Michael

One guy I know, he demonstrates at a restored railroad, has the smallest tool bag you can imagine. A round leather satchel just big enough to hold two hammers, 3 pair of tongs and a couple of punches and chisels. Said he got tired of the ever growing lug fest of a tool box and this forces him to bring a minimal kit.

Tool boxes and bags for blacksmithing tools always fill to capacity, and when you switch to larger they get too heavy to move very far. do you wear an apron, an apron pocket for the soapstone and calipers, with the apron wrapped around them in the tool bag might work.

Thanks for the tip, that vid was the tail end of the sledge work, when things went a little parallelogram and I switched to the hand hammer to correct before taking another heat. I worked too cold for years of self taught fumbling before meeting other smiths who set me right. 12 lb sledge is a straight peen(6 lb in the vid), won’t even think about one handing that hammer EC0F43B0-9F71-4839-9329-CE7DE309CE67.mp4

Made the worlds ugliest little swage from a drop of some one inch plate. Working alone a 6 lb sledge is a nice balance between striking “gently” on my 100 lb PW and one handed use for cutting. 9/16 swage for tenons on a tommy bar for a bookbinders vise. Fun playing with ir thermometer C134F958-90BB-4F70-B563-82C8295E5471.MOV 7AFDFA03-FC26-4256-807A-9B3DCAEB8E8A.MOV 3E0AE041-2BD7-4581-B308-6869CAA211B9.MOV

I made this one in a Brian Brazeal workshop in Templeton CA back in 2014. 3.5 lbs. Cheeks could have been done better the the grooves deeper but it was my first hammer. Brian is in Africa but Lyle Wynn and many others teach his techniques.

Been meaning to make a sign that says carpe frigus finem (Sieze the cold end)

most of this stuff is printed out and hung on the sheet metal walls with magnets, along with an ever changing collection of printouts of things I am making or aspire to make, or am inspired to try to make.

Not sure what this is, but it's 75 lbs of steel. 22 inches long, 3x 4.5 inch cross section. I figured from the holes it's a weight from a piece of machinery. Garage sale in the neighborhood called it a "stand" and marked it down to $10 at 5PM on Sunday. I'm figuring to use it as a backup to my 100 lb Peter Wright. Had a smaller chunk of 12 inch long, 3x3 steel that was gifted to a newby smith friend of mine, so I needed another chunk of metal to stand on end as a makeshift anvil, if only to show another newbie you don't need a London pattern to forge on.

Alligator Shear, my local scrap yard uses one to cut up Aluminum radiators.

Made these from leftover bolts. Getting the balance right is tricky

20 sets of tongs, fitted to 1/2 inch square and riveted in a very old flypress, group project. Set of Ken's Iron Quick tongs finally done for my shop

A buddy of mine in SoCal recently got into forging, built himself a little gas forge with a naturally aspirated burner and has been pounding rebar scraps on an on-end RR track anvil. His oldest had the family van in SF moving into a post collegiate apartment, so I took the opportunity to send the kid home to his dad with a bucketful of my spare hammers, tongs, punches and better steel scrap than rebar! Some coil spring bits, leaf spring, rail clips, along with a bundle of mild steel bar in 1/2 inch and 3/8 inch square. Soap stone, wire brush and a chunk of mild steel, 4x4 and 12 inches long on end to use as an anvil. Threw in a couple of RR spikes for fun.

Helping an older friend with some heavy bookbinding gear that was left to him by another binder. Lent a hand, mostly a strong back, to some of the other binders and caligraphers sorting thru tons of type, printing gear etc in a house filled with stuff. When we were done the executor of the estate offered me the rolling scaffold and dolly for free for the help. I'm painting my house and the scaffold couldn't have shown up at a better time. It'll save me a lot of ladder work, and the dolly is heavy, I think a printing press was on it, 18 by 20 inches, 5 inch solid steel wheels. Not sure what's going on it yet.

Bent some expanded metal into a screen cover for the bin under the coal forge ash dump. The idea is that ash will fall through and still burn able coke will get caught to be tossed back in he fire. Idea stolen from another Smith I was helping out

I learned these from another smith, Monica Coyne, at the last Hammer In. Half inch bolts and nuts, the balance can be tricky. Fun to do

This was a demo by Kirk McNeil of Freedom Forge in Santa Cruz, at a Hammer In at Roaring Camp this past weekend. A soapstone holder out of 3/8 square stock. Of course, what was provided was 3/8 round Stainless, so it took a little longer than expected. About 6 inches long with the soapstone. The collar took 3 tries, one just because the little bit flew off into nowhere (at least no where I could find it) as it was being cut off the parent bar. Collar slides to lock the jaws. Others did the collars in brass or copper wire. Final fitting of the stone holder bits was helped when another smith made an iron blank the size of a soapstone for the final fit.

got an hour at the gasforge on sunday. Made a little spoon rest for the coffee maker. Should have brought a spoon out with me, it's too short.

Here you go Andrew, I took a half day off yesterday (fewer neighbors around mid week when I'm burning coal in the suburbs) and finished the dragon. Pineapple twist on the body, another on the tail. forged out the wings and curled them around the back. Tried for a fishtail sort of look but it came out as a lump, may go back and trim it to a traditional spade shape. Middle shot is the leg/wing combo straightened out to make fullering the wings easier. More a proof of concept that's been banging around my head for a while. Next one will have a more pronounced scales on the body, bigger wings and smaller feet. Maybe the wings and feet separate parts riveted to the shoulders.

Sure, go right ahead. I'm borrowing ideas (at least 3 or 4) from other smiths in this project.

Got about half a dragon done over the weekend. Made many dragon heads, but not the full thing. 5/8 bar, about 2 hours for the head in the coal forge and another hour each for the feet/legs/wings. Went back out Sunday for an hour or so with the gas forge to refine the shape of the legs, make them a bit less chicken-like. I'll wait till I'm almost done to cut the horns, need a little practice first. Plan is to pineapple twist the body for scales, only realized after the fact I could punch the shoulder hole (legs are temp riveted on) after twisting. Notes to self for the next one.

Neighbor was tossing out jars of rivets. A bit short for tongs, but I know a lot of artists and metalworkers, and there's a forged Dalek I have in mind.

Hi Donald, Just saw your post. No idea who made my forge pan, the firepot in it is a Centaur forge and I"m pretty sure its not original. Found it (along with the Blower and a post vise) in Northern California, covered in motor oil and left in the shed of a rental house. Owner wanted it gone. I've never clayed the forge, the cast iron is pretty thick. I briefly clayed a brake drum forge years ago, but didnt' find the claying to be all that useful or durable.

Version one, version two, version three, all with the same brake drum and tuyere piping. By the time I'd bolted the drum into the metal cart, I'd cut off the ash dump end of the piping and put a bucket of water under the ash dump, full enough to cover the end of the pipe, that ended all rusted up ash dump issues. that last version was hauled to a Hammer In and donated to the Iron in the Hat event. Replaced with a cast iron forge and firepot.

Yes, left handed, charge 20% more. Or keep it around so the next one you can twist the other way.

I made a punch block out of sections of 2x4, held together with glue and a scrap of sheet metal bent around the bottom and nailed in place. Keeps getting filled up. in the portable tool box that goes to hammer ins and demos, a cloth roll screwed to the lid of the toolbox works.