John- You already have 100s, if not 1000s of apprentices. You just don't have to watch them fumble in *your* shop. As a novice, I watch what you do and what you say, take it to my anvil, and sure enough, I have learned something. Thank you for your contributions. You have taught many by bringing your knowledge to a broadly-accessible platform.

My first forge was a side-blast "box of dirt" with an iron pipe tuyere. I used mud to form the fire pot. Clinker would permently attach itself around the opening where the iron pipe was - breaking it off would break off pieces of the fire pot around the pipe. I also tried brick (regular red brick, soft fire brick, and hard fire brick). The same result would occur, clinker sticking to the brick around the tuyere, though not as bad with the hard fire brick. The soft bricks were rated at high temperature, the hard bricks use for propane forges. Since the bricks are refractory, I'd think the same thing might happen with refractory cement. If it were me, I would experiment with a temporary setup and a small amount of refractory on a side-blast setting to make sure clinker doesn't stick to it.

This seems to be a great way to teach us how to do the little things that we all need to know but sometimes overlook. Please Keep the Q&A going!

Love these Q&A's i personally could watch an hour long Q&A love the questions and sometimes you find info you didn't even know you were looking for

The first question I believe he was talking about Clickspring. He uses boric acid alcohol slurry for clock parts to keep the scale off small parts.

John If a person wants to speed up the learning curve… “Ask a person that has experience in that field…” Knowledge with wisdom is power.. But you need to be a good student !! Great stuff, sharing your wisdoms This is what Legacy is about!!! Thank you

not blacksmithing, yet, but enjoy learning. It helps me understand why crafted items cost more than stuff machine manufactured

My mother has quilted for over 60 years. She now quilts with cnc machines. She is 87 years young...

My mother’s brother was a blacksmith in England starting in the 1950’s. He work as Ferrier for an all girls private school and later made custom gates. Unfortunately being in the USA, I never got to see his work.

Great advice! I set up and actively smith at a local flea market , I'm retired ,so I have the time . A local blade smith approached me about selling a few of his knives through my shop, since he didn't have time to work the flea market ; we worked out the details and it has been a good fit since I don't make knives. If you find a flea market that has grafters, you may be able to work something out with one of them. Also , a local country store may take some items and sell them for you , just need to work out the % details . I hope this helps the individual that seeking advise on how to support his hobby and propane consumption.

I’m also part of the switzer family and my great grandfather was a blacksmith and grandfather was also but ended his work career making barrels

I built a side-blast (and side-draft) forge last year, with water cooled tuyere, which works very well. I used stainless for the tuy and bosh because I didn't want to be replacing it every few years. Previously I had a sacrificial tuyere which was just made out of a thick bit of bar, which also worked fine, it lasted me a couple of years before it burnt back too far too use. In terms of clinker, it tends to build up below and around the sides of the tuyere. I just hook it out with a rake every couple of hours or so, it doesn't seem any more of a problem than it is with a bottom draft.

a technique I learned to prevent scaling I learned from J. Neilson on an episode of Challenge The Judges he uses this powder to prevent stalling during the quench. Its called PBC Ainti-Scaling Compound. I've had it myself for about 2 years but haven't used it yet. worked great for him though.

That was cool John. You're a great producer. Whether it's blacksmith videos, general interest content, or advice, you're always a 'go-to' for a great video.

all 50 of these comments are so positive and heartwarming. im proud of theses smiths and im proud of you John!

You should always take photos with a grain of salt. They were adding and removing people and objects from photos in the late 1800s. It was significantly more difficult. But it's definitely possible through sandwiching of negatives, masking, multiple exposures, etc.

I only attend one or two fairs a year. I sell a few things, but more importantly it gets my name out there. This year I am featuring a friend’s bowls turned from burls. The bowls will help me display my work, and it gives my friend a chance to sell some bowls.

I will be looking forward to next Wednesday I wish we were neighbors I would like to drink a couple beers with you and listen to some of your stories

Thank you for answering my question. I hope that you're aware of how many people you've helped and inspired over the years. Thank you for that as well. I was thinking about using it to reduce the amount clean-up needed after quenching, but your example about preserving detail is more interesting. If I get to try it, I'll report back with the results.

Another possibility for sales would be a resale shop, if a person has one in their area. Most charge a flat fee or a percentage but you don't have to be there. Also some business cards left there might drum up some sales.

John, how about sharing some content creators or blacksmiths / books that you look to for inspiration. Love your channel, keep up the great content.

You are awesome! i would love a video describing all the potential problems and solutions to forge welding. I still am having far more successes that failures and would really appreciated a problem solving video. Thanks!

This video made my day. Thank you for sharing about your family John.

Thanks for sharing with us John, enjoyed the video and Q&A session. Fred.

the best advise is to have a passion to want to do something not to do it casue it looks cool!

I think that is awesome about what your wife does with the weaving ect.. for me that was the highlight of your video not that the rest was less it wasn’t. It just made me happy to hear.😁

Always like to learn, even if it doesn't pertain to me today keeping it in the back of my mind is just an extra tool in the toolbox

I use a side blast forge that I built. It is made from a large truck wheel that I lined with fire brick to form a channel and I use stainless steel pipe for the air inlet.no water cooling it works great no problems

My Dad's dad worked on the railroad in Pennsylvania forging tools he needed ,My dad worked in a steel mill. And had wheel rights,tin smith's Staind glass workers in the family. My Mother's family from Pennsylvania Switzer did sewing,knitting, quilt-making,cooking.

greate video as allways thank you for the greate awnser

Great idea doing these. Thank you

Lots of good information, i like this q and a, I think we all have questions we'd like answers to, thanks.

Your question on ring forming. Our guild was contracted to make several Poinsettia trees, the framework. We used a Husfield Bender, to make about 200, 9" rings out of 1/8 x 1 bar stock. Would this still be considered a blacksmith tool, it sure saved us a lot of time? Thanks John 👍🔥⚒

I like the format and length. Keep up the great work.

Love the video! Thanks

That's one impressive vice.

Awesome, thanks for answering my question! I'm excited to maybe see a full video on it! You also mentioned you don't want an "apprentice", how do you feel about folks that live kinda near you to schedule a visit and talk and/or hang out with you while you do your blacksmithing?

Rocky Mouton Smiths RMS Forge Fact is a wonderful little Magazine. You may need to belong to RMS to get Forge Facts

What would be a recommended belt grinder? Ideally budget minded.

Definitely enjoy this kind of video. But you haven't made a video I haven't liked yet lol. Take it easy.

What page did you ask people to give you questions on? You mentioned a community page or something like that, but I couldn't find it when I did a search.

Do you ever conduct training classes? That would generate revenue. My brother and I attended a 2-day (expensive) introductory class which I enjoyed. However, living in south Texas is not conducive to the blacksmithing hobby. I enjoy your videos anyway.

I like it

Hey if it let's us watch and listen to you more john then I'm all in and so at my dogs. And no it is not a joke my dogs know your voice the sound of an anvil and my one dog that passed knew the sound of your foot steps in the snow, she would zoom stright to her chair and fall asleep sitting up to BlackBear Forge

Good morning

I am very new in blacksmithing and I was wondering what is the purpose of hitting the anvil after working the metal? Thanks

For larger stuff you have the stainless steel foil that you wrap the item in to avoid oxidation.

I’m currently in the process of doing blacksmithing full time myself. Big question I have is in regard to propane. Where I live I cannot use a coal forge because the fumes are considered a nuisance to nearby neighbors. I cannot fit a 100 pound propane tank in my vehicle and transport it legally. Would a 40 pound tank be sufficient for forging with a double burner forge?

Thank you for answering so many questions! 🙂 I am looking for a propane forge for forge welding. I've tried out a cheap product (Vevor), played with different things like propane and air supply as well as door size. But it doesn't develop high temperatures, just a red heat. Now I want to invest in a product that would work. I live in Austria, and I know Schmiedeglut had a good forge, but unfortunately, they don't sell it anymore. Did you have experience with or heard of a product shipped from Europe? If not, what products would you recommend from elsewhere?

I haven't found it looking back through the years but I'd love to hear about how you started to learn blacksmithing.

Nowadays you can't trust ANY photography (or even a video) . There is a revolution going on with AI. E.g. it can upscale pictures without making the them ugly but makes them better. It can process old negatives and the result is like a digital photography - well, most of the time ;-) . All known rules for picture processing have to be written new I think ...

I really like your work and content but there's really not a lot of blacksmiths out there that are able to sell their work and make a decent profit. The market is over saturated and most have to resort to spending more time making KZfaq videos discussing and showing their work to hopefully gain enough popularity to the point where they can start to sell at a decent rate. Couple that with that fact that most things blacksmiths make are now made overseas in Asian Countries by people making slave wages in factories and then sold at Walmart and it's apparant why the blacksmith has nearly gone the way of the Dodo. It won't be long before many other crafts are considered non essential and don't provide meaningful employment to many people due to the emergence of AI, 3D printers, AI paired with CAD, and automated machining which has been around for some time now. Don't be surprised if you see 3D printers capable of forging in the near future. Most people just don't value handy work anymore. Right now it looks like writers are next on the chopping block. The mindset of most consumers is why spend $100+ on a hand forged hammer when they can buy one for $10 at HF? The same mindset applies to nearly everything most blacksmiths produce and this mindset is extending out to all crafts and trades and not just blacksmithing.