-carefully lays out sacrifices to the curmudgeons: beer, wrought iron, various shiny objects, coffee and pie-

Ok. Don't eat me for this, but I would like opinions from some of the experienced members.

The question: 

What would you, personally, consider the basics of this craft? Maybe 10 things you think every single smith should know how to do consistently. I have read many many threads of things that are marvelous and awe inspiring. I am not asking for links to books or other websites, I am asking personal opinions.

 

- Drawing

- Upsetting

- Hot punch

- Bend

- Chisel

- Twist

- Forge weld

Forgive me if I missed 1 or 2 - these are off the top of my head at the moment.

When you get proficient at these - all you need to do is combine them as you wish to make anything you want - it's that simple.

I'm no expert or curmudgeon but I will add to the above 

forward & reverse taper 

square to round and vice versa

Proper scrolling would be a bonus

repeatability 

Fire management

Proper tool use

 

Ahh yes - how could I forget tapering and rounding or squaring  - scrolling I would consider in the bending category.

Fire management - yes if you are using a solid fuel forge - gas is almost automatic (depending on is if it's home made or commercially purchased).

Safety... look around your work space and identify safety hazards, work to eliminate them if possible. Just about everything in a blacksmith shop will either bruise, cut, or burn you. Having the right work space configuration will go a long way in avoiding injuries.

Mr. Randell,

Check out ABANA's forging fundamentals series, at   https://abana.org/education/controlled-hand-forging/

It is excellent, free, & well illustrated.

SLAG.

Slag, currently working through that series! Just interested in the opinions of "old hands" as it were. The ABANA set is excellently done, but courses and tutorials do not always carry the value of a voice of experience.

We agree.

SLAG.

#1. NEVER welch on a bribe to curmudgeons!

Where's my beer!? 

Safety.

Fire management.

Cutting. including splitting, shearing, sawing, etc.

Drawing: longitudinal, lateral, isolated, etc. SOR is part of this.

Upsetting: heading rivets, nails, etc. end, middle, etc.

Punching: Slitting, drifting, etc.

Joinery, banding wrapping, crimping, etc. mortise and tenon are punch and upset. 

Welding: including forge brazing and various types of forge welds: jump, lap, fagot, butt, jelly roll, etc. canister, accidental, etc.

Bending: corners, curves, scroll, helix, compound, etc.

Hey kid, I still don't see my BEER!! 

Frosty The Lucky.

There are only 4 primary treatments;

Bending

Twisting 

Drawing 

upsetting 

Everything else is a subset of these four.

Hmmmm, if cutting and joining don't count as a primary treatment then upsetting is a subset of drawing.  Using mechanical force to change volume without adding or removing material. No? And if twisting isn't bending around a longitudinal axis I'd love an explanation of what else it is.

 Frosty The Lucky.

P.S. Randell, this looks like it might be an entertaining and educational topic. If it gets good enough I may, MAY forgive you ONE of the bribes.

Lol. Appreciate it Frosty. I swear I laid the stuff out, I figured you guys had already taken it

Randell,

Thank you for asking and setting out a sacrifice to the curmudgeons. I'm so new to blacksmithing that this is informative. And helpful.

 

To Frosty,

the entertainment factor will keep me looking in on this topic as well.

Knowing the alloys you are working and appropriate temps to work them (and if they should be heat treated, how!)

I like to start people out on mild steel and let them learn it's temperature characteristics before adding in things with a narrower forging range.

Perhaps I explained incorrectly?

These are the four treatments  a blacksmith must master. 

 

I was looking for an explanation at least a clarification. I understand this even less.

Bend, twist, draw, upset, is ALL a blacksmith must master?  Cut, punch, join don't enter into it? Even in the broadest the 4 you list don't include some of the most basic major categories, or treatments if you will. 

I don't get the standard you're applying at all. Do you have a cite or reference I can check out?

Frosty The Lucky.

 

The thread topic is the basics.

could you be a blacksmith without mastering these four treatments?

 

Thinking back, the quote was even more limiting, specifically 

bending, twisting ,drawings and upsetting are the only four treatments available to the blacksmith.

 

So limiting that one must assume  that drawing includes slitting and cutting and upsetting includes welding and punching, etc.

Could you be a blacksmith if you didn't master cutting stock?

I read the subject, opinion was asked for by the OP. I withdraw my request for your clarification.

Frosty The Lucky.

The source was a rural trades guide written in England during the Great Depression.

Ah HAH! That makes a lot more sense. Somewhere I have a copy of a "Rural Trades Guide" I think there were more than one weren't there? I haven't seen it/them in a long time.

A lot changed during the Depression, world wide. Thanks for the cite.

Frosty The Lucky.

I'm loving this exchange of information. It's exactly what I was hoping for! Everyone has a specific idea of what a smith "must" know, and the overlap is interesting. 

Please keep it coming!

Beer Randell. BEER!

Frosty The Lucky.

Pm me your address and I'll work it out

A small price to pay for knowledge.

Wow, some of those lists of 'basics' are pretty exhaustive. Could be demoralising for a newcomer. Randell, don't beat yourself up if you can't achieve all of those things. You can have a lot of success and fun without being proficient in everything.

Make sure you can draw out accurately and make a regular evenly-spaced twist. Try punching holes and keeping them central or scrolling some light bar to make neat finials.

After many years of hammering metal, I can do some of the things on the wish list but certainly not all. My forge welding in a side-blast charcoal forge is at best inconsistent. I don't lose sleep over it - just do the things I can do and try to do them well.

Don't expect too much too soon and celebrate your achievements with the simple things first. Happy forging!