Mike Ameling

In general practice, there is very little difference. But it all depends upon the mill producing the sheets. And some sheets really are specific tool/spring steel. Most generic welding-shop sheets are something like A36 or 1018/1020. But I order specific sheets of 1095 carbon steel for making flint strikers and knife blades. That has the high carbon content I need for my purposes. The usual welding shop sheets are pretty similar to the generic welding shop bars and flats. Same stuff.

And many people who do not know, confuse the two terms all the time. Most "sheet iron" is actually "sheet steel", just with a low carbon content. But when you start talking "sheet steel", you often need to talk about a specific quality of that steel.

Mikey

There is a mill out of Sweden that is or was still making and selling real wrought iron in various standard sizes. Don't know if they are still in business. And one company had a special run of chemically pure iron made up into standard sizes by a modern steel mill. They called it PURE IRON. Chemically pure, no carbon and very little other metal alloys in it.

Most people find true wrought iron at scrap yards and farm sales - in the form of the iron rims from old wooden wagon wheels, or scrap from old bridges. The scrap from OLD bridges gives you better sizes of bars to work with - those old cage-type bridges with lots of cross braces. Those made up into the early 1900's were mostly wrought iron. And "some" very old re-rod was wrought iron - but pretty hard to find.

The knife making suppliers usually have small lots for sale - usually for making that nickel and wrought iron pattern welded damascus.

A number of people doing historical restoration work had started using that Pure Iron. It didn't have the "slag" inclusions, but better matched the original wrought iron they were repairing.

So check around with the scrap yards for some of those rims from wooden wagon wheels, or if they scrapped a really old bridge recently.

Mikey

I would suggest that you find some other material to learn blacksmithing or knife making on than railroad spikes. Yeah, the look and glamor is there, but they are hard to hang onto, and present many more problems forging them - especially the newer ones. The recent ones WORK HARDEN dramatically! Something to do with the metal alloy used. The more you heat it and hammer it, the harder it gets to work! After a little forging, it becomes almost impossible to work with a hand hammer. A friend got a bucket full when they redid the tracks behind his shop. He did some quick repair for the guys, and asked about possibly getting some spikes. They gave him a bucket full in appreciation for his help with that repair. He usually makes small tomahawk heads out of them. But he quickly moves to using the power hammer with them. They just get harder to forge the more you heat/work them.

Any covered shop area is GREAT! You don't have to carefully pack everything away and tarp it over all the time. My "shop" here on the farm is a couple sheets of roofing tin nailed to a couple 2x6's held up by old tipi poles. And then some woven plastic tarps hanging down the sides. The important part is that it keeps the rain off of me, and most of the snow out. Dirt floor, of course. But I only have to worry about hot stuff falling down on any dry leaves blown in. I also don't have to worry about stuff ... walking away! The local scum know better than to try to steal from me. My big concern is friends ... borrowing ... tools from my shop! But we all worry about that!

Mikey

A lot of people use those 1/2 barrel windmills to help keep part of their farm ponds ice free in winter. They mount it on a floating platform and put a standard boat propeller on the end sticking down into the water. The wind turns the the whole thing, and the propeller pushes water up. That "moving water" helps keep a section of the pond free of ice and helps add air to it. This helps the fish in the pond survive over winter when ice would seal off the whole pond and suffocate the fish. You can get a lot of torque from such a wind mill.

Mikey

The bit problem with any "sustainable" power source/supply is ... storage. How do you store up that energy from production, till you have the need. And what to do when the sun don't shine, wind blow, or not enough water flowing - or you run out of fuel for the engine running a generator. That's the big problem.

Most use some sort of battery - especially those large deep-cycle batteries used in golf carts and forklifts. Even the big batteries used in large trucks.

A few people use the extra energy to charge batteries, compress air, pump water to higher places, or even generate hydrogen and oxygen.

It all depends upon your needs and how you use things. The obvious solution for most people is to generate electricity when you can, and then sell the excess back to the power company. That way you can still "buy" power from then when you need it, and get paid (wholesale pricing) for what you sell them.

As you have probably already noticed, there are no easy answers. Each situation is different.

Hope these few rambling thoughts help.

Mikey

For some friends when they got married a few years ago, I made them a Dragon door knocker. The dragon was 3/4 stock, S curved, with the dragon head on top and the other end fishtailed out. I punched in a depression on both sides at the pivot/hanging point with a big center punch. Used a C bracket riveted to the flat back plate to hang the dragon door knocker. And I put a large rivet where it hit the back plate. Many of their relatives really really wanted it for themselves!

I've also made flower candle holders - including a "unity" 3-candle holder for the wedding ceremony. The two outside candles are lit, then the couple use them to light that center candle together.

Other possibilities? Trivets for hot pans. Book ends. Shelf brackets. And many people could use a coat rack - like a simple classic bar with riveted on hooks. Just a small bouquet of iron roses wrapped around their stems with thick copper wire will earn you lots of ... points ... with the couple and their family. I use the "long flattened/indented strip of iron rolled up" version of roses for these.

Just a few possibilities.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

It reminds me of the forming plate for a Diacro iron bender. An alternative to the Hossfield bender. But it would be missing lots of parts.

Just a thought ...

Mikey

To me it looks like the anvil/tool used for working the square link drive chains on lots of farm machinery. Possibly even for working with roller chain. The right end is the classic form for working the square drive links. And the other end looks more like it would be used for punching out the pins on roller chain.

Just a thought.

Mikey

Some files are case hardened. I have never paid attention to brand. They act real strange for most things but sound like they would work for tough strikers.

David Childress
Rocky Forge Blacksmith Guild

A case-hardened file will not make a good sparking flint striker. Only a few thousandths of an inch of the surface/teeth of the file have enough carbon content in the steel. The insides don't have enough. And you generally remove the teeth from the striking surface anyway.

Lots of the recent cheapo files are soft iron that has been case-hardened - like most from China/India/Pakistan. But some still are made from good high carbon tool steel all the way through. Nicholson is one brand still being made of good tool steel. And lots of really old ones were made that way. Most people who want to forge a knife from a file will cut off a short section from the end and then see if it will heat-treat -- before they put all there time into forging/grinding/filing up a knife blade that doesn't have enough carbon content in the steel to properly heat-treat. As a friend said, it's a hard lesson to learn - when you spend 40 hours finishing up a knife blade from an "unknown" file only to find out that it is poor steel when you try to heat-treat it. Throwing that 40 hours of work into the scrap pile teaches you a hard lesson.

So check out any file first. A quick test it to clamp it in your vise with a couple inches sticking up above it. Then drape a shop rag over it and smack it on the side right above the vise jaws. A file with good tool steel all the way through it should snap right off. You can then spark-test that broke edge on your grinder. You should see lots of short twinkling white sparks instead of long dull red sparks. Those twinkling sparks are the carbon burning. The long dull red sparks are just the hot iron ground off by the grinder.

A quick NO FORGING striker can be made from a good file by snapping off about 3 inches of the end of the file. Then carefully grind the teeth off of the narrow edge of the file - cooling it all the time. If it is getting too hot to hold in your fingers, cool it right away. You don't want to see the metal starting to turn blue from the grinding heat. This will leave the original heat-treat in the file. But those file teeth interfere with striking sparks with flint, and really chew up your flint fast. So grind down to bare metal. And also ground off any sharp edges where you snapped it off - saves cuts on fingers. And there is your flint striker. Just grip in with a "pinch" grip between your thumb and fingers, and strike your sparks from a sharp edge on your flint. Simple basic flint striker - without any forging or heat-treating. Many Boy Scout troops used to do this a project. Make your own flint striker, and then learn to use it to start a fire.

Just a few humble thoughts to ponder.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

I've made a couple T-stakes using the Tool Bar from an older cultivator. It was around 2 inch square. Agricultural steel tends to be 1080, but that tool bar (where all the cultivator spring/shovel feet) are attached might have been better steel. I cut them to length, forged up a tapered spike for the bottom, ground reliefs all around where they met, and had a friend arc-weld them together. DEEP penetration is necessary. And those beveled edges gave access fairly deep into the pieces and room to fill in. I then ground the surfaces smooth. I did not heat-treat them. In use they are holding up pretty well with very few dings/dents from poor hits. One I heated up and hammered on the end to upset it a bit and flair it out some - like you see on old square stump anvils. Heavy work without a power hammer - just a hand-held 6# sledge on short handle. I even fullered a decorative groove around the bottom near the base. And then had a friend weld on a forged/tapered spike for a tang to go into a stump. That gave me a 2 1/2 inch square stump anvil.

The key when welding the T to the base is getting good deep penetration in that joint.

Large hammer heads do make good T anvils. The spike to go into the stump just goes into the eye hole. A good fitting tenon peened/riveted over will lock it into place well. Then just dress up the top surface.

If you search around a bit, you can sometimes find the old version of those railroad spike driving hammers. Both ends are tapered square down the that small striking hammer end. The more modern ones are tapered round, and don't actually taper much. Most taper quickly from the center eye hole mass, and then run pretty straight out to the ends. And there are some smaller combo spike driver pick heads out there. Square hammer head on one side of the eye, and a square tapered pick on the other end. Another good candidate for a riveted tenon tang and conversion into a T stake.

Just a few thoughts to ponder.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Nice simple design. Projects don't need to be elaborate. The simple designs are often much better because of their simplicity. And the key to them is in how you make them. Make them well, and it shows through - far better than an elaborate design poorly made.

Good first project. Have fun with the next ones.

Mikey

I've moved lots of heavy objects using cribbing, jacks, and a come-a-long ... all the way up to full 20x20 buildings. First think of safety - if it should fall for any reason, or for "pinch points" on ropes/chains/cable.

It is amazing what you can do with stacks of small thickness cribbing. Just lift one end up and put another board under. Then do the same for the other side. But stack them up CAREFULLY. And if lifting one end is too much, just put a jack under it - like a high-lift farm/utility jack. Simple, basic, and fast. You will be amazed at how fast you get that anvil up level with your stand. Then put a couple shorter bars between your stand and cribbing, and slide it over.

Screwing eyebolts into beams can work, but one BIG problem. If those eye bolts are just screwed into the beam, then everything is being supported by the threads in the wood. It is far easier to strip out those threads through the wood than many people think. If you are using eye bolts, they need to be bolted through the beam - with larger washers on the other side.

One other quick option for using a hoist from the beams: Use a couple U straps to bolt a thick bar to several beams. The U straps will spread the strain up to several points through the beams, and bolting that bar to several beams will spread the total weight over several beams. A 1 inch thick bar anchored to 3 or 4 beams will greatly reduce the strain on any one point. Thick walled pipe would also work.

My first choice would be stacks of 2x boards for cribbing, and "walking" the anvil up till high enough. Then either slide the stand underneath and "walk" it down by removing cribbing, or swing it one end at a time over onto the stand. If you want lots of clearance around and below the anvil when raising/lowering it, tie a couple 4x4's to the top of the anvil, and put your cribbing under them out far enough from the anvil.

Keep it simple --- and safe.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

How does that old poem go about the blacksmith? Who makes all the tools for all the other crafts?

Yeah, about the only thing a blacksmith can't make is lots of money.

Mikey

-- Women and cats will do as they please, men and dogs must ... well, duck for cover!

Before you start forging on a chain link, do a spark test on it. Be sure that you see lots of short twinkling sparks when you touch it to a grinder. That should show you if it is really case-hardened. You can spark test it on the narrow end of the link, since that area will not be part of the striking surface of your final striker.

But try hard not to scale up that chain link too much when forging it. And scale will decrease that case-hardened outside layer on the chain link. So flatten out the twist in the original chain link, flatten it out and stretch its length to where you want it, and do so with as few heats and little scaling as you can.

Because of how well those chain links worked into good flint strikers, I also tried to forge the cut links into other styles/shapes of flint strikers. But that is where I found out about losing that case-hardened outside layer. I scaled them too much in the forge, and I ... shifted ... the metal around too much - redistributing that high carbon layer. Some worked OK. Some worked poorly. And some just wouldn't spark. Lesson learned!

Have fun with your project!

Mikey - pondering what other "trade secrets" to share

A lot of times that wire will ... work harden. Just bending/forming it will harden it up. I've made a bunch of watch chains from those rolls of "utility" tie wire. And it stiffens up well and will hold my pocket watch to my vest real well. I've also done similar things with barbwire. I untwist it, straighten it, and then work it as needed. I even make fish hooks out of it, and "vent picks" for flintlock guns. The bending/forming hardens them up all by itself. But the vent picks I do heat them to put in a decorative twist, and then quench.

So it all depends upon what metal the wire is really made from.

Mikey

Just don't accidentally drop any honey on that corn before you burn it! Black bears have been known to travel miles to follow the scent of burnt honey! (scorched honey is often drizzled over bait for black bears in Minnesota and Wisconsin)

Mikey

I grew up on a small farm. We never did any blacksmithing. And we never had a torch or electric welder. But we did ... tinker ... a bunch. And we were always repairing/fixing things. Occasionally we even made something new.

I was in my 20's when I saw a blacksmith working (not counting all the welding shop stuff I saw in town) at a historical reenactment. That got me interested (hooked). Then the search for tools really started.

My one grandpa was a carpenter and home builder. But he did run a sawmill on the side out on the farm. The "blacksmith" in town was not related, and most of what he did was welding/repair. But I did end up with the one great uncle's anvil. It was just his "shop" anvil for the farm. (72# Haybudden)

So I became ... self taught. The blacksmiths I did get to watch and occasionally help out were working at various historical gatherings. And then I got to know more people who did blacksmithing work, and got to go to various gatherings (Hammer-Ins and Demo's).

I started with the usual smaller stuff - S and J hooks, fire pokers, campfire irons. And things progressed from there. As my skill and experience grew, I tried more things.

Now I primarily make flint strikers from all the 2500+ years they were originally used in, and North American fur trade iron work (muskrat spears, ice chisels, fish hooks, fish spears).

And the learning goes on ... and on ... and on ... and on ...

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

The State sales tax number I received allows me to "collect" state sales tax from the buyer of an item I sell. The actual tax has to be paid one way or another, but that tax # allows me to collect it from the client.

In practice I just mark my price for a finished item at a set dollar amount - and then I pay the sales tax out of that. So the tax is not added in. If I sell a flint striker for $15, the person pays just that $15. I then calculate out the 7% state sales tax on that whole amount, and send that in. If anybody asks about sales tax, I tell them that I will cover that, and that they are then getting a 7% discount on the final price.

So calculations are simple. Just total up whatever I sell for that day, multiply by 7%, and that is the sales tax I need to turn over to the State. So I mark my items to the whole dollar amount I want to sell them for. And I always tell the client/customer that I will cover the sales tax - giving them that small discount. It does cut my "profit" a bit, but the savings in headache and paperwork are worth it.

Large items and commission pieces are a different matter - sort of. There you have to do all that time/labor/materials/profit calculations to come up with the base pricing, and then figure out how you might want to handle the sales tax.

When I worked with Jay Hisel at the retail portion of his Big River Forge, we did all the normal calculations of sales tax, and added it onto the final retail price. That was the way he wanted to keep his bookwork. And the receipt then reflected it on each sale for the bookkeeper.

Now a sales tax HORROR story! The State of Iowa changed its rules a few years ago. If you do retail in the State, you must collect and report sales tax based upon where the customer/client lives! If I sell in Winneshiek County, and the client/customer lives in Black Hawk County, I have to know and charge them sales tax as if he were buying it in Black Hawk County! And the quarterly/yearly tax report must break down the sales by the County the item was sold into! What a nightmare! It is supposed to even out the differences between catalog/internet sales and brick/mortar store fronts by geographical location. The County governments got behind this scheme because they were losing out on sales tax to other counties when people didn't "buy local". In "theory" this sales tax scheme even applies to in-person sales, but nobody pays attention to that and doesn't bother to ask people where they live.

Just what works for me.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. And, of course, cross-state selling via mail/internet have their own complications.

How do I make those Kid Proof strikers and get them case-hardened?

Aaaah, trade secret times!

The answer is pretty simple - I use iron that is already case-hardened from the manufacturer. I just make sure that I don't "scale" it too much when forging to shape. Any surface scale removes a bit of the case-hardening on the original steel/iron.

So here's the secret ....

I start with some hardened chain links. They are the cross-links from truck/tractor chains - the type you put on the tires for extra grip in snow and mud. The side chains are regular soft iron links, but the cross chains are case-hardened to hold up longer in use. And it's a pretty good/thick case hardening. Yes, you do have to clip every other link to get one complete link to make an oval flint striker, but you can use the cut links to make other styles of strikers. The big point is to not create too much scale on the part that will be the striking surface on your flint striker. That is where you want as much of that case-hardening left on as possible.

Now, I'm not quite sure what the base metal alloy really is inside. When I cut a link cold on one side and then twist it to clear, it will sometimes break instead of bend/twist. So that internal metal might have some carbon and other alloys mixed in. It just doesn't spark well as a striker if you get through that case-hardened outside layer. So I try to keep the re-shaping of the links to a minimum - on the sections that will be the striking edge. Mostly just flatten it out and true up the edges. But, like a said before, I had to grind in 1/16 to 1/4 inch before I got through enough of that case-hardening to start to affect the number and quality of the sparks I got from the finished oval flint striker.

The specific chain I've been picking up at the farm store is from Peerless - part number 3017112 and designated on the tag attached to the bag 7/0LL TW CC HARD B 100' /BA That HARD designation is the indication for case-hardened. This makes into a pretty nice sized oval flint striker in a fairly common original fur trade era size - around 3 x 1 1/2 and around 3/16 inch thick. The larger cross chains make into larger strikers. I've even messed around a bit with some car tire chains, but the small size becomes a problem.

I had been getting the bulk chain from the local farm store (cut to your length from a 100 foot bag) for $3.50 to $3.75 per foot. There are around 26 links per yard, which then gives material for 13 oval strikers per yard - or around 4 oval strikers per foot. So materials costs ran less than a buck each. And the cut links can still be used for other styles of flint strikers as well. But last year when steel prices went crazy, the price per foot jumped up to $8.75 per foot! I still bought some chain, but that really cuts into the cash flow. But it's still pretty good, since I make between $15 and $25 for every two links of chain, or $60 to $100 per foot of chain. There's still fuel costs and the labor, but not a bad return. My oval strikers retail for $15 each (either the all high carbon ones or the Kid Proof ones), and the C's and simpler styles for $12 each.

There. Now you know ONE of my ... secrets! Am I worried about sharing that? No. I know the work involved, and anyone willing to do that work is welcome to it.

Have fun ... torturing iron!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. I had orginally been looking for some chain made from high-carbon steel - to use to make oval flint strikers and skip that "welding" part. But I didn't find any. Although I did keep running into references to "hardened" chain. So I tried some. That's when I found out about using the case-hardened chain links, and how "tough" they end up being in use. Now I just have to find a good use for 35 feet of non-hardened chain. It was being sold for cross links on truck/tractor tire chains, but turns out to not be case-hardened. I never got a chance to spark-test it on a grinder before I bought it.

The kid proof one would be interesting to see. Could you post a pic? Or was it mainly the heat treating process you described that makes it that way? Thanks, Rob.

There is nothing special about their look - although they do tend to be about twice as thick as my normal oval strikers (close to 3/16 or 1/4 inch thick). They are basically a version of case-hardening. The insides are soft iron with that high-carbon outside that can be heat-treated hard for good sparking. That soft core gives them the strength to resist cracking/breaking. I'll see if I have a pic around somewhere - probably in my Gallery photos.

When I first made them, I was concerned about how long that "case hardened" layer would last. So I took one and struck sparks for 1 1/2 hours straight - only stopping long enough to get a new sharp edge on my flint. I didn't see any lessening in the sparks. So I then took it to my bench grinder. I had to grind away almost 1/4 inch of the striking edge before I saw a noticeable decrease in sparks. That equates to YEARS of hard use as a flint striker. But I could still get some sparks from that edge - just less. So I haven't worried about it since.

They are great for Kid's Programs. You don't have to worry much about the kids damaging them with miss-use.

And one of my next experiments will be to take wrought iron, forge up a striker shape, and see about baking it in a crucible full of bone/leather scraps - to case-harden it in an old traditional manner. Just an experiment to see ...

Mikey

Am I understanding correctly. You said don't tap a flint striker with a hammer after heat treating, instead place it flat on the anvil and hit it with a dozen hard blows from the hammer?

I would greatly appreciate an explanation of what hitting it *hard* with a hammer *after* heat treating is doing to the structure of the steel to make is safe from cracking. :confused:

This is ONLY with those KID PROOF strikers that I came up with! Doing that with any normal high carbon and properly heat treated flint striker would shatter it. But those KID PROOF strikers are different - specifically made to NOT break when being abused by people who do not know or have not developed enough skill in using a flint striker.

I also made them for a national park - for the use of the kids they hire for the summer as interpreters. Too many of them just don't care about their job - it's just for the summer and to make a few bucks for college. So they are not very concerned about the tools and gear they use in their interpretations to the public. The one regular park employee called them ... poorly trained monkeys.

So that specific comment was ONLY about those specific KID PROOF strikers.

I hope that clarifies things.

Mikey

A final note. NEVER tap a flint striker with a hammer AFTER you quench it! Do any/all tweaking and straightening BEFORE the heat treat. Even clamping one in the vise to do a little filing/sanding of a sharp edge might crack/break it. You may have "tempered" the ends back a bit, but they still are hardened tool/spring steel. Plus the shock waves from any "tapping" will travel through the rest of the striker.

Now, to combat the brittleness problems with normal flint strikers and how hard kids can be on them, I did come up with what I call a "kid proof" oval striker. After all the forging and heat treating and testing, you can lay it down on your anvil and hit it a dozen HARD FORGING BLOWS without it breaking/cracking or chipping. And it will still throw great sparks. I made these up for Boy Scout and Kid's camps - to use when learning to use a flint and steel for fire starting. It amazes people who have made flint strikers before, to see me smack one on their anvil - even standing it up on edge and hitting it HARD with a hammer. The San Diego Council has now gotten around 4 or 5 dozen of them from me for their big summer camps. And they have only had a problem with ONE - it got lost, dropped to become lawn mower bait, or wandered away in somebody's pocket.

Mikey

Several issues here.

First is the springs. Garage door springs can and do make good strikers. They have enough carbon content in the steel. But they also can have problems with internal work stress from their former profession. Plus, they can vary in the actual metal alloys in them. They are made to a minimum specification to work as springs, but the alloy mix can run higher. So you can run into sections of a spring that just won't work right - inconsistent on the heat treat.

The other part is the heat treat itself. To work well as a flint striker, the steel must be just about as hard as you can get it. That allows the sharp edge on your flint to chip/dig out little bits of the steel. The energy of chipping/digging out those little bits of steel (and breaking some molecular bonds) heats those tiny bits of steel up hot enough that the carbon in them burns. Those are the sparks you see - the carbon burning/twinkling.

But when you harden high carbon steel, you also then make it much more brittle. So then you need to take other steps to help reduce that brittleness. The BEST tip I ever got about making flint strikers came from a knife maker friend. He said to Thermal Cycle my striker before the final quench. That Thermal Cycling does several things. First, it removes any internal stress in the steel from all the forging/bending. It also then shrinks/refines the steel grain structure. The finer the grain structure, the less brittle it will be.

That simple "tip" was the BEST one I ever got over the years. After I started doing that, I have had almost no strikers break in normal use. Before that "tip", I would forge up a striker, heat treat it, test that it sparked well, and then set it on the workbench to work on something else. I would then often hear a little "tink" behind me. When I looked back the striker would now be in two or three pieces. Or I would drop one on GRASS and it would break. Thermal Cycling cured all of that, while still leaving the striker hard enough to spark well in use.

To Thermal Cycle, you forge up your striker as usual. Then you heat it up to Critical Temp (where a magnet will no longer stick to it), and pull it out of the heat. You then let it cool in the air until you don't see any color. Now do that same thing two more times. After that last air cooling, you now heat it back up to critical temp and quench it - in your choice of water or oil.

Personally, when I quench my strikers, I quench the WHOLE striker at once. If I have some thin areas, or really drew out the ends a lot, I will selectively heat those thin areas back up to temper some of the hardness. I've tried to quench just the striking edge before, but I usually end up with cracks. So I just quench the whole striker, and selectively heat back up any thin ends to soften them up a bit.

This works for me. I make around 500 to 600 flint strikers a year, and have very very few that crack/break in normal use. Plus less than 10% of those strikers are that classic C shape. There are dozens of other shapes/styles to make - from very early Roman times B.C. on up to the present. I am personally pretty fond of the Viking era strikers, and the Scottish style. But most I make are based on originals dating from the 1600's and 1700's. And then there are my little Whale buddies - flint strikers shaped like sperm whales. They date to the late 1700's, but mostly early 1800's. There are pictures of them, and many other striker shapes in my Gallery photos.

I hope these rambling thoughts help.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. There are many BAD strikers out there. Ones that you have to POUND your flint against steel just to get a few weak sparks. Those are extremely frustrating. And most are just not heat treated HARD enough. Too many heat treat similar to a knife blade. But that is generally too soft to work well as a flint striker. They need to be HARD, like the cutting edge of a wood chisel.

Years ago I met a guy who did specialty forgings - for sports car restorations. Those old cars were pretty much hand-built anyway, so getting "parts" for them was extremely hard. Most guys ended up buying another "junker" car like theirs for spare parts. Well, he would make new parts for people - using a combination of forging, welding, machining. It made a good living for him and several employees.

The same thing applies to restoring antique tractors and old farm machinery. You either find an old replacement part, or you have to have one made up.

One good point about people who restore old cars, tractors, and machinery - they generally have the money to pay for what they want done! Yes, they will try to dicker on price. And they might have to schedule things for delivery later. But when they want a part or work done, they will have their finances arranged so you can get paid right away.

A friend really enjoys restoring old tractors. It is a part of his business that he really likes. Ditto the Steam Engine repair - even the welding/certifying of boilers. But he also does farm machinery repair as necessary. It's hard for him to turn such work down - because it is what he started with and he knows all the guys stopping in for repair work. But he also knows that payment will have to be on farm/market time - when crops/livestock get sold he will get paid. He does not like the wait, but he understands it and does what he can to accomidate his friends and neighbors. And in turn, they return that kindness, understanding, and assistance when needed. Just a way of doing business in a small/rural community. Last year his repair shop burned down. Several weeks ago all the people in the area got together and held a fund raiser for him - to help with some of all the stuff the insurance did not cover.

Just a few more examples of ... specialty work/shops ... and possibilities.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. The tractor repair guy even helped me move a 16x24 wood garage 30 miles to my place. One of those "I can do anything" type of guys.

There are a number of specific blacksmithing schools/classes out there. As well as farrier schools/classes. But a number of colleges/universities also offer blacksmithing classes - usually as part of their ART department. The University of Wisconsin in La Crosse is one of those. Bill Fiorini (the knife maker) kind of really set that section up in the Art Dept. He is retired now, but the program continues. They even offered Adult Ed night classes in blacksmithing. And the State University down in Ames Iowa also has blacksmithing classes as part of their ART department.

So a little searching will lead you to college level classes in blacksmithing and other forms of Art.

Also keep in mind your future "boss" - yourself. That "boss" will be the BEST and the WORST "boss" out there. When everything hangs on you, YOU have to make it work. YOU are responsible. YOU must run it all. Working with a partner helps and hurts things. You will have help with all the work and responsibilities. But you will also have to share it all as well. And there will be time when you will not agree. Working for somebody else is ... simple. You show up, you do what they tell you, and then you go home. Your life will be simple, theirs will be complicated.

Everything has its good points and bad points. And you won't know until you try. Good luck on your .... journey!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands