Dr. West from the Metallurgy Department at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is doing a program at the ABANA Conference here in Rapid City this summer called "Smith Busting, The Science of Blacksmithing" he is looking for blacksmithing myths to bust like edge packing. I have been asked to help round up some blacksmith myths for him to clarify. If you have a particular myth you would like to submit, please send me a message with it.

Thanks

Woody

How about the one aligning the blade N-S when quenching? (Bladesmithing is *full* of them!)

I did have a friend who spooked some people and they had them stand on the anvil to prove they weren't a witch! Hill folk; but not my kinfolks' hills...

How about : if you throw copper in a forge you will never be able to forge weld in it. I've had to dis-spell that many times over the years, but I still hear it.

How about ...
1. ... you can't forge weld in a gas forge ...
2. ... what is a forge weld? How does it differ from a fusion weld?
3. What are the best lubricants for hot drift sizing holes?
4. What alloy (tool) steel provides the best compromise between hot work hardness/toughness and the ability to be struck without shattering or mushrooming excessively?
5. What is the best welding method to prevent heat effected zone cracking when welding low carbon to high carbon alloy steel?
6. How does Super Quench "harden" low carbon (mild) steel?
...

how about the quench myths like "urine from a red headed boy" or the favorite "hardened by driving a sword thru a slave" tho that one you couldnt demo you can explain about trying to drive a red hot sword thru flesh...without bending of course ..only ones i can think of right now..

What about the first one I heard?" Don't hit on iron cold; that is what will make it break, or you will go to hell or wet the bed".
What makes metal break is hitting improperly, like hitting out of square and creating a rhombus and causing it to shear, or hitting the edges of a lateral draw and then moving thicker material towards the edges where it can do nothing but rip apart just like pinching the edges on pie dough and rolling it out. It can do nothing but rip apart.

And what about starting a coal fire with coke? You don't start a wood fire with charcoal and then cover it with wood and cause alot of thick smoke, so why do most smiths still create alot of smoke when they light their forge? First you start some kind of kindling, then add green coal to the sides without covering the fire so the flame will burn the volitiles and not cause the thick smoke. Smoking out your neighbors is just rude!

Hammering wrought iron cold certainly can cause problems. I have found that a lot of "traditional smithing wisdom" originally properly applied to using wrought iron and wrought iron derived steels and folks are still insisting that they apply to modern steels which are quite different indeed! Which is much like saying that the rules for a horse drawn wagon must be applied to modern cars!

How about all them horns and heels ole' Sherman broke off our anvils when he marched through the South?

I got one. when quenching a peice of mild steel, can you use old motor oil that is black with carbon to increase the amount of carbon abosbed in the steel vs clean oil?

Or that general forging increases the carbon content of the piece, (actually you are generally scaling off the surface faster than carbon is migrating in!)

I've heard folks insist it is impossible to forge in a charcoal fire.

ron

I've heard folk insist lots of things are impossible. It wasn't until I realized they were speaking for themselves I stopped trying to convince them otherwise.

Here's one, there's a myth going around there're things a blacksmith can't do!

Frosty The Lucky.

This is a great thing Woody, May favorite was mentioned by .Randy above, All the students at the local school had to use a piece of copper to braze a caulk on a horseshoe they made, and then later on that same coal forge they would forge weld, tha was done with the same forges for decades

I am copying and pasting all of these into a Word document that I will send to Dr. West keep the ideas coming.

Woody

Everybody elses' work stops hotter, for longer, than yours does

A smith at a Renn Faire ***insisted*** that quenching carbon steel blades in ATF would make the steel *poisonous* if you used it to eat with or skin animals.

Because steel is porous!

Thought I would bring this back to the top to see if there are any more ideas before I sent it to Dr West