Andrew Smith

Thanks everybody for the input. I am going to order some 4140 in the next couple of days. I will try to remember to post some pics of them if they turn out ok. ThomasPowers, I am currently saving my money to buy a Little Giant power hammer. Even once I get one though It is still good to have a selection of hammers in my arsenal.....I think... Ijust thought about this though, I will need to make me some hammer tongs first, Don't want to burn myself by just using my gloves , that metal sometimes gets hot after awhile -Andrew

I have no idea if an Alaskan accent sounds like Russian. I can see your point though, only 5 miles away in one spot. I never been to Alaska to hear their accent.

I have been a blacksmith for a couple of years and I finally realized how much faster and easier the right kind of hammers would help. I only have a plain 4# hammer, a 3# cross pein hammer, an old flatter, and a 1# 1/2 fuller hammer. I am wanting to make some more hammers that would help with flattening ball pein hammers for tomahawks, That is the main thing that I do. Frankly the price of most blacksmithing hammers are a little too high of a price given that I can make a decent one myself. I was looking to start with a good 4-5# fullering hammer. I can swing a 3# hammer for at least 4 hours without getting worn out and a 4# for at least 3 hours. I have heard that 4140 is a good steel. just to get to the point, I don't know the first thing about making hammers so just act like you are talking to a complete idiot. I can hot cut and drift and that is about it. Thanks, Andrew

Hey Bryan, what kind of wood table do you have? I never heard of wood that will actually melt!

Well I'm not too picky of a person. I will eat just about anything as long as I have a glass of fresh sweet tea to swallow it down with . I am of Cajun stock and whooooo boy can we cook some good food. The only place that you can get REAL and I mean REAL Cajun food is either from deep deep south Louisiana or unless the person cooking has a deep Cajun accent and has lived at least fifteen years in south Louisiana. Every where else is just a bunch of scammers lying to you. I don't have an accent but my Mom can cook some real good food, So good that you don't get up from the table until you know that if you eat any more you will have to have surgery. . She's not true Cajun, she is from north Louisiana therefore she is a yankee, but my grandma (my Dad's Mom) taught her how to cook. I actually never heard of halibut, however, I am up for trying anything. I know that I like any kind of oriental food, I enjoy fajitas, and I really like fish, so I guess that that will work.

Fishing! I love to fish. I am from south Louisiana and my Dad's entire family still live down there and they are all Cajun to the bone soaked through to the marrow. I grew up in Texas though so I like it better here. This past summer we went fishing in a town called Grand Isle on the coast of Louisiana. We pretty much would fish all night and sleep half of the day and eat seafood the other half of the day. One night 4 of us caught 400 white trout and I caught 4 Red Fish longer than 39" and snapped 2- 25lb test lines and 3-65lb test lines and broke one fishing rod all in one night! needless to say that was the funnest night of the week. And I ain't jokin either. I can post some pics if you want me to prove it. I heard the Salmon fishing is good when they are coming in to spawn, I really like good cooked salmon. now what does any of this have to do with blacksmithing????? Not really sure. -Andrew

Frosty, I will try not to tell on you about exposing your Alaskan secret. ;)

Well, I won't take any of that personal. I'll get over it. We Texans have our own little joke that kinda goes like this: Whats two things a Texan hates to see coming toward him? a Mexican with a knife and a Yankee with a U-haul And O, anything north of Dallas is a Yankee. However I do ave a good friend who is from Chicago ,and I don't talk as funny as most Texans. Last but not least, I hate to bust your bubble Frosty but, I would love to come to Alaska some time, however, only in the HOTTEST time of the SUMMER. I am sort of an outdoors man and Alaska seems to have some nice landscape. -Andrew

I learned how to hot cut and drift a piece of steel for a tomahawk. I have only made ball peen hammer hawks but I have never made one from a rr spike or from anything without a hole already in it and all that I have to do is drift it. The first time I tried to make a hawk from a rr spike I failed because I had absolutely not idea how to do it and I had only been blacksmithing for a few months . since then I have been sort of intimidated by hot cutting and drifting. I finally decided to "face my fears" and take on hot cutting ....and ....well, it was a good success. Hey K. Bryan Morgan, you should move to east Texas. we Texans can't stand anything colder than 30F. and that's because it only gets that cold (and occasionally a little colder than that) only about three weeks of the winter. We had the worst snow in ten years here(about 4-5in) and every school that I know of but one was out. All that to say, your propane most likely won't freeze up down here, and if it does then there is only three weeks out of the year that it MIGHT happen. And O, I learned how NOT to forge weld and eventually figured out HOW to do it RIGHT. -Andrew

I would expect to burn too much coal until you get used to it. Lucky for you that you can ask advice here on the forum before you start, I didn't find this forum until I had already been blacksmithing for a while. When I first started I burned 50# in about four-five hours of forging a tomahawk . I have improved a whole lot since then, I'm not as efficient as some of the more experienced smiths, but I made a hawk the other day on about 15-20# of coal in 2 hours. And yes, turn off your blower/ hairdryer while hammering, it saves a whole lot of fuel ( just learned that a couple of weeks ago) . all that to say, you might burn a little bit more coal until you get the hang of it. All the best, -Andrew

I have tried to make a tactical hawk from a framing hammer but it did not turn out very well. hey bigfootnampa, I think I have heard of your shop before, like a couple of years ago. My computer would not bring up your site. Do you by any chance make a tomahawk called a Shriker or Striker or something like that? I have seen those around on different websites occasionally. -Andrew

I learned how to forge weld. I have tried and tried to get a decent forge weld but yesterday I finally got a perfect forge weld. I made a tomahawk from a farrier rasp, just fold it over and forge weld the ends together. It hardened up really well in oil also. I really like the way it turned out. Still learning something every day, and we will all probably never stop learning until we can no longer swing a hammer. -Andrew

I used all arm power. My anvil is just a piece of rail road iron, I am looking around to try to find a used anvil for a good deal somewhere. And yes, my right arm has gotten much more sturdy (and bigger) since I started blacksmithing.

thanks, I will try out the brine and then use them a bit and see how they perform. I just had some laying around and I was curious how they would work. I still have a lot to learn.

Ya, I thought 1035 was a little low but I was just going to ask and see if it would work if I quenched it in brine or something. Still learning about all of this kinda stuff. Only been blacksmithing and making knives for a year and a half.

I am going to be using it for a knife. 3/16" and 1/8" thick. I don't mean to sound profound but I am just wanting it as hard as I can get it for a good knife. Hey nakedanvil, I think I sent you a pm about a touch mark, If you didn't get it let me know. -Andrew

I have a couple pieces of 1035 steel laying around and I was wondering what the best way to harden and temper them was. 1035, if I'm not mistaken, does not have a lot of carbon so I need something better than just an oil quench. I don't know anything about brine or super quench. Thanks, Andrew

RR spike knives and hammer hawks are the only things that I have made in a year and a half of blacksmithing, I have made different ones, like cord wrapped handles, micarta handles. Today I tried making a striker for a flint and striker set. I thought it would only take twenty minutes but it took me every bit of an hour. The knives only take me about thirty minutes. I guess practice makes perfect.

All right guys, thanks for the help. I am going to send him a pm as soon as I finish this post.

I got it now. I guess that might have sounded like a stupid question though . At first I thought that it was a special kind of tool or something (kinda shows my inexperience). -Andrew

What do y'all mean by "Hammer Tongs" I am not familiar with many tools or terms as I am still a beginner blacksmith.

Really cool. I like it when someone puts an easy project on here with some step-by-step pictures. I am going to give that a try tomorrow probably.

Hey fellas, I was wondering where I can get a makers mark made or stamp or something. I make knives and tomahawks and sell them just to get a little extra spending money and I was wanting to start marking them with my initials or something. I just wasn't sure where to get those. Thanks, Andrew

I'm sixteen, going on seventeen in April. I started smithing about a year and a half ago. I already have a 25x25 wood shop all to myself but soon I am going to wall off a corner to use for blacksmithing. right now I do all of that outside. I home school so, basically, as early as I feel like getting up then I just finish earlier and I get to spend the rest of the day in the shop, However, there is a limit on how late I can sleep. I sell a few things here and there so I kind of have a small, make that very small, business. IFI has been a wonderful resource for information. Andrew

when I first read this I was like a dog on a fresh piece of pork-chop. I getting really excited and was about to claim a box until I read a little farther and realized it was all gone. If you get any more or if you have any more to sell then PLEASE let me know and I will get some.