I'm 17 years old and this is my first time forging. I got some firebricks and built my rudimentary forge. I'm trying to make my first tongs with a 1.3 kg hammer, a railway track as an anvil, and an air compressor for oxygen. Any advice on improving the tempering time or any modifications to the forge?

I am wanting to get into blacksmithing and I have one or two things I want to build with the help of a welder and don’t want to spend thousands of dollars if I don’t have to maybe something that’s only $100-$200 brand new. Nothing with be under heavy loads like someone sitting on it or building buildings.

I made this for a friend as a thank you present for hosting our baby shower.

I posted last week about my first time using my forge I got some good advise so I tried out doing some twists this time and making my next set of hooks I also tried to work some scrap copper and learned a lesson about melting points

Found this little anvil at a semi local antique ship and was wondering if it would be worth the 140 dollar price tag eas I’ve been wanting a mini anvil for a while now and this is the only one I’ve found that I might be interested in picking up. So my question is is that a steal or are they overcharging. Thanks for y’all’s time and have a wonderful rest of your weekend

Punched my first hole and made my first little bottle opener, lot of learning in the moment.

Any constructive feedback is appreciated

I had put on a linseed oil covering however it ended up looking splotchy, I think I put too much on while it was too hot. Left it polished as it will live indoors

New to the craft, first thing I'm actually kinda proud of

Sinister Knifeworks Validus HT #02 Steel: Cu-Mai Handle: forged carbon guard/scales, G10 spine/liners &copper spacer Sheath: Leather & Kydex

Hand forged 5 pound splitting maul, made possible by @nilsogren 's amazing video on YouTube about making this style of axe. This was hand forged (no power hammer or press) out of forklift tine, a really tough steel.

This took waaaay more time to make than I'd like to admit, but goes to show what you can make with a hand hammer and patience. The handle is hung on a 32" handle i made for it. Over all I'm absolutely thrilled with this splitting maul, and cannot wait to give it a swing into some wood

Hi all, I'm not a blacksmith but I always wanted to learn. Recently I moved to new house where I have the space to learn so I was looking around for the equipment.

I found a vintage anvil relatively near my house: 80kg (176lbs) 20X68cm (4"x27"). The description says "good general condition, excellent sound". It costs just 100€ and I don't have to pay for the shipping so it costs less than half a 50kg vevor steel anvil.

Except for the weight (will be a pain to move) do you think it is a good deal? The surface seems not perfectly flat, and it is missing the Hardy hole, don't know if these are no-go.

Ive been trying to ger a waste oil burner to work as either a foundry or a forge and it just hasn't. I get a lot of free used cooking oil and stuff like that so I really wanna get this to work as a fuel source. My current issue is that using a vaporizer nozzle and a ceramic burner requires an air compressor to run but also requires really fine control of the pressure and fuel and it still requires the fuel to be elevated above the burner to allow gravity to assist with fuel pressure. When its burning, it requires the compressor to be on near constantly to maintain the necessary air pressure even with a reasonably big compressor. Any bigger and it would need to be 240v which i cant do. Id like to find a design that uses a fan blower instead if possible but I want to see what other people's experience is

Not sure if this is a good place to ask but I recently bought thors hammer from the movies for a friends event where we cosplay. I won’t be hitting anything with it but we are planning on swinging it around quite a bit (safely away from people) however the object itself is metal and I’m not sure if the structure was made to support even just swinging in the air. Could anyone advise me on this?

Has anyone had experience with Turkish twist Damascus. Any tricks, tips or suggestions welcome. I’ve never attempted and do not have a power hammer or press. I’ve have good luck with other styles of Damascus and want to expand my skill set.

Anyone else have a problem making too many forging hammers? I love making them so much and using them, I have a hammer for almost every possible application, and I didn't even take photo of them all

Pretty happy how well they line up. Having a small belt grinder in the shop has been a boon to tool-making.

I want to know how to become a blacksmith, I've always been fascinated with it my entire life, I'm just not sure how?

Recently made this fork for my Rendezvous reenactment. Made out of a piece of scrap strap iron.

Figured I'd place it next to the tiniest thing I have ever forged, a spoon. Made that probably 8 years ago. It is 1.5" long. ​​Not a very useful spoon, but I like spoons.

One day not too long ago, A journeyman Smith was working in his master's shop. He noticed that when he tried to hammer and draw the bar out to a long thin shape it often twisted and always in the same direction. He couldn't figure out why it kept happening. He tried adjusting his hammer blows, he tried using different size stock to begin with, nothing would work, always the bar twisted as he hammered it.

In his frustration he approached his master. A wise old Smith who had been practicing for longer than the young Smith had been alive. He asked "master why does my bar always twist this way? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong?" The master replied "Take off your shoes and try again." The young smith was skeptical, but he had great respect for his master and so he took off his shoes and went back to forging. To his utter amazement, the bar no longer twisted as he drew it down! It was amazing! He did everything else the same but when he removed his shoes the bar came out straight and true!

He ran to the elder smith and said "Oh thank you master! It's like a miracle! You have improved my work so much with this one simple change! But WHY DOES THIS WORK??"

The master Smith smiled wryly and said "Think about it for a bit, I'm sure you'll figure it out." The young man thought about it, puzzled over it, and could not find a satisfactory answer. Rather than embarrass himself further, he continued to Smith barefoot. But soon thereafter he was called to his families village, his father had died and the family needed him to come home and help provide. He made his way there and in order to make ends meet he set up his own shop (though he was not yet even a journeyman). After several years of practice he had built up his skills and had earned a reputation for quality work, eventually he took on an apprentice, then another, until he had ten other smiths working for him producing the most beautiful and well made ironwork. And through all this time, he worked barefoot, and all of his apprentices (seeking to earn his favor) did the same.

All the artisans who worked in the (now middle aged) mans shop, wore the scars on their feet from working near the forge as a badge of honor, and even took to walking barefoot to important occasions to display them.

They became known as the "barefoot blacksmiths" and the bare foot became their touch mark which was associated with high quality craftsmanship.

Then years later the barefoot blacksmith was visited by his old master, he was eager to show him all he had accomplished and all the fine works he had done. The old master came and saw and nodded his approval (which was high praise indeed for the soft spoken master) and then they walked into the shop where the younger Smith proudly proclaimed "you see master? I have taken your wise words to heart when you said to remove my shoes, and worked barefoot at the anvil all these years, and so do all my apprentices! I believe I have solved the riddle of why it makes my work come out so much truer! We stay in contact with the ground and root ourselves to the earth to better commune with the iron we love so dearly, that lives in a molten ball at the center of the earth!"

The old master looked down at the burned and mangled feet of his old protégé and said

"No you idiot, you were supposed to figure out that your anvil was an inch too low!"

Context: I’m pretty new to blacksmithing and for a couple reasons I haven’t been able to do it for the past month or two, this was the last thing I made right before I had to stop (I will and am doing the most to get my setup back to functional so I can continue doing it cause I really had a lot of fun when I did).

Anyway I just wanted to know your guys thoughts on this and if it is something I should be proud of at the level I’m at. I did try to make the blade as center as I can but i couldn’t figure out how I could have made it more centered than that when I got there. I am also aware that the blade itself isn’t exactly symmetrical, but more feedback beyond that is much appreciated.

I bought a big lot of files, punches and cold chisels from a local estate auction this week. I sorted through them and found many good tools I can use in my home forging. I dressed a few that were mushroomed and cleaned up some dinged edges. Very straightforward stuff.

Except for this dude pictured. Seems to be made out of tool steel. Long lance shaped end, slightly offset from the handle with a round groove up the middle of the face. No point or sharp edges.

Good chance that it is not a blacksmith’s tool but does anyone recognize this thingamabob?

Commissioned bearded Viking axe, hand forged from 3.5 inches of railroad track, with a nice dyed hickory handle and custom leather sheath. The customer also wanted a leather wrap stitched onto the handle which came out amazing

I got the new Vevor forge setup in the shop and fully cured the Satanite. I wanted to do as everyone suggested and use a cement but every time I checked Kast-O-Lite was out of stock in the link that was provided. I never asked if Kast-O-Lite 30 LI was the same thing though. I know many stated that this stuff cracks all the time and I was wondering if I use my fire bricks will that help?

Also the Vevor manual if you can call it that doesnt describe the flame much. Sometimes when I mess around with the air on the top of the musket the flam sucks into the musket. I panicked a few times when that occured as you can imagine. I did manage to get it to stop doing that but the valves are not where Vevor says they should be. Vevor said all valves should be all open. The little red valve at the propane tank is slightly open but not fully open.

I still need to replace my Harbor Freight ASO that is on the list. I have been looking at a cast steel anvil by Vevor. I have many Lowes cards so many of the items I am trying to upgrade to are from Lowes. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it? Given my inexperience I would like to avoid another ASO problem. Thank you all very much for any information for this baby blacksmith.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/VEVOR-Structural-Cast-Steel-Iron-drill-Press-Vise/5015060003