ken leedy

Anything with a twist. They're attention span is really short.

Those are really nice.

Slices of steel pipe make nice bending mandrels.

Hot rolled starts off with more scale because of the finishing process. Cold rolled starts off cleaner and closer to tolerance. I believe they are the same after that. I may be wrong but that's what I've been told.

I made a pirate hook with a bottle opener for the point.

That turned out very nice. I've always wanted to make one.

The first material sounds like wrought iron. You need to work it much hotter that mild steel. Don't hammer it when it gets into the red colors. The large curved teeth are probably HC steel. They should make decent tools with proper heat treating.

I like and make a variation of this knife. I do not however give them any historical designation. They are easier to make than a handled knife and the handle never gets loose. Of course, the larger the knife the more material involved but for small table sized knives they don't take much material at all. I wish there was historical provenance for them but I guess you can't have everything.

Don't forget books. They are the most useful tools for the solo blacksmith. Most of the ideas shown above are in books.

I love my Fontanini. I would buy it again tomorrow. It's well worth the money. It will outlast my grandchildren.

I love my Fontanini. It is worth every odd job I did to get it.

I feel that If I let a false statement stand them I am supporting it, within reason. Kind of like the story of the broken anvils in the South after the Civil War. There is no proof, it's just a story. As well as the story of burning down a cabin to recover the nails. It just doesn't make sense. If someone calls me a smithy, it doesn't hurt my feelings. They are just using the wrong terminology. (sic)

That's pretty cool. I may have to make one for myself.

It should work. I've used a propane torch. Try it and let us know.

When I really need to get things done, I listen to Kenny Wayne Sheppard. Other times I'll listen to just about anything. I really hate commercials, so it's the MP3 now.

I do one or two demo's a year. It seems there is almost always someone that wants to dominate my time. They know that I can't leave. They talk about anything and everything except blacksmithing. How do you handle these people?

What do you guys do about people who try to dominate your time at your demo? They talk about anything and everything but blacksmithing.

I painted the inside of the fan housing on my blowers. It keeps the rust at bay and looks better. I painted the fan blades as well.

Nicely over done. I like art included in making tools. The ones I made are very plain.

1912 #100

My second shop was built of straw bales. I loved it.

Instead of making them exactly alike, make them exactly similar.

My brother occasionaly smokes cigarettes in my shop. I sometimes light up my coal forge to get rid of the cigarette smell. I'll have to try the bees wax.

I did a local demo over the Memorial Day weekend. I only had one guy who wanted me to know how much he knew about what I was doing. It started with a question about the temper in mild steel and something some guy had told him about quenching it in used motor oil. My answere did not satisfy him and I quickly realized that nothing I said would alter his opinion. He had never done any blacksmithing. I politely told him to do what ever worked for him and turned back to what I was working on. Shortly there after he left. There is one in every crowd. I had to laugh.

It seems unlikely that someone would burn down a useable structure to salvage a bit of iron. I have heard this before but have never seen any documentation. The History Channel does not count. I would hesitate to repeat this legend to a group of school children.