Jason @ MacTalis Ironworks

Brian has the right of it. 7 is the age my daughter started at. Striking will build muscle and confidence.

No pics, but my collection of punches is probably getting large enough to rival Brian Brazeals... alot of duplicates though, as often it is easier to make a new punch than to figure out where the heck I left the one I want.

Search youtube for one heat tong and it should come up along with Brian's other vids.

The damage can certainly be repaired, but it would cost. At that price, I'd pass, but if you can get him down to $1/lb. it would be worth the hassle of repair.

Without knowing the exact composition of the metal, it is imposible to say... you might be able to planish the surface to get the porosity out, but again, not knowing what the metal is, no telling what would happen unless you try it. Some cast irons/steels may be ok with forging, others may just shatter.

Another option is to contact the local fire dept. often they will "test" hydrants if you ask them really nicely and they have nothing else to do...

Zinc, ingested is a necessary mineral... fumed zinc in the resperatory system is toxic. Handling zinc isn't a problem either... it really is just a matter of how it is getting into the body, and of course, the quantity.

Hammering the bevel will shatter the grain of the steel resulting in a more durable cutting edge if done properly. Generally, you want to pack these bevels at just below austenite (around 1475 farenheit or, before it becomes magnetic) for best effect, as heating to above austenite will tend to result in the grain structure "regrowing". Somewhere, I have a PDF document on heat treating and metallurgy that is geared for blacksmiths, lotsa good info in there on the particulars of why forging tends to be superior...

Or come pick me up and I'll look at it with you Dale... LOL.

Very nice Jesse. Keep 'em coming.

Wow... guess my chimney at 2 feet above the peak isn't working then, I always assumed I was good because it sucks coke up it occassionally... LOL. You got your numbers reversed Baja... needs to be 2-3 feet above the peak if within 10 feet. The whole idea is that you need uninterupted airflow across the chimney to help it draw. The peak of a roof can cause all sorts of funny effects if your stack is below it including reverse draw, where the draft actually pushes the smoke out at the bottom end. Of course, you can sometimes get away with fudging the numbers if your prevailing winds come from the sides, but I'd play it safe and make sure you are 3 foot over the highest point on the roof.

Build walls would be my suggestion.

Been wanting to fuss around with this for awhile now. I got a crew willing to give it a go, understand the principles and fundamentals of the task, the only hangup is what ores are suitable for bloomery smelting? I've done alot of reading around but most of the stuff I have found was being done in Europe with native ores there. Any ideas what might be available in the Ohio region? I know some folks mention mill scale but I have no clue where to obtain it in quantity. Are Taconite pellets usable? We have no end of piles of that stuff laying around the old railroads...

And, again, as it can't be stressed enough... TAP it GENTLY together. Hitting it hard only serves to cause the molten metal and flux to spray out of your weld instead of bonding. I actually prefer the hydrous borax as the bubbling action tends to help "scrub" it deeper into your weld seams. Of course, that may be because the majority of welding I have done over the years has been pattern welding. I don't think it makes much difference when I am fluxing surfaces in drop tong welds and the like.

If your tooling is scarring the face of your hammer, either you are hardening the struck end of your tools, or your hammer isn't heat treated right. S7 and it's kin are a waste of good steel for hand tools, keep it for use with the big hammers.

Or, you could simply import me to your locale for a long weekend, and we can make you all the hardy tools you desire. I'm not cheap, but I am a bit cheaper than Mr. Brazeal... LOL Of course, he's faster than me.

I've gotten the area around my hardy hole up into the tempering range once and again making hardy tools, but never the face, and I do work big stock with my strikers on my anvil. But the size of stock it would take to get the whole thing that hot is probably to dang big to fit onto the surface of the anvil. I'd worry if I were forging 4x4x12 blocks, back to back, but that is just way beyond anything we do in our shop.

HWII, the Swedish pattern hammer in particular has been identified as the most likely to result in injury for starters. Moving up to a bigger hammer may help you but getting away from a Swedish pattern will probably help even more. Try a rounding hammer, especially a large one, you'll probably like it.

Good point Baja... while a rounding hammer does move much more metal, not alot of guys have figured out how to use them for general forging yet. Alot of Smiths are still hung up on the traditional cross-piens.

Just watched the "Jesse James Blacksmith" video... looks like Jesse's irrevocably hooked to me. Nice to have a big name out there letting folks know we haven't all died out. Oh... and Jesse, you are now REQUIRED to attend the ABANA and SOFA conferences... LOL.

Fly presses rule at this... just sayin'

I'd say forget a cross-pein for a first hammer and get hold of a rounding hammer... Like Brian Brazeal, myself, and others make. They are way more versatile, of course, they also aren't cheap. Though, I sell them cheaper than Brian does, you are still looking at $150-$200 for one of our hammers. If I were going to get a Hofi, czech, Tom Clark, whatever you want to call it cross pein, I'd invest in a better quality one. Of course, if you aren't sure this craft is for you, get any old piece o junk and give it a whirl. If you decide to pursue it... good hammers are a good investment. Also, before you buy a particular hammer style, see if you can use other smith's hammers to see how you like them.

loving it postleg...

The alloys which are closest to pure, grade 2 in particular, are the most forgeable, at least by hand. Some things to keep in mind are that it has a very narrow forging temperature range, and it heats and cools very fast. IIRC, forging range is something like 1900-2300. it may even be narrower than that. Other than that, it works much like stainless alloys do, really hard.

Remind me about this at open forge this week Dale, I'll be glad to come look at your space. I'm not exactly a carpenter per se, but I have about 20 years in new construction and can give you solid answers about what is OK and what isn't.