JShock

That is Bella. She is a big ole baby. 

No. It is just White Ash soaked in Boiled Linseed oil. 

We started the punched the eye with a 4140 hot cut that a friend had in his shop that he uses to cut his damascus bars with. It was small but had the right width for our drift. Then we just pounded out our eye with the drift. I need to actually make tools just to make hammers it seems. This and my other were kind of fly by night. We had most of the tools in some form or another between 3 people. I would like to make a set that is uniform to each other. Less guess work more practice. 

For some reason Jezebel keeps coming up. Klank seems more appropriate right now. I will have to play with it more and see what sticks. If I do smack a finger Ill post a pic!

It really does feel awesome. I've made chisels and punches for sure, but this is a hammer. Nothing like it. I was told to name it, but nothings come to me yet. 

I like it. Hits straight. The picture makes it seem like its leans forward, but in person its does look the same. It is SOOO hard getting the hole straight. Of course its the most important part. Practice makes perfect. 

Second hammer made from 1 3/4" 4140. 

I finished my first hammer today. It is a cutler's hammer. It was made of 1 3/4 4140. I hardened about 2 inches of the face. The handle is made of Ash as that is what I had available. I soaked it for 2 days in boiled linseed oil. I have yet to hammer anything with it yet. I hope to have something hammered out by the end of the weekend. 

I am at the beginning of this chapter in my life. I am just getting hear some of those stories and all the people I have met so far have all been fantastic people. The local blacksmith group did not even hesitate to accept me in and have done nothing but support me up to this point. Jerry Whitley from our guild gave me his spot in the upcoming Mark Aspery class at the end of this month and I have been truly humbled by his kindness. All of the people in our guild here are truly amazing. I am having the time of my life right now and so are the kids. They talk about the forge to people more than I do. Just want to say huge thank you to everyone on here and in the real world that think computers are the debil. 

Yesterdays work.

I have a 95lb Kohlswa. The company stamp on the side is the same and the the weight is stamped the same. Right under the name though there were a few more marks that I have never really made out. On the bottom of the anvil though was K 3/2 02. Frosty speculated that it might be a date and year March 2nd 1902, though no idea what the K meant. I have done a bunch of searching but never came up with anything. I have thought about writing the manufacture, but I have never done that either. I am always curious about the history of an item like this so I understand the desire to know. 

I survived fine. I am up on a hill and have a direct route to the highway if needed. I don't even really have to go through town. This was not nearly as bad as the flood of 98 but it was pretty bad. I knew there was some bad spots but nothing like that. That's the first I have heard of any real damage done. A few people had water get up in the house a little. The in-laws had it coming up into their garage a few feet, but that's normal with a bad rain.

Amen to that Jim.Thank you. 

The lesson is patience, again. Everything is patience. It has been a big nemesis in my life. Blacksmithing is no different. Today I had some, what I thought at the time, simple projects in mind. A RR spike knife. Not finished, but to the point where I could spend the week grinding and polishing. I thought I had it to that point then I had an idea for the handle and realized I needed a new tool for it. This frustrated me. This project got put on hold for a bit.

Second I thought about taking a ball peen hammer I got from the flea market and trying to make a hatchet out of it. Fail. I thought I knew the basics of what to do to shape it. I still think I do, but I definitely do not have the practice to do it right yet. Several things happened today to throw this project way out or whack. The first and formost: Kids. They constantly wanted attention. They demanded it at times. I of course obliged but reluctantly because the metal was in the fire. This lead to my first burn. Second was my dog Buck. He is a blue healer of 9 years old and obsessed with me kicking a soccer ball for him as I have for 9 years in the past. Go figure. This lead to my second burn of the metal. The 3rd burn happened due to my wife. She tried so hard to leave me be for the day, but my presence was needed a few times throughout the day, leading to my 3rd burn of the hammer and loss of material. I thought I could save something but in the end it went in the scrap pile. 
 

3rd lesson of the day. I made a leaf key chain for my wife last weekend and it came out beautiful in my opinion. I was really pleased with it and quite a few others were as well. I decided I was going to finish my day by making more of these for the family and friends who had requested them. I started out with smaller material than I had on the first to try to make something a bit smaller. Constant distractions kept this from coming out the way I had done things the first time. I cut off the leaf and started again with larger stock. I figured more material, less mistakes. This was not the case. The kids started fighting and I kept having to break up things that did not make sense, like I am Michael Myers and you are Freddy Kruger, and I am a fairy and I can bring you back to life so you need to come back to life. This was all followed up by screams and crying and I'm not your sister any more's and if you do not stop Im gonna tell Dad's. My leaf's were definitely not taking shape today. I ended up putting one in the bath and one on the Xbox and the dog in the house to watch the kids. 

Back to the forge I went. I started a new leaf. This time I took my time. I hammered slowly. I watched my heat. All this frustration in side me and I took it out on the metal. I realized this with every ring of my hammer. I stopped. Looked back at everything I had done for the day and sighed. I knew right then and there that I was tired. I was frustrated. I was annoyed. But not at my family. Not at my dog. Not at the metal for not doing what I wanted it to do today. I was frustrated with myself for being upset. For being frustrated. I was tired of getting upset. Here I was doing what I have come to love with the people I love the most and I was upset? Shame on me. There should have been a smile on my face all day. Every time one of the kids had a problem of were fighting I should have turned off the air and gone and sat with them and worked it out. Every time Buck wanted me to kick the ball for him I should have turned off the fire and kicked it a few times. Every time my wife wanted me to help her or talk to her or just smile and kiss her cheek I should have. I can always light another fire. I can always hammer later.

All in all today was an exercise in patience. I need to remember to be patient with my family. With my dog. With my work. And more importantly with myself. Just remember to not forget those that support you in your craft. They are there for you always.

Below are today's lessons!!!

Man, I want to make a few of those Flambeau's. I cannot seem to find anything like that in the google webs. 

A friend of mine at work started making RR spike knives. He told me I should do it because he knew I would be interested. I started looking up ways to get started online. Brake drum forges. Hand made blowers. Alternatives to anvils. I went to change a couple of tires here in town and right next to the building was a bunch of discarded RR spikes, bolts, tie plates and two pieces of RR track. an 18 inc one and a 4 ft one. I asked the shop own about them and he said the RR guys dumped them there about a year ago and never picked them up. I decided they needed a new home and loaded them up.

A cousin in law had a 16 in truck rim and brake drum. I went and got 1.5 in pipe and a blow dryer and a bag of charcoal. Picked up a Cross peen and hand grinder and a couple of cutting wheels and went home. I had the pipe cut and threaded at the plumbing store I got them from. I cut out most of the center of the Truck rim and dropped the break drum in it. After a little modification to the break drum I put the pipe together and bolted a 1/8 plate to a flange and ran my pipe down the center of the drum. 

Now I had a forge. I had some material. I had an Anvil and a Hammer. Since then I have found a proper anvil. I still use the same forge. I picked up a Post vice. I still use the same blow dryer I started with as well. Two speed, set to cool not hot air, Duct tapped to the pipe. I could make it better, but at this point It still works. I want to find a hand crank blower, but cant afford ebay prices right now. 

I have also joined the local blacksmith chapter and been having a blast ever since. 

I might have to start smoking a pipe just so I can light it with something I am forging!! Nothing better than hot steel to get yer pipe goin.

I just saw this and literally went the hell am I doing trying to shop around for these. My sister wants to start leather working. Boy I feel a bit dumb. Great video!!!

I really like this. Great job!

I have tried several different classes on the last year and a half. Centaur Forge has some but they sell them the Didumium ones for 50$ and the Regular clear ones for 20$. Ive found Bouton, ACE and Crews in this same style. I really love these. They stay on my head and I went from occasionally getting things in my eyes around the glasses to never getting anything in my eyes. A little Google searching was in order to find a dealer that did not sell in bulk though. 

Ace - http://www.centaurforge.com/Safety-Glasses/products/133/

Bouton - http://www.hlbouton.com/hlb5900.html

Crews - http://www.stoodyind.com/Catalogs/FISC/05catpg570.pdf

I have a 95lbs Kohlswa anvil that I picked up for 300. I love it. It is my first one so of course I love it. It rings like crazy just sitting on its stump. I chained it down and slapped a magnet on the heel and it quieted it down tremendously. 

Wow on the date. If that is right. I have tons of railroad spikes. I might just try using them. I would like to get a metal stand, but I would not pay for one. Ill just find the scrap and ask my brother in law to use hit torch and welding equipment and we will just build one. Till then the Oak will do. Thank you Frosty and Drewed. I can not wait till Thursday. My mother wants a Hatchet for her bug out bag, and the wife needs a coat rack. Gonna be a busy week!! Ill post pics once I get a couple of things done. Thanks again everyone.

Cant help it. I am pretty excited. I have to wait till thursday before I can take it for a test drive. I have a really large oak stump that I have to cut about 5in off the top to get the height right for it. I am trying to figure out the best way to mount it exactly. I had my RR track held down with chain and large nails. It would not move at all. I have seen people take a router and cut out a shape of the base into the wood then chain it down or use U bolts or something. I will figure it out one way or another. I just cant wait to put metal to it! Thanks all for the support.

There is a bunch of red paint on it that has rust under it. I will get some of that off with a regular wire brush and some wd40. Outside of that I did not plan on much grinding or any more wire wheel. I cleaned up the marks real quick to see what I could read on it. I definitely do not want to remove any additional metal from it.  I found two more marks on it. One under where it is labled 95 lbs that has a distinct N---S---(maybe)OW. On the bottom of it is K 3/2 02. I am curious what these are and started doing some searching but I have not found anything that matches yet. 

Ok, I went a head and bought this anvil. This is stamped Kohlswa Sweden on one side and 95lbs on the other. My scale at home read it as 95lbs. The guy I got it from said he has just had it sitting in his welding shop for a long time, but did not know how long exactly. I can not find any other markings other than the name and weight. It only has one or two little chips on the face. Lots of little marks all over. But other than that it is in great condition minus surface rust.