust pipe (not kidding) with refractory blanket lining it so that there's no outlet for heat other than the front. My propane forge (a large double burner stainless forge) will make a lot of heat, but the point heat isn't high enough for me to get good results. That may be different for you if you block yours off and get it really hot before starting a heat.

(AEB-L will work fine and is super cheap, I just can't get hardnesses that subjectively feel above 60 - but you can make a better knife with AEB-L than you'll get in a zwilling or wusthof in X15crMOV0.5 or whatever it is that they use that's not very high carbon.

 

[Illy]

XHP has a lot of chromium (13%) and would be stainless if it was lower carbon, but a lot of the chromium gets bound in the carbon (I think the carbon is around 1.65%).

The key for us using forges is that if you get it really hot really quickly and just quench it (I quench it front end in oil and then back end between aluminum plates, and then throw it in the freezer so it converts as much austenite as possible). So, like if you would go nonmagnetic plus another color hotter and then quench O1, you'd go at least a full color brighter with XHP (it doesn't mind being heated to something like 1900F, and I think the heat in a controlled environment is 1850-2000 depending on what you want out of it).

Long story short, it comes up just shy of O1 out of the quench (you can't quite file it, but you can feel that it's closer) and then when you temper it, it tempers back a little more slowly, so a good heat, good complete cool and temper around 400F will give you about 60/61.

If it's left in the open atmosphere for two long, the chromium moves around and nothing good happens, so it's very different than thermally cycling a plain steel.

Since a lot of the chromium is out of the matrix, it will take light staining and if you leave drops of rust on it, it'll get very light rust, but it doesn't pit deep and stain too easily.

What I mentioned above isn't on any schedule, but I've had coupons of O1 and 26c3 tested and I can match commercial quality on the former and better it on the latter with subcritical quenches. I don't think my XHP will match a good commercial cycle, but we'll see - it turns out fine and makes a decent plane iron that lasts with a V11 iron and suffers pretty much the same ills (the grain is a little less fine and fine edge holding a little less good than a good fine non-stainless).

I haven't tried many other stainless steels and the above is only from experimenting. I expected that I'd buy a sheet of it, cut some things (plane irons at the time) and send them off for heat treat, but before doing it, I wanted to just heat it up into the quenching temperature range and see what happens. I've also tried AEB-L, and I don't think it has a surplus of anything in it to waste, and most importantly, it's not PM like XHP is so you can't really soak it in the open environment to dissolve chromium (we're relying on the mill to keep the pre-quench structure good in PMs).

So, summarizing what's in maybe too many words - it's tolerant of things that I don't see in some lower carbon stainless steels in the open environment, but it's very expensive ($300 for a 6x36 sheet) and you need a lot of heat and fast - if the heat takes a while, it won't turn out good. I use a mapp torch in a piece of large exhaust pipe (not kidding) with refractory blanket lining it so that there's no outlet for heat other than the front. My propane forge (a large double burner stainless forge) will make a lot of heat, but the point heat isn't high enough for me to get good results. That may be different for you if you block yours off and get it really hot before starting a heat.

(AEB-L will work fine and is super cheap, I just can't get hardnesses that subjectively feel above 60 - but you can make a better knife with AEB-L than you'll get in a zwilling or wusthof in X15crMOV0.5 or whatever it is that they use that's not very high carbon.

Thank you

 

[Jameshow]

XHP has a lot of chromium (13%) and would be stainless if it was lower carbon, but a lot of the chromium gets bound in the carbon (I think the carbon is around 1.65%).

The key for us using forges is that if you get it really hot really quickly and just quench it (I quench it front end in oil and then back end between aluminum plates, and then throw it in the freezer so it converts as much austenite as possible). So, like if you would go nonmagnetic plus another color hotter and then quench O1, you'd go at least a full color brighter with XHP (it doesn't mind being heated to something like 1900F, and I think the heat in a controlled environment is 1850-2000 depending on what you want out of it).

Long story short, it comes up just shy of O1 out of the quench (you can't quite file it, but you can feel that it's closer) and then when you temper it, it tempers back a little more slowly, so a good heat, good complete cool and temper around 400F will give you about 60/61.

If it's left in the open atmosphere for two long, the chromium moves around and nothing good happens, so it's very different than thermally cycling a plain steel.

Since a lot of the chromium is out of the matrix, it will take light staining and if you leave drops of rust on it, it'll get very light rust, but it doesn't pit deep and stain too easily.

What I mentioned above isn't on any schedule, but I've had coupons of O1 and 26c3 tested and I can match commercial quality on the former and better it on the latter with subcritical quenches. I don't think my XHP will match a good commercial cycle, but we'll see - it turns out fine and makes a decent plane iron that lasts with a V11 iron and suffers pretty much the same ills (the grain is a little less fine and fine edge holding a little less good than a good fine non-stainless).

I haven't tried many other stainless steels and the above is only from experimenting. I expected that I'd buy a sheet of it, cut some things (plane irons at the time) and send them off for heat treat, but before doing it, I wanted to just heat it up into the quenching temperature range and see what happens. I've also tried AEB-L, and I don't think it has a surplus of anything in it to waste, and most importantly, it's not PM like XHP is so you can't really soak it in the open environment to dissolve chromium (we're relying on the mill to keep the pre-quench structure good in PMs).

So, summarizing what's in maybe too many words - it's tolerant of things that I don't see in some lower carbon stainless steels in the open environment, but it's very expensive ($300 for a 6x36 sheet) and you need a lot of heat and fast - if the heat takes a while, it won't turn out good. I use a mapp torch in a piece of large exhaust pipe (not kidding) with refractory blanket lining it so that there's no outlet for heat other than the front. My propane forge (a large double burner stainless forge) will make a lot of heat, but the point heat isn't high enough for me to get good results. That may be different for you if you block yours off and get it really hot before starting a heat.

(AEB-L will work fine and is super cheap, I just can't get hardnesses that subjectively feel above 60 - but you can make a better knife with AEB-L than you'll get in a zwilling or wusthof in X15crMOV0.5 or whatever it is that they use that's not very high carbon.

https://www.barmondsheffield.com/product/uddeholm-aeb-l/
Source here...

 

[D_W]

Yes, for summary - why I would compare those two:
- AEB-L is a lower carbon but very fine grained (tough) stainless steel that's also a bit low on the chromium side - it's had long use in razor blades and the grain size is uncanny for a stainless - smaller than a lot of carbon steels.
-XHP, which apparently duplicates V11 based on analysis other folks have done is not nearly as small in particle size, but it's very high in carbon (which gives someone playing in the open atmosphere a little to spare when heating to a high temperature), and the quality of a powder metal means that from the very beginning, each little couple-of-micron particles is like a separate full composition ingot. As the steel is normalized, carbides form and the actual carbide size increases past the original particle size, but the starting point offers a cheat in that a home-shop dude doesn't have to normalize the steel to get the chromium in solution - I'm guessing that doing so may actually cause carbide size to increase (I've planed with plane irons a few times and taken a picture of the carbides - which look like they're around 2-5 or 7 microns (they're not all identical) in micrographs of commercially treated steel vs. those in my samples - that are no larger and possibly slightly smaller).

What's missing if you don't normalize the steel -I don't really know if the starting structure is good, but it may turn out better for reasons other than carbide size.

For a non-PM steel with big carbides, you can't just cheat like this because those big carbides need to be dissolved into solution.

I don't have a comparison for XHP, but for D2, which is not enormously different (just less carbon and less chromium), the ingot version looks like this:
https://i1.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/1000X-D2.jpg?w=750&ssl=1
The PM version looks like this:
https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/1000X-CPM-D2-2.jpg?w=750&ssl=1
Note the drastic difference in particle uniformity, which means when bits break off of the edge, they come off very uniformly on the latter, but not so much on the former. For scale, the larger groups of carbides are over a thousandth of an inch and they'll take some peripheral metal. In the powder metal version, they're all a small fraction of a thousandth of an inch (25 microns or so is a thousandth and the 20 micron scale is at the bottom of the picture).

If you heated the ingot D2 to 1900 degrees in the open atmosphere and left it there for half an hour, I don't think anything good would come out of it - the carbon and chromium would probably both migrate.

When you're working with this kind of stuff, you just go the crude way - get some bars, look at the schedule, cheat, see what happens. If it's no good and nothing reasonable makes it good, then stick to the stuff that works well.

I'd far rather have a 62 hardness AEB-L knife than XHP, but I can't heat treat it to that hardness, so the knives are XHP. AEB-L costs something like 1/5th or 1/6th as much, has a far finer grain and almost as much wear resistance. And is probably slightly closer to being a true stainless.

 

[D_W]

(my apologies to anyone who finds the steel discussion confusing - in wood terms, it's sort of like deciding you want to make something like an oil hardened spoon and then figuring out the right wood and then the process to oil harden/temper the wood vs. the idea of just buying some wood and sending it to some place to have it vacuum infused with resin).

Translation, it's a lot less complicated than it sounds - it's more like, what works well to make it hot, make it cold, and then warm it a little. And then how hot, and how warm (cold should always be cold for woodworking stuff).

 

[NickVanBeest]

Made a desk from leftover pine for a friend...

Some of the photos during construction: