• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades
  • Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Search results

shop deals on amazon
muzzle loading side side shotguns
Shop deals on ebay
Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. L

    Making a hunting sword from a machete

    Tramontina offers an excellent machete for at or under 20 bucks, but an 18th c. hunting sword it will not make. Not really.
  2. L

    Making a hunting sword from a machete

    Only in profile is that hunting sword correct. Most machetes are made from uniform 1/16" thick steel. You will not find that used on an original. Just FYI for anyone wanting to know, forging does nothing to improve modern steel. It is merely just one way of shaping it. Steel bars come from the...
  3. L

    Lighting a pipe with flint and steel

    Tinder tubes "may" have been common in cities/towns, but there is not much mention of them to get an idea of their popularity. There was an apparent tinder tube of bone found in an Indian encampment area. As I recall the bone tube had traces of char inside. I found them very useful when loaded...
  4. L

    Making a hunting sword from a machete

    Respectfully, all you've really done is make a narrow machete that has a guard. By making an already too thin of a sword blade more narrow, you have increased its flexibility properties and diminished its penetration abilities. Hunting swords were not just for a coup de gras, but also as a last...
  5. L

    Making a hunting sword from a machete

    No, not in my experience. If of carbon steel they are most often quite good, durable, and rugged. The cheapo stainless ones seem brittle and do not hold up to heavy work.
  6. L

    Making a hunting sword from a machete

    What you have made may look like a hunting sword at a distant glance, but among a few other points, a hunting sword blade would start out with some noticeable thickness at and below the guard for a way, tapering to the point. I applaud your efforts, but the results simply fall a bit short as...
  7. L

    Modified front sight.

    I have read of mid 19th c. target shooters melting hog bristles to bead front sights, but never tried it myself.
  8. L

    Should I harden this hammer?

    A good steel for a gun hammer. Its tough and ductile with low carbon but has good manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum and is a good choice for case hardening if you ever wanted.
  9. L

    Annealing Brass question

    True, and quenching has no advantage other than saving time if you are in a hurry. Dull red. Not bright red. Bright red will allow the zinc to begin separating from the copper.
  10. L

    Bending a hammer

    Some folks will not allow facts to interfere with their chosen level of ignorance.
  11. L

    Bending a hammer

    OK, if you don't have all the stuff to make that, you've got to go buy it. A dozen or so fire bricks are not passed out free at the store, then drive back home and arrange it all. I would think that would take more than 30 seconds. If you don't have a weed burner, you'll have to buy, borrow, or...
  12. L

    Bending a hammer

    Yes, but kinda overkill for just one project.
  13. L

    The Absolute Best Tomahawks

    Even if you get into the high art engraved with precious metal inlay types, there still is no best, only a mix of excellent artisans. You have to choose for yourself. You may be better off seeking out the ones you would not want.
  14. L

    Bending a hammer

    Excellent for those who have an oxy-acetylene torch.
  15. L

    Bending a hammer

    Excellent for those who have an oxy-acetylene torch.
  16. L

    The Absolute Best Tomahawks

    For frontier style, which I have to assume you mean HC/PC, there is no best. Only good, bad, or not worth mention.
  17. L

    Bending a hammer

    You're reading wrong. 5300°F is a theoretical value when burned with oxygen. Not with air. 3600°F with air. Another source says 2800°F in open air.
  18. L

    Bending a hammer

    Mapp went out a little before 2010. From what I found, the new MAP-pro gas burns at 10% hotter than propane, and 14% lower than real MAPP gas. Anyway, propane will disperse heat in metals much better in a Map/Mapp torch head than in the common torch head most people use. It pulls in more air and...
  19. L

    Bending a hammer

    If you cannot get a hammer red hot in the area needed with a propane torch, you have a poor torch. You only need red hot where the bend will take place. If you will use a MAP gas torch, you can use propane with it instead of MAP gas and get nearly the same heat, and heat the entire hammer, if...
  20. L

    My first attempt at Rococo

    Same as engraving. No matter how well the execution is done, the design makes it or breaks it.
Back
Top