c/blacksmiths

Blew out the side of my forge after a bad weld last Tuesday

Was trying to patch this old brake drum I use as a forge base and the weld just gave up after like 10 minutes of heat. Had to spend the whole next day cutting a new piece of 1/4 inch plate and rewelding it from scratch. Anyone else have luck welding up cast iron for forge parts or am I just asking for trouble?

Visited a forge in rural Tennessee that used railroad track as an anvil

Watched a guy hammer out a set of tongs on a chunk of rail he found by the tracks, and I'm starting to think half the tools we buy are just for show - has anyone else seen good work come out of stuff that should be scrap?

That expensive forge blower I bought blew hot air for 6 months then died...

I was always skeptical about paying $200 for a branded blower when a $40 furnace fan from Home Depot could push air... but I read enough forum posts saying the cheap ones burn out in a year. Well, the fancy one lasted exactly 6 months before the motor seized up solid on a Saturday afternoon. Has anyone else had a high-end blower fail way sooner than they expected?

Watched a buddy's forge go from a rusty brake drum to a real gas forge in 6 months

He started out with that old brake drum setup and a hair dryer, took him forever to get anything past cherry red. Then he saved up and bought a real burner and some ceramic wool from a supplier in Akron. Now he's cranking out bottle openers and hooks in like 15 minutes flat, no sweat. Has anyone else seen that kind of leap in quality after switching fuel sources or am I just crazy?

Finally got my forge welding to hold after 6 months of trying

Been working on forge welding for about half a year now and it just clicked last week. I was always getting cold shuts or the weld would just fall apart on the anvil. Turns out I was heating the steel too fast and not letting it soak long enough at welding temp. I did a stack of 5 layers of 1095 and 15n20 and they fused solid all the way through. Anyone else have a specific trick that made forge welding click for them?

Had a chat with a old timer at the flea market that got me thinking about hammer technique

I was picking up a rusty post vise and this retired farrier started talking about how he never swings harder than a 45 degree arc, said most smiths waste energy on big swings that mess up their control. He showed me his wrist, been doing it 40 years with no arthritis or tendon issues. Anyone else ever scale back their swing and notice a difference in their work?

Hot take: You don't need a power hammer to make good work

I was at a demo at the Ozark hammer-in last summer where a guy with just a cross-peen and a stump turned out a dozen identical hooks in an hour while folks with $3000 hammers were still adjusting their air pressure. My own anvil stand slipped mid-strike on a set of fireplace tongs, bending the whole piece sideways, and I had to reforge it from scratch. Am I the only one who thinks relying on fancy gear just hides bad hand technique?

Pro tip: That discount anvil on Facebook Marketplace nearly cost me a hand

I saw this ad for a 150 pound anvil listed at $80 near Springfield. Looked solid in the photos, clean face, no chips. Drove an hour to pick it up and the guy had it sitting in his damp garage. Soon as I tapped it with a hammer I heard that dead ring, you know the one. Turns out it was cast iron with a welded on steel plate, probably made in the 60s or something. I walked away but I heard later from a buddy that another smith bought it and the face cracked on his third project. We got enough risks with hot steel and hammers without buying junk that can explode on us. Anyone else run into these fake anvils being passed around?

Old timer told me to quench my tongs in salt water instead of plain

I was over at Bob's shop last Tuesday and he said soaking hot tongs in salt water keeps them from cracking as fast. I've been doing it for two weeks now and my tong tips haven't chipped at all, which usually happens after a few heavy sessions. Has anyone else tried this trick or is Bob just messing with me?

I finally had a real conversation with a farrier at the feed store yesterday

He told me I was overthinking my heat-treating process and that I should just trust the color of the steel more than my thermometer. It hit different because he's been shoeing horses for 30 years and doesn't even own a digital pyrometer.

Old timer in Ohio showed me how to read hammer scale patterns

I was working a demo at a fair outside Columbus last summer and this retired blacksmith walked up. He pointed at the ground and said "you're striking from your shoulder too much, watch the scale pattern." Sure enough, the flakes were all landing in a tight cluster instead of spreading. That one tip saved me from buying a new anvil stand because I was about to blame the setup.

Tried my grandpa's old wrought iron trick on a gate hinge and it cracked clean in two

I was fixing up a gate for a farmer outside of Denton last week and thought I'd try the method my grandpa swore by for bending wrought iron - heat it cherry red and quench in cold water. Instead of getting a nice curve, the whole piece snapped right at the bend point with a loud ping. Has anyone else had old methods totally backfire on modern steel or is it just me?

Had a week last fall where every single anvil strike felt off and I couldn't figure out why

I was working on a set of gate hinges for a customer in Akron, nothing complicated. But for five days straight, my hammer hits were landing flat, my steel was cooling too fast, and I messed up two tenon joints that I normally do in my sleep. I thought maybe my shoulder was acting up or my eyes were going. Turns out I had swapped my anvil stand for a shorter one two weeks earlier and never adjusted my stance. Took me a full week to notice. Has anyone else had a bad stretch that turned out to be something simple like that?

That small forge demo at the county fair changed how I hammer bevels

I was watching this older smith at the Lane County Fair back in June. He was making simple leaves but the way he angled his hammer strikes was totally different from what I learned from YouTube. I asked him about it and he showed me a little wrist flick thing I never saw before. Tried it on my next project and it saved me a ton of grinding time. Has anyone else picked up a weird trick from watching someone in person that just clicked better than online tutorials?

Switched from coal to propane in my forge last spring

I used to fight with coal for years, messing with the airflow and cleaning clinkers every 20 minutes. Finally bought a propane burner setup for $300 and now I can just flip a switch and get right to work on a knife without all that hassle. Has anyone else made the swap and regretted it or is it just me?

Tried coke vs. coal in my forge last weekend and the difference was night and day

I picked up a bag of coke from a guy down the road and figured I'd give it a shot after burning through anthracite for months. The coke got my steel up to welding heat in half the time with way less clinker buildup. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big change in their fuel consumption?

Tried using railroad spikes for my first forge-welded billet, ended up with a blade full of cracks

Grabbed a handful of spikes from the tracks near my shop in Ohio. Thought they'd be fine since they're just high carbon steel. After three heats and a ton of hammering, the welds looked good until I quenched it. Whole thing fractured into three pieces. Learned the hard way that those spikes have weird sulfur content and aren't consistent at all. Has anyone else had luck forging with railroad steel or is it just a trap for beginners?

Heating with coal vs coke nearly ruined my anvil face

I switched from coal to coke about three months ago after reading it burns cleaner, but my anvil face started getting this weird pitting I'd never seen before. Turns out the coke I was using had way too much sulfur content and it was eating into the steel surface at welding temps. Has anyone else run into this problem with a specific supplier or found a way to test coke before you buy a whole load?

Switched from a hand crank blower to electric after 15 years of fighting that thing

I got this old hand crank blower at an auction back in 2008. Thought it was authentic and cool. And it was, for about the first year. Then my shoulder started complaining every time I had to forge something bigger than a nail. Last Tuesday I finally caved and bought a $200 electric blower off Amazon. Night and day difference. I can actually focus on the steel temp instead of worrying about arm fatigue. My fire stays consistent and I'm not sweating through my shirt before I even start hammering. Has anyone else made this switch and felt like an idiot for waiting so long?

Old timer told me I was burning my steel, took me a while to get what he meant

I've been forging for about 3 years now, mostly on my own with YouTube videos. Last month at a hammer-in near Portland, a guy in his 70s watched me work for a minute and just said "you're burning your steel, son." I was running my forge way too hot, bright yellow almost white, trying to move metal fast. He showed me how to keep it in that orange range and let the hammer do the work instead of the heat. Took me about 20 tries to unlearn that habit and I ruined 3 railroad spike knives in the process. But now my leaves actually punch clean and I'm not losing material to scale. Has anyone else had to drop their forge temp and felt like they were starting over?

Rant: Had to pick between a power hammer and a new anvil, picked wrong

So I saved up about $3,000 over 6 months and had to choose between a used 25lb Little Giant power hammer or a new 200lb anvil. I went with the power hammer thinking it would speed up my work. But now I'm stuck because my old anvil has a dead spot in the middle and rings like crazy. Should have just bought the anvil first, anyone else make a similar mistake on which tool to prioritize?

Got called out for my hammer control at the Tacoma hammer-in

An older smith watched me work and said, 'You're pushing the metal, not moving it.' I switched to a lighter hammer and focused on wrist flicks, which made a huge difference. Anyone else have a simple piece of advice that totally changed your technique?

Found a cheap way to stop my coal forge from eating so much fuel

I was burning through a 50 pound bag of coal every two days on my small home forge. Tried making a deeper fire pot, but that just made it worse. Then I read about using a piece of old firebrick to block off about a third of the air inlet at the bottom. I cut a brick to fit and it worked right away. My coal use dropped by almost half because the fire stays hotter and more focused. Anyone have other tricks for making a coal forge more efficient?

I finally figured out how to keep my coal fire from clumping up on damp days

For years, my forge would just gum up into a solid mass whenever the humidity spiked here in Ohio, and I'd waste an hour breaking it apart. Last spring, I started mixing in about a cup of coarse sand with each fresh shovelful of coal, and it made the fire breathe like a dream. Anyone else have a go-to trick for fighting wet coal?

My old post vise gave out on me yesterday, the main screw just sheared clean off.