More OKC Bombing news

KTOK-AM carried this story today: "Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue says he is surprised at the order of a federal judge who wants to see unredacted FBI files in Trentadue's Freedom of Information fight."

I mentioned in my last post on this that Mr. Trentadue had received a bunch of documents; they were heavily redacted, with names and information blacked out.

"Earlier this week the judge made it known to the FBI he wants to see the FBI files turned over to Trentadue last month. But Judge Dale A. Kimball told the FBI he personally wants to see the 'unredacted' version of the documents, those papers which have not been blacked out by the government to protect the names of individuals. The judge set a hearing for October 12th at 3pm."

This is serious stuff. If the judge sees that government lawyers lied to him, I believe that is an offense for which they can be disbarred and/or prosecuted. If the FBI agents involved are proven to have lied, I do believe that is called purjury, and carries a prison sentance. And it would almost certainly go 'way up the chain of command in the FBI and Justice Department.

If you haven't heard of this mess before, what started Trentadue digging into it? "Trentadue has been fighting the government for documents about the August 1995 death of his brother Kenneth Trentadue at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center. He believes his brother died in a fierce FBI interrogation because he closedly matched the description of a suspect sought in the bombing of the Murrah building."

And the longer the government lawyers drag this out, the worse it'll be in the end.

Part 4, hardening and tempering

Heat-treating is generally two steps. First, you have to get the piece up to critical temperature, evenly thoughout the length and width(more on that later), and quench it in whatever's appropriate for that steel to harden it. Second, you have to heat it up again, but to a much lower temperature; you have to ease the stresses in the blade enough that it won't be brittle, but will still be hard enough to hold an edge well.

What steel you used decides what the critical temperature will be, how you quench it, and how you temper it. Most of the fairly simple carbon steels are very similar in these respects; critical temperature is 1450-1550 degrees F. They can all be quenched in oil to harden. And the temperatures for tempering range from 350-600, depending on the steel and the use intended. A blade that has to be able to do heavy cutting and chopping shouldn't be as hard as one for fine work where you don't want to have to sharpen it often, for instance.

To touch basically- very basically- on how this works, steel has a crystilline structure that changes according to temperature and stress. When you heat it up to the critical temp, several things happen. The matrix of the structure opens up and carbon atoms can actually migrate through it(this is what allows case-hardening to work); the steel gets soft(duh); and most steels go non-magnetic(this temp is also known as the curie point). If you take a piece to a low heat, say 1200 F, and let it cool slowly, you normalize it, evening out and relieving stresses in the piece. If you get it to that temp and cool it very slowly, in hot ashes for instance, you can anneal it, making it as soft and easy to work as it can be, with the structure settling into, let's call it a relaxed structure(yes, there are specific words for the different states, but I can't remember them right now and don't have a reference handy; I'll try to add them in later). If you take it to the critical temperature and quench it, the structure freezes in a very stressed state, and under a microscope the structure will look different, with a needle-like appearance called martinsite(the one word I remember offhand). A high-carbon steel in this state is very hard; a sharp file won't cut it, and it's so brittle that dropping it might crack or break it. Tempering changes the structure a bit and relieves some of the stress, and here you have the hardness/toughness balancing act.

Let's say I'm making a large bowie or dirk out of 5160 spring stock. First problem is to get it up to proper heat along the full length. If you have access to or decide to buy or make an electric furnace, no problem; set the temperature to 1500F, set the blade in the oven and let it get to critical heat. In a forge, you may have to modify the firebed to get a long, narrow fire. What I wound up doing is taking a piece of about 3" diameter steel pipe long enough to fit into the firepot; split it lengthwise; then drill a bunch of holes in one half, no bigger than 1/4" and all along the length and partway down the sides. Then, get a piece of sheet steel and cut an hourglass shape out(you'll have to measure, cut and try to get it to fit), bend it in the middle, take the grate out of the firepot and set this into the hole. The idea is this piece will spread the air blast along the length of the pipe grate, instead of mostly hitting in the center. Set the pipe grate in place, and build your fire over it.

While the fire burns, make sure your quench method is ready. With smaller pieces you can use a can or bucket of oil, but for longer ones you'll need more length. A double-edge piece will have to be quenched point down, but a single-edge can be quenched lengthwise. I got a piece of steel channel about 3" square, cut one side open, and had ends welded on; I can fill it half to two-thirds full and do a fairly long and heavy blade in it. In either case the oil needs to be warmed, because it will flow better and give a more even effect; I usually set a piece of bar stock about 1" diameter in the fire while it's burning clean, and when the bar is low red, put it in the oil, you want it at about 100 F. A point here about single-edge blades; you don't have to heat them all the way from edge to back. Take a dirk that's about 2" wide at the ricasso and tapering. You can heat it so the area about 1/2" to 3/4" back from the edge is at critical temp and lower it edge-first into the oil. It'll smoke and bubble something fierce, and may ignite on the surface, so use tongs that will hold it securely and give you some distance. The advantages of this are two; first it's a lot easier in most cases to heat this section than the whole width of the blade, and this gives a hardened edge section with a softer, tougher back. Done right a blade like this is incredibly tough, and you probably won't live long enough to wear back through the hardened section. Further note: with a long single-edge blade, I try to finish the forging and grinding so the piece actually curves up toward the back a bit; when you quench it the edge section will shrink and pull it down into line.

You'll need to let the fire burn clean and even, then set the piece in. You want a very low air blast here; the piece needs to heat up slowly and evenly, so move it back & forth a bit too. You can check the temperature four ways. If you have one/access to one, an infrared thermometer would be nice. You can use a Templestick, a high-temperature crayon; pick one for the temp you want and either mark the blade and wait 'til it melts or lift it enough to wipe the crayon on it. You can use a magnet. When I mentioned they go non-magnetic, it means that at that temp a magnet will not stick, so you can use a shop magnet on a handle and touch it to the blade, when it doesn't stick you're there. And you can do it traditionally, learn to know the color that means you're there. I'd say a cherry red, but the description varies by who's giving it, so use some scrap pieces and practice. If the piece is not hot enough, it won't harden completely; too hot and the structure enlarges and the piece will be weaker than it should, in extreme cases the edge can actually crumble a bit under stress. So work the piece back & forth and watch the heat. When it's ready lift it out and put it into the quench. If you do this inside, you better have a fan set up for ventilation, especially with a big piece it takes a bit for it to lose heat and the oil will be smoking the whole time. Leave it until all heat coloring has disappeared, and if possible a while more, then take it out and let it cool completely. Turn the fire down but not out, because when the piece has reached ambient temperature, you need to clean it off thoroughly; inspect it for any warping so you'll know where to straighten it(mark with soapstone or something similar); and harden it again. I generally do two quenches with most steels. After the second, leave it in the oil for a while, then take it out and let it cool. And unless you're doing another piece, you can put the fire out now.

When the piece is all the way cooled off, inspect it again, and if all is well you can start tempering it. I wipe it down thoroughly, then wash it with dish soap(Dawn in my case) to get rid of the scale and oil, and put it in the oven. Yes, the one I bake in, which is why I'm fairly damn picky about washing all the oil off first. I set the heat at 375 F for the first heat, let it get up to temp and then leave it for about an hour. Then I pull it out and let it cool, then I hit it with the belt grinder to shine the sides up. I could probably do this before the first heat, but if I drop it it might crack, so I do one heat first. After shining it up I put it back in and, in the case of a piece like this, set the heat up to 425, leave it for long enough to get up to heat plus one hour. Pull it out, let it cool and check the color. For a big blade like this I want a bronze color, or dark yellow, along the edge. If it's lighter than that I increase the heat for the next time. If it got too hot? I reduce the heat by 25 degrees for the next heat, and hope the testing shows it's not softer than I want. Which is why I start below what I figure is needed and work up. And yes, for some things I know what temp I want and just go with it, but for bigger or more intricate shapes I start a bit low.

I do three tempering heats, cooling completely between. After cooling from the last heat, it's time for the next step: testing.

Carnival of Cordite #27

Over at Gullyborg. Some interesting stuff again, so go see.

And when you can, look over his place; it's well worth the time.

Ok, THIS just screws up my good mood

Went over to Kim's place and found this. Short version, they Brazilian the British cops killed was killed in error and the cops lied about it.

No 'heavy coat', no 'suspicious behaviour', no 'attempt to flee'. Instead the cops screwed the pooch bigtime and killed the man.

Crap. As Kim says, read the whole article here for the full flavor of this screwup.

The Gunny Bestiary

The last time I went to the range, I found that some people had left behind what is termed, by handloaders, as a 'buttload' of .30-06 and .30-30 brass, heavy on the '06. It occurred to me, as I was picking this up, that there is a sub-species of shooter that might not be that familiar to the new shooter, and to some more experienced folks. Thus, I present this small contribution to your knowledge base.

The Handloader or Reloader (brassus used pickupus) is a somewhat common subtype of the shooting genus. Physical appearance can vary widely; both sexes can be found in this type. Often the male of this type has a mate who shakes her head and mutters things when he brings a new bounty into the nest area; females are usually mated to a male who is also a Reloader. There is some disagreement as to whether this is an actual subspecies, or simply a common shooter(bang-bang multiplus) who has been infected by some agent causing this change in behaviour.

In the nest area they are easy to tell. The work areas tend to have buckets/bags full of cartridge cases, instruments known as 'loading presses' and 'scales' and 'measures', and (often) numerous books and other publications on this subject. Occasionally the work area has a strange scent reminiscent of smokeless propellent, which when noticed causes cursing and a rapid search by the Handloader for any loose lids on containers. There may also be precision instruments(they claim) such as 'micrometers' and 'calipers'. The 'scale' and 'measure' should probably fit into this classification, but depending on whether they have been dropped/knocked down/shot, they may not actually be that precise.

In the 'open range' environment they sometimes may be told by plastic ammo boxes and notebooks on the bench; truly rabid specimens may have some of the 'scales' and/or 'measures' and a 'press' on the bench, where they mutter alchemical formulae and construct their own ammunition. These signs are often missing, however there is an almost no-fail method of telling the specimen; they will often be found, after they or someone else has finished shooting, walking around/in front of the benches in a crouch picking up fired cases. If in doubt, observe closely and you may well see the specimen holding the fired case in such a way as to attempt to see how many holes are in the bottom; since the hole/holes will be on the inside, this can lead to some amusing head and hand motions as they attempt to see inside.

In the clubhouse or gun store they may also be found speaking in tongues, referring to things such as 'meplat' and 'leade' and IMR(followed by numbers); they can sometimes become rather testy and loud when some other Handloader informs them that their 'pet load' doesn't work worth crap and that the Handloader being addressed is an idiot.

Overall the Handloader, while sometimes boring/annoying, is a harmless creature, as long as you do not smoke in the work area; this activity can cause serious upset in the being.

Although it is suspected to be an infectious activity as opposed to an actual different type, no special protection is required in their presence.

Although occasionally earplugs may be considered a plus. Especially if someone does smoke in the work area.

For what it's worth.

No more of my money for this idiot

I always liked the music of Carlos Santana. Never knew much about him, other than his being a good musician. Then, a few months ago I read of his wearing a 'Che' t-shirt to the Oscars, and the reaction to that. And today, I read this, linking to this.

Crap. I really hate finding out that an artist I admire has turned out to be a jackass such as this. Especially when it's someone who, had he lived in Cuba under castro and his little butt-monkey, would have wound up in a camp and/or spending a few years in the cane fields.

Want to find out more about this? Go here, it's the search page for Babalu Blog on 'Santana', and click around. Just about guarenteed to piss you off. At least if you actually care about the idea of freedom.

As Kim puts it, it's Red Curtain Of Blood time

If this crap (found at Libercontrarian) doesn't make you see red and need breakables put out of reach, you need help.

We've been hearing a lot lately about judicial arrogance and abuse of authority; this is exactly the kind of crap spoken of. People held in jail and no communication allowed with the outside world, because the judge says he feels 'threatened'.

This idiot SHOULD feel threatened, threatened with being thrown off the bench, disbarred, and tried and jailed for his violations of the highest law of this land. And THEN his ass sued off, along with every idiot, like the prosecutor, who had a part in this. As the Rivrdog put it, this is the kind of thing that makes people remember what the 2nd Amendment is there for.

Just read it.

It seems connected...

By that I mean the stuff I've noted earlier about the FBI & co. telling lies to judges and defense attorneys and covering up, and the other covering up coming uncovered ref the 9/11 Commission and Atta and Able Danger.

As various people from Roger to the Captain(here and here) to Mark Steyn have been pointing out, the commission, it turns out, seems to have spent as much time acting to protect people as it did actually, oh, investigating things. When on the commission, as Steyn puts it, "There was at least one person with an outrageous conflict of interest: Clinton Justice Department honcho Jamie Gorelick, who shouldn't have been on the commission but instead a key witness appearing in front of it.", that tells you something about the aims of the commission.
And seems to match up pretty well with what has been happening in the OKC Bombing case; lots of information turning up that shows the FBI knew a lot more about McVeigh and connections to other people than it said, that the Bureau lied about it, and is stonewalling to try to cover up as much as possible.

I've said before that I take no pleasure in pointing out this crap. I grew up around law enforcement, I always respected those wo do the work and expected that they would do the right thing. Especially a group like the FBI. I don't question that there are good people in that agency, and ATF; I also no longer question that there are bad people there, people who will lie under oath, and cover up wrongdoing by themselves and others, and do almost anything to protect 'the Agency' or 'the Bureau', including violating the oath to protect and defend the Constitution that they took. And there's far too many politicians who will wink at it, or actively support it, for various reasons. It's horribly disillusioning, it's downright painful, and I don't like it.

The best that can come out of this is fairly simple and straightforward: find the ones who lied, who did wrong, who covered up, and a: fire them and b: prosecute them. If for some reason you can't prosecute them, you can at least get them out of their position so they can't do more harm and make examples of them. We NEED law enforcement to be trusted, to be able to do the job, and we won't- probably can't- have that if they don't act, and Congress won't act, to clean it up when things like this happen. The problem is there are, as I mentioned, people in Congress who think it's a good thing they did these things because it suits whatever agenda they're trying to promote.

God, this is a mess.

I'm baaaaaack...

But not much to say tonight. Good visit with some good folks. An even better visit in that it involved helping them choose and buy things that go 'bang'.

Oh, you know Cabela's? Big catalog store, until recently didn't have a store anywhere in the region; until now. They recently opened a store just north of Fort Worth, and we spent some time looking around. Lord, it's huge! Guns and ammo and bows and boats and clothes and boots and sharp things and fishing gear and, and, and.... If you're anywhere close enough, it's worth the trip to see. Where else are you going to find .470 Nitro Express snap caps and, in the fine guns room, a .470 double rifle? AND a couple of .500 Nitro Express.

There's even a damn candy store, with some of the best fudge you'll ever find.

Later.

Just before I leave part 2: various feds

Federals, that is. I can't find the link right now, but it boils down to this: ref the earlier posts on new information about the Oklahoma City Bombing(here, here and here), Trentadue has received more documents from the FBI ref the death of his brother. The current batch include information that the FBI was going to run bugs on him and on an inmate he was going to interview so as to try to find something to either blackmail him with, or use to charge him with a crime so as to shut him up and force him to drop the case.

The following is from a guy who was raised around LE people, to have respect for law enforcement in this country:
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!? This is NOT the conduct expected of people in your positions; your conduct should be to find the people who did wrong- WHOEVER THEY ARE- and bring them to justice. Or doesn't the concept of 'Justice' mean anything to you anymore? Is covering up mistakes and protecting the Bureau's reputation more important? If it is, we have a real, real big problem; and you should be very, very ashamed.

Enough. See you folks in a few days

Before I leave part 1: Insane or nutcase women

I had- HAD, I tell you!- to do two last things. The first is this: over at the Hog's place I read this the other day, referring to that nut Sheehan who's in Crawford, TX for the purpose of playing victim and annoying people. She's bad enough, but on the radio today I heard some women who showed up to 'show support for this woman who sacrificed her son on the altar of Bush's lies', I believe was the wording.

Lady(using the term loosely), SHUT THE HELL UP! She did NOT 'sacrifice' anyone; in case you haven't heard, this is a volunteer military and her son SIGNED UP! And you are not there to 'show support', you're there to play your little political game and whack on the President. So, I repeat, SHUT UP.

Steve put it this way about women who crave attention: "Cindy Sheehan is a textbook example. Her son volunteered to serve in the military, and he died in a conflict which both major political parties supported. A conflict John Kerry said was justified even if there were no WMDs in Iraq. She got a little attention for it last year, and instead of satisfying her, all it did was make her want more". He just forgot to mention the others who either want their piece of attention, want to use Sheehan for their own ends, or both.

We will resume your vacation, after this short blogging break

Mostly posting information on gas mileage in the bike since the Microlon use.

Just before heading out, that fillup was 136 miles & 2.7 gallons, just over 50mpg. Going to see my folks was 90 miles at 75-80 with enough of a headwind to be uncomfortable; it also helped trash the mileage: 90 miles, 2.6 gallons, 34mpg! Yikes! I mentioned before I'd not kept really close track of this stuff before, it's amazing what the combination of those speeds and a strong headwind does. I have noticed that with a light wind or a tailwind, 75-80 still gives about 45mpg(in the past), we'll find out about that in the future. The trip back was, by the time I filled up, 100 miles total, 70-75, with the wind a bit more on an angle than a direct headwind, used 2.4 gallons, 41.6 mpg.

Two things here. First is that since I didn't track mileage on highway closely I can't state flatly that the Microlon made that better, but I have definately noticed that I had more left in the tank this trip than under similar conditions before; I have definately noted better mileage on city street and around-town highway travel at 60-65. Second, I changed the oil just before heading out. The instructions say to leave the oil containing the treatment in for at least 1000 miles; I was right at 1000, and decided I wanted to go ahead and change it before I started on the road. Especially if the weather allows me to take the bike to Texas in a couple of days. So we'll see if the improved mileage continues with the fresh oil.

Weather her can be so strange...

The '30% chance of scattered thunderstorms' became steady rain for about an hour. That's not the strange; the strange is steady rain for an hour and the sun shining brightly. Rain that blows from the southwest for the first half-hour or so, then from the east. THEN it clouds over completely for a while.

The day was spent with my daughter trying out her birthday present, then helping some friends pack and load up after a small fair. And I'm going out of town for a few days, so it'll be a while before the next installment of 'How to burn your fingers and swear a lot while making a knife'.

Bye, folks

It's been a fun few days...

Besides the normal running 'round in circles, had the following joy:

I mentioned a few months ago being the best man at a wedding. Well, the happy trio(the bride had a 7yoa boy) have been looking for, and finding, a bigger house. Their offer was accepted, but between the time they had to move out of where they were and could move into the new place was almost two weeks. So everything was in storage and they lived in a travel trailer. Helped them move some big stuff the day they signed papers, and a couple of days ago went over to help get some more.

Friend had rented a trailer so we piled into his truck and headed for the storage. About 3/4 of the way there his truck died. Pushed it out of the street and noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Pop hood and find coil wire burning merrily. Put out fire. borrow phone to call his wife. Luckily, I had left the keys to my truck in it, and she could drive a standard, so she came over to get us. In the meantime, a guy who stopped to help turned out to be a mechanic and cobbled things together enough to get him home. Wife and I hooked trailer to my truck and took it back to U-Haul(did I mention it was past 9pm by now?), then followed hubby home. What made this even more fun is wife is pregnant, and hubby had job interview the next morning. They got her to work and him to the interview in her car, which meant all getting up at 0530, when they got home just past 10.

Enough for now. The Carnival needs looking at, and I'm just the one to do it.

Carnival of Cordite #25!

Up at Gullyborg. Much goodness to be read and looked upon, so go see.

More followup on the OKC Bombing news

"The District attorney and the judge who were involved in putting bomber Terry Nichols away for life on state murder charges appear to be running as fast as they can from newly released FBI documents showing there was an apparent link between the white separatist compound Elohim City and the Oklahoma City bombing."

And this is really important why?

" ...retired FBI agent Jon Hersley.

"There is no connection between the people of Elohim City and the bombing," he testified on the evening of April 19th, 2004. "We were satisfied there was no connection." "
and
" ...lead prosecutor Sandy Elliott argued against any ties to Elohim City and the bombing.

"You can't make a huge leap from Tim McVeigh's call to Elohim City to the bombing. There is absolutely no way they were connected," she told the judge."

The whole article is here. Combine it with earlier reports coming out, and this is really bad on a variety of levels.
Lawyers apparently lying to judges, stuff that was supposed to be turned over to the defense that wasn't, and so on. And who was right in the middle of this? Janet Reno and company. And please don't try to tell me that all this could happen without the head of the Justice Department knowing something about it.

God, I hate this.

Something that a lot of gun-banners don't know,

or don't care about, is that a firearms company cannot be supported solely by government contracts; at least not for long. Then the companies close, and sooner or later you get this.

And that doesn't take into effect the fact that many- probably most- firearms development does not take place at some government facility, it takes place at a private company looking for a better product for their customers. The Barret and McMillan .50-caliber rifles the armed forces use to such great effect were not developed by some government armory or designer; private companies made them for people who wanted to shoot at really extreme ranges, and later on the military took notice and said "You know, we could really use those". The M16, no matter what you think of it, was designed by Armalite as the AR15 for civilian markets. And how many arms ideas the military goes with came through a competition between private companies? One good example being the old 1911 .45 pistol; the government wanted to new sidearm for the military, and John Browning(one of the best and most prolific firearms designers in history) won the contract. And so on.

And ammunition. New propellants, new bullet designs, from what I've read they almost always come from private companies. Who also produce most of the ammo our troops use.

I suspect that a lot of the GFWs think it would be a good idea for all these companies to go out of business and for us to have to contract all our government arms design/building to some other country; it would make us more 'sensitive' to other countries needs, and give the U.N. a big handle on us. Screw that.

And what happened to Britain in WWII won't count, because after all, if we're more sensitive to the needs and desires of other peoples, there won't be any more wars, will there? Only wonderful cooperation, overseen/controlled by the saintly U.N. I repeat, screw that.

Found over at Kim's place.

Part 3, grinding the blade

I covered equipment and such on grinding here and buffing here. I will repeat a warning: you CAN get hurt doing this. If you slip and stick a finger or knuckle into a grinding wheel or belt, you will lose skin at the least; if you've got a lot of pressure on, it can cut deep enough to do real damage. The edge of a grinding belt can cut like a knife(no pun intended) if you slip into it. Sometimes a belt or wheel, along with the tearing, can generate enough friction to give you a combined tear and burn. A buffing wheel can grab a piece out of your hand and throw it. And they all throw off a lot of material; metal bits, abrasive bits, lint, and in the case of buffing the glue or grease used to hold the abrasive. So do please be careful.

On to the actual work. If you are in any doubt as to keeping the shape of the blade in your mind as you grind the profile, get a Sharpie or something like it and draw it in. Once you start, at this stage it really doesn't matter how hot it gets, other than if it's too hot you can't hold on. I keep a bucket of water with a few drops of dish soap added in to cool the piece off(the soap breaks the surface tension and helps bits washed off to sink instead of floating). Grind the blade to just a touch outside the final line you want over the entire profile, from point to end of tang.

If you're doing a narrow tang and have trouble getting the tang/ricasso junction even, clamp it in a vise and use a file. What I'll often do here is clamp the blade in the vise point down, with the part that needs to be cut away even with the jaws, clamp it tight, and file it down. If your vise has really coarse jaws, you might want to use a piece of leather to pad them. What I've seen some bladesmiths do is get two pieces of spring steel long as the vise jaws, weld or bolt them together at one end with a spacer in between, grind one side dead even, round the corners a bit, then harden them; you clamp the blade in this, and can only file down to the hardened steel; if you temper it only enough to not be brittle, the file won't want to cut them.

In the next step you are actually grinding the angles in. Some prefer to flatten and true the ricasso and tang first- sometimes with a slight thinning toward the end of the tang- and then move onto the edge bevels, some rough the bevels and then the ricasso-tang; you'll have to try different ways over time and see which works best. I generally use the first method.
What makes this tricky- flats and bevels both- is you have to hold onto the piece as it's angled across the belt without burning yourself as it gets hot and without it slipping and running your hand into the belt. Three main points: first, a sharp belt cuts faster and runs cooler than a dull one; second, use a push-stick or something to help hold the blade; and third, take your time. Hurrying here either gets the piece ruined, or gets you hurt, or both. Light pressure only and let the belt do the cutting. There are belt lubricants made for this, they keep the belt running a bit cooler and keep it from getting clogged as badly by metal dust; they also make what amounts to a big eraser for cleaning belts, I recommend both. If you're flat-grinding, you can hold the piece flat on the platen- the surface supporting the belt- , if you're hollow-grinding you'll have to use the surface of the wheel the belt runs over. Note: you can hollow-grind with a grinding wheel; you have to keep the surface trued up to get a smooth cut, and you'll have to start out with fairly coarse buffing compound to clean it up.

Work one side a bit, then turn it over and work the other side. Keep an eye on the edge to make sure you keep it centered. Remember to leave the blade thicker than you want the finished piece to be. The part of this that can be a pain is when you get back to where the bevels meet the ricasso; getting the angles even and matching on both sides takes time and care. First time you try it you may wind up saying things that make the dogs hide, but keep at it and you'll get the method. Here's another place where some people leave the power equipment and go to the vise and files. Some have made jigs that hold the blade and allow them to cut the junction cleanly and precisely every time; if you wind up doing this stuff a lot, it'd be worth it to put something together.

I usually start with a 80-grit belt if there's much to cut down, a 120-grit if less. And the nice thing about a belt grinder is you can cut it clean with the coarse belt, then switch to a finer belt to clean away those marks, and so on. At this stage I wouldn't take it any finer than a 240-grit belt. If you're doing your own heat-treating with the forge, you'll have to regrind to clean up the surface( you DID leave it a bit oversize, DIDN'T YOU?); if you send it to a pro, or have/have access to an electric furnace for that part, you can go to a finer finish if you choose.

Assuming you want a flat finish, no signs of hammering left, grind deeply enough with the first belt to get rid of the marks and no further. When you switch to the next finer belt, try to work the piece at an angle to the previous grind, it makes it easier to see if you've got all the prior marks cleaned up. And so on, until you're done.

When you think it's done, cool it off so you can examine it closely without burning yourself or having heat waves blurring any spots. Make sure the whole thing is straight; that the edge is centered and not wavy; that the changes between blade parts are smooth and even. You can regrind to correct these after heat-treating, but it both takes longer and you have the risk of messing up the temper if you overheat it. So get it right now.

Everything is even? All is to your liking? Next step is hardening and tempering.

Forging, part 1
Forging, part 2

Busy days, and Microlon

Between work, house, yard and- the last couple of days- helping some friends move, there's just no time. For shooting, internet or whatever. Hopefully, most of that will be done soon.

Tanked up the bike, 123 miles and 2.4 gallons, 51 mpg. Mostly city and some highway, 60-65 mph. I'd never kept really close track of mileage before, it's amazing the drop when you take speeds over 65-70, especially if there's a head or flanking wind. It looks like city and highway, 65 and below, it's now getting around 50 or a touch above, above that about 47. It's a definate increase from before the treatment. In the near future it should have the miles to go ahead and change the oil, will see if the increase continues. So far it seems that, long-term, the Microlon will be worth it. I think it would be best in a motor well broken in, but not too many miles(I realize that's rather vague, but if you ride you'll know what I mean). I get some things under control in the future, I think I'll get the kit and run it through my truck.

More new information ref the Oklahoma City Bombing

Again, from the McCurtain Daily Gazette, and again it shows that the federal authorities had lots of information that they denied having. And had information that should have been made available to the defense in the trial, and which they covered up. Which tends to lend credence to the earlier article I posted on.

This current piece touches on a LOT of things. On how a man named Kenny Trentadue wound up dead in a cell in a federal facility in El Reno. On McVeigh making a call to Elohim City to speak to a neo-nazi, a call the federal agencies denied knowing anything about.

Three of the important lines from the article:
"After months of legal maneuvering by the DOJ and the FBI, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball ruled on May 5, 2005, that the Oklahoma City FBI office had to search for documents linking the SPLC to Elohim City and/or specific individuals connected to the April 19, 1995, bombing.

With national attention on the case provided by several news agencies, the FBI released a small portion of what may prove to be a large reservoir of hidden documents that could reveal more sensational details about a widespread cover-up."
and
"Many of those new unclassified documents also establish that the OKBOMB task force was unable to interview subjects connected with Elohim City, because of conditions set forth by FBI director Louis Freeh and possibly other high ranking DOJ officials."
and, near the end,
""If the Southern Poverty Law Center was providing information about Elohim City after the bombing to the FBI, they must have been providing it before April 19th, Trentadue noted. Asking further: "So where are those reports?"

Every bit of this is stuff that was hinted at before, or someone found information on, and the feds denied everything. With this coming out, what else that was denied or laughed at is going to turn out to be accurate? A reporter named Jayna Davis did a lot of digging at the time of the bombing, and found evidence that McVeigh had met with Iraqi intelligence officers, among other things. Denied, laughed at, derided as 'conspiracy theory lunacy', and so forth. And if she was, indeed, correct in what she found?

Just like the last time, it's hard to write very well about this mess, it's too damn upsetting. Read the article, and see what you think.