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the announcement came through via email today.. http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/2018/03/2018-spring-meet/

It's a huge advantage when you don't have someone saying "It won't work" or it can't be done.. Discoveries happen when least expected..

DavidF - It's all good.. Sometimes things happen just as they are supposed to.. Thanks for subscribing.. There are certainly a few hours worth to watch..

JHCC - well said.. Thank you.. I have no right to judge anybody else.. snicker, snicker.. Until I am able to forge to perfection each and every time I swing the hammer.. cough, choke, cough, choke on own spit... Yeah, right that will be the day.. LOL..

20 years ago the places to learn in the USA were the living history museums like Colonial Williamburg, VA or Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, MA.. They had great opportunities for people interested and you could learn the craft while being paid to do it.. Not only that, but you could take your sweet old time making something to perfection which is how you refine and better your skill set.. Most the government funding is dried up now and a lot of these places are operating on a shoe string budget.. OSV is still a decent place to go but most people there are newer smiths and interested in their own thing vs Vintage blacksmithing.. I can't say about Colonial Williamsburg as I have no experience there.. A lot of places have apprenticeship programs as a way of keeping the trades for only those who are wanting it.. Casual users are rare.. Guilds also play a large part and were self governing.. Here its a free for all.. Depending on how things are ran, it can stifle creativity or exploration... Imaginations are a powerful entity..

Hey, I resemble that remark.. I am a purist in the sense of low tech and doing everything by hand which can include water powered hammers, electrically powered hammers any hammer where I am the person who has to position it to get the desired results.. Basically what you would find in a rural New England Blacksmithing shop up to about 1920's or so depending on location.. Ideally I wanted to the ability to be able to forge anything out of anything with no modern machinery needed.. I'd rather use traditional joinery methods on wrought iron work vs electric arc welding( If it's not used properly it can ruin all the other good work).. But have no problem using it for where it's needed in stuff that I would not sell as blacksmithing or hand made or I should say Hand forged and assembled.. Way back I would not use anything that was electrically powered to produce anything I sold.. Even the drill was hand powered, I just think it did a better, more accurate job.. JBOD is a great way to go, but I'd suggest you get involved with the group and make contacts and you will see most the members are very welcoming as they love blacksmithing and usually love to show off their equipement.. Like minded people and all.. You kind of have to be a little earthy crunching (not mind getting dirty) when it comes to blacksmithing so the quality of person is pretty good.. There are so many resources out there for blacksmithing now, there simply is no reason not to do it.. Not one thing is mysterious or hidden anymore.. So much free info..

Well it depends on your budget and how many free hours you have in a day. week, month.. Definetly not true in blacksmithin as far as groups go.. There are people who get together, but usually friends and it's a luncheon kind of thing.. Try to remember full time blacksmiths are rare and forging of metal at the blacksmithing level is way out of date.. While Blacksmithing is cool and neat. if you are doing production and you need to make 100 of something it gets very boring.. you will get really good at it, but it just becomes shear work of pounding out the profits.. I'd suggest joining the New England Blacksmiths.. They have meets 2X a year spring and fall, and they have many meets inbetween with local smiths helping out.. They have a group here on IFI... http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/ Sadlly, if you are looking at jumping into a heavy smithing population the need for good smiths is still out there, but it really does depend on what you want to make and how diverse your skill sets are as well as how much money you need to make to live.. If you are a newb unless you find someone who really takes a shine to you the Master, apprentice thing is very rare.. Back in the late 80's early 2000's. I was making a decent wage at making colonial style hardware, latches, etc, etc.. Since then I retired from professional smithing 13 years ago and since that time frame the hardware gig has dried up.. There is still work out there but for pennies on the dollar unless you have a name for yourself or you know someone.. Other thing is. there are a lot of retired folks whom are getting a full time retirement pay and doing the smithing on the side for less money than someone could do it for if having to pay all the bills.. Retired, hobbiest, part time, full time.. Anvils are hot, hammers are hot, tongs are hot but at a reasonable price point.. Your welcome to come see me when I am doing demos.. I"m in Rutland, MA.. I will be teaching and forging at the NEB spring meet which is in June and will be at the Brentwood teaching center.. I've only been involved with NEB for just over a year.. From what I have been told, Tongs and hardies is what will be taught.. It will be a working event so bring your sweat bands.. There are a few videos I have posted to Youtube with some basic "how to"s .. Anyhow, welcome aboard.. It can be a lot of fun..

This video is on how to make a bend the hard way in flat stock.. As most know hard way bends in flat stock can be troublesome so 30 years ago I came up with this to remedy the problem.. It can be used for just about any bend angle and just about any sized flat bar.. It can also be used with sheet metal if not to wide and can be done cold.. The only draw back of this technique is it will leave the outside radius round with a slightly thinner edge.. This can be remedied by upsetting it first and leaving the upset offset or you end up with a fuller gullet.. The material on the inside radius does get thicker and with practice can be smoothed or left with a fuller gullet as there is plenty of material to create reinforcement..

Thanks for the kind words.. It makes the time commitment worth it.. Thank you.. If you have a chance watch video #1 in the series of Non welded rings.. It has much more detail with better instructions for the process involved with getting the ring ready for splitting.. the answer to you question:: You will lose material in both ends of the bar just either side of the punched hole as you open it... The metal has to come from somewhere as it gets a wider opening.. The forging process is called upsetting and is one of the fundamental skills needed by a blacksmith.. Upsetting is one of the harder skills to master but Is used often.. Most people if given the choice will start with thicker material and thin out or (forge down) the cross sections vs upsetting and even in some journals will say the same thing.. Upsetting is the action of making thin-thicker at the same time you make the bar shorter in overall length.. In the video you will see where it is punched the metal has been made thicker... When you stretch metal it tries to pull itself apart. This elongation, or pulling will make those areas thinner than the starting stock size.. thus making the metal weaker in those areas.. While it's not that important in a trivet strength wise, cosmetically it will leave 4 deep grooves at each bend where the bar changed direction.. I would suggest making a round ring first and getting the technique down with upsetting the ends and the video How to #1 on the subject really has most of it laid out for a first run success.. Thanks for the feedback on the video.. Post back with results..

This is a complete "How to" On forging a Non welded ring into a Heart shape (Trivet) though part 2.. And as such focuses more details on making the ring into a heart.. It really is the 2nd part of video #1 which has detailed instructions in the ring making process with all the instructions detailed. This part 2 has more details in shaping the heart.. This will conclude the series On items made with no welding which typically one would use welding for.. This video "How to" series includes 2 different ways to make tongs, making a round ring and now a heart ring.. The other videos in the series are listed on the Youtube channel.. Feedback is always welcome.. Enjoy.. Jennifer

If I understand you correctly the easiest way to do it is just make the top hinge pintels adjustable with spacers behind the main shoulder.. In the olden days gates and even water locks used metal on metal but were used often enough not to create a problem with rusting.. The gate I hung 20+ years ago still swings as easily as it does today as when it went up and it get 0 maintenance.. If you are really concerned with rusting or this type of problem just design the gate to have a replaceable pin Easy enough to design into the project.. It's not today or even in the next 30years that will play in.. But for the longer time there after and with mild steels gates need care.. The barrel or hinge receiver on the bottom made from bronze or wrought iron would offer a longer service life.. Corten might be something you want to look into for a material.. As for gate sag.. On short gates if you take into consideration the standard sag ratio they may never sag to even reach level until you get a few dozen kids swinging on it.. Longer gates in relation to height are where you can have a full 2" or more of sag at the other end and then having the design of the gate becomes even more important..

Hotshoein4 (Mark) - Nice rig.. Do you have side doors also? What does the anvil weigh?

I am ready to go home..

The glass touching the metal is not fully molten as soon as it touches the pipe it cools and sticks to it.. If the object is made quickly enough it would mean little in terms of temperature or one verses the other as melting temperatures vary in terms of how long something is exposed. Did they have huge ovens like they use today to blow glass? I don't know.. If they had a small crucible with molten glass in it I can see where it would be possible to do.. But hey.. With that said, maybe I am completely wrong as again it was just a vague memory and not a study in glass blowing.. Thats okay too as maybe there was an insert or something.. i just remember the copper pipe with green glass which was fractured on the end of it.. The only reason I remember it was I was intrigued and surprised it was copper..

You betcha.. Purple, royal blue, Red.. Not what I would call shop shoes..

beslagsmed - nice set of shoes.. Only shoes I can see missing are a stifle shoe, grass tips and full swage alum training plates.. All yours? Nice shop..

Foundryman - Bummer for me on your location.. I was interested in having an anvil poured.. Shipping would kill the project.. Thanks for the extra info.. Nicely done and the contrast is excellent between layers.. Congrats.. I like the looks of loose wrought iron.. Made a skull pommel cap out of the wrought and it ended being over refined with all the work I did on it.. Not one striation in it even with a 3hr acid soak.. I was bummed.. Looking forwards to the finished product..

Foundryman - Yes nice indeed. What did you end up with for spine thickness? What was your materials.. Caught the O1.. . As for location, London, England? Lots of London's out there, even in USA..

It was the MFA in Boston.. I find early tools to be very interesting and probably why I remember the tube.. Really I find anything including hand labor to be interesting all throughout time including today.. But, find I like to be physically engaged with doing vs looking or reading about it.. Nice you have found interest in the history.. It can be very much fun to fantasize about things were done.. I still romanticize about how clean and simple things used to be..

JHCC - Its funny to think that way, but see it totally.. Back in the day 30 years ago.. there were a lot of blacksmithing tools that used to come up for auction.. At that point I was all book smart and had worked at a lot of different facets of the General blacksmithing quota.. Wagons, hardware, tools etc, etc and it seemed there weren't a lot of people interested in Farm or agricultural blacksmithing.. Seems a lot of it was based on fancy ironwork and even really fancy hardware.. Anyhow it was a unique perspective as some of the guys at the auctions would say.. What is that or what is this.. And I actually knew because of the type of work I was doing.. I have axe and hammer making tongs which were pretty rare even back then.. My point is.. Unless you know a person using the tools or know how to use the tools it become speculation, until the methods have been proven..

Again I understand the heat transfer thing.. But please just take a 3 or 4 ft long pipe and heat the end till it's red.. Your hands and or mouth will be fine at the other end.. Where the problem comes in is if you angle the pipe upwards so there is a draft created pulling the hot flame and gases into the pipe.. I actually did a lot of experimenting when I was a child and learned just holding my thumb over the pipes opening was enough to keep the heat or draft from going up the pipe.. I remember the pipe clearly as well as other glass items in the cases.. Mostly stamped or formed.. But then again as with all this stuff my memory is not what it used to be and could have easily gotten information mixed up.. Dates and such used to be very important to me and as I have matured the past occurrence or time frame has become less important as the only time there is,, Is now.. 2000 years from now they will be saying the same thing about us and will be wondering why there is such a mix of extinct technology but that forged hinge still works..

Neat video.. In a lot of the older homes here the windows of smaller sizes were the spun/blown glass but it was just knocked off so they have the center still attached and not fully flattened like in the video.. Don't see that much anymore since all the updated windows and such.. Only place i have seen that kind of glass is in/on old historic buildings like at OSV, sturbridge, ma. Or Salem cross Inn in West Brookfield, MA..

@Marc1 I used to leave my apron on the anvil and this worked pretty well for a little moisture in the air. In the trailer when it goes from cold to warmer and humid there will be a film of water on everything with a micro rain storm. It is after all basically a big metal tub.. Fluidfilm is a product here which is a lanolin spray.. The wd40 is cheap and it does work well.. I can leave the anvil for weeks to months with no rusting.. I've tried canvas in the past and eventually it absorbs the water and then will rust to the anvil as well.. I was using heavy old fashioned canvas for tents and such..

@JustAnotherViking great looking doors.. Looking forwards to the finished product.. @JHCC Nice hammer.. What did you end up with for weight?

It was about 8 or 10 years ago it was the person who they removed from the Egyptian history.. While I would agree conductivity would be a problem with a short pipe.. No matter how hot you got the end of a copper pipe 4ft long it won't transfer that far unless the wall thickness it great enough that some cooling source is not available.. From what I understand the furnaces used to work the older glass was fairly small compared to todays gas driven units.. you can test this with a simple copper water pipe.. It won't transfer heat that far back..