I competed on a popular TV show for bladesmithing a couple years ago and when it came time to make my handle thought I’ll use Loveless bolts which if you aren’t familiar are just a screw and two sleeves that tighten together to fasten the handle along with glue. I had used that exact handle hardware in my shop atleast 1000 times before using them on TV and have done quite a few more complex handle constructions so in my head I thought that step will be a walk in the park. Ended up screwing up the handles and starting over on that step 3 times and then still cross threaded one bolt on the last attempt and had to fill the bolt head with glue and sawdust. It survived and I moved on in the competition but long story short often when we feel something is going to be a walk in the park and simpler than something else we have been doing is when the simplest of tasks will give you more trouble than you could imagine. Good luck on the project and I look forward to hopefully seeing photos when you complete it.
yes with all complex projects and at times even simple ones errors and problems occur I am sure I will run into a few some key points being that I dont have a time limit and when problems happen I can afford to think about the best way to fix/correct them while taking a break.
Forging raw chunks of meteorite is no simple task the stuff likes to crumble and existing flaws like to open up on you.
you also need to have a good idea of what the composition is if you are forging dronino ataxite or gebel kamil these have an average of 15% - 20% Ni in them and will not take to welding to it's self to well.
forging meteorite at times is like trying to forge cast iron.
even making canister damascus is difficult to achieve flawless results simply do to all of the issues that meteorite brings.
I moved from 1095 strait to meteorite damascus with very little experience in between.
the first 2 billets of meteorite damascus I made was with help and guidance and I have seance moved onto making my own by hand.
I know the things I need to improve on what I can do and what I cannot I research and ask for guidance often before going into a projects and take steps to mitigate issues before they happen through proper preparation by knowing these things most can plan on how to forge even a complex blade by working around what we know we will likely have issues with.
for example I am going to have to forge this out by hand and personally I want to do it that way however when I start the billet I cant have it thicker than 2" by 1 1/2" and because of wanting to make a honsanmai I will likely take the spring steel and w2 and forge weld them together before adding the bloom steel to the sides helping to leave less room for error when forging the piece.
thank you for the encouragement and I will try to have a preform before winter and see if I cant post an update once some work has been done.
If you ever forge some meteorite I recomend Aletai from china around 5-7% NI around 1% cobalt and the rest is iron it is known to have heavy stone inclusions but forge welds to it's self amazingly I have pounds of the stuff because it can be picked up cheaply and forging the raw chunks is similar to muonionalusta and gibeon the way it forges
