Its official i'm a blacksmith ( just kidding finally got started)

[Daswulf]

BMTU, great idea going to the locals. Hopefully you can learn something and make connections. 

Larry, have you started yet? Sounds like you have been collecting and waiting for the "right" setup. That delayed me for years. If it is just a camp fire with some sort of forced air, a sledgehammer as an anvil and a claw hammer, knowing what I know now I'd have started way sooner. 

[Shainarue]

6 hours ago, Frosty said:

that's following the lead

I don't understand what you mean by this. There wasn't anyone leading us. We were typically in a horizontal line with no one in front. What lead would I have been following? 

I'm not at all implying I was truly dyslexic. That's why I put it in quotes. Intended to be read as air quotes. My mother is a retired early childhood special education teacher and I worked as Administrative Assistant at United Cerebral Palsy for 8 years. Mental disabilities are more than just a few quirks. I fully recognize that dyslexia is more than just turning the wrong direction or doing actions backwards. 

[Frosty]

I was poking a little fun  at you Shaina. When dancing with a partner one leads the other follows the lead. Couples dancing face each other depending on the dance step that is, so if the lead steps left the partner steps right. Keeping in step. There are many couples dance where this isn't the case, say the Jitter Bug, twist, line dancing, etc. Others it's a sometimes thing like in Square dancing where you only face your partner when the caller says to.

Dyslexia is universal, everybody experience it occasionally, its only a problem when it interferes with normal activities. Lots of outside conditions can trigger it in otherwise "normal" people. Rapidly flashing lights do it for most folk it's how "tack" lights work. Haunted or fun houses take advantage of various triggers like this.

I did a LOT of reading about brains and how they function after the TBI accident. I REALLY wanted to get a handle on the issues I experienced after a nearly fatal brain injury. It's a know the enemy thing you know.

Brains heal, don't let anybody tell you differently. . . Don't believe them anyway. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[LarryFahnoe]

10 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Larry, have you started yet? Sounds like you have been collecting and waiting for the "right" setup. That delayed me for years. If it is just a camp fire with some sort of forced air, a sledgehammer as an anvil and a claw hammer, knowing what I know now I'd have started way sooner.

Das, thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I've started but have done more smithing in classes than I have in my own shop. Between life and projects, lots of iron in the fire so to speak and I'm very much looking forward to getting the smithy addition to the shop finished so that I can just go out and tinker with something as the inspiration visits. Building is done, next big projects are electrical, Hofi-style side draft, & installing the power hammer but these are for other threads.

--Larry

[Chad J.]

Welcome a Board, great to see another new face.  You've got some nice first time projects going there.  Great first steps.  I did the scrolls the other way at first too on my hooks.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Another day in the garage today, sad to say it was not a success. I had a game plan of cutting 3/8" square stock to 6" pieces marking 3" and practice tapering till I could get a common result.

Frustration set in at piece number 4. Common result accomplished... not a taper, more of a bent ramp. 

I stopped to save fuel and material and forced two of the pieces into j hooks with twisted shaft but not what the plan was.

I belive my my problem is hammering angle so will make a note of that moving forward. I have reached out to an instructor that's within a couple hours drive just dont know if they are taking students.

I also thing forging in the sun is causing a problem ,seeing the color, that will hopefully be resolved in the coming weeks with the emptying of the garage from storage,  we shall see.

Continuing to trudge along..

[Glenn]

If you think hammer angle is a problem, put a piece of wood on the anvil and hit the wood 2-3 times and look at the impression the hammer face makes.  

Turning your back to the sun puts the hammer and anvil in a shadow.  Next would be to hang something up a tarp as a sun shade.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Thanks Glen didnt even think of the tarp idea,  I have one of those easy ups I can put up while forging, will just keep the forge itself not under it.

[BillyBones]

I used one of those big umbrellas like you put in the center of a picnic table when i had my forge outside. 

[Frosty]

Another long standing technique is to keep a "dark" box under the forge. It can be wood, old paint bucket, etc. painted black on the in. It provides  consistent dim place to judge your heat colors. Pull the work from the fire and stick it in the dark box for a look see only takes a couple seconds but you will have a consistent dark background to judge it against. With practice you'll train your eyes to accurately judge temperature. Not by degrees, F or C but by working properties.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

So it has been a few since i posted, i have been busy in garage, making hooks imagine that.  (what do you all do or have done with all your beginner hooks...?)

Got a lot of stuff out of garage so now have room to actually work in there aside from the forge itself.  yard/estate sales have been good to me  , i picked up a bucket of what i thought was a bucket of old railroad spikes for 10 bucks, turned out to be just 20 old spikes and about 30lbs of 3/8 x 3.25" "new" mini rail spikes (just surface rust). so have to figure out what i can make with them other than 180 hooks. Suggestions welcomed. Also, got a craftsman 12" drill press gently used for a song, even has laser sights, and an old craftsman bench grinder that just needs new wheels.

tried my hand at a mini rail spike knife i saw on BBF on you tube... its a knife like object not very sharp as i never forged a knife let alone sharpened one so thats a needed to learn skill. I dont plan on making more than occasional knife for household use so have time for that. some like pictures as i have read so ill post the 2 "knives" i did so you can see my work.  

the one on the bottom is my 1st attempt the other is the 2nd attempt. So progress yes.

still get overwhelmed with what to do where to start how long to keep with a specific project ( how many hooks should 1 make before moving to something else for example.)

Still looking for better tongs and hammers but what i have now works and figure unless i find a good deal my money is better spent on material fuel and or other tools i do not have.

 

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Here is a good thread about using the RR spikes.

the handy rail spike - Blacksmithing, General Discussion - I Forge Iron

[LeeJustice]

13 hours ago, BoardMoreThanUsual said:

what do you all do or have done with all your beginner hooks...?

Do you mean how to make them or what to use them for after making?  I am guessing the making, so here is my suggestion.  Square up the middle section and make a twist.  Vary the twist's tightness and even make a progressive twist, from tight to loose.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

IFW, I saw the post after this post, thanks, these mini spikes cant make most of those things but I will look closer to see if I can make a "mini" version of any of them, thanks.

 

Lee, a little of both I suppose,  I am making j hooks with twists and with different tapers and that is interesting,  but I have already 20 different hooks of various shapes and sizes that are not really good enough to give away , just keep them in a bucket and re forge them at a later date into something else? I guess that's the main question. 

And how many hooks are enough hooks, just keep making them till its second nature? And that goes with anything that I am making or trying to make. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I'm still making hooks after 30 or so years. The good ones I give to friends & family, donate some to our local thrift store or charity auction at a local church, the rest go into a box for future uses. I mostly make them now as a warm up, if I haven't been in the forge for a while.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Good to know thanks, been looking at the spike thread, there are some interesting things I may try as well

[Glenn]

Gather together all the hooks and coat them with BLO.  It keeps them from rusting.

[LeeJustice]

Just yesterday I was thinking that I would try for my next hooks to be flat, rather than rounded on both ends.  The bar, that is, not to be confused with the actual bend.  Also yesterday, the old umbrella that I hung bird feeders and suet holders collapsed.  I had to move everything over to a nearby cattle panel which is bowed up to make an arch.  One feeder was now missing its hook for hanging.  I had my keys in hand, about to go to the garage to get heavy wire to fashion a new hook when it dawned on me that I already had hooks!  I grabbed one of the first made and hung up the feeder.

[Tim695]

On 6/26/2023 at 6:25 PM, BoardMoreThanUsual said:

tried my hand at a mini rail spike knife i saw on BBF on you tube... its a knife like object not very sharp as i never forged a knife let alone sharpened one so thats a needed to learn skill. I dont plan on making more than occasional knife for household use so have time for that. some like pictures as i have read so ill post the 2 "knives" i did so you can see my work. 

If you explore his channel you will find John also has a couple of videos about making a RR spike tomahawk for fun. the first one he made was just the spike, the second he forge welded a hardened bit into the edge. I made a couple and they are actually quite fun to throw.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Thanks Tim, I follow his channel and watch it every night after the mrs goes to bed. So much there I get lost most nights. I am still very new and in the " changing shapes" phase of the skill  I will get to forge welding and other skills eventually. I am still figuring out what hammer tong ect I work the best with. Once I get that down then I'll branch out into the other skills. 

On a side note I just ordered some blanks from Ken's to make some better tongs. 

Progress that is what I am striving for. 

I will keep trudging along

[Frosty]

Frosty's newbie tip of the day. It's not so important to lean the "right" hammer or tongs for a job, process, etc. practice with what you have handy and let your reflexes adjust on the fly. Tongs are more important where right for the stock, job, etc. is concerned but a good pair of general purpose tongs will serve the vast majority of things. Hammers? Heavy, light is usually enough selection, once you move away from flat faces you start limiting the functions by specialization. A rounding hammer is actually a flat face with an exaggerated crown but is so limited. A cross pein is very useful for drawing or setting flanges. but is limited by the specialization.

Forge welding is no big deal, just follow the rules. CLEAN, HOT, DEAD BLOW to set. Flux, keeps it clean see rule 1. If you need it to remove scale, clinker, etc. see rule 1. Bear in mine you can NOT always observe a rule but in general can compensate by exaggerating another, usually heat. Hitting it harder is rarely the cure. Rule 3 is of course dependent on the weight of the weld.

Try this for an exercise. Get two lengths of strap stock, say 1/4" x 3/4" long enough you don't need tongs. Now shine up the ends where they'll be joined say 1" back from the ends. A file works nicely. Sprinkle a LITTLE anhydrous borax or 20 mule team laundry additive in the joint, a moderate dusting will do and hold the pieces together, wrap it with wire if you'd like but holding them works fine so long as you don't let them slip. Heat it up until the bright YELLOW end starts to have a watery or flickery appearance. Pull it from the fire and give it a couple solid dead-ish whacks with a moderately heavy hammer, say 3lbs. If a little flux squirts from the joint it's good. Give the edges a quick brushing and apply some flux. Don't shovel it on, flux isn't glue it's mostly there just to keep oxy off the join surfaces and reduce what scale might develop in the fire. Re heat it to high yellow and refine the weld with a lighter hammer. 

Once cool open the ends of the straps and see how it took.

If it didn't, cut the weld off and repeat the process, You'll be a champ before you need tongs to hold the stock.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Thanks Frosty,

Flux will be on my shopping list this weekend when I go out. Hopefully it's something standardly stocked locally.Hot and muggy today think I'll focus on shop organization today.

After I try your suggestion I'll post results here success or fail.

I am really enjoying this hobby so far,  collecting tools at yard/estate sales is almost as much fun as smithing. But I have to stop that soon as I'll have more things I dont know how to use properly.

[BillyBones]

All those hooks i have made that are not up to par for what ever reason are on the wall of my shop. They are used to hang up tools, apron, measuring sticks, scroll forms, etc., etc.  

Like Iron dragon says i as well make a lot of hooks, they sell pretty well and can be priced cheap enough so just about anyone can afford to buy one and have a hand forged item in their home. Making hooks is also a good way of practicing finials. 

As far as hooks go another skill can be achieved making drive hooks. upset corners. 

Do not look at a hook as just something to hang something from. For example a gate latch or cabin latch is just a hook with a round eye and 2 staples to hold it secure. The hook is just a shape and it is up to you as to where and how that shape is used. 

One of my favorite, and best selling hooks, is a kind of hook/hasp combo. The hook is riveted to the hasp so that it pivots into the staple that goes through the slot on the end of the hasp. The other end i will do either an eye for another staple or a hinge depending on how i feel at the time. 

A bit hard to imagine so here is a pic

You can also get quite fancy with hooks

[Chad J.]

Steak flippers are hooks too.  Don't be afraid of trying them as well.  It's a great skill builder for learning to draw a piece out evenly and how to use your anvil to your advantage in doing it.  

[BoardMoreThanUsual]

Steak flippers are one of the things I absolutley want to try.  I am a huge BBQ guy and one of the main reason I want to forge. Cooking utensils for gifts for friends and family. I am starting small and working my way up. Thanks