Cleave

Here's my first successful bladed tool from the backyard blacksmith shop. Its a long timber framing chisel made from old drill steel which has a 1/4" through hole. Blade width is about 1 3/16" x 7" length Overall length is maybe 20" The through hole in the steel I just cold shut, and there is a thin line visible on the bevel that doesn't interfere with the tool's utility. The water quench didn't make it un-fileable, but it didn't file very easily. It holds an edge well enough, though a more experienced smith could certainly do better. I expect its a medium carbon steel because the water quench didn't make it fully hard. It was a fun project with a very useful outcome. Next drill rod project I'm thinking about drifting a socket into the existing 1/4" through hole, for a wooden handle, then slitting the drill rod the long way, and unrolling it, into a timber framing slick!!! Can't hurt anything to try I suppose....

My father in law just got me a rusty 6 lb hammer head... I cleaned it up and made a 20 inch handle for it out of a honey locust tree we felled last year. Finished it this morning before work.

Yes, I made myself make my first set, without buying any, then recognized a number of ways to improve things, and made the second set. A great learning experience, and saves money too. The point of the craft for me is just about learning how to make things, most will probably be tools for blacksmithing and maybe some basic woodworking tools too.

Yeah, I've played with set 2 and the work jumps all over, I definitely need to bang a V groove into it somehow next time I've got the fire going. Precious little time with work and family too. Welded up a bending fork for the hardy hole last weekend with the father in law.

First and second set of tongs, from 1/2" round bar. The second set improved a lot over the first I think, the proportions feel better, didn't need to resort to twisting, and cold riveted them together (easy enough). They aren't set to hold anything in particular so they can hold a lot of things, but not very securely!!! I can see adding a longitudinal v groove to them next time I have a fire going. There's always room for improvement but I'm quite happy with pair #2. Anvil - 60 lb Fisher from the 1880's Forge - campfire with blow pipe Edited Monday at 09:40 PM by Mod30

I love it!

Hi, I'm very new to blacksmithing (first post too), and have had good success with wood in the <10 times I've gotten the "forge" going. I use a camp fire in the back yard, I've tried side blast, and also have a couple pipes I've drilled one is 3/8" holes the other 1/4". Then this connects to an electric blower fan we already had. I tend to use short chunks of scrap lumber or pallets but really just use whatever is laying around. I can consistently get the metal to forging temperatures, but only in a small area, and I am continually poking the coals around, to maintain a nice bed of coals above and below the metal where I want to heat it. So far, getting enough heat in the right place is more challenging than hammering the metal into the correct shape. New guy introduction - mid 30's family man from western Colorado, mechanical engineer, some experience in fabrication and machining, 1888 Fisher 60 lb anvil, minimal blacksmithing specific tools.