JHCC

I'm trying to think of a sufficiently stinging barb.

That'll get your hackles up.

That's a lovely piece, LBS. Good trade! The first time I made a handled hot-cut, I quenched it in water and got a big ol' crack running up the entire length. That one was another keeper, as a reminder of what NOT to do! Looks like the combination of blacksmithing and education is importantest!

In other words, traditional blacksmithing!

The last time I hosted a barbecue, I asked if anyone wanted to try bugs. I got crickets.

I'm guessing it's not just like chicken.

Convergent evolution at work! Brent Bailey's most recent video shows him doing just that. When I first saw it, I was struck at how round-punching the eye and then flattening the sides (without a drift in place!) automatically creates an oval hole, all ready for the final drifting. Here's the video (the punching and flattening sequence is from 2:56-3:25): It also strikes me that this method has the additional advantage of not requiring that the punch be held in any special orientation other than straight up-and-down, unlike using an eye punch or a slitting chisel, which must be held straight to the center line of the blank. @jlpservicesinc, does this jibe with your own experience?

Welcome aboard, @Chem! I see this is your first post, so why don't you head over to the Introduce Yourself section and let us know who you are -- just make sure to READ THIS FIRST!

This past week, a business trip was taking me near where I knew there would be a substantial pile of RR spikes sitting next to the track. Through a friend who works for the legal department at Conrail, I got hold of the local maintenance office at Norfolk Southern (who owns that particular stretch) and asked for permission to salvage. This was their reply: "Unfortunately I was told that the pile of spikes you called about, is already spoken for. When a large section of ties are replaced, all of the related material is to be picked up by a contracted service. NS then receives credit for the materials which can be applied towards future work." Interesting.

Very cool. What to bring to the cookout during the zombie apocalypse.

Certainly that's a legitimate choice, but it's worth noting that Samuel Yellin made some use of arc welding in his own shop (to supplement his primary forge welding) and his student Parke Edwards used it extensively in his work at Bryn Athyn Cathedral (necessitated by the use of monel, which doesn't forge weld well).

Thanks for the detail; that does put it in perspective.

Welcome aboard! My only advice is to keep looking for someone local, get to meetings when you can, and otherwise spend as much time in the forge as you can. Focus on the basic techniques and developing your hammer control: that will affect everything else you do.

If you really wanted to geek out, you'd use the "Herakles" transliteration. A little quick Google-Fu shows me that 1" square broaches seem to generally run around a couple hundred bucks US. I'm wondering (especially since I have a similar problem with the hardy hole on my own anvil) if it might be worthwhile to make (or get a machinist friend to make) what one might call a "finishing broach" that only has enough teeth for the final few fractions of an inch. Here's an interesting video of someone making a smaller broach out of O1: (Caveat: I am not a machinist, so I have no idea whether or not any of this is well done or even a good idea in the first place.)

"This is the hammer of power, the fruit of the labors of Beaudry...."

Seriously, though, the chain-holding tabs are unnecessary. If the chain is sufficiently snug around the legs, their flare will keep it from sliding down.

Welcome aboard! My own boy is also fourteen, and he's been working with me off and on (I am but a hobbyist, myself) for a couple of years. After primarily striking, he recently decided that he wanted to make his first S-hook. (As you can see, safety is Lesson Number One.)

Welcome to IFI, home of the Warm Fuzzies.

I think you're confusing me with @jlpservicesinc, of whose trailer I am also in envy.

Don't wait too long -- I'm only a hobbyist, and I don't know when I'll be getting back in the forge.

My most recent attempt at talking to people resulting in my turning down a big punch and two big chisels for ten bucks. Each. (Blacksmithing-related talking, that is. The talking I get paid to do is going just fine.)

Which reminds me: my apologies for not getting a shirt when I was there. I must remedy that, the next time I see you.

Rebar bottle openers are an easy practice piece that (a) you can sell or trade for favors or material and (b) don't require tongs to make. Just take a two-foot (or longer) piece of rebar, slit and drift the hole, shape the ring, punch the tab, and cut off the parent stock. Make some more. Sell 'em to your friends at school for five bucks each. If you sell four, that's enough to get you a tong kit from Ken's Custom Iron (you'll need to do some shaping and riveting, but it's a lot easier than making them from scratch).

I wouldn't call that "hoarding", @Charcold. More like not letting go of something with sentimental value. Hoarding would be if Josh bought every single anvil in sight, piled them up in his barn in a big unmanageable pile, and never let anyone else in, instead of curating them intelligently and making the museum (land his not inconsiderable knowledge) available to anyone who stops by and asks nicely.

Neat idea. I've made a couple of scrolling wrenches, and I think I'll give this a try. One idea, though (that I'll let you know if it works), is to make the main part of the tool from rectangular stock with the right-angle bend done the hard way; that will require a longer tenon on the inner piece, which will give more resistance to bending.