Knive from raw iron bloom. Final Stage

I finished the knive eventually without wood laminated handles but tin-plated:

tin plated bronze handles

engraved manufacturer

fish bone structure with blue niello on the back

Knive from raw iron bloom. Stage 2

I finished the handle and made a push pin lock for the blade, like the famous Boker Kalashnikov Automatic knive. The blade arrests with a resonant "click" :) The next step will be finding a nice wood for the handles. 

A litte drop of bitterness: Because I couldn't get rid of some slag inclusions during smithing, the blade has one bad forge welding (Thats where I placed the pivot). Yet I didn't realized until now, that at the pivot the layers aren't welded at all. Maybe I'll replace the blade as time comes by, but as this is my first selfmade pocket knive I'm still very pride. So stay tuned for the final step.

The unfinished folding knive with bronce handles

Folded

Detail of the lock mechanism. The blade shows a bad forge welding at the pivot.

Fits nice in my hands

Knive from raw iron bloom. Stage 1

One of my new projects is to make an small folding knive from my recent bloomery (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlB1_plOjxc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUXZw76_-xa6cK532J9bqZTw). I have chosen to make the blade from the raw, compressed bloom. By this, the blade gets a very coarse look and u can see the slag inclusions on one hand, and the inhomogeneous carbon content by etching with citric acid on the other hand. The handle is tin bronze (CuSn6). You see, there is some work to be done, especially for the handle, so stay tuned.

The blade was made from the raw, compressed bloom. I started with an iron bar (right corner) made from a part of my recent iron bloom.

Detail of the blade after smithing and grinding

Polished and etched blade

The blade and the bronze handles

Bronze Age Socketed Axe

I want to show you my new tool: an bronze age socketed axe. It's a replica made from CuSn10 bronze, measuring 85x40 mm. The original was an urnfield  Ha-B-phase type. I searched  for long a time a suitable shaft and eventually found a piece of beech. I guess our ancestors must have bred trees for this special purpose... The edge was hardened by cold hammering and indeed I was able to get it razor-sharp.

Bronze Age Socketed Axe

Bronze Age Socketed Axe Detail

Bloomery: Adjustable air blower, copper tuyeres

For my next smeltings I built an adjustable air blower. For this purpose, I installed a 1500W electric motor from a vacuum cleaner inside a wooden box. Inside, the box is separated in two compartments: One compartment acts as a silcencer, whereas the other compartment contains the motor. The air is sucked in through the silcencer and leaves the box on the other side. The compartments are each sealed by a wooden cover plate. One plate bears the adjustable resistor from the motor driving unit. By this feature it is possible to adjust the motor from zero-speed to full power continuously.
My plan is to use the electric air blower and the goat skin bellows alternately. The air will be blown into the furnance by a nozzle, made from copper. I made three tuyeres from copper pipe, as shown in the pictures.

The adjustable air blower

The adjustable air blower

The enclosed compartments of the air blower

The control panel of the air blower

Copper tuyeres

Copper tuyeres

Pressure destillation and refillable spray cans

Sometimes I miss the availability of products in spray cans, so I made effort to fill them in spraycans on my own. Therefore at first I gained some experience with liquid compressed gases as propellants by building a small destillation apparatus for liquid butane/propane. The apparatus consists of two tin plate spray cans, connected by a copper capillary tube. Each can is equipped with schrader valve which I soldered into the wall at the top of the can. The upper can is filled with hair spray by the schrader valve and heated by a hot (60°C) water bath. The lower can is cooled with iced water. By this temperature gradient, the propane/butane mixture in the hairspray filled can begins to boild and slowly condenses in the cooled can. After 1-2 hours I collected 200mL propane/(iso-)butane propellant mixture from 400 mL hairspray. This amount of liquid gas mixture is much cheaper than the same amount of commercially available (odorless) butane lighter fuel - and has a significant lower boiling point, resulting in more available pressure (~2 bar). The collected liquid gas can conveniently be extracted by the normal valve of the lower spray can into a storage vessel. As storage vessel I use a spray can, additionally equipped with a schrader valve. The residue of the hairspray, an ethanolic solution of ... what ever... is removed the same way from the upper can. 

To make your own XY-spray, you need another empty spray can with an additionally schrader valve and hold it upside down. Fill the can by the shrader valve with the desired liquid/solution (preferrably ethanol or petroleum based) and vent it by the normal exit valve of the can from time to time. I recommend a syringe for charging the content into the can. For a 400 mL spray can you should not exceed a product charge of 200-250 mL, because you have to add a propellant volume of at least 100-200 mL. This can be done by adding a weighened amount of the liquid gas (density ~0,5 g/mL). In practice you have to weigh your propellant storage vessel or the filled spray can repeatedly. Also you must not fill the can up to the brim, but let some room for thermal expansion. Otherwise elevanted temperatures maybe led the can to burst ;)

DIY Pressure destillation apparatus

Cleaning of the apparatus by extracting the hot hairspray residue (basically denaturated, water free ethanol with some hair-styling chemicals) via the outlet valve of the can

Extraction of the collected propane/(iso)-butane from the lower can into a storage vessel

Delonghi Nespresso U: Water tank DIY repair

I acquired a used Nespresso capsule coffee machine, for I was impressed by the good taste of the espresso and the small size of this machines. From the beginning I planned to refill the capsules occasionally with other sorts of coffee like my favourite trung nguyen vietnam coffee. Sadly the water tank of the delonghi "U" machine had some cracks at the bottom. The cracks seem to be a result of a bad choosen material combination of metall and polycarbonate. Whatever, the cracks made the water extraction valve at the bottom of the tank leaking and therefore useless to hold the water for a longer time; I had to fill it with only the amount of water needed to produce one cup of coffee....
Yesterday I found a piece of plastic that fits exactly the water intake port, a 10 mL syringe. Because I also had an empty water bottle, the idea was born to improvise a water tank until I'll came up with a proper replacement. After all, I was so appealed of  that improvised water tank, that I don't feel the need to replace it by an original one. So here is my idea.

A 10mL syringe with 16 mm external diameter was used. I removed the bottom and made two holes in the middle of barrel. The plunger acts like a valve, as when you pull the plunger to a point above the holes, liquid can flow trough the holes into the barrel. However if you push the plunger down, it will close the holes. I glued the modified syringe into the bottom of an nice looking water flask made from plastic and cut the neck of the bottle so that it fits the original lid of the water tank.

The new nespresso water tank for my delonghi U

The glued syringe with water inlet holes 

The bottom of the water tank 

Ready to use

The filled tank with pushed down plunger: No water leaking!

The installed tank with pulled up plunger: Water is allowed to be sucked from the machine when needed

I think its now looking even better than with the original water tank. Some refillable capsules in the foreground

Glow In The Dark Items

Glow in the dark (GID) items are one of my favourites. I find them extremely usefull to mark light switches, radiator valves, keys and many more, especially for my outdoor equipment like zippers or tent pegs. The strongest glow in the dark powder I experienced so far, is the Glow Inc. Ultra Green V10 GID sand and, a little bit weaker, the GID powder. Because these strontium aluminate pigments are moisture sensitive, I usually mix them with epoxy resin or styrene resin.

Glow in the dark items

Glow in the dark key chains

Glow in the dark key chains

Chemistry: Some Fun with Freon

I recently get some vintage spray cans containing chlorofluorocarbons. Chlorofluorocarbons, commonly known as CFCs, are a group of man-made compounds of carbon, chlorine and fluorine produced as non-flammable, inert derivatives of methane and ethane. The Belgian scientist Frédéric Swarts pioneered the synthesis of CFCs as early as in the 1890s. The industrial production of CFCs began in the 1930s. Since then, they've been extensively utilised as propellants in aerosols, as blowing agents in foam manufacture and as refrigerants.
By the late 1970s, more and more the destructive effect of CFCs on the ozone layer revealed. There are no removal processes or sinks for CFCs in the troposphere. As a result they are slowly transported up into the stratosphere where they are broken down by UV-radiation from the sunlight, releasing free chlorine atoms (see formula mentioned below). The chlorine radicals initiate the ozone depletion by a chain reaction with ozone molecules. Also the strong IR-absorption bands of CFCs, mainly located in the spectral region, make them strong greenhouse gases. Since the dangers caused by CFCs to the ozone layer were first identified, their use has gradually been phased out, according to the Montreal Protocol in 1987.  However, CFCs have long lifetimes in the atmosphere before they are broken down by sunlight, and consequently they will continue to enhance the greenhouse effect well into the 21st century.
Today the antropogenic release of nitrous oxide replaced CFCs as the biggest ozone depletor.

So far on their history. The most common CFCs were CFC-11 (Trichloromonofluoromethane) and even more CFC-12 (Dichlorodifluoromethane). CFC-11 was used as a non-toxic and non-flammable solvent mainly for aerosol applications (b.p. 23.7°C), whereas CFC-12 was used as propellant or in refrigeration (b.p.-29.8°C) often called R-12. I extracted some of the CFC-11/12 (30%/70%) mixture from one spray can to show you the nature of CFCs: They look like ordinary water and are not inflammable. The mixture was odorless too, but on contact with fire a stinging odor like burning PVC from hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid emerged. The mixture quickly evaporated at room temperature and boiled on contact with warm surfaces like my finger tipps.

Freon spray cans

Liquid Freon (Dichlorodifluoromethane and Trichloromonofluoromethane)

The CFC-11 / CFC-12 mixture already boils on contact with the skin

Bloomery: Double Action Box Bellows

Double Action Box Bellows

I built this box bellows for my bloomeries in 2011. This type of bellows is known from ancient asia only as far as I know, but I wanted to try them for my "roman" style furnances. The reason for that was, that I found it very inconvenient to handle the bellows and charging the furnace simultaneous. So I made a compromise, engaged some mechanics and constructed this ancient air blower, driven by an electric motor instead of the commonly employeed vaccum cleaner motors for this purpose.

The bellows is basically a modified -commercial available- wooden box with a wooden piston inside. On one side of the box I attached an air tunnel, receiving the compressed air of the bellows by two valves, which are on each end of the box. The air tunnel is enclosed at each end by wooden caps. In the middle of the tunnel I drilled the air outlet, as you can see on the photos. The piston is moved like an inversed steam engine, and the motor shaft is powered by a 350 W three-phase asynchronous motor (modified for two phase current by a capacitor)

The box bellows was made from a modified wooden box

The piston of the box bellows. A lining of coney fur was used as gasket

The air tunnel enclosed with a wooden cap

The final stage of the box bellows

The first runnings were performed by a belt driven worm gear

The box bellows with an adjustable friction gear in action

Detail of the motor unit

In the final stage the fixed driving speed of the bellows was stepless adjustable by a friction gear. With that modification the assessable air outlet was somewhat between 500 to 1000 L/min

Outdoor: Tritium Torch

My new toy:) A tritium powered torch from betalight.nl. This torch will provide me a weak green light for at least 15 years to come (the half life of tritium is 12.3 a). The source is 1.9 Ci Tritium at the date of manufacture and emitts 900 millilamberts of light. Thats enough for reading a map, compass or a watch and even to read a book in the total darkness.. ok maybe its not recommendable to read a book with such a dim light. The torch itself is complete rubber coated and thus wear resistant and a tight fitting cap to protect the light source. On the backside is a rubber coated ring, with fits the torch on a pole or whatever you want. Needlessly to say, the torch even continues to operate under water, in the extreme cold or hot, in total vacuum, space or on the moon...

Comparison of the tritium torch (left) with an ordinary tritium zip marker (middle) and an americicum powered self-illuminating keychain (right)

Survival: Evolution Of Fire Making

I'am very interested in friction fire making and since a couple of years I also managed to improve and miniatureize my bow drill fire set. So Here's my personal evolution in bow drill sets:

One of my first bow drill sets (2008) consisted of an simple socket and drill made from beech and a bow made from hazel. The fireboard was soft wood collected in the nearby forest. The bow was approximately 60 cm long.

One of my earliest bow drill friction fire sets

 The next set, from late 2008, had an shorter bow but uses a longer drill. At some point in 2009 I used an 40 cm bow which was splitted in half. For drilling the pieces were connected by a wooden clad. The set was used with a 30 cm long drill!

A more elaborated friction fire set

The next step was a considerable miniaturization: The bow was shortened to 20 cm and the rest of the set was made to fit into a little sheath made from leather, attachable to my belt. I experienced much with different designs and materials. The sets below had a laminated (manilkara bidentata/ nauclea diderrichii/ zebrawood) bow and an socket made from manilkara bidentata with an inlet of antler or, at the left, lignum vitae (provides an excellent self-lubrication). The outer left socket was made from lignum vitae alone. The sheath had a button made from shorea laevis or antler, respectively.

miniaturized bow drill friction fire sets

The set below was made in 2010 more for a decoration purposes rather than practical use: The socket was made from six layers of different woods (coconut, manilkara bidentata, nauclea diderrichii, african blackwood, bocote) and an antler inlet encased in manilkara bidentata. The bow was more simple: A piece of nauclea diderrichii, partly laminated with zebra wood and african blackwood.

A decorative bow drill set

The vital parts of my recent (2012) set is made almost completely from lignum vitae. The drill is hazel and the fire board is made from red cedar wood. A thin piece of manilkara serves as fire pan. More and more I'am tending to leave the bow at home, since a straight branch for a bow is to be found almost everywhere and the very short bow (20 cm) is sometimes hard to handle (e.g. when you want to make fire after a long hike).

A bow drill friction fire set made from lignum vitae