c/blacksmiths

An old timer told me I was striking too hard 3 years ago - completely changed my forging

I was at a hammer-in down in Asheville about 3 years ago, showing off some leaves I was making. This old guy, must have been 70 if he was a day, just watched me for a minute and said "you're fighting the steel instead of talking to it." I didn't get it at first (I was young and stubborn, you know). He showed me how he barely lifted his hammer more than 6 inches off the anvil, just letting gravity and the bounce do most of the work. I tried his way on a billet and my arm didn't feel like jelly after 20 minutes. Now I focus on timing and rhythm instead of brute force. Has anyone else had one of those little tips that completely rearranged how you work at the anvil?

Reading a 150 year old smithing book gave me a new trick for punching holes

I picked up a reprinted book from 1865 at a flea market last month, just out of curiosity. It had a section on punching holes in hot iron that I always do with a drift and hammer. The old method was to use a tapered punch and then flip the piece over and drive it back through from the other side. I tried it on some bracket blanks last Tuesday and the holes came out way cleaner with less time spent filing. It also saved me from making a separate drift for each size hole. Has anyone else dug through old trade manuals and found a tip that still works well?

Been told to oil my hammer faces for years, but my mentor says to keep them dry - who is right?

Old timer at the Oregon guild meetup said oil stops rust and makes the steel last, but my granddad swore dry faces give better control on hot iron and never had a hammer rust on him in 40 years. Any of you guys have a strong opinion on this or just do whatever your shop taught you?

My forge blower died mid-heat on Saturday...

Was working a 3/8 inch bar and the fan just seized up with a grinding noise, right as I had the steel at welding heat. Had to pull it out and let it cool, lost the whole piece. Anyone else had a cheap blower fail on them like that?

Hammer head flew off in the middle of a demo at a fair last weekend

I was at the Silverton Heritage Days fair doing a live forging demo, had a good crowd watching. I swung down on a hot bar and the head just launched off the handle, flew about 10 feet past a kid eating cotton candy. He didn't even notice, but I stood there holding a bare stick for a second while people laughed. How do you guys keep your handles tight for heavy demo swings without stopping to re-wedge every 20 minutes?

The day my anvil almost became a bowling ball last Tuesday

I was in my shop in Tulsa last Tuesday, preheating a piece of 1-inch round bar for a set of tongs. Had it sitting on the edge of my anvil while I grabbed my hammer, and the damn thing rolled off and bounced right off my steel-toe. It left a dent in the boot and a 3-inch scratch on my anvil face. Made me realize I need to either build a rack or start working smarter. Has anyone else had a hot piece of metal try to take out their foot?

Appreciation post: the before and after on this railroad spike knife after 3 years of use

I forged a knife from a railroad spike back in 2020 and it looked rough, like a gray brick with a handle. Fast forward to now, and the blade has this deep black patina from all the rust and oil it picked up in my shop. Has anyone else had a tool or blade totally transform just from using it every day lol?

TIL my grandfather's old hammer technique was smarter than my new one

Was talking to a retired blacksmith named Frank at the flea market in Springfield last Saturday. He told me I was choking up too high on the handle for heavy striking, said I should grip lower and let the hammer do the work. I tried it on a 1-inch bar of 1095 and suddenly my hits were way more consistent. Has anyone else had an old timer completely flip your method upside down like that?

Unpopular opinion: cheaper anvils are just as good if you know what to look for

I blew $400 on a brand new cast iron anvil from a big box store last year, and it chipped like crazy on my first big project. The face cracked after just 15 heat cycles on a 2-inch billet. Now I'm looking at beat up old anvils at scrappers for $150, and they hold up way better with proper peening. My buddy swears by a cheap Harbor Freight anvil he re-faced with a mild steel plate, and he's made 50 knives on it no problem. So what do you all think? Is spending over $500 on a vintage anvil really worth it, or are we all just buying brand names and ignoring the dents? Has anyone else lost money on a fancy anvil that let you down?

Talked to an old bladesmith in Birmingham who flipped my whole view on heat treating

Appreciation post: That old smith in Flagstaff who fixed my hammer drift

I was at a workshop in Flagstaff last fall and this old timer watched me struggling with a badly drifted cross peen for about ten minutes before he walked over and handed me his personal hammer. He showed me how to correct the drift by striking at a 45 degree angle instead of straight on (which I had been doing the whole time). Has anyone else had a random stranger change how you use a basic tool like that?

Burnt my hand bad trying to quench a chisel in water at 2am

Ngl I was working late on a set of cold chisels in my garage shop near Lexington and got careless. Grabbed the tang of this chisel I just heat treated and my glove slipped, burnt three fingers on my left hand pretty bad. Turns out I was rushing and the steel wasn't even hardened right anyway. Has anyone else had a similar dumb moment with quenching and ended up with a weird scar?

Old timer told me my hammer blows were too heavy and my work was showing it

Dude said I was driving the steel too deep and ruining the grain structure on a damascus billet. Switched to lighter taps after that and my pattern welds came out way cleaner - anyone else get told they're using too much force?

A client told me my forge welding was too cold, changed everything

I was at a show in Portland last month when a retired farrier looked at a bottle opener I made and said 'that weld line is way too thick, you're not getting the heat all the way through.' He showed me his trick of soaking the billet in the forge for an extra 30 seconds after it hits welding temp, and now my welds are way cleaner. Has anyone else gotten a tip from an old-timer that totally changed their technique?

Tried forge welding a railroad spike with wet coal.

Sparks flew everywhere and the spike looked like a melted lollipop. Learned the hard way that dry fuel matters. Anybody else have a coal moisture disaster?

Switched from coal to propane for my forge and wow what a difference

I used to run a coal forge for like 5 years straight, dealing with all that smoke and cleanup. Then last month I picked up a used propane forge off Facebook Marketplace for $150, and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The heat control is so much better, I can actually see what I'm working on without smoke in my eyes. It took me about a week to get the hang of the regulator settings, but now I'm getting even heat across longer blades no problem. I still miss the old school feel of coal sometimes though. Has anyone else made the switch and found a good trick for dialing in the propane mix just right?

That hammer in from the Ed's shop demo changed my whole approach

I watched Ed Caffrey do a hammer-in demo at Quad-State back in September. He showed how he sets his anvil height by letting his arm hang loose, not by some rule. I had mine way too low for 6 years. Has anyone else had to completely reset their setup after seeing someone else work?

Warning: wasted $80 on a cheap anvil from a flea market

Picked up a beat-up anvil that looked fine until my first real project, then the face chipped on the third hit. Anybody else had bad luck buying anvils without a proper rebound test?

That old railroad spike I tried to forge into a knife just split clean in half

I was heating up this spike I found near the old railyard outside of town, figured it'd be good practice for a basic blade, but after the third quench a crack ran right through the middle. Turns out those spikes are usually high-carbon steel that can't handle a sudden cool down unless you normalize it first. Has anyone else had a project completely fail on them from a simple misstep like that?

PSA: That small hairline crack in your anvil face is a ticking time bomb

I spent 6 months ignoring a tiny crack near the edge of my 200 lb Fisher anvil. Thought it was just cosmetic until last week a chunk of the face flew off during a heavy upset and landed 3 feet away. Took me 2 days to grind it flat and re-dress the edge. Anyone else had a hidden crack turn into a real problem?

Lost a $200 anvil to a hairline crack I ignored for months

Had a Peter Wright anvil that served me for 3 years, but I kept putting off fixing a tiny crack near the heel until it split clean off during a heavy drawout last Tuesday. Anyone else had a tool fail because you got lazy about maintenance?

Switched from coal to propane for my forge and it's night and day

I was burning through 50 pounds of coal a week and fighting with clinker buildup. Tried a propane setup last month and the heat is way more consistent, plus no more cleaning out the firepot. Has anyone else made that switch and found it worth it?

Fractured hammer head on a railroad spike anvil at 2am

My 3lb cross peen hammer head cracked right through the eye last Saturday night. I was working on a hot 1 inch round bar, missed the hit just a bit, and heard that sickening ping sound. Looked down and saw a hairline crack running from the eye down toward the face. Two more strikes and the whole head split in half, flew right off the handle, and almost hit my shop window. Good thing I wear safety glasses because a piece of steel glanced off my cheek. Now I'm checking every hammer I own for hidden stress fractures before each session. Any of you guys ever have a head fail on you like that or was I just unlucky with that one steel batch?

Took a gamble on a fire-welding trick an old-timer told me about

I kept getting cold shuts in my welding when joining steel for gate hinges, so I tried heating the pieces to a bright orange and hammering faster than I ever have before. It actually worked on the first try, no more weak spots where the metal didn't fuse right. Has anyone else tried changing their hammer speed or timing to fix a recurring weld problem?

Old machinist at the scrapyard told me to stop quenching hot steel in water and showed me the cracks in his hammer to prove it

This guy had been doing it for 55 years, pulled a busted cross peen out of his truck and said don't learn the hard way, so now I always quench in warm oil and I haven't lost a blade to stress fractures since.