Blacksmithing

[Thumper15]

Just thought I would share one of my favorite old time skills. I learned to be a blacksmith from my father, and do it as often as I can. It's relaxing in the way any hard work is. You let your body find its rythm and by the end of the day your muscles are tired and sore but your mind is clear and alive. You quickly find a way to repurpose, reuse and recycle everything, as well as repair all manner of metal items, just as its been done for decades. I hope you enjoy.

 

[Frunobulax]

I do enjoy, Thumper, thank you. Do you just smith for work around the farm, or do you "produce" smithed items for others? If o, could you please give examples?

THX

 

[Braz]

Now that is a manly art for sure.

 

[Frunobulax]

Funny, the only blacksmith I've ever known personally was a woman.

 

[Thumper15]

I do enjoy, Thumper, thank you. Do you just smith for work around the farm, or do you "produce" smithed items for others? If o, could you please give examples?

THX

I do stuff for others. Most of what I do is custom blades but I do household items as well.

www.flatwoodsforge.com

It's easier to provide the link then try to attach all the pictures

 

[EstherWeis]

Funny, the only blacksmith I've ever known personally was a woman.

I have some basic knowledge too, but only used for forging jewelry.
One of my friends is a knife maker, eh, good times.

nice pictures, rustic !

 

[newsman]

Thumper...very nice...i admire you skills.

Is that a Walker reproduction in the photograph with the knife?

 

[buelligan]

Awesome I've always wanted to learn how to do some blacksmithing, every once and a while I start thinking about what all it would take to convert a portion of my garage to a blacksmith shop. One of these days I'll get around to it.

 

[Thumper15]

Thumper...very nice...i admire you skills.

Is that a Walker reproduction in the photograph with the knife?

It's a brass framed 51 Colt Navy reproduction

Sent from behind the anvil

 

[Nick D]

Nice shop!

I've been smithing for years. I did it professionally for a while, too, until I started teaching at the university (which has kept me out of the forge for a while, but I'll find the time eventually!)

Here are some of the things I like to make!

16th-century ball padlock

Here it is straight out of the forge after brazing.

17th-century fire steel, photo of the original at left and my copy at right. It's only 1.5" across.

Medieval Kievan Rus firesteel, about 5" long.

 

[Shangas]

I don't mind saying that I think blacksmithing is one of the most amazing things ever.

I wish I had the chance to do it. I think I'd love it.

 

[buelligan]

Do those of you that are currently smithing have any advice for those of us that would like to get into this? Such as where to start, what tools to purchase first, stuff like that?

 

[Horace Debussy Jones]

Same here. I heard that my great grandfather from Bohemia was a blacksmith. He passed a little knowledge to my grandfather I think, but he was a shopkeeper that I hardly knew.

I don't mind saying that I think blacksmithing is one of the most amazing things ever.

I wish I had the chance to do it. I think I'd love it.

 

[rocketeer]

OK, it's an old thread, but so is Blacksmithing so I thought I would resurrect it for this question.
Smithing on the cheap, well maybe. Need a forge? A stout lorry wheel can make do lined with fireclay etc an air pump or bellows could even be made at home with some heavy leather, but that may make some jobs a two man effort.
The Anvil. Starting out, a nice piece of flat bottom rail can surface for small jobs, though it is not generally available you may have to scrounge it from the local railway permanent way(English term) yards or industrial scrap. It is very heavy for size and extremely robust but may need shaping for more rounded jobs. Or track down a real Anvil, but if it's on eBay etc you may have to go and get it yourself.
For general tools, an old smithy told me they had to make their own as apprentices and the tools would usually last all their lives. A lot of tools in the UK appear at antique fairs but the vendors are not really interested in (so called) dying arts and charge for the items as ornamental pieces(read expensive). Hardies and swage tools do not come up often here often by word of mouth or farm yard sales.
Nice to see this older than the golden era subject come up and of course those interested in these old time crafts.

 

[Fed in a Fedora]

Making my 3 1/2 pound rounding hammer.

Fed