c/blacksmiths

One great day in the shop after a string of rough ones

Last Saturday I had one of those days where everything just clicked. I was working on a set of 4 fire place pokers for a guy in Boise and I got the scrolls right on the first try. That never happens for me. Usually I screw at least one up and have to reheat and adjust. But the steel was moving exactly how I wanted. Even the forge welds on the collars held clean. It was like 6 hours of pure flow. The week before I had busted two projects in a row, one because I rushed a heat and another because my hammer hand was off. So this day really pulled me out of a slump. Have you ever had a day where everything just fits? Or am I the only one who rides on those good shop days for like a month?

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matthewkim•6d ago

Dropped $180 on a gas forge that couldn't hold heat past 2000F

Bought that compact propane forge online and after three days of fighting with insulation and burner angles in my garage in Dayton, the thing maxed out at 1950F on a good day, so if you're starting out, save your cash and build a refractory-lined drum instead, has anyone else been burned by cheap forge kits?

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amy_murphy85•6d ago

The difference in my anvil rebound after a proper mounting

I had my anvil sitting on a wobbly stand for years, then last month I finally bolted it down to a solid oak stump with some silicone underneath. The rebound on my 150 lb anvil went from dead to almost 80%, it's like a whole different tool. Has anyone else seen that big a jump from just fixing the base?

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uma_johnson•8d ago

I think we're too obsessed with the 90 degree drift punch angle

Everyone I talk to swears by holding the drift at a perfect right angle when punching holes. I've been doing this for 6 years at my shop in Akron and honestly, a slight tilt around 80 degrees gives you way better control on thicker stock. It lets the punch walk through without binding as much, and I haven't had a crooked hole since I stopped forcing the perpendicular. I get why people teach it that way, it's easier to explain, but it just isn't the best for 1/2 inch plate. Am I the only one who found this after fighting with stuck drifts for months?

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joelwells•9d ago

Is a $200 power hammer attachment worth it or a money pit?

I grabbed one of those cheap power hammer conversion kits last March and it worked GREAT for six weeks, then the cam bearing blew out and took a chunk of my anvil face with it. The rebuild part cost me another 90 bucks plus a weekend of swearing. Anyone else tried these DIY kits, or should I have just saved for a proper Little Giant and skipped the headache?

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piper_burns•10d ago

Tried forge welding with coal dust mixed in my flux

Swapped my borax for a 50/50 mix with coal dust on a leaf spring last Saturday and got a solid weld but a dozen pits I had to grind out for an hour, anyone else use homemade flux recipes or should I just stick with the store stuff?

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hannahs45•10d ago

A retired farrier in Montana made me rethink my hammer swing

I was at a swap meet outside Bozeman last month and this old guy, probably 70, watched me demo a few strikes on a piece of 1 inch round bar. He said, 'You're fighting the steel, not dancing with it.' That stuck with me. I've been at this for 8 years and never thought about how much tension I carry in my shoulders and grip. He showed me his own swing, loose wrist, letting the hammer head do the work, and it looked effortless. I tried his method on a set of bottle openers this week and cut my forging time by almost a third. Anyone else had a stranger's tip that rewired how they work at the anvil?

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taylor_young•11d ago

That $120 digital caliper I bought lasted 3 jobs before it lied to me

Picked up a fancy digital caliper from a big box store thinking it would speed up my layout work. Worked fine for a couple of weeks, then started reading 0.004 off on one side. Caught it when a customer brought back a bracket that was slightly undersized. Swapped to a cheap $15 dial caliper and it's been dead accurate for 6 months now. Anyone else had digital tools drift on them like that, or did I just get a lemon?

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blair_dixon•12d ago

Hand cranked blower vs electric, finally switched for good

I used a hand cranked blower for 8 years at my shop in Dayton, and it was killing my back on long forge sessions. Last month I wired in a used electric blower I got for $60 from a farm auction, and the air flow control is way steadier for welding heat. Anybody else make the switch and find they need to adjust their fire management, or is it just me?

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the_james•14d ago

I finally figured out why my tongs kept slipping after 4 years

Been forging for about 4 years now and always blamed cheap tongs for dropping stock. Last week I was at a hammer-in up in Portland and this old timer watches me work for a minute, then just says "you know those reins are supposed to sit past your knuckles, right?" I looked down and realized I was gripping them way too close to the pivot, so the jaws had almost no leverage. Felt like a total idiot because I'd been fighting hot steel bouncing off the anvil floor for years, burning up gloves and cursing my equipment. Switched my grip that afternoon and suddenly I could hold a 1 inch round bar without it twisting. Anyone else have a basic setup mistake that took them way too long to catch?

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victor_adams•14d ago

The anvil face truth I missed for 12 years, a belt sander showed me

I was flattening a blade tang and heard this weird chatter, so I grabbed a straight edge and ran it across my anvil face. Turned out the middle was bellied up by like 0.015 inch, all those years of hammering near the edges had rounded it out. I spent hours dressing my hammer faces and fixing my technique when the real problem was just a lazy re-facing job. Bought a cheap belt sander with a flat platen and spent 20 minutes trueing the face, night and day difference. Anyone else ever find out their anvil was the weak link, not their arm?

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patricialee•15d ago

Had to choose between a refurbished anvil or a new one at the quad cities swap meet, went cheap

Picked the $350 beat-up Fisher with a chipped face over the $600 new one, and now every hardy hole job leaves my tongs shaking for the last two weeks, anyone else regret saving money on an anvil with edge damage?

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shaneb16•15d ago

Tried heat-treating in my shed with a hair dryer and a toaster oven, big mistake

I thought I could save $300 on a kiln by using a $25 toaster oven and a hair dryer from Goodwill in Spokane, and after 3 hours the blade came out looking like a melted candy bar, has anyone else tried a budget setup that just backfired?

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the_oscar•17d ago

That anvil sale in Ohio almost cost me my hearing

Was testing a used 200 lb anvil at a farm auction near Toledo and the seller smacked it with a sledge to show the ring, my ears rang for 2 days before I learned to always bring ear plugs to any anvil test, anyone else had a close call from a hot demo?

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reesemoore•19d ago

Took 6 months to admit my anvil face was crowned too much

I thought my anvil was fine for 6 months. Every project had this slight bend in the middle and I kept blaming my hammer technique. Friend came over and put a straightedge on it, showed me a big gap under the center. Grinding it flat took one afternoon. The amount of work I wasted before that test annoys me still. Anyone else skip the straightedge test when they started?

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milesj70•21d ago

A 70 year old farrier told me my hammer grip was all off

He watched me work a knife edge for about 5 minutes at a demo in Cheyenne and said I was holding it like a claw hammer. Told me to choke up two fingers and let my wrist do the work, not my elbow. Took me a week to unlearn the old habit but now my shoulders don't burn after a full day. Anyone else get a grip tip that felt backwards at first but actually fixed a nagging pain?

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simons28•25d ago

Took me three full days to figure out why my forge welds kept failing

I've been blacksmithing for about 4 years now and I thought I had forge welding down pretty good. Then last month I tried welding up a stack of 1/4 inch mild steel for a hammer head and it just would not stick. I kept heating it to the right orange color, hitting it the same way I always do, and every time the weld fell apart. I spent two days rechecking my flux, my hammer angle, even my anvil. Finally on day three I noticed a tiny crack in my fire brick near the back of the forge. That crack was letting in a cold draft that was cooling the back of my billet way faster than the front. I blocked the crack with some refractory cement and the next weld stuck perfect on the first try. Has anyone else had something stupid like a tiny air leak mess up their forge work for days?

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julia_lee•27d ago

Had to pick between a coal forge and a gas forge for my home setup

I went with coal because I found a used one for $150 on Craigslist, but after 3 months of fighting with smoke and temperature control, I'm wondering if I should've just saved up for gas instead. Has anyone else made the switch from coal to gas and regretted it or loved it?

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alexw75•27d ago

Hit 1000 finished knives and it changed my mind about steel types

I always thought high carbon steel was the only way to go for quality blades. But last month I finished my 1000th knife and decided to actually count how many came back for sharpening or complaints. Out of that 1000, about 200 were high carbon and I had 30 returns. Out of 300 stainless blades, only 5 came back. That surprised me enough to start testing 440C more seriously for kitchen knives. Has anyone else seen better durability with stainless over carbon in actual use?

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rowan725•28d ago

That old trick with a hot punch actually solved my drift pin problem last week

I've been fighting with a stuck drift pin for months on a set of tongs I'm rebuilding. Last Tuesday I was about to grab my angle grinder when a guy at the local blacksmith meetup in Springfield told me to try heating the pin with a hot punch instead of the whole piece. He showed me how to drive a dull hot punch into the pin's center, let it cool for a minute, then tap it out. Came out clean on the first try. Has anyone else had luck with this method or am I late to the party?

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the_anthony•28d ago

Forged a knife from an old railroad spike and it came out way softer than I expected

Heat treat didn't hold an edge at all compared to 1080 steel, so what gives with those spikes having such weird carbon content or did I just mess up the quench timing?

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the_anthony•29d ago

Unpopular opinion: I think quench tanks are overrated for small shops

I was reading through a blacksmithing survey from ABANA last month and it said 78% of smiths with home forges don't use a dedicated quench tank. I've been getting by with a 5 gallon bucket of oil for 3 years now and never had a crack or soft spot. Anyone else skipping the fancy setup?

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sage_dixon•29d ago

Switched from coal to propane for forging and I'll never go back

I was a die-hard coal guy for 8 years. Thought propane was for hobbyists who couldn't handle a real fire. Then last month I took on a rush order for 30 gate hinges and the coal fire kept giving me inconsistent heats. Broke down and borrowed a friend's propane forge for the job. Finished all 30 hinges in 2 days with maybe 5 minutes of scale clean up total. Coal leaves so much scale and you waste half your time managing the fire. Anyone else made the switch and found it changed how they work?

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sage_dixon•1mo ago

Old timer in Ardmore told me to use a coal forge for my first knife

He said gas forges make blades too brittle, and after 4 blades cracking on me I finally built a coal forge and got a solid heat treat on my first try. Anybody else run into old blacksmiths with strong opinions that turned out to be right?

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kim_west•1mo ago

Three years ago I bought a budget anvil from a farm auction in Ohio and it nearly cost me a finger

I was green and looking to save money, so I grabbed a rusted old anvil for 80 bucks. No rebound, chipped face, weird bounce back. First time I tried to draw out a 1 inch bar, the hammer came back at my hand like it had a grudge. Missed my thumb by maybe half an inch. That thing went straight to the scrap yard the next week. I still think about it every time I see someone bragging about their cheap anvil find on marketplace. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?

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