sanddraggin Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 My kids like to come out and see what Dad is doing out in the forge and usually will hang out and chat for a while. Every time they do the inevitable question is " Dad, what ya making?". Most of the time before I can answer they ask" Are you making another tool?". which of course I am. It cracks me up every time. They really cannot fathom why I need more tools. Admittedly I have a large array of tools because I'm a mechanic by trade and have been most of my adult life. I did take up Locksmithing for a few years and acquired yet even more tools for that. I started making Guitars out of Cigarboxes a couple years ago and had to start collecting wood working tools as well. Now I am constantly making my own tools (which is deeply gratifying) before I can make things that are not tools. This week I put up a small canopy attached to the storage shed at the place I just moved to so I could start smithing again. Leveled the ground and put pea gravel down. Arranged my Forge and anvil but the wind kept blowing the canopy down. So I found some short peices of rebar and made some stakes to run anchor lines for the canopy. Then as I was starting on a new set of tongs I realized I couldn't find my fire poker. A little while later with a new smithy working and a new fire poker I finally could start on a new set of tongs (yet another tool....hahaha) so I can finally make a project that's not a tool. They may not ever understand that making tools is just as fun as making the projects that they see as the reward. Oh well...their loss...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 To me, this is the essence of being a "Blacksmith". If you're not making your own tools, ... then you're an "Artisan / Fabricator / Farrier / Armorer" ... or whatever. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, ... only that it's a "specialty", ... and those who practice them exclusively, are truly "specialists". While, ... at least in my vernacular, :rolleyes: ... a true "Blacksmith", is a "generalist", ... who has the knowledge and ability, to do a wide variety of work. I think too many "specialists", allow their tools ( and current, comfortable skill level ) to define who and what they are, ... rather than continuing to learn and grow ..... . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOblacksmith0530 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 I second that opinion, I think one of the most gratifying parts of being a blacksmith is the ability to make your own tools. I especially love it when someone comes up and says I was wanting...... I don't know if you can make it but..... and then I dig into my repertoire and decide how I would make...... and then tell them yes and this is how it would be done in my opinion. I usually get those jobs unless it is money intensive and they are poor. When I teach a class I teach the students that there are basic blacksmithing methods that need to be learned and then anything that CAN be made by a blacksmith is just a matter of using the right methods or functions in the right order and it is done. By the way I really like the setup nice and airy should be comfortable with the shade and that definitely helps with the visual aspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downsfish Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Typically to start a new Hobbie/Trade you have to purchase the tools, equipment, materials required to perform it. This is really the only Hobbie/Trade where you could start with someones discarded trash and make the tools you need to make the tools to accomplish your intended goal. The awesome part is that the entire time you're building up the tool set, you're actually performing the Hobbie/Trade. It just doesn't get any better than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Well I tend to buy or modify tools, I can forge a pattern welded billet that will make a several hundred dollar knife in the same amount of time it takes me to do a good set of tongs---yet I pick up tongs for US$5 at fleamarkets---just not worth my time---Now I can do it, last set of tongs I forged were from Titanium, light and don't transmit heat down the reins, (and then I went and found a $10 set of Ti Tongs last Quad-State I went to...) It boils down to what you want to be doing at the smithy; I do make a lot of armouring tools because they are expensive and hard to find (and it's fun!) It's great to have a forge at an SCA event and fix and make things as requested in real time; but many's the time I've had someone walk up and tell me I'm not a real smith as I'm not pattern welding blades---to which the answer is "Oh you mean like the 450 layer knife I use as a utility knife or my pattern welded pizza cutter, or even the pattern welded wedges in some of my hammer heads..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Thomas, have you made anything from that bit of TI I sent you a few yrs back? Just wondering.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulF Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 all you need to dtart is a hammer and a fire.......an anvil also helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 Yes but I don't want to admit to it...my apprentice has been making Ti knives as they wow the ignorant, sure do colour up pretty though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodbuster Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Interesting topic. I have this same issue - people invariably ask me what I make as a blacksmith, and my honest response is that mostly, I make blacksmithing tools. Moreover, I make blacksmithing tools so I can use them to make other blacksmithing tools. And then some of those tools get used to make non-blacksmithing tools. Example: I wanted to make a traditional pole tripod for the farm for hoisting. A tool. I cut three long pine poles to make it. However, I need a bark spud to peel my poles, so I need to make that first. But I want to make my bark spud with a socket handle, so I made a bick-like tool to allow forming the socket over. Result: a tool to make a tool to make a tool. And this isn't the only time. Surely part of this stems from the fact that I'm relatively new to this craft, and I'm still completing my kit. But really, the toolmaking is what drew me to it in the first place. It is why I forge. I can appreciate the skill and the effort that goes into creating the perfect scroll, or an aspen leaf, or any of the other artistic elements of this craft, but they just don't speak to me. I want to make tools; for me the tools are the art of blacksmithing. I strive to make useful and attractive tools. What I love about this craft is that I don't have to settle for someone else's answers to a given problem. Instead I have the flexibility to alter their tools or come up with a completely new one to solve a problem in the way that makes the most sense to me. And I can usually do it out of my scrap pile or at very low cost. No other craft allows you to bootstrap yourself up from nothing the way blacksmithing does. Machining and woodworking come closest, but still can't match the flexibility that blacksmiths' have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishinbo Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Dedication and passion to your chosen craft. Just continue doing what you are good at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Thomas, have you made anything from that bit of TI I sent you a few yrs back? Just wondering.... Thomas Dean.... I suspect it was that last set of tongs he said he made (after saying making tools is not worth his time). As for me, I love making tools.... I get more satisfaction from making tools than I do from making most of the other things I have worked on.... My greatest satisfaction comes from bring home large tools that don't work (power hammers are one example), and figuring out what's wrong and how to repair them myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Nope the tongs were some CP1 I picked up when I lived in OH---forged it during a bad case of blacksmith's elbow about 20 years ago as I could work the Ti with a quite small light hammer that seemed to hide the fact I was forging from my elbow. Now to break my apprentice from forging Ti blades, sigh. They sure brought a low of "wows" from the great unwashed masses though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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