Problem Solving

So I have been making some great bracers for the family twisting 1/8 square stock together in 4 bands to make a braided look. I want to up the game on this for a set of ape hangers for an art bike build I am working on but want to take it one step further. I want to twist 2 dissimilar colorings together so that the finished polished product would have 2 different brightnesses. any suggestions on 2 steels to use so that when I polish it up they will have a different sheen? I have only been smithing for a year so I have not nerded out on metals yet I just don't have the knowledge.

Hello all, im sure it's been covered but I can't find it. If anyone could direct me I would appreciate it. i found a large chunk of wrought iron out in the desert one day and brought it home. No idea what it was. I spark tested it and it has grain to it. any how my question is why did it crumble on me. Too hot or too cold. Do you have to only work with the grain or can it be altered when heated? any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I have access to some 1045. 38mm od and about 5 or 6mm thick. Have some solid stock about .865 dia and about 12-14 inches long. Will be using those to walk my son through intro knife making. Only use I can think of for the tubes is to flatten into an oval and use to buffer the heat of the forge for some nice easy soak time without worrying about oxidation. Seems like a bit of a waste for decent hardenable steel. Any other ideas for the tubing? Both shown in the picture.

We have a coke shortage over here at the moment, all we can get is lump stuff about 75mm in size (3 inches). We are limited to using coke as we are allowed access to a blacksmiths setup in the local historical village and we have to stay "period" in what we do. (Cant even use coal). Is there an easy way someone knows to break this size coke down into more useable size chunks, say in the 15 to 25mm range? Our club runs 5 forges when we get going, so it needs to be a bit quicker than getting out the 4lb hammer!

Hey all. I live in Bay City, Michigan, right here (points at hand - if you're from Michigan, you get it). Anyway, we have a long history of shipping on the Great Lakes in and around my area. My father is a marine historian and has accumulated his version of a blacksmith's scrap pile. He has gifted me with a few ship lamps that I'd like to refinish. The body of the lamps is galvanized, very little brass fittings. The galvanized coating has gone kind of rough and chalky. Anybody know of a way to clean this up? I thought about a vinegar wash, but I don't necessarily want to strip the coating, just clean it up. Thanks!

Not a big problem. A visitor to my demo bought a snake and a couple of leaf hooks and she asked if I could make a snake into a hat hook. I said that would be OK and I would make one. Thinking it would be straightforward, I neglected to ask her what sort of design she had in mind. Now, if you were asked to make a snake hook to attach to a wall, would you make the head end or the tail end hold the hat?? I opted for the latter, making the snake crawl up the wall. I would have liked it to be coming down the wall with the head raised into the hook, but that would hide the head when the hook is used, losing the snake effect. Anyway, I forged this one from…

I have a couple projects in mind that require a few hoops and I cannot figure out how to get them truly round. I've tried differing sizes of steel bar and still cannot get it right. I got it close a couple times and welded the ends together thinking I could finish trying up the circular shape afterwards. I was wrong. I don't want to keep wasting time on failures so I thought I'd ask my favorite brain trust for suggestions. I'm considering getting or building a small ring roller but was hoping I could keep from doing that. Before anyone suggests using a mandrel, I don't have anything the sizes I need. Any and all other suggestions are welcome.

Can anyone diagnose what the problem here is? I use EN9 for punches but I found the smaller ones bend after a few uses. So I have tried 01 steel, I forged, brought up to non magnetic, quenched half in linseed oil, allowed temper colours to reach end, re quenched half and left to cool under the forge ash. The first time i tapped it it snapped. What did i do wrong? thanks!

I'm putting together a set of barn doors for my house. Currently have no clue where to purchase the wheels. Any one have any suggestions? Thanks, Dave

I recently got a Berta rotary plow. This thing has 4 spinning blades that pulverize and fling the dirt. It has some replaceable metal blade tips to prevent the big spinning blade from wearing out. The blades are about 1/8" think x an inch wide, and about 4 inches long. After about 4 hours of use, the replaceable tip was worn and needed to be turned to a new edge. If I want to make new ones from a more abrasion resistant steel, what would be a good one to use? Thanks.

Just wondering if there is a good rule of thumb for calculating tenon length for counter bored holes. I want to join two pieces of 1/2 square at a right angle with a tenon filed flush with the outside of the leg. I've seen that 1 and 1/2 times the dimension of the tenon is good for forming a head but i want to keep the filing to a minimum obviously. Any input appreciated.

I've been practicing making flat forgewelded rings out of 1"x1/4" stock, and the forgewelding part is easy. The hard part is actually making them round instead of oval or square. I've tried to round them out on my horn but it seems like I'm expending a lot of energy on a substandard result. Is there an easy way to make flat rings or do I just need to 'git gud'?

This is one of those moments where I want to slap myself and ask myself, "What were you thinking? You idiot!" Last moth I forged a handled hammer eye punch like I've been wanting to do for a while (thank you Littleblacksmith for getting me in gear with your posts). I was disappointed right from the start because the taper was too long (easy fix, I have not fixed it yet because I was not that worried about it) and something else seemed a little off. I knew part of it was because I didn't have the big cheeks like the usual ones I see but something else wasn't right and I couldn't put my finger on it. Today I figured it out. I used a scrap of wood to make a handle and after …

Seems like people are always asking me to do things that are outside my bailiwick rather than just being happy with a simple hook. Recently, a good customer asked me if I could add an extension to the ramps on the trailer he uses to haul his semi-heavy equipment. It's a new trailer and he has to test it to see if the backhoe and other things will be okay as it is... but he's planning on it not being. So he wants to know if I can extend the ramps by 12" or 16" to make the slope more gradual. The frame of the ramp is heavy-wall channel with 2x2x3/16" angle iron cross members. My idea was to create the extension with the same type of channel and put gussets …

Good day. I just finished the initial welding on a damascus billet I'm working on. The welding went suprisingly well! The piece is currently 1" thick by 3/4" wide by 6-1/2" long. I want to draw it out to about 1/2" thick by 1 inch wide by ??? long before cutting, folding, and welding again. I'm wondering, is there any sort of mathematical formula that I can use to figure out roughly how long the piece will be given the current and desired dimensions? I realize this is very dependant on several variables, but I'm looking for more of an approximation than anything. I also realize that I could just do it, and what I have is what I'm left with, but this would be useful inform…

I have four steel rims that used to be on a leased Mazda 3. They've stayed in my garage, as I thought I would resell them down the line. I never did and now the wife says to do something with them or throw them away. Is the steel usable to forge something, if cut into smaller pieces?

I thought for today's demo I would make a hook like the old ones we have on wool wagons and such. Found a lump of 5/8 round bar and everything went pretty well and I was happy with the hook. I reckoned it would be good to add a chain to the hook for use over a camp fire or something. Found a suitable old chain in the scrap and cut the end link open with the intention of fire welding it closed. I'm glad I waited till after the visitors left, because it didn't go as planned. (Pic 1) I flattened the ends slightly and lined them up one above the other. Got it real hot (nearly sparking), fluxed with borax, tapped it together but just didn't take. Maybe not hot enough, bu…

So, I've got a old antique candle holder that broke. It is cast iron, from what I can tell. I've been looking around trying to figure out how to repair cast iron. It seems there are two options for me; #1 Castaloy. #2 Welding. Of the two, Castaloy seems the easiest. I've never welded, but we do have a welding shop in town. And with my forge (being able to heat the cast iron up to 1500+) , I'm pretty sure I could get it welded. Of the two, which one seems to be the strongest, and most reliable method. Also, which method have you done? I'm really nerves about this one, It is an antiques, from my family. So a family heirloom. And I don't want to mess it up …

As you can tell by my name I am a welder/fabricator. I am actually in school right now for the finer points of welding, any way enough about me. I was wondering if it is possible to make Damascus from different grades of high-carbon steel. I am asking because I want to make a bowie knife for a friend of mine and me for American civil war reenacting. we are fed up with crappy mass produced blades that break thirty minuets after buying it. any help is appreciated

Came across a 4" OD square tube, been wanting to build a rocket stove, so now I'm building 5, 3 brother's, son, & myself. I decided on my design and have most cutting done. I am building a box around the burn- box/chimney with a 1" space. I have 2" refractory ceramic wool. What will it do to the insulating efficiency if I compress it into the 1" space?

This is my first post to this forum - not sure if this is the right forum, but I have an interesting problem regarding metal that I'm hoping someone can educate me on. Recently, I decided that I would like to make my own plow disc grill. I've had one that I purchased from a company that specializes in making these for cooking, and I wanted a second one. I had read that people used to get used plow discs (also called harrow discs) from farms, plug weld the center hole, then grind all the rust and paint off, then season the disc like you would a cast iron pan, then they would cook off of them. I though I'd give it a try - seemed easy. I found a source for used plow di…

Hey guys, It's been a little while since I've been on here but I have questions. I have a half round horse rasp that I can see the letters A and R inside a picture of a horseshoe and underneath says made in U.S.A. I was wondering who makes this horse rasp? Second question is how can I save this image because I want to forge a knife from it. Thank you very much, ACforge

Hi, I'm new.. both to this forum and the art of blacksmithing, only been doing it for a few months... I am a self thought swedish blacksmither/knifemaker.. My father brought me a piece of steel from his work, apparently it was/is a tent peg from what I belive is a rather big military tent. I want to know what kind of steel this is, I know it probably hard to see from just pictures, but I don't know how to test to see what kind of steel something is, so I think that maybe you guys can help. Now if this question is in the wrong category I'm sorry, I am in a bit of a hurry. And feel free to remove or move the topic. Here is some pictures after I cut a bit of with the a…

I have no clue what section this belongs in, sorry. I do a lot of chainmail. I make some jewellery, but mostly my work is more armor-like, hauberks, coifs, etc. Most of my completed stuff is just butted maille, in every gauge and ring size I could think to use, but over about the last year, I've been doing a lot of riveted maille, with the goal of making a whole hauberk, a daunting task indeed. I have a system down that works quite well, I usually only mess up 1 out of every ~20 rings. It takes forever, though, weaving all riveted rings. I've read that, more towards the late middle ages (possibly high middle ages) they began using alternating rows of solid and rivet…

I'm fairly new to blacksmithing, but I've worked with a few types of metal already. Most of them worked very well, but last week I attempted to make a knife out of some sort of steel I found under a bridge (I know, already not the best place to be looking for metal). I heated it up to about a cherry red, because there was a bend that I wanted to flatten out and I figured that would be hot enough just for that. When I hit it, the steel just compleately broke apart, as if I had hit some pottery or something. The steel was very low carbon (I know from a spark test I did). Could this be the source of the problem? It was also cold that day, so maybe the contract of air an…