TomN

Here are a few other photo's of John forging the hammer (with Norman's help). Norman hammering in the slitting tool. Here is John filing a head of the hammer into shape. I didn't get more photo's of the process sadly, as I had a camera malfunction at the time. Very informative session though!

Wow, Beth's tongs are fantastic! I only got a few photo's sadly. This was another great course that I learned a lot on. I'd thoroughly recommend them for beginners and experienced smiths, as John really does work flexibly and towards what people want to learn. Photo time. We use spring steel to make some punches. Theres the spring in the fire. Followed by a piece of it which was then heated up and straightened out. We then hardened and tempered the punches. Heres a photo of my punch, and a hole punched through some mild steel. The second day we watched John make a hammer head, as someone wanted to know the techniques. Here is John filing one of the heads of the roughly shaped hammer. Here is John and Norman slitting the handle hole into the hammer head, which was later widened with a drift. Later on we made some scrolling tongs out of a spring again. Here are 2 images of my tong handles. One is with an existing pair to see if they were near the right shape and the second photo shows both together. I had a little trouble punching the holes and finaly got the rivet in. When trying to tweak them to shape I accidentaly left them in the fire too long and burnt a small section off of one of the tong heads. I ran out of time to finish them off and tweak them, but will do it when I get my forge setup. Heres the image of the 'finished' tongs. Thanks again John!

Never knew the Irish used to cook like that. Makes sense I suppose! Right its 5.15am and i'm getting ready to head off for my tool making course. Can't wait!

I did A level chemistry and my project was making aspirin from willow tree's. Worked very well indeed. The salycyllic acid gets changed into asprin by the acid in the stomach. I beefed up the process a little by heating it in anhydrous acetic anhydride. Got absolutely tonnes of the stuff! Funny how all of these little things link up!

Thats quite a story about the toad living under your anvil. Could be the basis for some sort of fable. Possibly about making life easier on yourself by managing to ignore the background noise of lifes stresses..... I think we call creosote, coal tar over here. Might be able to get hold of some. I'm sure my friend has used it on his smallholding recently. Thanks for the suggestion!

It is John B on this site. I've only met him once. But yes you are right that I at least know someone who is a blacksmith. I have also met near where I live as well, quite a character. The first course I went on was very much the basics being covered. Fire management (which I learnt by many mistakes), drawing down to square and round points, twisting, splitting and making eyes. Plus we learnt a bit about finishing works as well. All the other people on the course were just there for fun (as was I - but a litte more), so I guess i'll meet some people that are more interested in practical blacksmith work on the tools course. Beth also lives near me and i'd be happy to go help her some times, as i'm sure i'd plenty. Wife permitting of course!

My friend wasn't a smith, he used to be a tree surgeon (arborist to Americans), so knows lots about tree's but nought about metalwork.

Well my Dad now lives in Texas, so if I go visit him I could bring some back. Haha. We have enough trouble with Dutch Elm disease over here, so introducing termites would not make me popular. There seems to be a lot of impressive tree knowledge on here. My friend could only guess that it was poplar, as he only saw the wood in the back of my car, and didn't see the tree. I'll see how it goes and then adjust as needs be. What would be the best thing to treat my wood with? I'm currently watching a Time Team special about making a a roman well and theres lots of woodwork going on here. Only a couple of days till I go on my next course to the Blacksith Guild in Exeter, on a tool making course. Really looking forward to it!

Luckily I think I should have a nice flat concrete floor to place my log on. If that doesn't prove to be the case, then I will look to cut some 'feet' into it. If none of this goes so well, then I will look to make my own tripod stand. I shouldn't think we would have trouble with termites in England. Think they are rare, or maybe even non-existent over here. Rot I couldn't comment on, but my friend told me that it will lose a lot of weight when it dries out. So I will plan to take the bark off, and treat it. I might drill a few large holes in it to store hammers etc as I work.

Ok, so its been drying out for a week now. It was cut down on the day I took it, which would account for the weight of the xxxx thing. So should I strip the bark next week and paint the ends with any paint? Or is it best to use a wood seal? Thanks for your input Phil. Much appreciated!

Hi all, I recently got hold of a big chunk of poplar (my friend thinks) tree, which I would estimate weighs about 100kg. It certainly wasn't fun lifting into in the boot of my car. But I got it for free, so its all good! I deliberately got a chunk of tree trunk higher than I would need, as I don't have an anvil yet. I'm getting an anvil this Saturday and will be getting a friend to cut it to an appropriate height with his chainsaw, when I get the anvil home. My question is, should I leave the bark on the tree, or strip it off? And should I treat the wood in any way to preserve the wood and keep it useful for longer? I'm also currently presuming that I don't need to 'attach' the anvil to the top of the wood, as the weight of the anvil will hold it on there. Please correct me if i'm wrong, as I don't fancy an anvil on my foot. That would be a bit of a cartoon injury to get!

Hi all, bit of a wierd question, but i've been smashing up a load of spare palletes from work, to get wood for kindling and i've collected almost 100 nails from them. I've got a tonne of free kindling, but was wondering if I could use the nails for anything? It seems like a waste to just throw them away. They range from clean ish to very rusty and all are bent! I was wondering if the wood i've been getting off the palletes would be hot enough to forge in? Basically from work I can get an almost endless supply of wood for free. Might be a money saver for a bit of effort.

Well there was only one tank that was useful for me and my friend also wants it as a water tank for his small holding, to help his brother water their animals. So i'm leaving it to him! I recently got a galvanised steel bucket for collecting clinker. Will that cause any problems with fumes?

Ok, thanks. Thats a rather conclusive answer then. Cheers!

Hi All, i've just been in contact with a foreman who is demolishing a building on the site that I work on. Apparently they have some old galvanised steel water tanks that are going free. I've already had a huge chunk of poplar tree off them, to use as an anvil stand. I was thinking that if I can get one the right size, then I might be able to make a forge out of it! I'm sure i've heard that heating galvanised steel gives off harmful fumes. Is this true, and if so could I just chuck the whole thing on a fire for ages and burn most of it off? Thanks, Tom

Did the course yesterday and really enjoyed it! By the end of the day i'd worked out what I was doing wrong with the fire. Made a huge difference! I was my own worst enemy for a while, but think i'd sussed it out by the end. Did manage to burn myself as well. John was a great teacher! He even made us tea as we worked. As for tools it basically seems like i'd mainly only need a forge, anvil and hammer for most things. I got some big files that can be made into chisels. Feel like I got a grip on the basics and would like to practice now. Hopefully i can convince the wife to let me go on another course now!

Thanks! I am taking things more slowly. The big lump hammer, was simply because I don't have one and i've needed/wanted one for a while. In the hardware shop I got it from the ball peen hammers were about 4oz's. Obviously needing one heavier than that! I will slowly get some gear together after the course, which is only 2 days away now. Absolutely can't wait! Even though I will have to get up at near 5am. Ungodly hour to be waking up. Spoke to one of my neighbours last night and we fix our cars together at times. Just found out he has a welding torch, so thats a plus point for making a forge. :)

Maybe I am getting a little bit carried away here. Its just nice to have something to look forward to. Being stuck at my job that I don't exactly enjoy, I get a little over enthusiastic about getting away from it for a while. I will see how the course goes, but think I will really enjoy it and won't want to wait to get going.

Never thought of that. Pretty obvious really, when you think about it! I'll read up on making tongs in the ebook on blacksmithing I downloaded tonight. Would flat ended tongs be the most useful ones to make to start with? this type! I've got no idea where to source coal and bits of steel/iron cheaply yet though. All this background work is getting me excited for Saturdays course! Think I will clear up space in my garage tonight and try and set up my table and bench top vice.

Great to see someone else starting out and with massive enthusiasm. I hope I have half as good an experience as you are having with my first go this Saturday. Loving the pics as well. The leaf keyring looks great!

Thanks. Your right, they are expensive! Small items like drifts might be ok, as they were about £10 each. Other than that, not sure if i'd buy anything from there. Would like some 2lb ball pein hammers though. Would rather just find them at B&Q, or just see if I can get the local ironmongers to order some in.

Hi all. I'm going on a basics blacksmithing course this Saturday and am looking to get things set up ready for when I get back. I don't have a forge or anvil yet, but i'm trying to get my garage set up so I can work in there, with the forge slightly outside. I was wondering what tools to buy to get me started? I went to a local ironmongers on lunch and got a wire brush (which I need to nail to more wood for a longer handle) and a club hammer (~4lb's). They had ball pein and cross pein hammers, but they were very small. I also have a vice, that I need to mount on a bench as well. I have an big old, oak pub table, that I can mount it on and then drill holes in that to store tools in. All the chisels they had were for wood cutting. They did have a 14lb sledge hammer though, which I guess could work as a small anvil to start on?..... I have also looked on screwfix, tool station, blacksmith depot and B&Q's website for more possible bits. My main concern is tongs! I guess that I could make my own chisels, punches and sets etc, but really would need to have at least 1 set of tongs to get me started. What could I use as a rudimentary set of tongs to get me started? Any general advice on tools would be greatly appreciated! Cheers. TomN

Cheers. I've managed to get hold of a vice, so thats something at least! Going to start scouring ebay for anvils and forges.

Axe + beard = alpha male! Lovely work and hopefully one day I will be able to make one of my own.

The good deal on the start up set, that JohnB let me know about has been sold, so i'm back looking for a forge again. Will look up the dry stacked masonry forge. I guess ebay is a way to go for looking for bits of kit as well. How does wrapping a chain round the anvil keep it quiet? Theres probaby an obvious answer, but i'm tired!