Thanks Steve! Welcome!

Thanks Curt, You are very welcome!

No worries Will, thank you!

Thats what its all about Louis!

Thank you Brad!

Thanks again, Its just the way i teach it, Thinking on the spot and letting it flow. Remember though, Its just one way to do something, i always recommend watching others as they will do it differently, i watch others all the time and learn stuff along the way. I get inspired, i cringe, i see an easier way, i see a tool i could do with, its all different and there is no one way to do something. I will over time repeat these videos as i get better to keep up to date on the way I find best. Thank you Finarfin!

Oh yes, other channels are good too, but this one is one of the best for explaining things. I think we all watch multiple channels and copy, modify and are inspired. I have ways of doing things that might be unique - like twisting 12mm square bars cold by hand. I should really get a camera - and begin learning all this video business (groan). Thanks for the reply.

Thanks! Plenty more to follow too!

Thanks!

Let me know how you get on Joe!

certianly will...

Thanks! Glad i can help!

Thanks Greg!!

Yes i will do, will have to do that in the week as every man and his dog is in the gardens today so narrating is difficult. Thank you!

That's great to hear! Just remember to heat treat according to the steel you have. Let us know how you got on!

Thank you!

Where are you? If you look up blacksmith in your local area on google, something should show up, a great way to get into it is look for forge ins or blacksmithing events, join local blacksmithing groups and ask about, we are a friendly bunch and will usually be happy to point you in the right direction! Let me know where you are and i will see if i can find something for you.

Thanks Chris. Try it out see if it works, if not carry on doing what you do. Its not a rule, just a suggestion, a different way, like all of my vids.

I suppose the dome helps with striking of the tool too. no catching an edge if your hammer doesn't land flat.

That's very kind of you, thank you! I'm hoping to be in a position this summer to be able to produce tools for sale but will be extremely limited. Thanks for making it worthwhile making the videos with you taking something away from the videos.

EN9 is AISI 1055. Readily available.

I shall add it to the list. Torbjorn makes a good nail header, check out his video!

Moss Custom Knives flat side.

Not really, at the 6 minute mark im just setting a flat platform so when i take the next heat to take it to octagon im set up square on the anvil and have my 8 sides ready to go, i find it easier to forge a good octagon this way. If you are heating something many times and moving a lot of steel, normalising is worth doing, maybe even annealing. Do you know what you were working with and the correct hardening medium for that material?

Need to make a bick iron for the arrowhead projects and spears that i will be making for another series i have lined up so its on the list already!

Tool steel and drill rod should be ok. It is the hardening process that is critical.

It depends on how much material you have moved. You could just normalise then harden and temper with EN9 but for any other alloy you will have to see what would be best. its not a one thing for all, kind of thing and i don't want to misinform anyone.

Its a farriers rasp, they throw them away all the time, people make knives out of them, i use them for hot work as they rip metal up so fast and are usually free if you ask nicely. When they get blunt you can then use them for cutting edges as the steel is usually good and intended to hold a sharp thin edge. Perfect for sharp tools.

Great stuff, we have loads of horsey people around here!!

Farriers rasp, ask your local farrier or look up farrier supply shops, or even tool sales. Great tools!

Thank you

what he said, also minimal contact on the anvil helps a lot.

This is quite hard to answer as i am not sure of how long you keep it hot compared. I am indoors. The steel is quite chunky so will hold its heat quite well, you will notice the thick end keeps its heat longer than the thin end simply due to mass, but the thin end will also heat up faster than the thick end. I also soak my steel in the fire, i put it in the forge watch it until it gets to Bright orange/yellow then i let it sit there a little longer rather than taking it out as soon as it gets to the right colour as the outside will get hot faster than the inside, soaking allows the heat to get to the centre of the bar which will help with forging and maybe give a few seconds of extra heat. I really dont know though as it is a subconcious thing. What are your circumstances? Are you outside? do you work certain materials such as square, round, flat bar??

workingwithiron I am outside and I usually work .5" rebar. I get it bright orange and start forging and the heat usually lasts only 5-10 seconds, but it could be since its winter now. Thank you everyone for the information I really appreciate it.

I was watching knife making the other day, and the guy on there said what looks cherry red in the dark might not look cherry red in day light!

If you are in daylight or in the sun it will look like its not hot at all. Instead of watching the heat colour if that's the case, see how long it takes until it starts bouncing on the anvil with each hit, it will bounce when its too cold to forge. Another thing to watch is the scale, when the scale stops forming and falling off the work it is under an orange heat. You can also take a heat and put the hot end in a dark place, such as a coal scuttle or bucket something like a cave effect where its darker than the surrounding light. This will show the true colour. Thats why some smiths forge in the dark under candle light to see the true colour of the work. Wind will wick the heat away so fast and you will see that on my videos when i punch holes, when im looking for the dot to punch the slug out i will blow on the work as this cools the slug enough so i can see where it is, and that is hot breath doing that so cold wind will do it at a faster rate. I will upload a video on this either tomorrow or monday to help you out and explain this a bit more.

everything was done with the flat face if that's what you mean?? if i use the rounding side i will say, with the rounding side. I very rarely use the rounding side unless in working with a curve.

workingwithiron yes thats it thanks for replying

west yorkshire steel, they will send it in the post cut in lengths in a tube. hope you are having great fun with Paul! He is an absolute legend.

Working With Iron Nathan Paul's great fun I've learned so much more in 4 weeks with him and adrian than I could have done on my own. Given that before I started I'd done the two three day courses with David and some one day ones and playing with a home made brake drum forge.

It's tapered to accommodate the mushrooming from striking so it can last longer before being dressed back. Mushrooming is dangerous as those bits can break and fly off. I done the striking end and dress as needed. Does that make sense?

Not that long. Been forging for 9 years, taken the last 5 years out to practice this craft every day and have at least 13,000 hours minimum of hammer time put into this craft. But to get to this level could take any time, it just depends how you understand the process of material movement and ability to predict what will happen many heats on (gets easier the more you forge).

OK. That figures. I was watching and it was fairly obvious few casual home blacksmiths would never reach that level of accuracy. Really impressive work. It's a shame you didn't need some 8 sided holes, they would have been really neat!

Ah i thought so, i will add it to the list but to be honest its, make a tapered round punch then flatten it with a taper like i did with the chisel all the way to the point, the eye size needed determines the size of the bar you start with but being tapered it will go from small to larger than needed, just don't harden or temper it after forging, i used an old axle or driveshaft. You can keep a crisp corner or smooth it off so its rounded, either will work depending on the style of hole needed.

For my punches and tools that get abused i do, tongs i use mild steel due to quenching. Plus its a medium carbon steel and is easily available here in the UK and cheap compared to the likes of H13. H13 is the ideal hot work alloy but its expensive compared to EN9. Plus i have a fair bit of it and it is also good for beginners and is also a water quenching alloy so i don't have to bother with oil in the workshop. Thank you, I'm glad the sound quality is a lot better in this, its only taken 4 years to figure out the mic settings for the narration.

I'm searching for good steel to buy atm and i am thinking about using EN8 (C45 where i live) because it's cheap too and i think i can get away with only quenching and not tempering , because it's a slightly lower carbon steel and will harden less. But i am not quite sure if it won't get too stiff and shatter anyways.

If you harden a tool, always temper it. Otherwise it will go like glass.

Nope, UK equivalent to 1055.

I made a drift video, but i think you mean hammer eye drift? Am i right?

Just to put a dome on the top is all.

@@workingwithiron oh ok

Furnivals up north is where this come from but if you give your local steel stockholders a shout im sure they could point you in the right direction. Bristol from what i remember??

Yeah, Bristol - got a good place for the sort of amounts we need?

www.steelexpress.co.uk Never tried them before but they do a range of steel types, just buy in the lengths they come in, much cheaper than buying a little bit.

H13 would be your best bet for these tools, and its air hardening so easy to work with and will take water without breaking.

THE color OF COAL Na, blacksmiths have the softest hands, really ;-)

THE color OF COAL If you Gefreiter that we have rough hands and the getting burned is part of the work he may not try to blacksmith.

As time goes on we get used to burning ourselves, its gonna happen. If you want soft but durable hands piss on them when you get in the shower, rub it in and then as you wash they get clean. This thickens the skin considerably. Please keep it friendly guys, nothing is worth arguing over :)

do you see the smiley at the end? its a joke i am blacksmith too i stop counting the time i burned my finger.

Gefreiter Nudelsuppe Actually the thing at the end of your comment is just a blob on my (don't laugh to hard) Tandy 1000. Yes the old Tandy still works.