Higo No Kami folders are Japanese in origin, usually with a simple bent handle and riveted pivot. Friction folders themselves have been made even before 43 CE. With only 3 main pieces, not much can go wrong with these.
If you put two nuts (or bolts) together with faces that the wrench grips touching, the angle created between them (110°) is just right for metal drills
I'm impressed that you use a dog head hammer to bevel with! Not to mention your anvil is deadened. With those facts and the surface quality, it's easy to see you're a real blacksmith and not a farrier trying to be a blacksmith. I have a second generation Cold Steel Pocket Bushman that I want to make a brass higonokami style grip for it. The handle they put on them is crap as far as I'm concerned.
Do you use green wood, or dry wood for your charcoal? Im finally getting my charcoal kiln made after a year of prep, and I want to know which works better.
Dry wood is ideal because the wood will start the carbonization process right away, whereas wet wood needs to be dried out by the fire, then it starts carbonizing.
