Blacksmithing FAQs

[ThomasPowers]

now now, I just offer to hot shoe hecklers---"Last pair of shoes you will ever need---they wear like iron!" and if they try to call my bluff, well as I start to forge a shoe for their foot I tell them "If I don't do this right it will hurt a good bit"  and I usually have a helper that will chime in "and if you do it right?" "IT WILL HURT A LOT! But don't worry I'll have my apprentice stick his fingers in my ears..."  Never ever had to set the first nail....(When the going gets weird the weird turn Pro!)

[Will W.]

Haha! That's perfect. Well played, Mr. Powers. 

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

Much less impressive with a steel stand.

You REALLY think a puff of smoke and flash of flame from a steel stand is less impressive? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Maybe a small pocket of wax in the metal stand somewhere would do the trick. LOL

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I would put a little blackpowder somewhere, now that would get their attention.

[ThomasPowers]

If it's mild steel and you don't mind losing a heat; then the water bucket will work.

Now I do remember the time we loaded up a lot of my blacksmithing stuff for the Materials Science Club Float for NMT's "home coming parade". Not wanting to have fire and movement on the float we used dry ice and water to produce "smoke" and painted some steel bars red/orange/yellow on one end.  I taught them how to tap out "Shave and a haircut 2 bits"

We won the music trophy!

[Tubalcain2]

1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

I would put a little blackpowder somewhere, now that would get their attention.

even smokeless give a nice little flare up. you could get creative with it.

[Frosty]

I thought a wad of flash paper would do the trick but some smoke would be nice. I suppose some metallic salts would make pretty colors but the folk would be gathered around wanting to see me light flash paper instead of smithing. I'll just touch a piece of wood. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[ausfire]

On ‎11‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 5:44 AM, Frosty said:

 I've been known to touch a piece of HOT steel to the anvil stand when it was on a wood block and let the puff of smoke and flash of flame tell the story about HOT. 

I get the rare pompous type and if they're irritating enough I offer them the hammer. I have yet to have someone take it or  show me anything but their heals.

Frosty The Lucky.

I use a wooden club to bend over the heads of the longhorn bulls I make. Usually let it rest a little too long on the nose so you get a good show of smoke. Kids like that. Smokin' hot.

I get the rare pompous type too and I especially dislike it when they try to take over the commentary in a loud voice. They are usually the ones who announce they have a bigger anvil than mine. I ask them what sort of ball bearing return does it show (what??) and demonstrate the 95% my Kolswa has.  I have not actually offered the hammer but I've certainly felt like doing so.

[ThomasPowers]

I'll also demo what "cold" to a blacksmith means using a handy piece of dry wood---you get a lot of wide eyes as you explain it's too cold to work while  flames and/or smoke erupts from where the workpiece touches the wood.

[Exo313]

I was just reading a bit out of Machinerys Handbook where a demonstrator was using the Lagrange-Hoho method of heating steel via electrolysis, combined with a hidden foot switch.  So he would put steel in the tank,  step on the switch, heat to temp, forge, then quench in the same tank with the switch turned off. Talk about drama. 

[ThomasPowers]

I remember a demo at SOFA on joining methods  done by Hans Peot IIRC where he did a slack tub forge weld: heated two pieces of steel up to welding temp and threw them in the slack tub then bent over and fished around in the murky water and pulled out the two perfectly forge welded together.  Had a lot of people scratching their heads; because they didn't realize he had put a forge welded piece in before the demo started...There's a long history of blacksmith jokes and for people falling for them...

[Glenn]

A little slight of hand can be a good thing when it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads.

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

A little slight of hand can be a good thing when it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads.

Exactly, Demos are theater, you're not there to teach a class, you're there to show your stuff and hopefully tempt some soul into giving it a try. Some of the pompous types do more for me than impressing the audience. The, "My grandfather was a real blacksmith," guys get asked if they have any of Grandfather's tools and how much time they spent in his shop. I deliberately stop work, make direct eye contact and hold an expectant expression. Sometimes I offer the hammer but usually only to the guys who keep correcting my processes and or techniques.

I've found they want to be the center of attention but do NOT like the spotlight and leave. Sometimes in a muttery huff but all they've ever shown me or the audience is their heals. I just use their part of the show as a straight line, usually an exaggerated expression of disappointment and a mock tear wipe puts the audience right back in my camp. I model much of my demo character on Red Skelton.

If a spectator has something to show me I want them to, PLEASE. I don't know everything by a lonnnnnnng shot. I learn every time I work metal whether it's at the anvil, on the lathe, cut and weld fabrication or pouring into a mold and I welcome anyone who can show me a better way or something I don't know. Having a relative who was a "real" blacksmith doesn't mean you know didly, anymore than my Father's superior knowledge and skills in the machine or spinning shop means I know anything. What I learned about those crafts was at their tutelage and by taking classes. 

While I beat steel into . . . things for years and actually taught myself much of the craft it wasn't until the internet went public and I could talk to folk who practice the craft did I start to really learn it. I can't honestly say I was always as respectful as some think I should've been, I'm a joker, make wise cracks, love puns and straight lines. However I'm never outright rude without provocation. I was and still do ask people for some of their knowledge.

Being able to pass knowledge to others is one of the things that distinguishes us as human beings. Our thumbs allow us to apply knowledge and manipulate our environment. I don't lick anybody's boots but I say please and thank you and I certainly don't poison the well by arguing with the answers or calling names. That's just childish stupid. If someone needs more info to answer a question, THAT is info I didn't have before and If I don't understand the answer just exactly WHICH OF US is riding the short bus? Call THEM stupid?  When you point a finger THREE are pointed at you.

Ah, sorry for getting off on a rant but we're going through FAQs as a subject again and folk won't read the stickies or the thousands of posts already archived and organized. Finding that irksome is what makes me a curmudgeon I guess. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Exo313]

I think there's a cynicism that comes with exposure to strangers in short bursts. I was in retail for over ten years before I decided to go work in metal fabrication. I'm still amazed at how pompous or thick people can -seem- when your only interaction with them lasts seconds to minutes. It's cutting through the initial aloofness and making a human connection that takes a good performer.  The ones that are most difficult were my favorite challenges when I was in retail.  They're people underneath the attitudes. It's getting them to engage that's the trick. Some will always walk away. But the best is the ones that start out as opponents and get won over. 

[ausfire]

What do you do if someone makes a comment that is just wrong?  I was forging a bull's head for todays demo. Every now and then I dip the horns in a can of water beside the forge to keep them cool while bending the heavier metal over. I don't like burning the horns off.

Anyway, this fellow announces to his progeny  "Hé's putting the steel in the water to temper it."   Hmmm. Silence is golden.

[Daswulf]

Beat em to the punch and as you are doing it explain why you are doing it. 

[JHCC]

40 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

Beat em to the punch and as you are doing it explain why you are doing it. 

If you can beat them to the slit-and-drift, that's even better. 

[ThomasPowers]

Well I've gotten a lot of the "Urban Myths" about blacksmithing said around demos these last 36 years; for something like the horns; I'd explain that if mild: "Nope this is mild steel it doesn't harden when quenched, I'm just cooling down the small stuff so it doesn't burn up when I heat the large section"

I get a lot of parents misinforming their kids and so I try to be gentle and say something like:  "That was a common belief in the old days but we've since learned that..."   or "Movies often portray blacksmithing that way but in reality..."  

(Or an old favorite when the Medieval Armour was so heavy they had to use a crane to lift them on the horses and knights were helpless if they fell off canard comes around: "Actually a full suit of battle armour weighed considerably less than a friend of mine was required to carry and fight with when he was special forces in Vietnam, of course the armour was better weight distributed too!"  true, a full suit of plate for battle was generally 60-80 pounds and my friend had to carry and fight with 120 pounds.  You will note that I keep saying "battle", tournament armour became much heavier over time.)

[Lou L]

Dealing with the public is exhausting and, done too long, can make a person bitter and sarcastic.  That's why I became a teacher!

 

seriously though, some wise words in the discussion about the art of teaching.  It can be simplified to "building relationships" and little else matter.  An fool you trust can teach you more than a genius you don't.

[jlpservicesinc]

I like it..  As long as the fool has something worth learning..   

I learn stuff from people all the time..  while teaching people, even new people everybody has a way of looking at something in a different light.. 

As for getting burnt out.. That was me to a T....    

The one that I don't think has been mentioned is

" Looks really easy therefore it must be"....   I used to get that one all the time..  

[ThomasPowers]

Well in a way it's cruel; but when someone comes up and "knows all about blacksmithing" because they do it in a videogame I sometimes invite them to step inside the rope and demo a bit.  Generally they realize fairly fast that "doing it in a video game" teaches them squat about doing it in real life...

[Glenn]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

" Looks really easy therefore it must be"....  

That is because you know what you are doing, and do it so well that you make even difficult tasks look sooo easy.  And yes, I watched your videos, several times. And I watched a couple of your videos frame by frame to catch the tricks you use.

Early on I saw a blacksmith shorten a rr spike by almost half its length in two heats. It was easy, I saw him do it. So I went to my forge and shortened a rr spike by almost one quarter its length and only used 2 (as in two) bushels of coal (read that as several heats). The only thing I could figure out was he MUST have had some type of special, easy to upset, rr spikes.

[arkie]

He was using the soft steel.  You need to get some.....  It's whipped full of air, sorta like foam (and some ice cream, nowdays)

[Lou L]

12 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

I learn stuff from people all the time..  while teaching people, even new people everybody has a way of looking at something in a different light.. 

Despite the fact that most of them are addicted to their cell phone I still learn something from my students most every day.  It was even a regular occurrence when I taught middle school.  Anyone who is actually listening will learn something.  

 

What I've learned so far in my less than two years of blacksmithing:  The blacksmith tool that SHOULD consume every aspiring blacksmith is the lowly tong.  We all spend so much thought and effort on anvils and forges.  I've learned that these really don't matter.  Having the right tongs (or not having them) has turned out to be the single most important factor in my learning.  The new people naturally focus on forges and anvils.  The experienced smiths do so as well because they already have the tongs.  I feel that we don't celebrate the lowly tong enough!