TechnicusJoe

True dat! Thanks, Steve!

Thanks, Hans! I did get a comment on my video from someone who provides no evidence nor anything else to support his claim. I don't believe any random internet person's (rediculous) claims, unless I have good reason to believe asserted claims - for example irrefutable evidence. He said he worked in a steel mill where rebar was produced. This person claims lead is used in this process and that the rebar contains lead as well. Therefore when I forge the rebar I also expose myself to toxic lead fumes. Though to my recollection, leaded alloys (automatenstaal?) crumble when forged. Not well suited for forging. Please correct me, if I am wrong. I don't smell any fumes coming off of the rebar. I must admit, not-smelling anything does not at all mean there are no fumes! Therefore it could be, actually. And then. I don't see any blue flames/flashes from lead burning. I don't see a white residue (lead oxide or something similar) from on the rebar or anything alike near it. I also don't know why they would bother to work with lead in rebar. That doesn't mean it could actually have a use. I just don't know. I would very happily revise my vision, if anyone could confirm lead is used in rebar - if only in a particular case. Or provide evidence where and when lead is used in rebar and what functions it has. Until then the claim goes on the junk pile of similar claims. For example: Mild steel cannot be forge welded. A claim I have debunked countless times - every time I do a forge weld with mild steel, it's busted.

Thank you!

Forging a pair of V-bit tongs. A friend of mine is directing the forging whilst I swing the sledge hammer, trying to hit my thumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuyt26l1Xss&lc=UgzNPQAyU5z1VOSoCTx4AaABAg

A video special in collaboration with the Blacksmith of the living archeological museum in Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands! The museum blacksmith suggested to me to shoot a video of him replicating a roughly 125 year old "spekkendikken" tongs!

Cheers!

To me forge welding is the most fascinating technique in the realm of blacksmithing. I love how two ore more separate metals can be joined by heating up to near melting and then hammering them together, as if it were clay. Which you could touch with your hands, but....... only one time.... and there won't be much left of your fingers. (touching hot steel/iron a big NO-NO!) Here's a link to a forge welding compilation I have made about various forge welds. It shows what the surface looks like when welding. Whereas many YouTube videos show a forge weld as a bright spot on the screen. There you cannot see what happens, it's all hidden. In my compilation, in the close-ups you can see very well what is going on! I hope this helps you who are getting into blacksmithing and are learning about forge welding!

I can't remember seeing any German-made anvil with its weight in pounds. I have a Söding & Halbach anvil, forged in 1881 - that is 9 years before your anvil - which has its weight marked in kilograms. So I'd think your anvil weighs 426kgs - 938lbs. If it is marked in pounds, it would only weigh 193kgs. These anvils are marked in kgs. If yours is marked in pounds, that is something else. It must have been requested, and not the norm.

"No. X" markings on German anvils refer to what forge fire they have been forged at and by what crew. Should your anvil break, or show any other problems within the warrenty, whatever that was, then the crew of forge fire No. 2 has to repair the anvil. They are the people who made the anvil, so they know the best how to treat that particular anvil for best results. On Söding and Halbach anvils, I have seen numbers up to No. 12. - meaning there were at least 12 separate forge fires. Which makes sense, as they produced MANY anvils of MANY different sizes and types, amongst other tooling.

Forge welding bars of mild steel together or welding it over on itself will produce a comparable internal "grain" to that of wrought iron. Pattern welded steel also has that "grain". Though, mild steels and other modern steels (for pattern welding steel - "damascus") are homogenous materials. The grain will come from the welds between them and that isn't very visible, because the material is homogenous. Wrought iron gets its pronounced grain from not just only being made of blooms and forge welded together. The very blooms are not homogenous. Then by forge welding blooms and turning them into bars, you get strongly pronounced different materials that are now next to each other. Stacking new bars together and drawing them out, again and again will make that grain smaller and smaller, finer and finer. Mild steel lacks this, it's "too clean". Again, you can create a "grain" pattern that is hardly visible if you want to make that. But it's never the same, because mild steel doesn't contain bits of bloom with more, or with less bits of inclusions that have been drawn out to very long lengths. The alloy, composition of mild steel is not similar enough. It's the combination of the alloy of wrought iron and how it was processed. - different from mild steel.

This is a hand forged anvil. You can see the handling holes, the weld seams on the bottom of the anvil and many more details that scream this anvil was forged, not at all cast. The picture with the "crack" doesn't show where it is located on the anvil. The "crack" may very well be a forge weld seam from forge welding the central mass of the anvil. Or it is a forge weld seam where one of the two horns has been forge welded onto the central mass. Which means it is not a crack at all, just a sign of its production method and there is nothing wrong. On a cast steel anvil, this would be alarming, but this is not a cast steel anvil. It is hand forged, and it is not uncommon that forge weld seams are visible.

The reason for the "fake face plate" is not to imitate a face plate that doesn't exist. That's a waste of valuable time. The reason they do this, is in order to be able to save the anvil, should there be any air bubbles in the casting, or any other deformation from the mold. It gives the foundry some leeway that can be ground or milled out and they will still have an anvil that can be sold. Casting flaws simply happen, and in the anvil face and/or edges is a vital spot. Not all manufacturers remove this overhang. And not all manufactures put this overhang on the entire length of the edges. Should an edge chip, then the smith can still remove the overhang, left from the foundry. I personally dislike the look of an overhang.

Making a pair of bolt tongs for Lars. Lars is the striker. We drew out one rein, and forge welded on the other for exercise. Forge welding can be applied in many other places.

It confirms the play dough experiement. You are not looking at steel being forged. That is totally different from a ball bearing bouncing. With a ball bearing bouncing, there is (practically) no inelastic volume displacement. Whereas with forging hot steel, we displace volume, inelastically, and this takes up energy. Any energy that makes the hammer spin, makes sound, anything else, means, it didn't go into the steel. The same for the anvil, rocking motion of the anvil is energy that didn't go into moving the steel. This even occurs when the anvil is very stightly bolted down to a thick steel stand and that stand bolted down to heavy concrete slab. You can feel the shockwave in the concrete, ground, steel stand and the anvil itself. "So much" for a high rebound anvil focussing the blow onto the steel. Though when the anvil is sufficiently solft, it will deform and absorb the blows. This will plastically deform the anvil. Cold mild steel can dent and deform cold mild steel. A (cold) mild steel anvil easily stands up to hot mild steel and forging tool steels hot on it. Well why bother with the hard face, and forge welding that on then???? Simple, for the same reason they steel an axe. It will last way longer than if it were only iron. Smiths really used to forge a lot, especially at the anvil, if not already with strikers. These tools used to see so much use, that if it were just a soft iron block, which they used to be, they would deform too fast. Not within a day, but in a couple of weeks, the anvils would have to be reshaped again. This is expensive! Especially if the anvil is large! Thus it's benefitial to add a face that will help with wear resistence AND impact resistence. So the anvil face lasts longer, strays true longer and edges that stay longer. Arguably, most smiths today don't need a well heat treated and produced anvil. How many actually spend at least 60% of the time at their anvils, forging? Most stand at the power hammer, press, drill press, workbench or welder. There are only very few left in the world who actually spend most of their time at the anvil and actually produce on there, not just straightening out stock.

If you are going to post the ball bearing bouncing, rebound video, which is an elastic collision, you should post my other video as well. In the bearing video you have cold steel, hardened if I may add, bouncing from the surfaces, hardened as well. Nor the faces, nor the bearing want to deform, they want to keep their shape. So you get a spring action, and it will keep bouncing, whilst a small % of the rebound is lost to air resistence, sound, heat, etc. . In forging we want inelastic collisions. We swing our hammer, or have the power hammer force the hammer ram down and make the steel move. In those collisions, it is preferable that energy is transfered to push the steel around. 100% efficiency isn't even possible: sound is produced, the steel lights up (that is energy that didn't end up moving the steel), and the hammer, anvil, anvil stand also play a roll in energy absorbtion or transfer. What do we ideally want??? We want the steel to move the most efficiently with each blow (in most cases). So if the hammer is swung and hits the steel, and "drops dead", most of the energy will have gone into moving the steel. If the hammer does anything else, produce more sound, rotates in your hand, smacks back in the palm of your hand, etc. Then some of that energy went to that result, and not focused on the steel. Here are a couple of why questions you may want to think about: Why don't people care about rebound on Power hammers? No one talks about that. If it is such an important role, why only the hand hammer? Why don't people care about the rebound on forge presses? That should move steel more efficienctly, correct? Both a hammer and press apply pressure to the steel. Why don't carpenters care about rebound from their hammers on nails? That should make their work easier, correct? it lifts the hammer back up for them? Why aren't general blacksmithing books addressing how important rebound is? I mean a proper explanation. Not the nonsense that boils down to: "oh it's nice to have an anvil with high rebound (but we fail to give an explanation and only address it subjectively.). Why has Fisher & Norris anvils published at least 3 advertisements promoting their anvils with less rebound!!! And I could bring up many more questions, but I'll leave it at this. Don't get me wrong! I'd take a hard hammer and anvil over soft ones any time. They last longer, the face lasts better. Forge scale will pit the faces less, the edges slightly deform over time, or not at all, till the point of breaking. Smiths used to put tool steel, in/on wrought iron where the material has to last a significant amount of time. You can see this on older hammer, anvils, chisels, vises, axes, and many more tools. Do you think they put a steel bit in an axe to make it rebound more when it chops through the wood??

Thank you all for your kind words and concerns! This means very much to me! I'll try to elaborate a bit about my position. I'd call myself a forger, someone who forges, regardless of time period, tradition, etc. Firstly, what I don't understand is that many people, especically now, refer to me as a traditional blacksmith. I am totally not traditional. I haven't been an apprentice, I haven't had a master to teach me, nor been a Guild member ever. I don't use charcoal, but bituminous coal, or coke (not the white stuff). I don't use 2 separate leather bellows in a clay forge on the ground, nor the more modern double lung bellows and a cast iron tuyere essembly. Occasionally I use electric blowers, but I very much prefer my Champion 400 blowers which I can crank myself, which is a modern tool. They are not that old. Welding (non forge welding) came about at roughly 1900, that gives 117, nearly 118 years of time for a couple of generations to learn welding, use it and pass it on. Arguably welding is "traditional" as well. Though, welding is welding, not forging. Just like forging is not drilling, and grinding not forging. I love using my cast tool steel Refflinghaus anvil, certainly because I know Refflinghaus personally and have visited him numerous times in Germany. I like especially the 100lbs model, but also the drop forged steel anvils of Peddinghaus, whom I have visited in Germany as well. Pretty much everything of my equipment is modern, from anvils to forges to vises and tongs. And I am not set in a specific time period. iron age is "traditional" for the Viking age. The Viking age is "traditional" for the medieval times. Medieval times are "traditional" up to the industral revolution. And to us the Industrial revolution is traditional again. AND everything that is in between all of them. To me, personally, traditional is a word that really has lost its meaning. If it's not welding and grinding it almost immediately is "traditional". Even though for as long as we have had welding, you could consider welding a traditional thing. Though it's not at all the same as forging. I use modern PPE, safety boots, dust masks, safty specs with correction lenses for my otherwise blurry vision, ear deffenders, etc. All this stuff we didn't really have in the last roughly 5000 years? Or did we? Arguably, you really can't call me a traditional blacksmith. And I certainly don't aim to be or become one. I am a forger, I love and want to forge, specifically with hammer and anvil, and / or with a striker. Or a power hammer or press from time to time if it happens to be convient and present.. But often I will choose for hand forging (with a striker). Because that is what I love and like doing. As stated in the video, I don't care for what is economical and don't often base my choices of production in regards of that aspect. Secondly, what needs to be established concerning my work and my way of working, is that I go about in way that I like doing it, and that is as much hand forging as possible. That is what I like. I will and do run into moments that a drill, welder and grinder are extremely useful. And I make good use of them when I do. Though I rarely use them. BUT, you don't see me go about welding, grinding, drilling anything and then present it as a "hand forged wrought iron XYZ". I consider people / "Smiths" who do this, liars. Again, I don't care for the economic aspect. I like to forge fast and well, because I like to be good at it, it fascinates me, but not with the economic aspect in mind. I haven't started this hobby because I made money with it or desired to make money with it. I started forging because of an interest for learning about it, which became a passion. If I had to take economic aspects in mind, I would completely stop hand forging. And mechanise as much as possible. It's silly, in my opinion to forge by hand and try to compete in that outdated manner. I would invest in the developement of machine jigs. Jigs for the production of tools, gates or whatever, that are adjustible. So that I can produce in the largest quantities with the most options to customize still. I would remove as much as possible of that silly time wasting "traditional (hand) forging" which most of the customers " don't care about" or "aren't able to tell the difference from anyway". But I am not that type of person. I see more important things in my life than money. Even though I have a very bad addiction to food and shelter. I don't get joy from working in that manner and producing machines that will kill the craft I love so very much, even more than it already has been. Take that love away, and I have no reasons anymore to forge. And if I were to have to be in this field without a love for it. I would completely rip out all "romantical" aspects such as the "traditions", forging by hand, the idea of the village blacksmith. ( all that nonesense, with economy in mind) I would completely destroy these perspectives/ideas that slow production down and do anything that boosts profits. There is no love to take into account, but only MONEY. But then again, that is not my position and no who I am. Then why go to France? I was given an extremely unique opportunity. Here I thought I would spend a large % of my time forging, and a low % welding and grinding. I was up for doing that. And have gone through the difficult processes such as moving to France, all the paperwork etc. But reality has proven that to be different. Thus I stopped. Again, I like forging, the welding, grinding etc. not so much. I respect different ways of working. And I certainly don't have anything against welding, drilling, grinding. But me personally, I don't like using it much, and I especially don't like to mix it with forging. If anyone produces a gate or anything, welded, with forged parts. Then it is that, a product with forged parts. That is honest. Anyone can produce anything they want and or like. But be honest about what it is. On a new or modern gate, I'd personally rather see tenon joints, forge welds and collars and no welding. But that's me. If the gate or product is sold for what it truly is, that is honest. And I have absolutely no problems with that. I must also add, that these views are mine. I haven't had a master, or other people who have "taught" me and/or "told me" what I should think is right and what I should think is wrong. What I do in forging is what I think is nice and would like to do. Extremely selfish, that I won't ever deny. There are also a couple of arguments which I am going to address, which have no value to me, personally. If they do mean anything to you: brilliant! 1. "If blacksmiths X years ago could make use of XYZ, then they would". I hear and read this one very often. I totally don't care about this. I set my path on what I would like to do. NOT what someone else's opinion is on what I should do, or what other people who have been resting in peace for a long time SUPPOSEDLY (and yes it is realistic, I am not saying it's not true) would have done and used. I follow what I like, from my perspective and not what other people tell me what I should think or like. It's also regardless of again, the economical aspect. I love to forge and that is what I persue. 2. "I have been taught to do XYZ by ABC. Or, My Father/grandfather has always done it this way". That's all brilliant and good. But it's another argument that doesn't hold any value to me. If you want to do ONLY that which you have been told and/or taught. Then go ahead, I won't ever stop you. But please let me think for myself what I'd like to do, whether it agrees or disagrees with your teachings. That's what I recommend people. Do the things that you like! Whether I agree or disagree with it, is totally not important. It's your life. 3. "Without welding, grinding, drilling, machining, etc. blacksmithing is not viable otherwise and so many others have done it before me". I think I have already esthablished that I don't care about that. I am not forging for the viability of a company. I am forging because I have a love for it. Rip that love out, I have no reason to do it anymore. And in that case, I would rip out all "traditional and romantical aspects and focus purely on production and money. What others have done before you, especially if it worked; Brilliant, is not going to dictate for me what I will do. Please let me decide for myself what I am going to do. Just like I let you decide for yourself. This is again why I have gone back into hobbyist position. Being a professional smith involves too many bits that are not-forging, in my grossly selfish opinion. I don't care for the affordability, I don't get any joy from working like a "modern smith". So I totally am in the wrong place and should stop ASAP. And that is what I have done. I am NOT suitable as a professional blacksmith. I care too much about forging and how something is produced, instead of profits. In short. I am not a traditional blacksmith, nor do I care about being one. I am a forger, and forging is what I love to do. I found that making a living by actually (hand) forging, whether traditional or not I don't care about, forging is forging, is not going to be stable and enough to live. I don't care for the economic aspects and what other people's views are on what they perceive on what I should do. Very often it's good advice, but it drags me away from forging and puts a welder and grinder in my hands, which I refuse most of the time. Thus I had better stopped my professional works and stay a little silly romanticized hobbyist blacksmith. So that I can forge as I wish in my free time and work somehwere else to make a living and being able to support a family in the future. How others want to work and earn their money is their job and decision. Just like it's my job to sort out my ways with which I have peace. I am being very selfish here, it's only from my perspective, and that it is. But then again it's my life. So I try to fill in as many things in my life that I have peace with. I expect others to do the same thing for their lives and respect their choices and let them make theirs. But please, let me make mine too. Wrong ones too, I have lots to learn still!