I am still a really new blacksmith. Like Started last month. I started hammering on a piece of leaf spring for a hot cut, on the second heat I was a few strikes in and it flew off the anvil from my tongs and hit me in the face.

I don't know if I was holding it wrong or what or if it was just the leaf spring but I was holding really tight. I only got 4 stiches.

I would like to know how to prevent this later on and why it happened

Only advice I have is, talk to your leaf spring soothingly wile heating it.   You must have made it mad at some point.  

Jokes aside, start on much smaller work.  Some 3/8 round stock and make a s hook or something.  That spring steel moves hard. .....also if that is the piece you were thinking of making a hot cut out of, it is a very poor choice. 

How were you holding it?  If it was with tongs then they were not correctly fitted to the piece Tongs that are too big or too small only hold the piece in one place---which is a pivot point allowing the workpiece to flip around and do damage.

Choosing the right set of tongs is covered in my introduction to blacksmithing class in the morning of the first session, stop by sometime and audit it!

Another way to put stock air born is to not have it resting on the anvil or hitting part of the workpiece that is projecting over the anvil. This is covered in the first hour of class...

Nothing quite so painful or expensive as not getting hands on help to get started.

A first class example if why you wear your safety glasses!

The fact that you were "holding it really tight" is an indication that you never had a good grip in the first place. With proper tongs, you won't be having to death grip it to hold your stock.

And if it gets too cold it might make it more likely to try to pop out, I would think, as it would have more resistance.  I have a minor scar on my face where a dagger blade (before I decided that I was not ready for such items) did that too.  I was wearing my safety glasses, but I think maybe I let it get too cool and might not have had the right tongs (or not had them positioned correctly).  It was a learning experience, but could have been bad.

I thank you all for your quick responces.

I can see now that it was most likely my in proper tongs and positioning of them.

I will have to study more and not let this push me from blacksmithing because it is so fun but can be dangerous.

 

what kind of tongs were you using and how hot was the material?

Was it jumping around from your grip before bouncing into your face?

It was cooling and just started to turn a cherry red and I was about to reheat.

And I'm embarrass to say they we tongs I forged my self and will most likely be scraped now.

I thought I did them correctly, I thing the metal was just to big for these tongs.

The tongs may be perfectly fine -- for a different workpiece.

Could have been a lot of things at play here, as noted above: wrong tongs, not hot enough, bad position on the anvil, wrong hit of the hammer. 

When I was making my first hot-cut from a jackhammer bit, it bounced up like that and hit me flat in the chest. No stitches, thank God, but it burned a hot-cut shaped scorch mark into my shirt before falling to the floor. That was the day I realized I could use an apron....

Yep for safty I always wear eye protection but getting an apron, and a face sheild to use for awhile till I am more knowledgeable.

I highly recommend starting out using stock that is long enough to hold without tongs. Lots of things you can make like meat forks.

If you put your location in your profile, there may be some experienced smith's just down the road to give you some pointers.

When I was first starting out over 30 years ago, I had the same problem, usually related to the wrong tongs and cold metal. Now I have over 30 pairs of tongs and still need to make or modify one for some jobs.

Ive had a railroad spike hit me in the face. Twice. both times were when i was upsetting, i was using flat jaw tongs to hold it up and down, and went to check it back square, and that's when it got me. Not fun. both times gave me a bad burn, but the first time chipped a tooth and left me with a mouth full of blood.

                                                                                                                                              Littleblacksmith

sorry for my poor grammar was using my cell.  

4 minutes ago, Tylerj579 said:

sorry for my poor grammar was using my cell.  

You can go back and edit for about an hour after you click "Submit Reply".

On 3/13/2017 at 8:52 AM, Tylerj579 said:

I will have to study more and not let this push me from blacksmithing because it is so fun but can be dangerous.

 

Most "fun" things have a certain element of danger.

( Motorcycles ... and Girls ... spring immediately to mind. )

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger. 

.