My grandfather was a farrier and he forged aluminum Horseshoes and he taught me to use a piece of straw. When you touched it and the straw caught on fire it was ready to forge

Worth to mention about aluminium is that is dissapate heat VERY fast compared to iron for example.

That was so cool! I never dreamed forging aluminum was possible. Way to go Roy!

I once took an aluminum rod and with just a hammer , a handsaw and something like a mini anvil (don't know what it's called) , and made 2 knives , and my parents were like ,,how do you have the nerves to be in the garage for 4 hours and just smack that thing" , but hey , if I can make a somewhat ok looking knife out of something soft and make it sharp , I don't see why not make one.

Chemist : Yes so this element turns to liquid at so and so temperature and goes gas at so and so temperature and is able to be forget after such temperature... Blacksmith : lmaaaaaoooo lemme just put this pine on this if it smokes is ready

Thank you for the video. It was great to learn that Aluminum alloys can be forged fairly easily - information available online seemed difficult to find. I was thankful for this as I needed to make upper support braces for a couple rear bicycle racks. I got a 36" x 1/4" aluminum rod from Home Depot. They don't advise the alloy, but I found a reference that the flat bars from same supplier is 6063 T5, which has small amounts of magnesium and silicon (

I've been wandering about this thanks Roy👍

More good stuff. Your videos are really improving by the way.

I had about 200 pounds (net weight) of scrap insulated, braided aluminum overhead power line wire that was about 1.5 to 2 inches thick, with insulation removed, that I wanted to take to the scrapyard. But, you get a lot more money per pound if the insulation is removed. So, I got this bright idea to build a fire and place all the aluminum wire on top of it in such a way as to not smother the fire and allow plenty of oxygen to come in at the base of the fire. I assumed that the insulation would just melt or burn away leaving bare aluminum in its place, and it did. After the fire was going really well, I went inside for about 30 minutes. (I did look outside every few minutes to ensure safety, of course) The sun was just setting upon my return and I found an odd but rather beautiful fire. There were the typical yellow flames here and there on various bits of wood, most of the wood had become bright red coals and extremely hot, and the aluminum had just about disappeared! I assumed that it had burned up because there were several bits of aluminum scattered around with very deep, dark, sky blue flames emanating from them. It was quite the beautiful sight because this was not just bits with blue flames here and there but, because there was still a lot of scrap left, a large, proper blue flame fire was going about 2.5 ft to 3 ft in diameter! After the fire died down I extinguished the coals with water from the hose and I went inside for the night. The next morning I went outside to cleanup my mess and discovered 3 large chunks of aluminum where the fire had melted the wire and it had pooled at the base of the fire. It made it really easy to sell to the scrapyard.

You can use a laser thermometer to check temperature also. They are cheap too.

Great tips! I love this video!

That is great! You just as we're my question. Thanks and God bless

Thanks for the tips bud the pine I would have never thought of that thanks agin

Great video!!!!! Thanks

Next to harden it Thanks Roy

Very interesting, I’ve learnt something new.

You can use a sharpie marker also. When the ink is gone it’s ready, on thin stock. Let it cool then you got aluminum cloth

The pine is clever

Great tip! Roy made an aluminum knife! :-) Thanks for the video...

I have worked with die cast and it's very difficult...I use to work at Briggs and Stratton...The metal is very soft to work with and if your going to try it your tongs will leave the metal marks...

Imagine a damascus aluminum

Shoot. I have a lot of cast scrap risers from home casting projects. Some sheet. But yeah. I've used an angle grinder to cut out a nice katana for my son, now I wanna go out and do this!good stuff my unknown friend!

Thank you

good ideas

me: searching how to forge an aluminum also me: "im not even going to forge anything"

I believe there is a chart (or some sort of description) about the temperatures where pine smokes, ignites, etc in either 'The (new) Edge of the Anvil' (by Jack Andrews) or 'The Art of Blacksmithing' (by Alex Bealer). Or maybe it's ash. I can't check at the moment, as I don't have the books with me.

Wow. Never knew.

Cool.

aluminium is not an alloy, it's an element in the periodic table

Can you forge aluminum Pop tabs from an soda can

Use a non-contact heat gauge

In heavy industry they use electric kilns to maintain a consistent temp that won't melt it. I bet a guy could be productive forging aluminum if he kept several pieces hot in a kiln and cycled them onto the anvil

which type of aluminium series use for the hammer forging process?

You said run a key along it but you didnt explain what to look for after doing that? I can run a key along slot of things.... do u mean the key will mark the aluminum? Or scratch it? Or? I like the idea. Just want to know how u meant to check it?

How about the old magnet test aye?? Car keys can scratch a lot of different metals

Would it work with a gas forge?

Can you use a laser thermometer to read the temperature and at that certain temperature it be good to go? It's a legit question cause I have a laser thermometer.

Is this the same method if you wanna use bronze?

I would think a harbor freight infrared temp gun would be a little more reliable then the ole pine trick

Must take a lot of patience to forge such a thin piece of amonliumin. It draws heat out so fast

Weird, considered this process for a kickstand but can't decide if actually worth it (sure for fun) but really. Thanks would of been better to see it forged into something

Other than being harder to cold forge, are there other aspects (stress, cracks, etc) that favor hot forging?

I'd like to see a forged aluminum sword compared to a casted aluminum sword.

I don't care much for the whole "Jesus" thing, but you make some great blacksmithing videos. I smelted a bunch of aluminum cans into ingots today (ended up with about a pound) and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

Ill let you know the temp i git a lser temp finder

Aluminum is not an alloy. So dont say its a weird alloy

I salvagrd a large(3 lb or so) brass gear from a worn out gearbox once several years ago and mistakenly used the coal forge to heat it toward a more workable state. Pulled it out and tried to hammer it at progressively higher temperatures. Suddenly it collapsed out of the tongs. Took a while to pick it all out of the clinker breaker! 😖

How 'bout a Tempil Stick? I's guess 900F would be about right

Does aluminum ever crumble when its heated? Ive been working this part, (without any specialized tools), managed to turn it to shape, then was trying to braze it to its end component, and the piece disintegrated and crumbled on me. It already cost me a lot making the part up to that point, not in money, but I was maimed during the process. ANd then to see the part that I barely managed to finish crumble away....yup...cant help but feel like somebody is against me.

Aluminums an element fam

Hey, can you forge cans of aluminium, like Kind of damascus?

is this going to be the knife that can never hold an edge

is magnesium non ferros?

By all means, believe in whatever you want to believe in. When you mix your beliefs with your trade though, you're bound to upset or discourage some people. And by all means, feel free to do so, but just don't complain when it happens.

And here I thought you were joking.

rofl you put magnesium into a forge?!?! omg how are you not dead

Aluminium is an element, not an alloy

I would not recommend trying to forge magnesium. It will actually burn if you get it too hot and you cannot put it out with regular methods. It takes a special fire extinguisher. It burns extremely hot also. Very dangerous

aluminium isnt an alloy

Aluminum isnt an alloy

Good vid, but it’s not an alloy

Great stuff but it's, Allah mini um 'not' aloominum 😉

I, Annelies Bakker, agree, believe and declare I am protected and I will progress in Jesus Christ his name and by Jesus Christ his blood, now and forever: amen!