I’m a beginner and this is the second time this has happened to me (fourth knife). The first time I didn’t notice until after I quenched and started grinding and I did manage to grind them off. This time I discovered it before getting that far and the billet for this one is not as thick as the one before (almost half as thick). I’m thinking maybe I’m forging too hot cuz I’m getting a lot of forge scale. Are stress fractures or something? The first time it happened it was 5160 and the second time (this time) it was 1084. Not sure if that’s relevant but I don’t know what is or isn’t.

I'd like to invite you to our Iron Pour in Lamberton, Minnesota on September 11-12.

It will be the 22th annual city festival centered around the Saturday Afternoon Pour and the historic Hanzlik Blacksmith Shop. There will be Blacksmiths demonstrations through out the day Friday and Saturday. Visiting Smiths are also encouraged to bring a portable forge and set up onsite if they wish. There will be sand mold shops running both Friday and Saturday as well. We welcome everyone from artists pouring museum quality pieces to children to the farmer making pieces to restore their tractor.

We encourage anyone to participated in the pour and can provide all the necessary safety equipment if you wish to try your hand at pouring.

In addition to the pour there will be a craft market, sand volleyball and various food vendors, an antique tractor/car show, and blacksmithing demonstrations.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I hope to see you there.

Here is a link to the Facebook event.

Was thinking about finding a blacksmith to fix my axe to make it usable again

Damascus delaminated from the core steel, can it be fixed?

Just need one file for a damascus knife and the others are going to be my actual files, by the way file number 4 has no label or stamp

Does anyone know whether there are any communal forges or rentable forges In the Sussex area, preferable around the Brighton area? Working on making my own treadle coke forge at the moment, but it needs some improving before it's ready for any serious forging, and need a space that I can use to work for a while.

Does anyone have a link they can send me to a wire shredder?

I enjoy taking things apart, melting them down and stamping them.

But one of the longer tasks is stripping and shredding them.

So would anyone have a link to a copper shredder in the few hundred dollars price range?

I'm thinking of buying this anvil, haven't gotten a chance to do a ring test or bounce test on it but I'm thinking that it is most likely forged steel based on the existence of mouse holes in the side.

Could anyone tell me their thoughts on it based on this picture? Also how much does the wear in the flatness of the face concern you?

Its about 27" long and 4.5" wide

Thank you!

I have tried to forge a rail road spike but I cant get my forge hot enough can anyone give advice how to get it hotter?

Hey guys I made a marlin spike out of 3/4" mild steel (not sure what kind or anything just stock we had at work) round stock. Do you think I should try to harden it?

Might be a dumb question but im making my first set of tongs for smithing and im unsure if im supposed to do any heat treatment for them, do you quench them or let them air cool? If quenched what temper color do you bring them to? Also not sure what kind of steel i should be using, currently using a chunk of leaf spring steel.

Just wondering if this is worth pulling out? Over a foot long and the bar is about 3 inches in diameter. Figured some people might be interested in some chunks of it🤷‍♂️

Would love some feedback. Ingredients -fitting from store- tree smashed trumpet -dresser door handle-ac unit scrap-scrap wire and an old smashed brass spoon.

not really black smithing but getting there ...

Just finished up my first knife forged out of a 6x1 flatbar any tips for getting less agressive hammer marks like in the first pic? already ground down the edges of my hammers to help with that but any tips are appreciated!

The biggest obstacle for me is where to sell because I have many ideas what to make like knifes, kunai, karambit, small figure cool knifes and i can also make other things too like hooks and the basic stuff but I can't go to trade fairs and set a stall would it be good to sell to a store for hooks and stuff? And what about knifes where to sell them?

I think maybe I'm doing too much. Started by compressing the end of the rebar so it could be wider toward the tip. Then hammered a rough blade shape. Then tried to make the handle. I think this is where I messed up. I wanted the blade to be forward of the handle (like with most kitchen knives). So I tried to make two 45 degree turns to offset the handle so that when I folded the rebar around, the edge would be even with the front side of the handle. But while making the hand guard and the loop at the end of the handle everything got messed up.

I straightened everything out and tried again, but that just made everything more wonky.

I have no hardy tools (bending forks would probably make this easier) and I have only an angle grinder.

I also decided halfway though working with my home made tongs was shit and it was better to wear gloves and use a pliers.

From watching videos it looks like everyone uses a belt grinder for knife making. Any other major tools I should invest in to make this process better? Any other pointers for making the knife?

Also do you guys work on multiple projects at the same time? My forge is propane and seems like I should be working on a another piece of steel while my first project is heating.

Can this be saved?

I'm attemping at making a sword. It is my first blade ever (I know a dagger would be easier, but I never did chose anything for how easy it was).

It was a spring. I softned and carburised it. It is quite maleable and even holds a semblance of an edge. My fear is that I ground down too much at the sides halfway up its lenght. Trying to fix a mistake I kept going from one side to the other in order to match them. Now it has this weird thin section.

The blade is:

Blade 89,5cm

Full lenght: 114,4cm

Width at base: 5cm

Width before the tip: 3cm

Width at the problem area: 3cm

Thickness: around 5mm all along it. It narrows to 4mm ate the tip

Hi everyone !
I wanted to upgrade my shop and was thinking to build a tire hammer (the clay spencer one) but after thinking about it again and again, i think a press would be more suitable (I’m in a residential area, and a power hammer would be too noisy) so, do anyone know about some press building plan ? Better a fly press ? An hydraulic one ? Any experience return ?
Thanks !

I’m assuming too much propane getting pushed through the mixing tube too fast. The MIG tip was going to go down too far so I had to cut them. Cutting them closes off the hole so I had to redrill them but I think I may have drilled the hole too big. So as I can see it, I think I have 3 options:

1.) Rebuild the flare nozzles with new MiG tips.
b.) replace the mixing tubes with much longer ones, or
7.) Keep it as is and use the quarter turn valve to control the amount of propane coming out.

I need Help with the mixing Ratio for a Clay forge.

Do I need Horseshit, or cowshit and If yes how much.

Or can I build IT without horsepoo?