Forging Carver

That's a real nice flower. It would be cool to use a brass brush like frosty said. I have been working on my hammer handles lately and that looks like a nice color wood that you have on your cross pein. Is it just shadow, or did you roast it up a bit to get that color?

So I started to take off the char with some steel wool and 220 sandpaper. I ran out of 220, but I don't think the hammer looks too bad how it is now. I am debating whether or not to keep sanding it down or not. The stickiness is gone and the hammer is much smoother. Not to mention I like how it looks better now anyways. I have to remember at the handle will darken over the years of use. Tell me what you guys think I should do. Thanks. Heres the before and after. well The way it showed up is the after then before

So here is the scenario: You are making a leaf keychain. You are forging on your main shop anvil with your favorite forging hammer. You start to forge the taper on the edge of the anvil, when you suddenly miss the steel and hit your anvil. Would you rather your anvil or hammer to get damaged?

A while back I saw a guy on YouTube make a knapped style knife. For some reason I can't post video links in here, so look up Chandler Dickinson knapped flint style railroad spike knife. Part two is where he makes the ripple texture.

What I would do is use this one, make some cash with it, and then make another one with the cash you made if your not happy with it. That is what I plan to do with my little freon forge I am building. You learn from the first build and get better on the next.

Strange I don't get this thread in my ifi daily email anymore. Great work everyone.

Alright thanks. Well my hammer handle is pretty darn black, but it was made by Alec Steele so I am sure it is not too weak. Right now it is a bit sticky. I need to find a way to get rid of the tackiness, and do what you do with the trewax. Maybe I will sand it all off and then char how you do so with the dragon breath of my forge. I just know that whenever I do stuff like this, I wind up liking the original better. I will see what happens. Thanks

Alright. The hammer is the one that's my profile picture. It was sent to me charred. I don't mind the look, but I also like the look of plain old wood. I suppose that the plain wood will get all dirty looking too over the years, and not look like the brand new piece of hickory. I guess I will just leave it for now. I'm kind of on the edge but I will figure it out.

Hi, I have a hammer in which it has a chared handle and I am debating whether or not I want to remove the char or not. Have any of you removed the char on your chared handle? If so can you give me a picture of what the handle looks like once the char is removed? Thanks.

Yeah but they say obsidian is e best learning rock since of its easy cutting. Just like mild is the best learning steel becuase of its easy moving. I will look around the stream though. Thanks

It is cut up from an old fence. I can also get some better flat wrought for axes and knives.

Hi, I can get 45 pieces of 1/2" by 1/2" by 10-1/2" wrought iron for $85. Is this a good price? I know I can find my own but I haven't been having much luck. Also, 1/2" square is the perfect size for me. Thanks

Yeah I have tried flint knapping before. After a lot of frustration and cutting myself every minute, I haven't knapped since. I should really buy some more materials some time soon.

That would be cool to hang on a wall and pop bottle off it from there.

I totally agree, that is why I mentioned the Incans and Machu Pichu. My point is that there is no way it could have been done efficiently enough to create a strong nation. Let's take Machu Pichu again. It took about 30 years to do most the building of it. Now this wasn't on and off, it was day to day work. They worked hard to cut and place these stones. They were just about done when the Spanish then came and overthrew the Incan empire and the Incans were not able to finish the village. They didn't have any way to sufficiently protect themselves. They had probobly 5-10 years of work left into finishing the village. Now think about doing this to about all 20,000 habitated areas of the US. Remeber that we don't have the tools to manipulate wood properly to build houses, or nails for houses, so this is the way we are stuck to building. We wouldn't be close to how built up we are today. So maybe we have a few states built up enough by this time. That is if we somehow found a way to get across from Europe without the need of boats that require steel tools beyond stones to make. We have a few areas out of the entire country. What stops the Natives or someone else from preventing us from our snail speed expansion? Each town is going to take at least 20 years to make. We also are going to have less forts to protect our land as well. This leads to another thing. Without the blacksmith, we have no fire arms which means we are left with bow and arrow to protect our selves. This leaves us with too much of a weak nation and not likely to suceed. By this time the nation is poorly built up if even still exists. Lack of ways to get here from Europe becuase of no ships. I'm not really seeing a way our country could have gotten built up without the blacksmith. The blacksmith provided for ships, tools, firearms, nails, and mostly everything you needed. The blacksmith was basically the factory back then. I don't know how else to explain this. Let me know otherwise, but I am pretty proud of my logic and think I did a good job explaining this.

Alright thanks. The issue is that I really don't want to go to an old bridge or farm and potentionally steal the steel. Nice pun there. I have a metal detector, maybe I can go around looking for some wrought iron. No idea where to start though. Thanks

Ah, but that is why I said America and that I cannot say for other countries. The ancient Incans made the stone village of Machu Pichu by hand cutting stones with rocks. Then you might ask why I said that if there were no blacksmiths there would be no masons. That is becuase of a few reasons. The first is that becuase America got Blacksmithing from Europe in which smiths were used to develop their towns and cities. Masons by then were using steel tools, and by then lost the ancient skill of cutting stone with other rock. The second reason is that to make that little village of Machu Pichu (compared to America), took years and years to do so. The village was never even finished. Now imagine how long it would take to build up this entire country. Greece, Egypt, and Rome are all very small compared to the US as well. The last reason which is a bit off the topic of masons, is that if there were no carpenters or blacksmiths, there would have been no ships sturdy enough to make the voyage to North America. Without the tools that the European blacksmith made for the carpenter and mason, there is no way we would be where we would today.

Yeah there's a few coal fired pizza places around here. There's this really good place that makes clam pizza which is so good! They also make wings on the coal fire. In my opinion, no where makes pizza better than the tri state area!

What would you describe a group of blacksmiths as? I would say a disaster waiting to happen

I have been looking all over for wrought and can't seem to find any. Besides going into old homes, mines, and getting gates, where do you guys get wrought from? Thanks

Nice work! I carve as well and really need to make my self a carving axe. I also need to get around to making a spoon knife. Do you carve any kuksas? If so please send me a few pictures becuase I need ideas for my kuksa.

It looks good! Just make sure it chops as good too!

If you think about it, blacksmiths built America. I am sure that they built other countries as well, but I can only speak for what I know in my country's history. If it weren't for the blacksmith, we wouldn't have the luxuries of today's society. We probobly wouldn't be where we are today. I say this becuase if it weren't for the blacksmiths, there wouldn't be any carpenters or Mason's, for they wouldn't have anybody to make their tools. This leaves us with no one to make homes, buildings, churches, etc, as well as fine cabinets, furniture, clocks, and much more you can think about around the house and the town. If it weren't for the blacksmith, modern day lighting, machinery, cars, electronics, appliances, etc. would not be of existence either. We would be living primitively just like the Native Americans did, which in fact would be kind of nice in my opinion. I love the way they used to live and how they survived of the land. Anyways, many take most of what they see and use for granted. Many overlook their computers and smart phones and take them for granted. Many overlook the blacksmith, and some don't even know what a blacksmith is. If it weren't for the smiths, people would have none of which they use in their daily life. It is a shame how I have to describe to some people what a blacksmith is. Blacksmiths were extremely important to build our country, but yet they are not included in the history books describing their importance. Heck, if it weren't for the blacksmith you wouldn't be looking at this post, or even have an account on iforgeiron. Don't take everything for granted and be sure to appreciate that it was becuase of people like you, blacksmiths, that made that thing possible.

I am still shocked how you got all that detail! What did you use to make the finger nails? What were these waxed with. My first thought was trewax, but the wrapped leaf one looks pretty dark. Thanks