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I Forge Iron

JShock

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    San Marcos, Texas

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  1. That is Bella. She is a big ole baby.
  2. No. It is just White Ash soaked in Boiled Linseed oil.
  3. We started the punched the eye with a 4140 hot cut that a friend had in his shop that he uses to cut his damascus bars with. It was small but had the right width for our drift. Then we just pounded out our eye with the drift. I need to actually make tools just to make hammers it seems. This and my other were kind of fly by night. We had most of the tools in some form or another between 3 people. I would like to make a set that is uniform to each other. Less guess work more practice.
  4. For some reason Jezebel keeps coming up. Klank seems more appropriate right now. I will have to play with it more and see what sticks. If I do smack a finger Ill post a pic!
  5. It really does feel awesome. I've made chisels and punches for sure, but this is a hammer. Nothing like it. I was told to name it, but nothings come to me yet.
  6. I like it. Hits straight. The picture makes it seem like its leans forward, but in person its does look the same. It is SOOO hard getting the hole straight. Of course its the most important part. Practice makes perfect.
  7. I finished my first hammer today. It is a cutler's hammer. It was made of 1 3/4 4140. I hardened about 2 inches of the face. The handle is made of Ash as that is what I had available. I soaked it for 2 days in boiled linseed oil. I have yet to hammer anything with it yet. I hope to have something hammered out by the end of the weekend.
  8. I am at the beginning of this chapter in my life. I am just getting hear some of those stories and all the people I have met so far have all been fantastic people. The local blacksmith group did not even hesitate to accept me in and have done nothing but support me up to this point. Jerry Whitley from our guild gave me his spot in the upcoming Mark Aspery class at the end of this month and I have been truly humbled by his kindness. All of the people in our guild here are truly amazing. I am having the time of my life right now and so are the kids. They talk about the forge to people more than I do. Just want to say huge thank you to everyone on here and in the real world that think computers are the debil.
  9. I have a 95lb Kohlswa. The company stamp on the side is the same and the the weight is stamped the same. Right under the name though there were a few more marks that I have never really made out. On the bottom of the anvil though was K 3/2 02. Frosty speculated that it might be a date and year March 2nd 1902, though no idea what the K meant. I have done a bunch of searching but never came up with anything. I have thought about writing the manufacture, but I have never done that either. I am always curious about the history of an item like this so I understand the desire to know.
  10. I survived fine. I am up on a hill and have a direct route to the highway if needed. I don't even really have to go through town. This was not nearly as bad as the flood of 98 but it was pretty bad. I knew there was some bad spots but nothing like that. That's the first I have heard of any real damage done. A few people had water get up in the house a little. The in-laws had it coming up into their garage a few feet, but that's normal with a bad rain.
  11. The lesson is patience, again. Everything is patience. It has been a big nemesis in my life. Blacksmithing is no different. Today I had some, what I thought at the time, simple projects in mind. A RR spike knife. Not finished, but to the point where I could spend the week grinding and polishing. I thought I had it to that point then I had an idea for the handle and realized I needed a new tool for it. This frustrated me. This project got put on hold for a bit. Second I thought about taking a ball peen hammer I got from the flea market and trying to make a hatchet out of it. Fail. I thought I knew the basics of what to do to shape it. I still think I do, but I definitely do not have the practice to do it right yet. Several things happened today to throw this project way out or whack. The first and formost: Kids. They constantly wanted attention. They demanded it at times. I of course obliged but reluctantly because the metal was in the fire. This lead to my first burn. Second was my dog Buck. He is a blue healer of 9 years old and obsessed with me kicking a soccer ball for him as I have for 9 years in the past. Go figure. This lead to my second burn of the metal. The 3rd burn happened due to my wife. She tried so hard to leave me be for the day, but my presence was needed a few times throughout the day, leading to my 3rd burn of the hammer and loss of material. I thought I could save something but in the end it went in the scrap pile. 3rd lesson of the day. I made a leaf key chain for my wife last weekend and it came out beautiful in my opinion. I was really pleased with it and quite a few others were as well. I decided I was going to finish my day by making more of these for the family and friends who had requested them. I started out with smaller material than I had on the first to try to make something a bit smaller. Constant distractions kept this from coming out the way I had done things the first time. I cut off the leaf and started again with larger stock. I figured more material, less mistakes. This was not the case. The kids started fighting and I kept having to break up things that did not make sense, like I am Michael Myers and you are Freddy Kruger, and I am a fairy and I can bring you back to life so you need to come back to life. This was all followed up by screams and crying and I'm not your sister any more's and if you do not stop Im gonna tell Dad's. My leaf's were definitely not taking shape today. I ended up putting one in the bath and one on the Xbox and the dog in the house to watch the kids. Back to the forge I went. I started a new leaf. This time I took my time. I hammered slowly. I watched my heat. All this frustration in side me and I took it out on the metal. I realized this with every ring of my hammer. I stopped. Looked back at everything I had done for the day and sighed. I knew right then and there that I was tired. I was frustrated. I was annoyed. But not at my family. Not at my dog. Not at the metal for not doing what I wanted it to do today. I was frustrated with myself for being upset. For being frustrated. I was tired of getting upset. Here I was doing what I have come to love with the people I love the most and I was upset? Shame on me. There should have been a smile on my face all day. Every time one of the kids had a problem of were fighting I should have turned off the air and gone and sat with them and worked it out. Every time Buck wanted me to kick the ball for him I should have turned off the fire and kicked it a few times. Every time my wife wanted me to help her or talk to her or just smile and kiss her cheek I should have. I can always light another fire. I can always hammer later. All in all today was an exercise in patience. I need to remember to be patient with my family. With my dog. With my work. And more importantly with myself. Just remember to not forget those that support you in your craft. They are there for you always. Below are today's lessons!!!
  12. Man, I want to make a few of those Flambeau's. I cannot seem to find anything like that in the google webs.
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