c/blacksmiths

Rant: My entire process for making a simple leaf keychain changed after one bad class

I used to just freehand the whole thing, maybe sketch on the steel with soapstone if I felt fancy. Then I took a two day workshop in Denver last fall where the instructor made us use a paper template for EVERYTHING, even a basic leaf. He said it was the 'only professional way'. So for months I wasted time cutting out paper, tracing, trying to get it perfect. Last week I was running late on an order and just went back to my old way, eyeballing the shape with the grinder. The customer loved it and it took half the time. Did I just get a bad teacher, or is the template thing overkill for simple decorative work?

Vent: My entire batch of Damascus billets delaminated after a power outage in Boise

The forge dropped below critical temp for about 15 minutes while I was welding up a stack, and I didn't catch it until I went to draw them out. Has anyone else had a project fail because of a sudden utility issue?

Update: I just hit 500 tongs made in my shop

I was cleaning up and counted every pair I've ever forged, and the number hit exactly 500 (which is kind of a lot for a side gig, you know?). It matters because I started making them just to have something to do, not to sell, but now I've got a whole wall of them. Has anyone else hit a weirdly specific number on a project they never planned to mass-produce?

Honestly, the way people talk about quenching oil drives me nuts

I keep seeing folks online say any old motor oil is fine for hardening blades, and that's just wrong. Last year, I tried quenching a 1084 steel knife in used 10W-30 and it cracked straight through the spine. A proper fast oil like Parks 50 is a different world. It cools at the right speed and I haven't had a failure since I switched. What other 'good enough' shop tips have you guys seen that are actually risky?

Rant: My coal forge almost got me a noise complaint last week

Honestly, I was working late on a set of fireplace tools in my backyard shop. I had the blower cranked up to get a good welding heat on some 1/2 inch stock. My neighbor, who just moved in three months ago, came over at 10 PM and said the constant drone was 'like a jet engine'. I had to shut down with the weld half done. Has anyone else had to deal with this, or found a quieter blower setup that still moves enough air?

Update: My old coal forge in the garage was smoking out the whole neighborhood.

Got desperate and tried a trick from a guy at the Portland forge-in. He said to soak a burlap sack in water and drape it over the back of the hood. Did it last Tuesday, and the smoke just vanished. Anyone know other cheap ways to control forge smoke without a huge exhaust fan?

A customer at the fall fair in Salem asked for a knife that 'felt like a friend'

I was selling my work at a craft fair last October when a man spent nearly an hour looking at every blade. He finally picked up a simple camp knife and said, 'This one. It feels like a friend.' He explained his old knife, a gift from his dad, had been lost on a hike, and he wanted something that felt just as right in his hand. I spent the next two weeks making him a new piece, focusing entirely on the handle shape and balance he described. It made me think about how much of our work is about the feel of a thing, not just how it looks. How do you all figure out what a 'right feeling' tool is for a client who can't quite put it into words?

Can we talk about the way we set our forge fire? I was doing it wrong for a decade.

I always piled my coke high for a fast heat, but a guy at the Oregon forge-in said he keeps his fire shallow and wide. He showed me a piece he'd just drawn out, and the color was way more even than mine ever gets. Which method do you all think is better for general forging?

Can we talk about quenching oil temperature? I was always told to just keep it 'warm' until a buddy in Boise asked for my actual reading.

Realized I'd been guessing for years, never using a thermometer, which explains why my 5160 leaf springs kept cracking. How do you all manage your quench tank heat?

My tongs snapped at the weld last Thursday, almost dropped a hot piece

I was working on a simple leaf keychain, just a small piece of 1/4 inch stock. I had it at a bright orange heat, maybe 1800 degrees, and went to move it from the forge to the anvil. The right jaw just popped off at the weld on the hinge. The piece fell about two feet onto my concrete floor, which is way better than my foot. I checked the other pair from the same batch I bought online a year ago, and the welds look sketchy on those too. Has anyone else had tongs fail like this from a bad factory weld? I'm going to reforge these myself now.

Forgot to check the weather before a big forge weld and a gust of wind sent my coal dust all over my neighbor's new white fence.

I finally tried a proper 2x72 grinder after using a 1x30 for three years, and the difference in finish on a Damascus chef's knife was like night and day.

The 2x72 let me hold a consistent angle and remove deep scratches in minutes, a job that took forever on the smaller belt and often left a wavy edge, so what's the best upgrade path for a home shop on a tight budget?

A trip to the old ironworks in Scranton totally changed how I think about scale

I was at the Lackawanna County Ironworks museum last weekend, you know, just looking at the old gear. I always thought scale was just this ugly junk you had to wire brush off, a real pain. But seeing the big, old, finished pieces there, the ones that had been outside for maybe a hundred years, it hit me. The scale on them wasn't just rust, it was this deep, almost black crust with these wild red and orange flashes underneath in the cracks. It looked planned, like a finish. The guide said they called it a 'patina' and some folks back then even left it on purpose for looks and a bit of protection. So now I'm back in my shop, looking at my last project (a simple fire poker) and I'm thinking, what if I just left the scale on the scroll work part? Maybe wire brushed the handle clean but let the decorative bit keep that crusty, historic look. Has anyone tried leaving scale on a piece as a design choice, not just as a mistake?

Vent: I just read that a lot of old blacksmiths used to work barefoot

I was looking through a book on old metalworking methods at the library last week. It had a whole part about safety gear, or the lack of it. The writer said that up until the early 1900s, many smiths worked without shoes or just in thin leather ones. They did it to feel the ground better and avoid slipping on hot scale. I always thought heavy boots were a must, no question. But the book argued they felt the heat through the soles and could move faster. I wear my steel-toe Red Wings every single day and can't imagine it. It seems crazy dangerous to me, but maybe they had a point about grip. What do you all think, was this a smart old trick or just a good way to get burned?

Had to choose between a 2 pound cross peen or a 4 pound rounding hammer for a big scroll job

I was working on a big gate scroll order for a place in Boulder, and my usual hammer felt too light. I grabbed the 4 pounder thinking more power would be faster, but after about twenty hits my elbow was screaming. Switched to the 2 pound cross peen and finished the job without feeling like my arm was going to fall off. Anyone else ever pick the wrong tool for a big job and pay for it?

Back in '09 I thought a propane forge was just a cheap shortcut for hobbyists.

After borrowing my friend's Johnson gas forge for a month in my Portland garage, I was shocked by how clean and even the heat was for most of my general forging work, so what's one tool you were totally wrong about at first?

Question about quenching oil temperature for a spring steel knife

Last month I was working on a chef's knife from 5160 and my Parks 50 oil was maybe 75 degrees. The blade came out with a slight curve I didn't put there. Should I be heating my quench tank on cold mornings, or is that warping from something else? What's your target oil temp?

I finally got the hang of forge welding after a weekend workshop in Asheville

Honestly, I'd been struggling with getting a clean weld on my own for ages. The instructor, a guy named Carl, showed me his trick of using a thin layer of borax and keeping the heat just under 2000 degrees. Ngl, seeing the metal flow together without burning up was a game changer. Anyone else have a specific temp they swear by for forge welding mild steel?

A warning about those cheap 'universal' anvil stands

I built a stand from a scrap railroad tie and lag bolts for my 150 pound anvil, and my buddy bought a $90 universal steel stand online. After six months, his stand wobbles like crazy and the bolts are stripped, while mine is solid as a rock. The difference was the weight and how it connects to the floor (mine sits on gravel for a little give). His stand just can't handle the shock from heavy forging, and it's starting to damage his anvil base. Has anyone else had a stand fail on them, and what did you switch to?

Just read that a medieval anvil could weigh over 500 pounds and was often a family's most valuable tool.

I was flipping through a library book on metalworking history and that detail about the anvil's worth really stuck with me. It makes you think about the trade's importance back then compared to now. Does anyone know of other surprising historical facts about our tools?

I just finished my 100th commissioned chef's knife, a milestone I never thought I'd reach when I started with railroad spikes.

Some smiths argue that high-volume production means you've perfected your craft, while others say chasing numbers can make your work feel less personal and special.

TIL my stubbornness about forge welding a simple gate hinge cost me a whole weekend.

I insisted on using a traditional flux I mixed myself for a basic 1-inch bar hinge, but the weld wouldn't take cleanly and I spent from Friday night to Sunday afternoon just getting a solid, slag-free join.

A piece of scrap steel from the old mill taught me more than any book ever did.

For years, I was sure my forge welding problems came from not getting the metal hot enough. I'd watch the color, wait for that bright yellow, and still get a cold shut more often than not. The tip off came when I was cleaning out my grandfather's old shop in Scranton. I found a box of his old practice pieces, some from the 1950s. One was a perfect weld on two pieces of plain mild steel. The secret wasn't just the heat, it was the flux. I'd been using borax straight from the can, but his notes said he mixed it with powdered iron oxide from the mill floor. That extra bit of iron in the flux cleaned the metal in a way my pure borax never could. It was a simple trick lost between generations. Has anyone else found an old method that solved a modern problem for them?

Spent a week trying to fix a weird crack in a blade I was making

I was working on a chef's knife from 1084 steel, and after the quench, a tiny hairline crack showed up near the spine. I figured I could just grind it out, but it kept chasing deeper. I ended up having to anneal the whole thing, cut the cracked section off, and reforge the tip. What should have been a one-day fix turned into seven days of rework. Has anyone else had a crack that just wouldn't stop?

My coal forge was smoking me out until I tried a simple brick trick

I was working on a set of fireplace tools last month and the smoke in my small garage shop was getting so bad I had to stop every ten minutes. I saw a guy on a video from a forge in Montana stack some old firebricks around the back of the hearth, so I gave it a shot. I arranged three bricks in a half circle behind the firepot, and it totally changed the air flow, pulling the smoke right up the hood. Has anyone else found a cheap fix for a smoky coal fire?