jgirard13

2 little owls nested in a pillar of the roof of my old outdoor shop in my back yard. Also had coyotes, racoons, rats, bobcats, big tarantulas and a big male javalina that my wolf killed when it charged me. Nothing but a squirrel and tbe neighbors cat at my new shop

Lots of new files are case hardened these days.

Are they possibly drop forged?

I use my 2 1/2 lb cross peen and my 2 1/2 lb rounding hammers for almost everything i do. What I've realized it isnt the hammers weight but technique and speed. Ive made some delicate items with those hammers and on the other end of the specrum forged out some thick billets. Who cares what he has to say anyway, if you take life to serious you will never make it out alive lol

Poker i made for my ol' ladies mom. 2 pcs of 3/16 x 1/2 plug welded together then collared to hide welds

Post your location so anybody on ifi that lives near you might be able to help. Join your local blacksmithing group because you'll learn 10 times faster all the basics of moving steal, marketing, networking and all things else smithing related ( gotta learn how to work some non ferrous metals right? ). Learn the basics till you can do them in your sleep then move on to basic blades ( gotta crawl before you walk and walk before you run). Check out sca and ren fairs and pick the local smiths brains. Oh and if you have a chance to help another Smith out in his shop, even if he's never forged a blade in his life, jump on the opportunity. Sorry if my rightings kinda jumbled but I'm righting this off a pc of crud phone. Good luck with turning dreams into goals and goals into a living

Pauls the owner or Desert Rat Forge and hes a heck of a guy and mighty fine smith to boot.

Well, my latest obsession/compulsion is a diy post-vise. I'm not gonna try to forge braze my own screw threads, lol. I am not that adventurous... or skilled. I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. The majority of it is planned to be made from several pieces of railroad track I have. There are only two parts to be welded, the jaws. The jaws will be 6", with a 6" throat and about 8-9" of opening. My estimates are that it should end up around 150 to 170 lbs. I already have most of the parts. Will be using an adjustable scaffold foot for the screw. It has about a 3-4 tpi. I have a LOT of porta-band work ahead of me.

Heres a pic of 1 of my drawings and the finished product (fairly close to the drawing)

Mostly tools in my notebook, like a homemade multi jawed post vice, propane forge and a open design smithin magician (i was in advanced art in hs so im pretty goog at drawing) . Also several drawings of knives and some hand tools. Got alot of pics in various files on my smartphone containing pics and plans of tools, knives, fp screens and accessories, desk art, bbq tools and well id bore y'all if i went on.

At pieh or Scottsdale farrier supply you can get a 50 lb bag for around 35 bucks

Theres also Scottsdale farrier supply over near the Scottsdale airport

My ol'lady got me the complete modern blacksmith, the backyard blacksmith and the art of blacksmithing. Also got a carheart jacket.

Thank you Ted :)

(A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. whitesmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons.

While there are many people who work with metal such as farriers, wheelwrights, and armorers, the blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things like nails or lengths of chain.) That's Wikipedia's definition and in short a blacksmith works black metal ie steel/wrought iron. I feel you call yourself by what you are, meaning a hobbyist, or professional with varying degrees of the professional side (apprentice, tradesmen, journeyman. And master) i feel you can call yourself a hobbyist blacksmith when you actually dedicate yourself to the hobby and learned the terms, tools and safety then spent time at the forge several times and plan on doing it many times to come. You can consider yourself a professional blacksmith (or just blacksmith for short) when you do it as a profession. You dont have to be good at it to use the title (met police officers who are bad at their job but are still called police officers). I do smithing as a full time profession with little or no help from the owner on my projects so when i fill out forms and they ask for job title i fill in blacksmith. Dont put alot of thought into what to call yourself, just put alot of thought into what you do.

Hmmm... Nobodys going to mention all his awesome stuff in the background! For shame on all of you...

Usually a hole drilled into the stone with a steel stub coming off the pc into the hole with apoxy or rockite.

That's my big boy with the ol lady, i think shes giving him vanilla ice cream.

How do I post pictures from an android phone?

My best friend is my wolf Loki, hes half grey and half artic (no dog in him). Hes always in my shop and acts like he owns the place so everybody said it wasnt my shop it was his den so the name "wolfs den forge" became my business name. Ive had him since he was a pup and started smithing around the same time so almost 6 yrs him and i have been in business

1 1/4" x 1/8" is like $0.80 per ft at my shop. Hot rolled mild steel is east to forge and you don't have to deal with galv or acid (2 things i hate). If you make a blade take small sample pcs and try each quench method to determine hardening but tempering may be difficult cause you dont have any idea what the steel was for.

Welcome to IFI and the king of trades! IFI, YouTube, books, local blacksmithing group and a heck of a lot of practice. May Hephaestus bless and protect yer thumbs

Beautiful work! Flows well

If you dont have a post vice yet check out the arizona artists blacksmith association and go through the newsletters for plans to make 1