visited an Army captain (we call 'em mustangers in USMC b/c he enlisted in '87) at Fort Belvoir VA. He's got a forge and showed me how quick and easy it is to make a knife from a RR spike (a high carbon spike). He's got a coal forge and one that uses propane; and all the blacksmithing tooling.
he does demos for vets who have PTSD to get them working into a hobby & keep their mind focused. He himself lost 7 soldiers & has the effects but blacksmithing has been his outlet
He showed me how to file, hone and sand the knife pictured, as it is still in the crude stage of post-forge and needs some love
i plan to visit his show to vets when it happens and I'll post a link to an article I'll be doing up
he does demos for vets who have PTSD to get them working into a hobby & keep their mind focused. He himself lost 7 soldiers & has the effects but blacksmithing has been his outlet
He showed me how to file, hone and sand the knife pictured, as it is still in the crude stage of post-forge and needs some love
i plan to visit his show to vets when it happens and I'll post a link to an article I'll be doing up