Archie Zietman

wouldn't a smoke shelf just obstruct the air flow? A plain old pipe with a hole in the front might have a bit less pressure, but there'd be more room for everything to flow upwards, and it would be just straight up, and easier to build too. just my two cents.

Hello. Today, before going to school, I cleaned out the fireplace, and placed the cold ashes in the brass bucket like I always do, and put it downstairs in the basement to sift later in the week, to line my forge with. It was just my luck, during the day it spontaneously combusted, along with the last few weeks worth of ashes, and the fire brigade had to be called. Luckily nothing happened, but I'm definitely buying an airtight steel bin to put them in far away from the house. What is even more incredible than the house not burning down, is that my parents are not angry, just frightened, and aren't punishing me (I already spent the entire evening engaged in self flagellation) they would have, a year ago, made me throw away all my smithing equipment and never mention it again, but they are actually willing to let me continue, so long as I learn from the experience. Have any of you had similar incidents (or actually burned your houses/shops down), or injured yourselves from bad luck and stupid mistakes? Thanks, Archie

maybe it s more industrial, though not actually revolutionary:D ...they were definitely photos, though. So industrial late 19th early 20th century smiths.

Full length heavy cotton is what I use.

Hello. Does anyone have pictures of blacksmiths from the Industrial Revolution, such as chain makers and suchlike? Methinks I remember someone posting some pictures of some, but can't find them. Thanks, Archie :D

oh, and I got to welding heat with the corn. I use wood too, can't be bothered to charcoal it, just chop it up into little rough half-thumb sized pieces and forge with that, though I haven't tried welding.

It's kernels of corn, dried. I just used cracked corn from a nearby farm store, 50 pounds for ten dollars, if I remember rightly. Just rip open the bag, start a fire with old coke and some charcoal, then pour the corn around it to coke, and just work it like coal, outside in.

I just tried out corn which, if you have a local garden/agriculture store nearby is dead cheap, and work exactly like coal, just burns a bit faster.

I'm in eastern Mass, Vermont is quite far away. I did do a few days in NC at Penland, which was great, and now that I know how to taper and bend, I can do what I need to pretty well. I just didn't learn until this summer, and figgered that it might be a good thing to have some e-documentation for others (and in case I forget )

whoops! Just realized, I confused Lucian Avery the chap with videos on his website with Jiri Lucius the armourer! silly me!

Hello! I just realized, a day or two ago, that I never learned how to taper. I built myself a forge, and have an ASO, and know how to make a blade and suchlike, but until last summer, after a year o' smiting hot metal, nobody ever told me how to taper. Is is possible to have a section on actually basic metal beating? Like, how to taper, and bend. All the videos and such are so fast and far way, that I have no idea what they are actually doing (I can't tell what Jiri Lucius is exactly doing with his hammer) . Could there be a section for this on iforgeiron please? At least let's have a thread: HOW DOES ONE: 1) make a square taper 2) make a round taper 5) bend the tapers around so, there may be conflictin info on how 'tis done, but if we could document the ways, not in video, but in actual words and maybe some simple simple pictures if possible, it'd help me out and probs many beginners like me. Thanks, Archie

if it's all melted, it'll be an interesting hybrid steel!

Lately I've been swinging in and out of love with it, because what I produce looks like crap, basically, which kinda gets me down, and I've been turning more to the process, but my lack of skill and tools and the sheer slowness of the craft is making the process less enjoyable too, but I'm keeping going with it, because I have a hope that eventually I'll turn on again. I'm hoping that it's just teenage hormones ;)

Hello. I was just thinking, and wondering and pensing and pondering, and musing, and I remembered what my favorite glassblower says about his work, he says, "My art is about glassblowing." Is your work about smithing or about the end result? or both? For me the end result and making it are completely different. For wheelthrowing it's about the throwing on the wheel and circular motion and the growth of the vessel on the wheel. For glassblowing it's about the blowing and sculpting and thinking "gee, how on earth am I going to make this?" and then completely cannibalizing the approved of techniques and making my own crazy designs and methods of fabricating them. For smiting o' the hot metals, it's much much harder to say. On the one hand, it's not the process but the end result which gets me of my bum and into the forge. I need the life size drawing on the blackboard above the forge to get me pumped. It's also about thinking the hammer blows and angles through, though, and letting the hammer and anvil take it where it wants to go. It's more pre-thought out and not as much about letting it evolve on the punty or the wheel. It's more like figure drawing, you want to draw the woman, so you lay out the gesture, and think how you will do it, and have a clear goal in your head the whole time. It's easiest for me to consider it from an endpoint view, when I'm done. Whenever I have what would be called a finished forging, I look at it and have to force myself to say "okay, you don't want to overwork it, stop. Now." But I also say "Looky see what I made!" and go running around the house showing it to mummy and daddy and my brother like a five year old with his finger painting. It's about both I suppose. and you guys? what about you?

I just got a palletworth of strapping. If I weld it to itself, I won't get a pattern, right? Must I sand off the paint before welding, or can that just be burnt off?

The family snake is a corn snake, five feet long named Quintillianus. We also have had several hundred family chickens over the years, as well as family doves and family hamsters and family geese. can't make anything silly of that! ha! ;)

Soap in the water helps a lot (provided you're using mild or wrought, but then again you wouldn't use a quench tank for tool/hardenable I suppose...) also, when cleaning out the fire, if I have large clinkers (I don't often, using corn and wood, but with manure I do get a very lot) I just dump them into the tub.

Hello. Would it be practical to forge jewelry out of iron? I want to do a bracelets or arm ring probably from at the very heaviest 5/16 inch round stock for Christmas (or the holidays for those as want). If it's not a ridiculous idea, then snake motif or plant motif? I had some friends over and they were playing with the family snake and I thought it'd make a nice piece of jewelry. I'll probably do a lily bracelet (flower on one end bend back on itself, and leaf bent back on itself on the other) even if it isn't, practical I'm doing it anyways, I mostly want your opinion n the motif. Thank eversomuchmoreso! Archie

I just have one cord, with one plug, and plug it into whatever I need at the time. But I forge only in the daytime, and don't have a power hammer, so I only need either the blower on, or the sharpener at any one time. I just keep their spaghetti together so I can quickly unplug one and plug in the other.

Bonjour et bienvenue au forum de ferronerie! (C'est le bon mot oui?) good fun! :D

Hello. How useful is an assistant in the shop? I know that in a glass shop, an assistant is almost impossible to live without, if you want to do really nice work. How useful is a blacksmithing assistant? What kinds of things would you have them do (besides cleaning?) Thanks, Archie

I've always had trouble with asking myself "how much would I pay for this?" I always answer myself, "Well, I wouldn't buy something like that, I'd make it!" which of course...I did...it's my own work. I don't think I will sell the original, because it's not as good as I could make it, and idiots have picked it up by the stem so many times that the clay is pulling apart into huge fissures, and the area below the glass is white, when it should be painted black. I am going to sell the better ones only, I don't want to misrepresent the quality of work I could do now.

what is the story? This first one took me about 6 hours of forging (when I was muddling through, unsure of the design it'll take maybe 4 at the absolute most now, especially with the better forge, so less heating time, about 10 minutes of glass work, and an hour of clay, and an hour of silver work. I can hardly be said to put my heart and soul into this, it was a semi-commission after all :-)

Hello. Today I got several people asking me if they could buy a piece of artwork I had done in steel, silver, clay and glass (tree with a silver bowl, roots wrapped around a glass ball and set in a clay block) I only have this icky picture from before I did the final oiling of the steel and general fixing up of the piece, but for something like this, how much should I charge? I'm going to do several more which are much cleaner (the picture is before polish and general cleanup, but I can do better in the details) so it's not one of a kind, probably one of 3 or 4. Also...I looked in the mirror...and realized that my right arm (hammer-arm) is ridiculously much larger than my left arm...is this true for any other people? Thanks, Archie

Hello. Last weekend, I moved about two hundred or so pounds of scrap wood into my basement, to keep it dry throughout the winter, and it's bone dry and perfect for chopping up with a hand axe. I've also moved my vice back inside, and well as all my hammers, and made a rack for them out of a rolled up wire fence, and I've cut the lumber for a 7 foot tall shelter over my forge anvil and quench tub, so that snow and rain don't pile up on everything. How do you lot generally deal with/prepare for the winter? Do any of you still forge outside? How do you deal with snow (if you get any where you live) Thanks, Archie