ForgeNub

That's EXACTLY what my goal is with all the sections of spring I started cutting last night not afraid to ruin the stuff I'm making in fact I've been trying to break everything, can't really get edge geometry down and sharpening I can't quite get shaving sharp, heat treating hasn't been an issue (I don't think) seems my quenched have all been solid so far

Yeah I have no where near that kind of versatility in storage, heavy duty garbage can for all the bits and pieces and a 40 gallon water storage drum for the bigger stuff and they are both full coils sitting in front of them and three leaf packs sitting in front of those next to my forge, forced to just start reducing all the coil into workable size cuts to make better use of space, but just got some roof racks with hand cranks to be able to make more room exciting stuff figuring out how to forge successfully with a small space

I love being the young Jedi on these forums. Re-Label your materials and the force will come to you! Though lately i've really only been attempting blades, learning the basics of drawing out, widening stock still giving me trouble but getting better. I plan on using the springs for refining my blade smithing abilities till I can start to potentially make a few side bucks. I really enjoy watching a coil spring go from its coil state and transform into a weapon/tool. Eventually I would LOVE to be able to forge some ancient japanese straight sword patterns as well as mid-late European style blades.

I feel like even though I am stuffed to the rafters on spring steel...I need to take everything I can get my hands on otherwise the universe will get upset with me

Oh Its gonna be a ton of blades and whatever else I can come up with, I'm running out of storage space with all the springs I already have at home. Coil has been fun/easy enough to work with, learned not to work it too cold pretty dang quick...stupid stress cracks. I've got 1 full leaf pack at home plus about 6 other coils so I think i'm probably set for quite some time. Figure though, I'll take it when and where I can get it especially when its being delivered to me for free. As a newbie black/bladesmith I have way more metal than I know what to do with but it's been helping me learn quite a bit. Working leaf spring, has proven much more difficult than that of working down a coil. I'm just excited to be able to have more spring steel to work on making more blades and figuring out technique while I'm at it.

Working at the shop has its perks when you're on good terms with local salvage yards...they sometimes deliver you the stuff they don't need if you ask nicely. Love those guys!

May not have been a joke but it made me laugh Frosty! I've swung it around gotta a crappy old desk and chopped into it about an inch deep with little force and didn't make any wrinkles or chips, I like the way it's shaped and it's light but I haven't got a handle yet so don't know how that's gonna go, on a side note my days efforts today made a nine inch dagger really thin but seems strong and very springy.

Always love your responses Frosty, straight and to the point, and always a little bit of humor, at least the part about being an ok bill hook. Definitely a lot for me to keep learning and practicing. So far of all the stuff I've tried out, I've enjoyed fashioning blades and watching the metal go from round to ugly to uglier to a KSO. I don't know if I'll only be focusing on blades but it sure is the most fun for me!

I ground down the peen on my cross hammer so much less sharp, in regards to cost of steel, all my metal is free, I work at an auto shop and get to take home all the scrap springs we can get. Basically only steel I have to buy is the mild stock. So I've been making stuff that I like the look of and learning in the process I appreciate the tips of course! Working on a dagger from the same steel as the Kukri and widening process is going a lot easier! Thank you all for your responses and the pointers it's definitely been helping me advance and feel less lost That's all the springs and u bolts I've gotten in like the last couple weeks at no cost, that being the reason I'm not working much mild steel

First large blade, successfully hardened (file tested) tempered in the oven to a dark straw. Approx. 13 inch blade. Went for a Kukri but had trouble widening the stock, made from spring steel. Lemme know what you think! All it needs now is a handle!

Good info, have to check that out when I'm off work today! Upsetting has been upsetting working on a leaf spring I picked up the other day, was going to try a Kukri but....abandoned it shortly thereafter and made a slender one out of coil spring, which is the blade in question regarding this post. Turning out nicely though, granted I'm totally clueless and just banging stuff into cool shapes and as flat as I can ;-) Frosty, I do intend to purchase a hammer, would a nice rounding hammer be a good idea for moving metal more effectively? I'm looking at saving a bit to make a really nice hammer purchase, possibly one from Alec Steele or something of that sort, his "squircle" hammer as he calls it. Whats your favorite type of hammer?

As I've gotten into the smithing, my father has been unearthing all sorts of components for a Shopsmith set up. Apparently he'd collected bits and pieces for years and majority are pretty much unused or lightly used. I got the Powerstation set up with the 6" belt sander and started working a blade on it last night, worked really well but I'm curious as to what people think who've used it before in metal/woodworking how well it will hold up and the results it helps bring about? Is it worth investing time in building the rest of the units up?

I have 2 hammers, and neither are very fancy. One is just an old 4 pound sledge that I ground one face of to round it. The other is just a home depot Estwing "Blacksmithing Hammer" that I bought and rarely use in comparison to the, been thinking about making a spring fuller just havent gotten to it, probably going to go home after work and alter the pein on the Estwing so its not so sharp, its pretty narrow, all in all its turned out to be a shabby hammer, i don't like it much.

So, imaging major axis of the piece, would be aligning my work piece length wise along the horn of the anvil and using the curvature of the horn to spread the center outwards? My anvil face does have relatively sharp edges so to widen using the face, parallel to the edge and use half faced blows? Since I've started I've been wary of using the peen on my cross peen or using the sharp edges to taper/draw out because I caused some cold shuts (i think) in doing so.

Come across a good amount of spring steel, very new to the entire smithing scene, have been putting work into a few blades lately. I'm curious what the best technique for widening a bar is after drawing it out flat. I can keep hammering away and I'm getting a lot more length but not width so the blades I'm making tend to be a bit on the slender side. Any specific tool/hammer I should be using instead to achieve this or is it mainly a technique thing?