I love that you show the failures too! It’s all one big process. Hiding the misses helps no one and potentially hurts other future blade smiths that think this is easier than it is.
I love that you're humble enough to show that you messed up. So many others won't. Keep up the good work!! And congrats on getting chosen for this colaborative project!
i hope you keep experimenting like this! This was super interesting. Sucks it didn’t forge as intended, but loving how you show your “failed” experiments to us as we learn with you!
I learn wAy more from failures than successes. I can’t seem to get the fails outta my head, and never do them again. This exposé is VALUABLE! You are a talented dude. Keep your head up and solve the forge weld issues: Stout canoe to prevent the teeth from spreading linearly during initial press phase. Canoe shape: heavy duty flared or square ends so your forging is contained and concentrated in the area of concern. Pre-weld: find the most interesting MIG filler material and run a bead between each tooth (both sides) of your billet before initial welding heat cycle. I don’t know, maybe none of the suggestions will help but that goal is worth a few weeks trial and error without a doubt. Just saying. Thank you for the lesson! -CYC
Awesome pattern Will! Stick with the design, you're on to something great. Maybe try a mosaic bar with 1085/15N20 triangle tiles to form the teeth. Force from forging on edge should weld the tiles. Then 1085 and 15N20 bars on the respective sides to sandwich the teeth. The resulting bar could be wrapped around the dragon's tongue/1085 bar in a "three piece" construction. I hope you carry that beautiful design to completion, good luck!
It’s great to try new things. Too many people show success all the time and people without experience think it is more common to be successful quickly and get frustrated to the point of Quitting when they don’t easily succeed. Failures are much more common and teach us the most valuable lessons that lead to more success in the future. If more people showed the failures like you did here then less experienced people would have more realistic expectations. So thank you Will
This video is the reason I follow you Will. No matter what we do we learn from our failures ( This was not a mistake) and you are not afraid to show us this. We learn through this process so keep trying. Looking forward to the next video in this series.
It's probably too much work to be worth it, but for forge-welding the dragon teeth what I think might work is to have a "frame" built, which could be layed down on the bottom die and which would be a bit thinner than the cannister - then, by forging on the top of the cannister, it would try to spread evenly, but the frame would hold it and therefore applying pressure which could suffice for setting the welds, especially if it were to be done in multiple steps. But I'm just an "armchair smith" so there may be good reasons why that's not gonna work
I love to see you push the envelope, even if it doesn’t always turn out. Hope you don’t let yourself get too discouraged, the ambition makes what you do special!
The mistakes are THRILLING and INTERESTING and it lends to your personality and honesty. Please don't stop showing the failures, they actually taught me more than the successes in this video! Keep it up, mate! Cheers, Liam & Kel AU
“Every mistake deserves respect.” - Laura Kampf What a wonderful concept. Mistakes are teachers of the highest order. This is not the first time, Will, that you have shared one of your teachable moments with us. They make you human in a way that only exhibiting your triumphs cannot. I have watched other makers on other channels who never share an error. Boring. Most of those channels are no longer in my list. This was a fascinating video. A joy to watch as much the second time as the first! Keep the aspidistra flying! Paul
Got to say I'm a firm believer in saying that there is no such thing as a failed experiment. An experiment is there to give us a result of something we tried. People say it failed because they didn't get the result they wanted, but in truth you just found out one way not to do it. See it as a positive because I'm sure you wont do it the same way next time so therefor the experiment worked lol I hope you get what I mean and even get to see this Will. Keep on keeping on mate
This kind of content is some of the most valuable educational material on YT. Encountering failure is what drives people to give up, so normalizing failure as part of the process is critical. Really enjoying the authenticity of this channel.
The way you threw in your sponsorship bit at the beginning was awesome!!! I'm really sorry that the tooth idea didn't work, but I look forward to seeing what you learned from it and how the next one comes out. I think it's great when youtubers throw in the mistakes as it shows people who are just starting that even the pro's have off days. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
this is so cool!!! i’m obsessed with this pattern and am so proud of you for getting invited into this project your hard work is really paying off. i wonder if creating individual triangular pieces of alternating 15n20 and 1085 then having an additional edge bar of 15n20 might be a better way for you to get those forge welds to stick? not sure if the blows needed to stick them would distort that other pattern too much though. anyway, you rock and i love watching the content
Most of the fun of any craft is to figure out a solution to problems. Set aside and come back to it i'm 100% sure you will get it and the satisfaction will be there when you do.
Probably the smoothest link into a sponsor I've ever encountered. Square space... pay the man. Quality stuff as always Will. Interested to see how this one turns out
an idea for the teeth, if you took two rectangular bars of steel, welded them together, then gave them a coarse twist, you could have a way to get the teeth on with fewer pieces.
As a new knife maker I watch your videos to increase my knowledge of knife making....Thanks for showing the parts of when things go wrong....It shows that you truly want us to see that things can go wrong....As I can really relate to!!!! Thanks again for another awesome video!!!!
Thank you. It’s videos like this that have taught me that you have your integrity well in Tract, (solidly forged) in your case! It’s always fun to watch the way you love the process of each project. I for one, believe in your ability to conquer dragons teeth, hopefully there will be another attempt at some point.
That is a straight bummer that the dragons tongue and teeth won't work. That would've been a killer looking Bowie. Keep it up. I cant wait to see how the Bowie turns out.
The second dragon tongue stock that you made looked very very nice with the tongue that really thin at the bottom. Wow it was coming together. So great. Nice work! Really sucks that those teeth didn't work cuz it looked awesome
Hey man that was looking awesome. So much good steel im sure it'll be another awesome episode down the line! I hope you figure out that dragon tooth problem. Such a cool idea!
Will, I'm not gonna lie, I miss the longer videos you did when you were with Alex. Maybe it's because I can't get enough of your videos and you don't post as often as some, but I really think it's because you went more in depth with stuff. I even loved your multi-part series. Your humbleness, charisma, and creativity are something that people crave. I love seeing the big cross on your wall; that you aren't ashamed or afraid to show your faith. Thank you!!
You always learn more from your failures than you do from your successes. Success reinforces what you did. Failure shows you where you can improve. Not showing your mistakes gives others a false sense of the difficulty, which leads to failure when they try it themselves. "It looked so easy; I must not be any good at it." And they never try again.
Oh man! I’m totally bummed that didn’t work out! Though not as bummed as you are I’m sure. That was sooo BA looking! Truly beautiful man. I’m keeping my fingers crossed you figure that out some day.
Beautiful concept! Just needs a little more practice to bring it along. Can't wait to see what you pull out of your forge for the next iteration of your Bowie!
I don't know how you would go about this but Alec had mentioned cutting pieces at a 45 degree angle so they would overlap and stick together in a weld together in a line like that. I don't know if it would be possible but it may be worth a shot if you can do it and keep the pattern from distorting.
It's been such a privilege to watch you go from that awkward goofball on Alec's channel to really coming into your own in terms of both your knife making and your "RUclips" personality. You're still a goofball, but it's not awkward anymore and you make me laugh at least a few times every video. It's such a joy to watch your journey and seeing your skills I believe you're well on your way to being a master smith. Excellent work and enjoyable videos - you're going places, dude!
0:42 Will you're pretty much the only black smith i watch. Not because the other guys aren't phenominal because they ARE! (EDITED: FIREBALL TOOL!) But because I don't have an unlimited ammount of time which is what I would need to watch em all. But anyway back to my thought YOU are an amazing black smith. Been watching you for years and enjoyeed watching you learn as you went. Your name belongs on the list with those great black smiths buddy. God Bless You!
Is it possible to maybe TIG weld those cracks and maybe fill in with similar filler rod? Those teeth in the blade is awesome. Its been great watching you on the different channels over the years. Thanks for sharing!
Failure is how many of us learn, it might not be something we want to discuss but it shouldn’t be stigmatized. Learn from the failures and improve your craft and help others improve by sharing the experience you gained from your failures and how you learned to make it work after those failures. As far as your Dragons Teeth goes, I think you included too many forge welds facing different directions. One thing that works for me is modeling clay that’s colored or even children’s Play Doh to try different patterns, it gives you the option of trying different ideas to achieve a pattern that you have in your head. I think if I was to try that I’d have made those teeth oversized in height and thickness, angled the cuts when you cut them up and stacked them welding them and sheeting the sides then forge weld just that bar of teeth. Because it’s oversized you have sacrificial material to grind away to the right size and then have a solid bar which you can then forge weld onto core steel and because you won’t have weld seems in opposing directions it should be much easier to forge weld the bar of teeth to the core bar. You will probably have to stock removal from there to not distort the pattern
Bummer! That was going to be beautiful. Hope you eventually perfect a technique. If the blank keeps having problems you can always get a letter opener out of it. LOL.
Great video! I'm nowhere near as far along in my journey in bladesmithing as you are. But I just put 40+ hours into a billet (counting mess-ups and all) to find too many fatal flaws in it to use. That's the life of a knife maker, I suppose. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this project.
I love seeing this process. I wonder, though, if making the teeth out of a single piece of steel (think of the profile of a keyhole saw) then a matching negative, and upsetting that with the dragon’s tongue would work for you.
Will, knife makers never make mistakes, they just make smaller knives.
Looks good.
heard that from a lot of good makers the likes of leamim hoffman cant spell his name lol
Our school workshop had a sign above the forge that said "We don't make mistakes, we make variations" which I think applies here too 😁
Not gonna lie, that was one of the best segway to a sponsored segment, good job Will
true
100% agree
Agreed! Give this man more sponsorships!!
The first reason I hit a like is that segway
Not to be that guy, but in case you weren't aware it's segue lol
I love that you show the failures too! It’s all one big process. Hiding the misses helps no one and potentially hurts other future blade smiths that think this is easier than it is.
This! So much this!
I love that you're humble enough to show that you messed up. So many others won't. Keep up the good work!! And congrats on getting chosen for this colaborative project!
i hope you keep experimenting like this! This was super interesting. Sucks it didn’t forge as intended, but loving how you show your “failed” experiments to us as we learn with you!
Congratulations on getting chosen for such an exclusive thing!
That starting billet was one of the coolest looking ones I’ve ever seen. Please do a video if you ever use it for another project.
Try the dragon tongue for this project again! It’s so unique and looks amazing!
I learn wAy more from failures than successes. I can’t seem to get the fails outta my head, and never do them again. This exposé is VALUABLE! You are a talented dude. Keep your head up and solve the forge weld issues: Stout canoe to prevent the teeth from spreading linearly during initial press phase. Canoe shape: heavy duty flared or square ends so your forging is contained and concentrated in the area of concern. Pre-weld: find the most interesting MIG filler material and run a bead between each tooth (both sides) of your billet before initial welding heat cycle.
I don’t know, maybe none of the suggestions will help but that goal is worth a few weeks trial and error without a doubt.
Just saying.
Thank you for the lesson!
-CYC
Wooo perfect timing! Just sat down for lunch and was looking for what to watch!
Same.
Awesome pattern Will! Stick with the design, you're on to something great. Maybe try a mosaic bar with 1085/15N20 triangle tiles to form the teeth. Force from forging on edge should weld the tiles. Then 1085 and 15N20 bars on the respective sides to sandwich the teeth. The resulting bar could be wrapped around the dragon's tongue/1085 bar in a "three piece" construction. I hope you carry that beautiful design to completion, good luck!
It’s great to try new things. Too many people show success all the time and people without experience think it is more common to be successful quickly and get frustrated to the point of Quitting when they don’t easily succeed. Failures are much more common and teach us the most valuable lessons that lead to more success in the future. If more people showed the failures like you did here then less experienced people would have more realistic expectations. So thank you Will
Anyone who never made a mistake never made anything, you are an amazing blade Smith Will, love your infectious enthusiasm for your work
Cool to see „failed“ projects aswell, makes things more interesting to watch!
Keep up the good work
More restoration projects in the future?
Not an idiot, a human being willing and eager to learn, and to share knowledge through the learning process 👍👍👍. Keep it coming!
This is one of those things where the concept is solid, but the process needs to be dialed in. You'll get it.
This video is the reason I follow you Will. No matter what we do we learn from our failures ( This was not a mistake) and you are not afraid to show us this. We learn through this process so keep trying. Looking forward to the next video in this series.
I'm still learning knife making from Will. I appreciate showing processes that work and processes that didn't. It's the way to improve.
Love seeing the warts and all, thanks for having the courage to show us when it doesn’t quite come together, makes it so much more interesting
Keep at it Will! The design is gorgeous! I’m sure you can make it work ultimately!
Super happy for you Will! That's quite the accomplishment for so few years on this rotating mass. Good luck!
It's probably too much work to be worth it, but for forge-welding the dragon teeth what I think might work is to have a "frame" built, which could be layed down on the bottom die and which would be a bit thinner than the cannister - then, by forging on the top of the cannister, it would try to spread evenly, but the frame would hold it and therefore applying pressure which could suffice for setting the welds, especially if it were to be done in multiple steps.
But I'm just an "armchair smith" so there may be good reasons why that's not gonna work
Oh, man! That dragon-tooth style you came up with looks amazing! 🤩 I hope you can figure out how to make that happen!
I love to see you push the envelope, even if it doesn’t always turn out. Hope you don’t let yourself get too discouraged, the ambition makes what you do special!
The mistakes are THRILLING and INTERESTING and it lends to your personality and honesty. Please don't stop showing the failures, they actually taught me more than the successes in this video! Keep it up, mate!
Cheers, Liam & Kel AU
“Every mistake deserves respect.” - Laura Kampf
What a wonderful concept. Mistakes are teachers of the highest order. This is not the first time, Will, that you have shared one of your teachable moments with us. They make you human in a way that only exhibiting your triumphs cannot. I have watched other makers on other channels who never share an error. Boring. Most of those channels are no longer in my list. This was a fascinating video. A joy to watch as much the second time as the first!
Keep the aspidistra flying!
Paul
Got to say I'm a firm believer in saying that there is no such thing as a failed experiment. An experiment is there to give us a result of something we tried. People say it failed because they didn't get the result they wanted, but in truth you just found out one way not to do it. See it as a positive because I'm sure you wont do it the same way next time so therefor the experiment worked lol I hope you get what I mean and even get to see this Will. Keep on keeping on mate
Such a humble person. Thank you for being you! Love the content!
Yes, we are blessed also Will. Thanks!
This kind of content is some of the most valuable educational material on YT. Encountering failure is what drives people to give up, so normalizing failure as part of the process is critical. Really enjoying the authenticity of this channel.
The way you threw in your sponsorship bit at the beginning was awesome!!! I'm really sorry that the tooth idea didn't work, but I look forward to seeing what you learned from it and how the next one comes out. I think it's great when youtubers throw in the mistakes as it shows people who are just starting that even the pro's have off days. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
this is so cool!!! i’m obsessed with this pattern and am so proud of you for getting invited into this project your hard work is really paying off. i wonder if creating individual triangular pieces of alternating 15n20 and 1085 then having an additional edge bar of 15n20 might be a better way for you to get those forge welds to stick? not sure if the blows needed to stick them would distort that other pattern too much though. anyway, you rock and i love watching the content
Love the idea. Honestly just the tongue part would be more than enough for me. Contrasting with just plain steel would look great.
Is it just me or was anyone else started laughing after the gears finally turned about the rectangle and square space lol been a long day
The ad for square space was perfect. thanks for that.
Most of the fun of any craft is to figure out a solution to problems. Set aside and come back to it i'm 100% sure you will get it and the satisfaction will be there when you do.
Thank you for trying this and showing it.
I love watching the process! Nice to see and learn from the problem solving. Cheers to ya.
Probably the smoothest link into a sponsor I've ever encountered. Square space... pay the man.
Quality stuff as always Will. Interested to see how this one turns out
You're the man Will... thanks for sharing your knowledge
an idea for the teeth, if you took two rectangular bars of steel, welded them together, then gave them a coarse twist, you could have a way to get the teeth on with fewer pieces.
Congratulations! Well done getting a spot on such a great list of makers. Amazing work as usual.
Perfection requires you to make mistakes, as long as we can learn from them, we're headed in the right direction.
That squarespace lead in though *chefs kiss* well played sir lol
Every failed attempt is one step closer to perfection my brother, which you are undoubtedly shooting for.
Congrats on being invited to join in on that journey !!! and good work!
Thanks for the oops drat content. Looking forward to seeing how you figure this out.
Hang in there, Will! You got this!!
If 1/3 of the time you feel great, 1/3 you feel okay, 1/3 you feel like an idiot, you’re on the right track. Keep on keepin on!
That piece is going to look absolutely amazing......good luck on the Bowie
Man. The transition to the sponsor was flawless. Nice job 👍🏽love the videos.
Thanks Will! 👍😁
As a new knife maker I watch your videos to increase my knowledge of knife making....Thanks for showing the parts of when things go wrong....It shows that you truly want us to see that things can go wrong....As I can really relate to!!!! Thanks again for another awesome video!!!!
Thank you. It’s videos like this that have taught me that you have your integrity well in Tract, (solidly forged) in your case! It’s always fun to watch the way you love the process of each project. I for one, believe in your ability to conquer dragons teeth, hopefully there will be another attempt at some point.
That is a straight bummer that the dragons tongue and teeth won't work. That would've been a killer looking Bowie. Keep it up. I cant wait to see how the Bowie turns out.
That steel looked wonderful
Ad transitions like that would give Elijah a run for his money
Well played on the setup for the sponsor, got a good chuckle out of it and totally wasn't expecting it 🤣👏👏👏
Thank you for sharing
The second dragon tongue stock that you made looked very very nice with the tongue that really thin at the bottom. Wow it was coming together. So great. Nice work! Really sucks that those teeth didn't work cuz it looked awesome
That is one crazy cool pattern you had going. Keep on doing you it’s going to turn out great.
That really was gonna be a beautiful bowie, I'm sure the next design will be a work of art as well 👌
Hey man that was looking awesome. So much good steel im sure it'll be another awesome episode down the line! I hope you figure out that dragon tooth problem. Such a cool idea!
Will, I'm not gonna lie, I miss the longer videos you did when you were with Alex. Maybe it's because I can't get enough of your videos and you don't post as often as some, but I really think it's because you went more in depth with stuff. I even loved your multi-part series. Your humbleness, charisma, and creativity are something that people crave. I love seeing the big cross on your wall; that you aren't ashamed or afraid to show your faith. Thank you!!
OMG… that was a really great Segway for square space.
Wil, that was a GREAT segway into your SquareSpace promotion.
That intro to the squarespace ad caught me off guard
You always learn more from your failures than you do from your successes. Success reinforces what you did. Failure shows you where you can improve.
Not showing your mistakes gives others a false sense of the difficulty, which leads to failure when they try it themselves. "It looked so easy; I must not be any good at it." And they never try again.
I like That part at the end it was pretty chill
Oh man! I’m totally bummed that didn’t work out! Though not as bummed as you are I’m sure. That was sooo BA looking! Truly beautiful man. I’m keeping my fingers crossed you figure that out some day.
Nicely done. It looked amazing you'll get it next time
That segway to the squarespace sponsier was *chef's kiss*
Beautiful concept! Just needs a little more practice to bring it along. Can't wait to see what you pull out of your forge for the next iteration of your Bowie!
I've never liked a video for the sponsor segment but that segue was worth one.
Still has to be less frustrating than the Sword Breaker filing, etc. Keep up the great work man!
I look forward to you figuring out the dragon's mouth knife. If you can pull it off, it will be really cool.
100 percent the best pun you have ever done will. You dont want a rectangular space, you want a squarespace 😎
It's a beautiful pattern. Sad it didn't work for this knife, but I hope we get to see what you do make out of it.
I don't know how you would go about this but Alec had mentioned cutting pieces at a 45 degree angle so they would overlap and stick together in a weld together in a line like that. I don't know if it would be possible but it may be worth a shot if you can do it and keep the pattern from distorting.
Such a cool idea.. can't wait to see it finished. Sucks it won't go to the competition. But awesome non the less
Wishing good health and more subscribers for you Big Willy.
Keep on doing it friendo
It's been such a privilege to watch you go from that awkward goofball on Alec's channel to really coming into your own in terms of both your knife making and your "RUclips" personality. You're still a goofball, but it's not awkward anymore and you make me laugh at least a few times every video. It's such a joy to watch your journey and seeing your skills I believe you're well on your way to being a master smith. Excellent work and enjoyable videos - you're going places, dude!
Must be why a blacksmith was so incredibly important to a community. Nothing easy about making stuff out of iron and sweat.
0:42 Will you're pretty much the only black smith i watch. Not because the other guys aren't phenominal because they ARE! (EDITED: FIREBALL TOOL!) But because I don't have an unlimited ammount of time which is what I would need to watch em all. But anyway back to my thought YOU are an amazing black smith. Been watching you for years and enjoyeed watching you learn as you went. Your name belongs on the list with those great black smiths buddy. God Bless You!
Add a long semi twisted bar then cut 8d down the centre and flip it as the teeth. Then they only need to be forged to the edge.
I love the design. I hope you will stick with it, and eventually be able to perfect it
You totally got me with the ad lead in lol. Gosh darn it
I love seeing the mistakes. That's where the learning is done!
Is it possible to maybe TIG weld those cracks and maybe fill in with similar filler rod? Those teeth in the blade is awesome. Its been great watching you on the different channels over the years. Thanks for sharing!
Failure is how many of us learn, it might not be something we want to discuss but it shouldn’t be stigmatized. Learn from the failures and improve your craft and help others improve by sharing the experience you gained from your failures and how you learned to make it work after those failures.
As far as your Dragons Teeth goes, I think you included too many forge welds facing different directions. One thing that works for me is modeling clay that’s colored or even children’s Play Doh to try different patterns, it gives you the option of trying different ideas to achieve a pattern that you have in your head. I think if I was to try that I’d have made those teeth oversized in height and thickness, angled the cuts when you cut them up and stacked them welding them and sheeting the sides then forge weld just that bar of teeth. Because it’s oversized you have sacrificial material to grind away to the right size and then have a solid bar which you can then forge weld onto core steel and because you won’t have weld seems in opposing directions it should be much easier to forge weld the bar of teeth to the core bar. You will probably have to stock removal from there to not distort the pattern
Well done for being chosen to compare your vision to other's
What a kick in the nuts. At least you can get something after all that work
Bummer! That was going to be beautiful. Hope you eventually perfect a technique. If the blank keeps having problems you can always get a letter opener out of it. LOL.
Great video! I'm nowhere near as far along in my journey in bladesmithing as you are. But I just put 40+ hours into a billet (counting mess-ups and all) to find too many fatal flaws in it to use. That's the life of a knife maker, I suppose. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this project.
Great content thanks for sharing
I love seeing this process. I wonder, though, if making the teeth out of a single piece of steel (think of the profile of a keyhole saw) then a matching negative, and upsetting that with the dragon’s tongue would work for you.
Square space… good one Will!
You got my like at the square space intro
That transition was smooth
Well it certainly had potential Will!!!