A great story Frosty. Kids are great.

Does anyone else like the smell of BLO or it just me?

I reshaped my main forging hammer handle and sanded it and dressed the face and peen and just now got some BLO on it. I couldn't tell it when I was forging on a regular basis so much, but the handle was too big around for me. It feels much better now.  I also took the varnish off a Mustad farriers rounding hammer i have. I like the feel of the handle, but it's too long. I think I'll cut a couple of inches off of it. 

4 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

It makes me wonder now if all the others who say yes are really understanding it or they too don't want to be the one who "doesn't get it."

As a teacher, I don't wonder, I know there are others that don't get it but don't want to speak up. There are a number of challenges in this: recognising the ones who are just nodding but don't get it. Finding different ways of delivering the same information, finding other opportunities to present the same information again, being patient when they keep nodding or saying yes but then still make mistakes that indicate that they don't get.

But the true challenge, and goal, is to help them to have the confidence to be honest and say they don't get it. Everyone learns more, even if only one is honest and says they don't get something.

Search for a youtube video by Simon Sinek called "the truth about being 'the stupidest' in the room". If you have the confidence to "look stupid" and ask the questions it will not only help you, but it will also help those as described above who just say "Yes" or nod and smile even though they don't get it.

Cheers,

Jono.

The collage is from October 2023 when I made my first attempt at scissors and used a horseshoe. Not ideal. But I was hoping to be able to retain some of the horseshoe features and gift it to the guy that cuts my hair. Tonight I found that old unfinished pair and tried to salvage that mess. Pretty ugly, lol 

I'll try again with a rasp for the gift. 

I've started on some Viking style shears but I've already made a few mistakes and the fixing is just making it look worse. I'll probably start over on those as well, lol

Scissors are difficult!

Ended my session tonight with nails. I rewatched Jennifer's (JLP Services) YouTube video on nails over my lunch break. These are much better than the ones I did earlier this week!

Hefty, thank you. I'll go have a look at that video. It was kind of embarrassing spilling all of that but it's made me realize I'm not the only one that feels like this. I appreciate you so much. 

Shaina, I've never seen scissors made from horseshoes and I even started a discussion on IFI about ideas for things to make from shoes. That was kinda my thing. I like to keep as much of the original shoe as I can as well. Coincidentally, I was going through things to find sanding belts and I came across a box 'o stuff (mostly things I made that went to the fail pile) and I found these. I actually liked these so I don't know why they are in with the discarded things.

Your nails look great! 

While not a "teacher" I've always had a knack for showing people things. What Jono says brings a couple things to mind. I've known many people who just nod and don't get it or don't care. The trick is getting the subject to WANT to know. That is my challenge getting a handle on or causing the subject to want to know. 

With a few exceptions in extremis you can't "TEACH" somebody, a person learns or doesn't themself. We have to present information in a way that they can learn from. And everybody has a handle.

A long time ago my Mother wise lady she was taught me to read. If you can read you can teach yourself ANYTHING. So, one afternoon on the way home from work she stopped at the library and checked out one of these two books, "The Spaceship Under The Apple Tree" or "The Dinosaur Of Walnut Canyon." I remember her words still, "Look Jerry Dinosaurs" or was it "Spaceships." I loved dinosaurs and spaceships and I read them through repeatedly the day she brought one or the other home. 

I'll always remember how and why it worked and have used it more successfully than not since. Find out what the kid likes and buy him a magazine about it. An old and dear friend of mine I used to visit once a year or so on vacation when I flew into Sea Tac has a son Cory. Cory could barely sound out a simple word and was failing a grade because he couldn't read.

Soooo I tried to give him some help and he showed me what he was trying to read. One of those horrible, terribly, most indescribably ineffective "Dick and Jane" books. The lazy butt teacher had assigned a 13yro a first grade primer instead of giving him a little one on one! I took the book, tossed it to Bev and said lose this, throw it at the teacher is it's best use if you can draw blood.

What do you like Cory? . . . Football. cool, like cars? Oh YEAH! He was a teen age boy he liked sports and cars  so I drove to the neighborhood Safeway and bought him a few magazines, football, cars and sci fi. I came back, we turned off the TV and I had him read the article that interested him most to me. Football of course but he knew the players, coaches, everything so he already knew what was happening just not that story. I didn't let him skip words he couldn't read, made him sound them out and explain what they meant. BEFORE he could continue to something else. We laughed when he butchered a pronunciation or when I screwed up some sports thing. 

The next day Cory bought a magazine on the way home from school. One week and he was reading above his grade level and by time I left on the next leg of my vacation drive he was reading Nat Geo magazine with a dictionary and encyclopedia. That was when I started realizing how much smarter Cory is than I am. All he ever needed was explain how and he was off like a rocket. 

I don't talk down to kids, they're as smart as I am they just don't have much data in the files so I supply I show, tell and explain things. Once the pump is primed they'll teach themselves.

Like has been said already, nothing beats the feeling when someone gets IT.

Ahhh, it's bed time. Night all.

Frosty The Lucky.

John Switzer is one of the best at instructional videos. In 1978 he would have had a PBS show like "The Woodwright's Shop". 

I am not a very good teacher. Unless i am not trying to teach. Ask me to teach you something and i am at a loss, but i will sit and start talking and go into intricate detail on the how and why things work. But it will be something random that is in my head. 

 

First time making some of these today (my favorite insect.) I am pretty pleased with how they turned out!

For a short time Roy Underhill's show was shot at Colonial Williamsburg in the Blacksmith shop, I don't recall the name of shop's mastersmith but he was/is very well known in the smithing community. There was talk about doing a program in and about the blacksmith shop but it didn't go farther than a few "location" episodes of "The Woodwright's Shop." I don't know if the program's producers nixed it or perhaps the shop master didn't want the intrusion of the film crew, he certainly wasn't comfortable talking except to Roy who carried the episodes. One of the episodes I do recall he and Roy "Ironed a log sledge". In another they made door hardware and that's about as far as my dented brain pulls up.

I'm sure it's all available on the PBS website for those who are interested.

Here's something you might try Billy. Instead of "Teaching" people just "Show" them how you do it and answer questions. A lot of this is approach is for your sake and mine. I showed a couple girls visiting America from Germany some basic smithing. They only wanted to get a feel for the craft, not make something or learn the craft, just a taste so to speak.

I was approached by the UofA to head a metal arts department but politely turned down the honor of a full time volunteer position. I finally convinced them to stop offering me such prestigious honors by naming a deliberately outrageous price I would Consider. 1/4 mil / year for me, shop built and equipped to my specs, all materials, consumables and flexibility in visiting experts and specialty supplies. Max class size of 6 students with full accreditation towards a related degree. 

I think they considered actually paying for a shorter time than the sonic boom of them leaving was audible.

Happily demand was high enough UA instituted a bladesmithing course after the knifemaking course became popular but it turned out a majority of the students wanted to forge their blades. I believe industrial type classes including metal shops have been reinstated though I don't know if blacksmithing is much of a class. 

That's that story and I'm sticking to it.

Frosty The Lucky.

Will, you and i have something in common. I LOVE dragonflies. Amazing creatures. 

Frosty, Peter Ross is or was the smith in Williamsburg. I have watched all those episodes of the show also. And yes they are available on youtube, i think all the episodes of the show are.

Roy Underhill made up the word "woodwright" (i did not know that till i just looked up his name) but the show was on from 1978 until 2017, one of the longest running shows to be produced. It used to be done in 2 or 3 takes but in the latter years it was all 1 take. My granddad was a master carpenter, he and i used to watch the show together when i was a wee lad. 

You're getting better at dragon flies all the time! They're my favorite insect too and scorpions are my favorite arachnida.

Peter Ross, I knew someone maybe almost everyone here would know. IIRC the wood shop and blacksmith shops were adjacent, almost too close together.

I THINK the change from multiple takes to one was more because Roy wanted continuity in the episodes rather than the producers desire to cram in more than one project per episode. Roy wasn't about to allow bits and pieces and offered to leave PBS for one of the lucrative network offers.

MAN those are old memories. I'll have to see if I can find them online without having to subscribe to PBS for a fee. 

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, BillyBones said:

Peter Ross is or was the smith in Williamsburg.

Was; now retired from CW, but his legacy lives on, if only in the fact that the anvils he mounted on their stumps there still have their horns to the right (Peter is left-handed).

1 hour ago, BillyBones said:

Roy Underhill made up the word "woodwright" (i did not know that till i just looked up his name)

William Morris used the term in The Life and Death of Jason in 1867, while Joseph Parker used it (hyphenated as "wood-wright") in his magnificently titled 1883 autobiography Tyne Chylde: My Life and Ministry, Partly in the Daylight of Fact, Partly in the Limelight of Fancy.

Will, the split-cross technique is a nice touch!

Will, nice dragonflies. The split design is a smart way. I will write it in my book of ideas.

I made this for the wife a while back.  Just goofing off in the shop.  I did use fire and a hammer, but I wouldn't call it blacksmithing. It is a dragonfly though.  Wife loves them, too.

On 8/3/2025 at 4:32 PM, Frosty said:

Any idea what kind of bird nested in your borax box? 20 Mule borax does advertise fresher smelling laundry, guess birds like fresh smelling nests?

Looking forward to seeing how your tongs turn out. I always drew the reins down early in the process so I could work on the bolster and jaws, etc. without needing tongs and trim the reins to length. Once I tried drawing the reins down thin enough to make the rivet but that wasn't so practical.

Frosty The Lucky.

I figure to weld the reins.   Not sure of what kind of bird, but i'd guess a wren of some sort.

23 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

I found these

Right before I moved up here, I made several horseshoe friction folders that were pretty nifty if you wanted to try them.

For the scales - cut a shoe in half, then round the cut end so the original middle of the shoe where you cut it matches what was the rounded tip of the shoe. Then shave down the inside with a file or grinder so the shoe is about half it's original thickness . Otherwise the knife would be bulky as heck. Fold the half a shoe in half again - then set pins in it and make the blade out of a bit of the hardenable steel of your choice. I may dig out photos later, but horsey people go nuts for them.

Found this: 

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/44583-horseshoe-folder/

On 8/8/2025 at 3:33 PM, Frosty said:

With a few exceptions in extremis you can't "TEACH" somebody, a person learns or doesn't themself.

Frosty, this statement is sooo true and reminded me of an old saying one of my lecturer's used to use:

"I taught my dog to speak the other day....Oh, I never said he learned anything!"

And to keep on topic, today I had to make a tool to work on a project.

I occasionally make BBQs and/or smokers out of old gas bottles (propane tanks) but I don't have anything for cutting the large-ish round holes in them for air vents, so I tend to drill lots of small holes in a circle and then find a way to cut through what's left. The steel is about 3mm (1/8") thick and I've tried in the past to make a small chisel out of garage door spring (the torsion kind, not the tension kind) but it just wouldn't cut it (pun intended!). I came into a lot of different sizes of coil spring recently, so instead of a small chisel with a small cutting edge, I made a big chisel with a small cutting edge out of 16mm (5/8") diameter coil spring. I forged a comfortable flat down the full length and forged a taper for the cutting end. Quenched it in water and drew the temper to a straw colour at the cutting end, then ground it to a fairly wide angle for cold cutting.

I'm really happy with how it performed! I wasn't expecting much based on previous tools I've made but it cut 24 little "webs" between the drilled holes flawlessly (I had already started filing these before I remembered to take the photo!)

and this is what it looks like afterwards! Almost exactly as it was off the grinder!

A nice little win for me!

Cheers,

Jono.

Way to go Jono! There are different chisel profiles that work better for connecting the holes like that but a plain old cold chisel works a treat. I'd say that was a win win though, you cut the hole, you have the satisfaction of making it work AND you have a chisel. 

Makes a good day doesn't it?

Frosty The Lucky.

22 hours ago, JHCC said:

William Morris used the term in The Life and Death of Jason in 1867

I figured as much. I can only go by what i read and wiki says this:

"Underhill admits that he made up the term "woodwright" and that it is not an actual term."

Guess that is what i get for just skimming wiki quickly. 

5 hours ago, Hefty said:

I don't have anything for cutting the large-ish round holes in them for air vents

Jono, if you do a lot of them i would suggest getting a hole saw kit. I got one for cutting metal that goes from 1/2" up to 2". 

---

So anyway as one door closes another opens. I lost a railing job but yesterday pitched a job to make grills for a storm door. If i get the final approval and down payment then i can start the actual work. The design is not to difficult but will have a LOT of hot cut work. So yesterday i started getting stuff for tooling together, i will need an "L" shaped chisel, both right and left, an anvil stake, and a 1/2" swage. Today i will do a couple practice tries at the cuts and lay out and get an idea of process.  

 

Roy needed a catchy name for the program. I always wondered about it though, originally wright is the present tense of wrought which originally meant beaten as in hammered, hence Wrought Iron. It's just a bloom until it's hammered and refined. 

Yeah, I really like etymology. Used to drive my elementary school teachers crazy, I wouldn't do the school work but often knew more words and spelling than the  teacher. That's when I started hearing that school was more about doing the work than learning the subject. One actually told my Mother I was too young to be using a dictionary or encyclopedia. I never heard the results of Mother's visit but I stopped hearing about using reference materials. Don't mess with the Momma!

Be glad I just deleted a too long ramble about . . . stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

Nobody, that's about the coolest thing since sliced bread. Thanks!

Shaina, thanks for posting it :

 Hefty, that's awesome. Great job. 

Billy, yay about getting the job! That's always a great thing. 

We are putting together the Woodmizer saw mill today. It'll be such a blessing to cut our boards 

Have you sawn lumber before?

Frosty The Lucky.

No. We will take it slow and learn as we go. Tommie has been researching and looking into this for years, but like most things, putting it into action will be the biggest teacher. Or at least for me. Do you have any advice?