Glenn Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 What are the Laws of Blacksmithing? Anvils When you have cash in your pocket there is not an anvil within 1000 miles, but with no cash in your pocket, you can not walk without stumbling over anvils for sale at give away prices. Anvils After you purchase your first anvil, a bigger and better anvil will become available at a better price than you just paid for yours. Tongs No matter how many pairs of tongs you have, none will fit the piece of metal you are about to work on. Forge You learned how to blacksmith using a hole in the ground. You looked for years to find a forge and finally built your own forge from scrap steel. The neighbors wife will be given a behemoth rail road forge, put it out in their front yard, fill it with dirt, plants flowers in the thing. Vise You go to the blacksmith conference and the fellow finds a 8 inch post vise in great condition for $50 at the location you just left. And it has the vise spring attached. Anvils If you go to the blacksmithing conference you will never see an anvil. Thomas Powers goes to the same conference, waits until the conference is over, and purchase half a dozen anvils for less than $1 a pound. Gas The larger the project and the closer the deadline the more likely you will run out of gas on a Sunday or holiday weekend when everything is closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I think you got them all except arftist's maxim of arc welding; the more difficulty your helper is having holding the two pieces together, the longer it will take to strike an arc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 And if you make something you are very proud of, nobody will be impressed. And if you throw something together from some scrap metal on a Saturday afternoon, everybody would compliment you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 When you really need advice/input on the technical aspect the guy who wants(is in authority) to give input will have obtained his degree/diploma from the circus.Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 One more, when your work slips out of the tong it always comes right at you. :blink: That or ends up in the tub. :angry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 If you're a Volunteer Fireman, you have the forge just right, the technique figured out, things going good, a few more heats and you're golden, the Fire Alarm goes off and it's down the road from you, no hiding today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 You are all set up to to to a conference, hammer-in or gathering, and something else pops up on the calendar that you can't get out of, or delays you from getting there on time. McPherson's Maxim: "A journey of a thousand miles......... starts with a nail in a tire." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggwelder Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 the first piece of scale to fly off at the first blow on hot steel seems to find its way under the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger of the tong hand, hammer hand or both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Never allow hand, fingers, nose, any other body part to share same space-time continuum as your hammer or hot steel. Hammer and steel always win Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 The person with hot steel *ALWAYS* has right away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 The first of 2 or 3 forgings (that all need to match) will scroll and forge flawlessly, the others that need to match the first one will fight you all the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 The stem always breaks on your best demo leaf on the last heat.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbsterinn Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 the moment when your friends and family step in to watch you is also the same moment when everything stops working properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker3 Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Rehearing five or six time to get the piece right-side-right on the anvil will result in backward-ness or upside-down-ism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 If you want to see *real* *fancy* *gymnastics* skip the Olympics and watch an almost finished, expensive, high alloy knife slip out of the tongs and find a slack tub on the far side of the shop buried under a pile of scrap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy forge Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 The tongs, hammer, or tool you need and just put down has vanished and will not show up until you are done with what you needed it for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Mullins Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Leather gloves are no match for hot steel, they only keep you from getting burnt until you already are and its too late. All black steel be considered to be and treated as if it were hot until you confirm otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 #1 could never be more true! I had $ saved and ready for a golden opportunity, then my transmission went out. The day after paying for the rebuild it starts raining anvils & post vises on CL at prices low enough I could've bought them and had them sold for profit all in the same day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcc Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 The tongs, hammer, or tool you need and just put down has vanished and will not show up until you are done with what you needed it for. Oh I hate that. Expect a distraction and/or crisis to appear when a piece of steel is within moments of being at welding temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 You only turn the finial scroll on a hook backwards at demos, same for countersinking punched holes. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 You only turn the finial scroll on a hook backwards at demos, same for countersinking punched holes. Frosty The Lucky.Absolutely right. I've done both of those. That's when you explain that when working steel small mistakes are usually reversible and proceed to correct same.Anyway, blacksmiths never make mistakes; we make progressive design modifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Greetings All, Here comes the big one.... When doing a demo always keep a completed project in the slack tub... IF YOUR DEMO DOES NOT GO RIGHT.. and it happens all the time... Just pretend you are doing the final cool down in the tub and take out the good one... OLD TRICK.. Most never know.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin' Coke Forge Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 You can make a thousand nails for practice, and each one comes out perfectly . . . until you demo making a nail for a crowd - then it will jam itself in the nail header every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 if your client describes what he wants and starts with "all you got to do is" triple the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Metal heats faster when you're tired, and slower when you're in a hurry. Somehow it's always easier to punch a hole when something is crooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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