u/pushdose

This is my second “big” lathe project. I’m really very new at this and scrapped a few barrels in the process. C360 brass, damascus is random pattern 1080/15N20 scrap from another project, turned stainless slot head screw cap. I used an off the shelf M3 cap head screw for the bolt but I’ll probably remake that too. It’s just so tiny and I don’t have M3 dies or the patience to single point thread that small. The refill is my personal favorite pen, Zebra G-301 gel. This was fun, frustrating, and it’s still not perfect. I struggled with concentricity and that seam in the barrel is driving me nuts.

Scored this on Temu using a cash back offer, retail was $209, after promo I paid only about 125! This is a clone of the Evolution S335. 14” 66 tooth carbide chop saw. It’s really good. This is the 120V 1250W version. It has plenty of power. That’s 1.5” angle and I didn’t even push it hard. I’ve since cut 1.5” 1045 round bar with no problems at all and flat bar up to 3”. Dead square and essentially burr free, cold to the touch cuts. The vice clamp is a little janky but holds tight. I mostly use this to break down stock to feed the lathe and mill. It’s perfect and so much faster than the portable band saw.

Daggers for HEMA are extremely challenging and many currently on the market don’t really flex well. This is the companion dagger to the rapier I did a couple weeks back. The rapier is holding up perfectly in sparring.

The sharp blade of this dagger is pretty short compared to the most popular parrying daggers, so I had to add ~2.5 inches to have any chance of getting a flexible blade at all. I don’t think Kingston ever sold a blunt blade for this dagger probably for the flex reason.

Diamond cross section 1075 steel at 52-53HRC

Aggressive distal taper and thickened tip

Flex at 10kg (better than the HF armory sail dagger)

Blade weight 141g compared to 131g for the sharp, 350g total assembled.

I’m satisfied with the result. I’ve been asked many times to make sparring daggers and I’ve finally found a blade design I think is workable. I won’t turn down this project ever again. I want to make my own hilt design next time. Not easy but satisfying!

Score off marketplace for a buck a pound. ATSM certified from Niagara LaSalle. 1.25” and 1.5” round. I have a forge, heat treating kiln, and a small manual machine shop at my disposal.

I need projects! Let me hear em.

Kingston Arms used to make blunt blades for this rapier, but alas, they no longer do. I was commissioned to make a HEMA safe replacement blade to drop in the old hilt. One caveat: preserve the diamond cross section, weight, and handling of the original. I’ve never done a diamond blade this long before, and I ran out of mass long before I could perfect the surface finish, but I got the performance aspect perfectly. It’s a smaller, more delicate rapier, and handles beautifully.

Original blade is 1/2” longer and ten grams lighter than my attempt. 1075 steel, heat treat by me, 52 HRC, 6kg flex on the dot. Thickened blunt tip with 2mm edge thickness. Linear distal taper from 5.6mm to 2.5mm.

Thanks for looking.

I’m terrible with Kydex. Don’t judge my sheath making skills lol. Knife turned out ok though. Around 61 HRC and a decent 30° or so of flex. Patterned G10 and brass fixtures. Plunge could have been cleaner but functionally it works fine.

The quill DRO came with a terrible sheet metal bracket with several thou of play in it even with the quill locked. This was the first actual part I’ve ever made on a vertical mill. I consider it a mandatory upgrade if you own this machine. The actual machining was just facing, milling the decorative angle, making the pocket and drilling the holes. Credit to Blondihacks for the idea, but I had to come up with the dimensions myself as there was no print. Works much better now, maybe 1 thou max of play if I really gronk on it hard.

I’m over the moon. I’ve been struggling with the Vevor since posting my first project but getting by. Tailstock issues, motor speed inconsistency, wiggle in the saddle. I recently scored a PM728vt mill off facebook marketplace for a sweet price and he also had this lathe, but it was priced at 1800. Not crazy considering retail, but too much for me. He reached out to me and said he had to move the lathe, the house was going into escrow and he just needed it done, now.

Well, who am I to pass up a deal? This thing is so much sweeter than the Vevor. Magnetic scales on X and Z for the TouchDRO. Smaller independent scales on compound and tailstock. Majorly improved tailstock with basically no runout and better carriage fit and travel. Carriage lock, threading dial, almost whisper quiet even with power feed engaged. I did drop some spindle bore capacity, but geez, I’ll live with 20mm over 32 I guess. Also came with another stand, more carbide tooling and lots of OXA tool holders. I’m super happy.

Friend specifically asked me for a clone of the MKC Packout skinner, I obliged, but with my own blade geometry and handle ergonomics. I think it came out ok. I’ve also never made a MOLLE style Kydex sheath, and I kinda hate it but it works since he wants to attach it to his pack.

What an incredible deal. With the tooling package it came with, I saved over $1800 off retail. The owner bought it and then unfortunately died, his son was eager to sell it. Best part is, my car still fits! Made some first chips yesterday. I’m brand new to milling and have only had my lathe a few weeks. This thing is an absolute beast of a bench mill. Wow. Very impressive.

I don’t really do EDC/outdoors style knives, so this is out of my wheelhouse, but a friend asked for a specific design and I tried to follow it to the letter. It is basically a razor, super thin, super sharp, entirely purpose built to be an excellent skinner. 14C28N steel, heat treated to ~61-62 HRC. Patterned G10 scales with brass hardware. I’ve also never done a Kydex sheath like this, let alone a MOLLE. I’m not sure I like the sheath, but I thought one clip would not be enough, but it’s huge and ugly. Guess it serves the purpose though.

Got my Vevor MX-S716G mini lathe up and running over the last week or so. It can definitely remove metal if you’re patient with it. Decided to do the classic shop class project. This little machinist hammer came out ok! That’s a lot of skills learned, or should I say attempted, for a single project. I’ve never touched a lathe before this but I am a semi-decent cutler.

I’m in love. Turning is super addictive and equally frustrating. There’s a little burr or shoulder or something preventing the brass face from seating flush, and it’s killing me. I’ll fix it later.

Brand new bench, brand new everything really. It’s coming along. Been only a couple days of setting it all up. Having the capacity to accurately turn some metal is a luxury for the knife maker, but my last two projects really could have benefited from it. Making ferrules and custom pommel nuts is tricky without it. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about running a lathe but learning new stuff is the fun part

These cheap benches however are surprisingly stable once leveled properly. You don’t feel the lathe vibrating the bench much at all.

I’m a knife and sword maker and my last two projects could really have used a lathe for some of the components. I got a $400 cash back offer on Temu and bought this Vevor 800w, 7x16, brushless, beltless, minilathe. Retail was $704, so it ended up costing me like $340 after tax.

It arrived in excellent condition from Vevor’s Texas warehouse location. It was nicely packed in a wooden crate with foam padding and just a light layer of protective oil on the bare metal surfaces. I disassembled it mostly and cleaned out all the grit and oil, deburred, and mostly adjusted properly. The machined surfaces were filthy. Quick change toolpost is in the mail. Got a set of HSS tools and carbide tools. I’ve got basic metrology covered.

It can turn steel as is. Pic three is some 12L14. Needs a bunch more adjusting to improve rigidity. The compound sucks. I may end up deleting it for a rigid toolpost, but a lot of the stuff I want to do for cutlery work involves decorative tapers.

Pretty excited to learn machining. I’m a decent knife maker, so I’m used to thinking about subtractive metal working. What should I make to start accumulating skills? I’m planning on working through Blondihacks lathe beginner series to start.

Pic 4 is the rest of my shop. I set the lathe up as far as I could from the grinder because that dust is brutal.

Sold as Allsome Mini Belt Sander 180W 30mm x 530mm belts and takes a Makita 18V battery for portable use. It’s on AliEx for $71 and Temu for $77. I have a shitload of Makita batteries and this is an actually well conceived concept for sharpening. The tracking wheel and belt tensioner is on the bottom, which makes it ideal for tracking in reverse. It has a buffing/fiber wheel for polishing and deburring tasks. Variable speed and forward/reverse modes. Rotary attachment. Built in angle adjustment plate on the top for easy angle guiding.

I have absolutely no need for this but it kinda looks better than a WorkSharp KO given the large, horizontal flat platen and angle guide built in.

I dunno if I’d buy it but I’m curious because I don’t like the convexity I get on my WSKO Blade Grinder Attachment. Having a hard platen would help that. Cordless battery powered is nice to take it anywhere so you don’t leave grit and dust where you don’t want it.

I am fencer on the right. I don’t claim to be the best Roworth fencer, clinging desperately to my ~1000 saber rating. This was mostly about testing a prototype, but here’s the sword in action. It held up very well, handles well, gentle flex in the thrust and authoritative in the cut. The brass guard is obviously a weakness, only fitting a Black Prince glove, with the knuckle bow taking a slight bend. Nothing rattled or snapped. The edges took some mild but expected dings. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.