Jarntagforge

Sorry for the unclear questions. I was on my phone and thought I replied to a thread about leg vises. The question is can anyone shed some light on this vise? Perhaps the manufacturer or age. It is very old, so that's why it's interesting to me. I could get it for like 100-120 € but I already have two so I'm kind of torn. But if it's a treasure then I should buy it.

Does this look familiar? I live in Finland by the way. I couldn't find a maker's mark. The jaws were approx. 4 inches with tapered ends (why?). Could it be forged? Hand-made by power hammers? How much would it sell for?

Hey, I'm wondering what brand of anvil this is. It's my friend's anvil and we're doing a forging demo on monday. Visiting his shop I saw this one. It says 62,5 kg (137 lbs. (so not British then)). The anvil feels much heavier but perhaps it's because so low, wide and compact that it feels heavier. It's only 65 cm long and 23 cm high, that's 25,6 inches long and 9 inches high. It was my friend's grandpa's father's so it's between 100 and 150 years old. We live in Finland, by the way. His father was an apprentice in the nearby town of Kokkola and later a blacksmith. A popular Finnish anvil brand is Lokomo but it doesn't resemble those. I'm thinking maybe it's Russian? Could be anything, though. My friend also has a Dalsbruk (DB) stamped old leg vise. I'm kind of jealous of that one! Thanks, @jarntagforge and @lufolkcrafts

Okay, thanks for the answer. But I'm talking about this day and age. Does that hold true still? Nowadays we can google an anvil brand and know how to test it and what to look for in an anvil, still it seems Peter Wrights are quite popular? Everyone has one!

Hello! I also found a Peter Wright anvil but didn't buy it yet. I found it on an online flea market, the seller said he couldn't make out the stamp but I saw straight away that it's a Peter Wright. I have two questions. In what sizes were these anvils made? For example 50, 75, 100, 128, 160 lbs... what weights did they have? The seller didn't know the weight. Also, what's the deal with Peter Wright anvils? I know they have good rebound, and they look very good. Also I know new anvils are so expensive so better buy an old one instead. But there are hundreds of manufacturers! It almost seems like it's The most popular anvil on these forums. Is it all talk or what's the actual deal with it? I'm just wondering! They're really fine anvils!

Hey! That's really strange that you understand some parts, because it's not Finnish which would be closer to Hungarian! I like the Hungarian folk music group Muzsikás! Really good. I did record some parts from the blacksmith school, but it's all on my hard drive still because my computer is too slow to process many gigabytes big movie files. For the moment I can't edit it, but some time for sure. I'll record with my phone in my forge instead, it also gives good quality. About the school though, it turns out it's hard to record and forge at the same time! I would have to do it like Chandler Dickinson. But looking at a beginner do beginner forging isn't interesting. So I think I'll just record snippets from the school when the teacher demonstrates. And then I'll record myself forging in my own forge and edit it shorter so it's more viewer-friendly. This bird we made the latest time! Best regards, Jakob

Hey all! I hope you guys get a notification about this new post? Not sure how this forum works yet An update! And exiting news! I stayed at my job. AND I got into a school Since when I posted the latest time last summer I had basically been doing small odd tasks helping my boss out as he was looking for new projects for me. But finally I was laid off in December, as in I'm still hired but I'm not working or getting paid at the moment. So I'm collecting unemployment benefits while waiting for work. SO I started working in the shop! Here's a video from the shop. This is me, and the shop in the early stages. It's in an 1900's dialect of Swedish but there are ENGLISH SUBS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qaIVkOjtw And I applied to a blacksmithing ''journeyman'' education. It's a one year long, distance-studies weekend education. I'll go there 8 weekends during 2017 starting next week. 16 days over 8 weekends spread out over the year. Inbetween those I'll do "homework". As in forge stuff. In the end there'll be a test. The last weekend there will be a two-day-test. I will have to forge some surprise products on the spot, with master blacksmiths overlooking me and then judging the work and finally deciding if I then get the title journeyman. I plan to record all of this and put it up on my brand new Youtube channel! Would you guys be interested in watching this? I would do it in both English or Swedish depending on the situation. I'd film myself and a couple classmates. Go to their home shops and watch them do work and talk about the classes. Show my own progress, show the school, probably the interview the teacher. And I have some more blacksmithing ideas from Finland to show you. Interest? Hit subscribe then you'll be notified when it appears on the channel

Thanks for your reply and patience with me. I think I'm starting to see your point now after you hammered it into me! I have so few influences so my view is very narrow. I know there are other jobs ''somewhere far away'' but I could start looking harder while giving this engineering job another shot and learning more. Thinking of it as a stepping stone to something else helps a lot! I went to visit the school this weekend. "Järnakademien Ångermanland" in Kramfors, Sweden. It looked fantastic. I'm posting 2 pictures but they don't do it justice of course. Naturally they had power hammers and every kind of tool and machine. Anyway. I talked to a few students, their plan was to finish school, get a part time job while building their shop. They expected it to take 2 years. That got me thinking, why not keep my job and build a shop with the money I get? Also I don't like losing years of income while studying, so I would have gotten an evening job there. That would have meant smithing in the day and working in the evening. Why not keep my job and work in the day and smith in the evening? The good thing about this school is that they learn about different kinds of steel. What is what, when to use what, tempering, all these abstract kind of things you can't figure out easily. Also they learn business and surround themselves in the craft, live and breath it, and it would have been sooo friggin fun!! And as a substitute for the Journeyman travelling they have master blacksmiths come to the school for intensive classes in their specialties. Axes, hammers, art. So the college way of teaching is not necessarily a narrow and poor thing! If I could go back in time I'd exchange engineering for blacksmithing but as I stand now I think my best bet is to keep my income and practice blacksmithing in the evening. Using my income to buy anything and getting this hobby thing going/afloat. Thanks for your help Yeah, travel is an awesome learning experience. Might get tiring after a few years? But I see your point.

I only picked electrical engineering because I, maybe childishly, thought it would be more vivid and 'magical', more actual machines moving around. Instead I'm looking at papers and computer screens. In my job I could ask to become a travelling engineer and do commissioning and testing. But that is looking into a cabinet in a substation in a forest somewhere. Not exactly inspiring or magical. Magical like you go happy to work! ... There are no shortcuts to getting skilled. That majority of blacksmiths without a long education probably had long experience with related metal work or simply practiced lots and lots instead of going to school. But it's the same thing. Look at the Youtube video called: "Mastercrafts part 3 of 6". Three students get personal guidance for 3 months from a master blacksmith. In the end the make gates for paying customers. After all that time they still seem like beginners. I think they would need at least a full year of hands on guidance from a teacher to become somewhat skilled. Work x Time = Talent. One has to practice. A school is a good place for that. If only I wouldn't lose income attending it .... There's no competition

Thanks for your reply, it's a good summary of the problem at hand. I will attend a blacksmith course in 3 weeks, visit the school this weekend, and then make up my mind. I could also quit school after a year if I find it's not my passion afterall. I feel like I should at least go for a year. Good advice. Also it was interesting to read about your career changes. I should go to the school for a year at least. Maybe it'll be like your year at the sword smith. You found out you don't wanna be your own boss and that's that, back to work for someone and all is good. Or you would have found out you wanted to start up your own shop. Win-win!

rockstar.esq I don't know why you brought up all that. And I don't see how another Electrical Engineering job would let me study under a master blacksmith. Possibly if I moved and worked on the weekends, don't know what to say to that. Is that a way to learn to master a craft, weekend practice? Frosty, thanks. I know you all can't make this decision for me. But the advice here is so conflicting. Everything from "go to school just for the experience" and "stay at your job, blacksmithing is an impossible job only meant for a few gurus". Iiiiiii don't know. I'm going to the school on the weekend to check it out. I hope to get to talk to a few students. One of the students I've been in contact with says he's not worried about finding work, and said he knows there's a blacksmith in most 100 000+ inhabitants cities in the middle and southern Sweden. So he sounded very positive at least.

Thanks for the replies! I had almost made up my mind to go to the school but now I've gotten cold feet. It's starting to feel overwhelming. Also if I go to school I don't like how I'm not getting income for the 4 school years, so I'll be 31 years old and have no savings. Then afterwards on top of that I'd struggle with starting up the business for a few years still. I could get a part-time job to cover expenses but that doesn't change much. I'd still be poor. I have no debt but I'll want to buy a house in the future. So perhaps I'll work for another year, do blacksmithing in my free time, learn business, see if I really want to take the leap. But I'm worried I'll lose the fire while waiting, or simply waste another year. One person said "There are no right decisions, you make a decision and then make the decision right." hmm...

I was confused before and even more confused now. How can I answer those questions without starting up a business, doing my best and seeing the end results? I only picked electrical engineering because I thought I would get to have fun with automatic processes and robots. Little did I know it's all cubicle work and papers. I don't care much for my profession, but my job bosses and colleagues are top notch. I'm still not looking forward to going to work and in the near future I'm expecting another chair in another job task, looking at another computer screen. I'm therefore looking to blacksmithing to save me because it has many elements I'm interested in: practical work, old-time work, drawing, being meticulous. It feels magical! Purposeful! They cover entrepreneurship and business. The rest is loads of blacksmithing techniques, a practical thesis work, basics of welding,casting and turning/lathe machining, internships, design, history, workshops, blueprints. After the latest two long replies I now started to worry about money. Can't I come back from the school, get a part-time job to cover my expenses and put the rest of the work week on building a business? Making example work, going to fairs, using social media, travelling to markets in cities to sell products and make myself known. Gather more and more orders. All the while not spending any money I don't have. Thanks for your replies.

I don't see how I can answer those questions on my own, sitting here in my apartment searching on Google. Instead I should be learning the craft and business side from mentors and teachers. I don't see how I can learn blacksmithing if I need to invent every technique on my own as I would have no teacher. That's so much wasted time and effort. Also if I have a job I have no time to do forging. After the job and preparing dinner and doing chores there's not much time left of the day. Like 4 hours of scratching my head trying to invent the wheel. There are fairs further away, I would have to travel to a few of those to demonstrate. I'm interested in making axes. Everyone wants a good axe. VaughnT you're not providing any solutions, you just look for reasons not to do it. You say I should have all the skills of a senior master blacksmith and businessman from the start, which is impossible.

I don't know anything for a fact. Yes, it is realistic to think that I might not be able to survive on blacksmithing. No, no no no no. But where is this magical place where people are interested in paying $100 candle stands? My plan is to look at the businesses of other blacksmiths and copy their business plan. They would live far away in southern Sweden anyway so I wouldn't steal their customers. I have no idea how to start up a successful blacksmithing business, but that's what I hope to get out of this school.

You're so right. If nothing else, I would get to spend the days doing what I like doing. And when the school's over, whatever happens, I got to spend 4 years doing what makes me happy. What are you going to study? Philosophy? Some philospher said to be a ruler one had to be at least 50 years old. So you've got that going for you!

It went well! I've made 2 knives so far, a tong, a fire poker, a few nails, a ramshead railroad spike knife, some necklaces, a bottle opener. So not real work, just hobby stuff. I also was on a 3-day blacksmithing class. It was a lot of fun and not too tough! Thanks for all the replies. I don't know how to respond to you all as you don't ask questions, but I wanna say thanks, at least! Most of you say to take the risk while I'm young and have no dependencies. Makes sense. But it's the life after the school that I'm unsure about. Finland is very sparsely populated. 5 million only. The closest city is 80 000 people and Helsinki is 500 000. Also the economy here is bad, schools and libraries are closing. People have no extra money to spend. And although I like blacksmithing myself, I don't see how black heavy thick metal home decor objects are attractive to regular people so that leaves gates, knives and tools. I don't wanna be a bladesmith and who needs a gate anyway? So that leaves tools. I could send tools all across Fenno-Scandia, or Europe. That's one possibilty. Also there are so few smiths around. Closest one is like 150 km and makes tools. So I don't have a chance to work with him. I could drive over and talk to him of course.

Hey all, thanks for the replies. I'm at work now so I can't write more at the moment but I live in Finland. Close to the school in Sweden. One more thing. I'm looking at the school for 4 years first because I have no skills yet. Otherwise the learning by doing would take ages, without a teacher. Talk to you later!

Hey folks. I have asked many people for advice already but I haven't made up my mind yet. I want to quit my job to study to become a blacksmith. There's a school in Sweden where you literally study pure blacksmithing for 4 years and then you get the title "Journeyman". After that I'd either wanna work as a helper somewhere or open up my own shop and make tools and gates. The thing is I already have a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and I've soon worked one year in it. Sitting on a chair 8h/day in front of the computer. Drawing blueprints or editing Excel spreadsheets. I hate sitting all the time and the planning aspect is uninteresting and boring. And then there's the blacksmithing school. The school doesn't cost anything at all. I would just have to get a weekend or evening job to cover rent and expenses. Should I quit my job to follow my dream? I've only had this dream for a year but why wait any longer? Been in the smithy about 10 times. But I've been thinking about it every single day, watching youtube blacksmith videos and instagram photos and bought an anvil and a blacksmith's vise for later (I live in an apartment). I'm not getting any younger (I'm 26) and the clock's ticking. My parents want me to stay at my job (who knew?) so they won't give me real advice. They say the school takes too long. What I am worried about myself is what happens after school. I'm not (yet) very socially skilled so sales might suffer from that. Also I'm not very confident and haven't been especially entrepreneurial (until now). I don't know what I'm capable of. Then again, in the end we're all gonna die so why not give it a shot. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for the reply. Hey, that third point of yours actually sounds good. It would be like meditation, a peaceful safe haven in one's shop. Still I'd be interested in other people's answers. I visited one blacksmith the other day and he just wouldn't stop talking. He kept on going on about everything. Then I heard from another guy who met him in the gym that the blacksmith followed this guy around and explained Schwarzenegger's and Stallone's workout routines and so on, haha, same thing. Maybe he would be better off around people. Although being cut off from the constant chatter, I think it can be equally beneficial to talk to people, interact, banter, be friendly. Of course you can do that after work too. It's just a dilemma I'm having. Right now I'm doing desk work with a colleague in the same room. Lots of good talk there, but the computer is getting tiresome.

This question is aimed at all active blacksmiths who work alone each day. Does it get lonely? In almost all regular jobs you work in teams or with people, mostly. Except for truck drivers and such but in general. I'm thinking of starting up a shop myself but I wonder if I would go insane. Standing alone in a room all day, no coffee break banter or anything. I even started playing with the idea of opening up a simple cafe, maybe self-service, in my shop to get some people in there. Lonely? How about as time goes on, a year, two years...