brianbrazealblacksmith

i made a new pair the other day with a little different approach.

I usually tell people about pine tar. Put it on your hands to help prevent blisters, and use it on your hands if you get blisters. It will take pain away and help heal wounds faster.

I just got back from Quadstate. This was my first time, and what an event! I saw people that I haven't seen for years, and a lot that I've seen all over in my travels. It is the biggest and best event like Tom Clark always told me. I look forward to the next time I can return and encourage others to go and be a part of it! I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures to show, but maybe others can share some here. Thanks to everyone for having me there!

We were glad to have you here this summer, Blake! I'd like to work with you some more. You have the tools now to help others and you'll learn so much more by enabling others to do the same. Karen still wants to hear your take on it in the form of an article, and could you expand on your view of the experience? Have you demonstrated for your association yet?

Very nice, especially for the first one! Keep up the good work.

David, that is an odd way to describe my style of punch. I'd call it a V'ed slot punch. It is not a chisel at all. It does resemble one, but it is used to punch a stotted hole. It is something seeing how these tools have been being made by others all around the world, and the impact that the Young Smiths, the videos, the posts, and the competitive farriers have had on spreading the information in such a short time. Keep on sharing the information!

The hardy looks fine. You just need to forge a larger one for that anvil. The taper should be sticking above the hardy hole. The fullering between the shank and the blade is to isolate the material so that it is easier to forge the blade. The same concept is applied to forge a hammer. The fullering between the cheeks and the faces isolate material and allows you to work without hammering or gouging into the forging on the other side of the fuller line, and you can just forge the other side of the fullering or in between them in the case of a hammer.

I got that tool from the president of the Mississippi Forge Council. He's a pretty good guy. He also made one for all of the Young Smiths this year. His name is David Gaddis.

Nice work Tubbe! I just saw the punches above, good job! You asked about tapering the short ends of the punches. We are usually doing them with a striker, so after we forge the striking end square with a set hammer, we forge the punche end round with a set hammer. Then we draw a rough square taper then to rough octagon using the 3 inch top and bottom fullers. Then use a flatter to clean up the octagon taper, 16 sides to round, then to oval. On the power hammer, free handed, I'd use flat dies and feed the baby at the start either square or hex, then blend the base of the taper to the end with runs, go to round then oval with the power hammer flatter.

Dognose, my wife, Karen, posted some pictures that I took yesterday to show what I was trying to explain. They are posted in the thread above, Something new to me. After seeing your picture thou, it is not what you were after, but it is worthwhile information anyway.

Pictures Brian took yesterday...

Dognose, I started a thread back in 2009 called "Somthing new to me", and it talks about the very thing you're asking about. The pictures I posted don't show up anymore, but if you slit and drift two holes a distance apart then chisel the distance between the two holes, you can twist the two sides, one at a time with one side held in a vice, 180degrees and the flat sides will now be in the middle making it easy to line up your slot or open it up. The thread is on page 100 of General Discussion.

If you plan on making hammers like the one you and Countryforge made, mild steel will not hold up well. When you forge hammers with the cheeks, the drift acts as an anvil inside the hole, so a tougher steel will hold up better. If you are forging your drift with a hand hammer like I usually have to do, drawing over the far edge of the anvil is the most agressive and easiest to control way. It does take some practice and the angles you hold are crucial. The base of your taper does not require much work so hold your angle low so you don't gouge in too much. The middle and end is where the work is so you can up you angle until you get close to your desired taper, then lower your angle to your desired taper. Learning to forge hex can also save a lot of work. Starting with round and forging to a round taper requires less hits forging a hex taper. Don't do too much at the start of the taper and don't go too small any where else along the taper is the main thing.

Really nice job!

Great job guys! I'm glad to see you all getting together and making tools. Keep up the good work, and please share all the other things you've been doing.

Nice tools! I'm glad to see that Aaron has gone into business making tools! He was one of the first young smiths to come and take a class.

Nice job, forginhill! Most of my work when I forge alone is half hammer face blows over the near and far sides of the anvil just like the horse is. For the middle notch on the near side, you should hold the material straight, not down, and it will forge a smaller bar in that area instead of a reverse taper. The horse will help to understand how you can divide up material and displace certain amounts into different forms then go into doing more complex forms. It is not much different than making a pair of tongs. Keep up the good work!

I agree with you Sam. Mike and Linda Tanner and Peyton Anderson are great contributors to the world's blacksmithing community, and the quality and affordable tooling is just one of the many ways they contribute. Everyone should check out Yesteryear Forge and support them with their efforts. The tools they make is just a piece of what they are doing to promote, support, and educate today's blacksmith. Get to know them. You won't meet anyone more genuine and sincere and sharing.

I don't have any videos, but there is a drawing on the first page of this thread in the first post. It is just like the flat one except you check the sides back on the horn or bottom fuller with your rounding hammer or top fuller.

I wouldn't think about a certain radius, but instead think of a squashed ball. I don't know how to link it but there is a thread here on why the rounding hammer with a video. If you look at how the radius changes as the hammer is tilted, it will explain why there are more surfaces available on a properly ground rounding hammer than any other kind of hammer to forge with. If you were to grind a certain radius, all you would have is that one radius.

This has also happened to a lot of threads that I have posted! I've been waiting for a response from the moderators to your question before I posted on this thread. I have not been posting as many new threads as I used to, and this is the main reason. A week has gone by with this thread with no new activity. I'm bringing it back in hopes that it will get moved back where Alec posted it so more people will benefit from it. This video is not a sculpture or carving. It is showing how to move metal. Nice job on the video, Alec!

Yes, EGreen. The struck end is the end you strike with a sledge or hammer as opposed to the working end or the fuller.

Nice job! The Main thing that I would suggest for your next top tool would be to even up your struck end with your cheeks. It helps to centerize the column of your tool and simplifies the process of making it.

We would love to have the opportunity to get involved with the colleges. Alec will be staying after the event until he has to go back to school and so will Josh and Daniel for a little while. If this Summer is too sudden, we could still plan something with some of the youth in America anytime in the future. We can also talk about it at Tannehill if you can make it.