I have tried to select classes from people who make good art themselves, or are exceptional in some other capacity. I did this by examining the galleries and portfolios of the instructors who work in smaller shops, and by looking at reviews for the businesses that do blacksmithing classes as their primary source of revenue. 

These lists of classes are hard to maintain, as when people close up shop they don’t exactly reach out to random bloggers to let them know that they no longer teach classes. If you find that one of the classes below are no longer being taught, reach out and let me know at GallivantingCraftsman@instructor.net

1) Shadowhawk Blades

• Type: blacksmithing, knifemaking
• Classes: Private, 1-3 people classes taking place for 1 or 2 days
• Price: $150-$600
• Website: http://www.shadowhawkblades.com/
• Telephone: 903-342-0217
• Email:  TarnShadowhawk@yahoo.com
• Location: 907 Sherrill St Winnsboro, TX 75494

Shadowhawk blades is located in Northeast Texas, 90 minutes from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. More specifically, it is in Winnsboro, about 50 miles north of Tyler. It is operated by a fellow named Charles. Charles specializes in custom-made cutlery, historical sword reproduction, introductory blacksmith training, and historic blacksmithing demonstrations at festivals in the region.

What’s most interesting about Charles, is that he approaches his blacksmithing with a martial background. He has 30+ years of experience in Escrima blade fighting, and is a fourth degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate. His experience in martial arts influences is design style when creating new blades.

As to the classes, he offers a general blacksmithing class, a general knife class, a class where you make a knife out of a railroad spike, and a class where you make a karambit.

In the general blacksmithing class, you will make a number of small implements such as drawer pulls,  grill tools, and decorative items while learning the fundamentals of forge work.

In the general knife class, you will make a single edge knife that is 6” or under. Handle material is your choice, as long as there are no metal fittings. You are allowed to have your own design ready.

The primitive  railroad spike class will have you forging a knife out of a railroad spike.

The karambit class is interesting, as a karambit is a traditional Filipino hand scythe used for harvesting rice. Karambits are commonly used in modern Filipino martial arts.

2) Cooper’s Forge

• Type: Knifemaking, Blacksmithing
• Classes: Small group, 2 day classes
• Price: $475
• Website: https://coopersforge.com/
• Telephone: 210-915-0472
• Email: j.ccooper@yahoo.com
• Location: 428 Arbor Pl, San Antonio, TX 78207

Coopers forge is operated by another fellow named Charles. Charles is a skilled craftsman with a wonderful portfolio of work in a wide range of projects under his belt. To get an idea of his skill, you can check out his website and see examples of his work in hardware, furniture, decorations, railing & gates, and knives. Charles has studied under some of the biggest names in the United States blacksmithing scene.

He offers two day blacksmithing and knife making classes that are offered most weekends and feature a small class size allowing you to get detailed instruction. He offers separate classes for traditional steel knifemaking and damascus knifemaking, so you can focus on your personal interests.

All materials are provided, so you can focus 100% on the skills being taught in class!

3) Steephollow Forgeworks

• Type: Blacksmithing
• Classes: Small group, all day classes, annual demonstrations and guest classes
• Price:  $175
• Website: http://www.steepforge.com/
• Telephone: 979-776-2864
• Location: 7286 Mesco Drive Bryan, Texas 77808

Classes are taught by Jeff Lee, an expert smith with decades of experience. He teaches an excellent beginner blacksmithing class that focuses on basic techniques such as: holding the hammer, standing at the anvil, and swinging the hammer. This class also goes over more advance techniques such as: long and short tapers, two-sided tapers, slitting, drifting, and chisel work.

You will use these techniques to make leaf shapes and a horse-head bottle opener. Material will be provided, and you will have a one hour break for lunch.

These classes last from 8am-5om.

In addition to the beginner classes, Steephollow Forgeworks also hosts annual blacksmithing demonstration & metal arts exhibitions, where they feature guests that give demonstrations in addition to providing space for various blacksmithing vendors.

4) Heritage Forge

• Type: Blacksmithing
• Classes: Small group 1, 2, 3, and 6 day classes
• Price: $250-1,290
• Website: https://www.homesteadheritageforge.com/
• Telephone: 254-230-2226
• Location: Heritage Forge 608 Dry Creek Rd. Waco, TX  76705

Heritage forge was founded in the mid 1980’s by master blacksmith Caleb Nolen. They build their current shop in 1996, and have been making tools,knives,home furnishings for several decades now.

Caleb began learning how to blacksmith at the young age of 14. He has studied under several renowned blacksmiths including Tsur Sadan from Israel and the Granfor Bruks forge in Sweden. He is an instructor for the plowshare institute.

Heritage forge has multiple class offerings, including blacksmithing I, blacksmithing II, advanced forging techniques, and workshops on making tongs or making a laminated steel axe.

Blacksmithing I requires no prior blacksmithing knowledge of skills. In blacksmithing I and blacksmithing II you will learn the basics of starting and maintaining a coal fire, hammering techniques, basics of metallurgy, and more.

Caleb has a particular interest in the history of blacksmithing, and the fundamental role that the blacksmith played in agrarian societies prior to the industrial revolution. This perspective makes him a unique and valuable instructor, especially for those with similar interests.

5) Pioneer Farms

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing
• Classes: Small group, all-day and evening classes available
• Price: $75-$700
• Website: https://www.pioneerfarms.org/shop-workshops-seminars?category=Blacksmithing
• Telephone: 512-837-1215
• Email: INFO@PIONEERFARMS.ORG
• Location: Pioneer Farms 10621 Pioneer Farms Dr Austin, TX 78754

Pioneer Farms styles itself as a “living history museum” that interprets and preserves the histories and cultures of central Texas during the 19th century.

As a living history museum, they offer workshops and classes on all sorts of pre industrial crafts such as blacksmithing, ceramics, leatherworking, textiles, woodworking, and more.

They offer a blacksmithing fundamentals class, which teaches you basic hammer skills, 5 ways to work metal (cutting, drawing, and bending), identification of scrap metals, and a first project. You will learn these things over the course of two 5 hour days.

If you are interested in the other crafts taught at Pioneer farms, you can bundle your classes and get a discount.

6) Old City Park Dallas

• Type: Blacksmithing 
• Classes: Private, small group, weekdays, weekends, full day, mornings, afternoons, 1-2 day sessions
• Price: $130-$250
• Website: https://oldcityparkdallas.org/programs/blacksmithing/
• Telephone: (214) 421-5141
• Location: 1515 S. Harwood St. Dallas, Texas 75215-1273

Old city Park is the location of the largest collection of 19th century pioneer homes and commercial buildings in Texas.

These buildings are part of a 20 acre lot and are the setting for a living history Museum, designed to show you what life was like over 100 years ago for every day Texans.

As a part of this living history Museum, old city Park offers two different blacksmithing classes: Frontier blacksmithing (Two consecutive Saturdays), and Pioneer Blacksmithing (one day).

In the frontier blacksmithing class you will learn all the fundamentals of blacksmithing, including: building a coal fire, discovering the difference between different types of steel, how to make a nail header, nails, a high carbon steel punch, and a pair of tongs without modern tools. Class sizes are kept small to maximize the amount of instruction and attention that you receive from the experienced blacksmith teaching the class. This class is geared towards complete beginners.

Pioneer blacksmithing class is designed to give you a more condensed introduction to blacksmithing, which makes it great for people with busy schedules. In this class you will learn the fundamental skills of blacksmithing, and will be introduced to basic smithing techniques. Using these techniques in the coal-fired forage, students will make a number of different decorative pieces such as a hanging hook or nail. Once again there’s an emphasis on keeping class sizes small.

7) George Ranch Historical Park

• Type: Blacksmithing 
• Classes: Small group, weekends, full day, mornings, afternoons
• Price: $200
• Website: https://www.georgeranch.org/programs-events/blacksmithing-workshops/
• Telephone: (281) 343-0218
• Location: 10215 FM 762 Rd, Richmond, TX (~30 miles southwest of downtown Houston)

The George Ranch Historical Park is an internationally recognized living history site located on a 20,000+  acre working ranch just 30 miles southwest of downtown Houston. This park Seeks to educate the public on the everyday family life of frontier people from the days of frontier Texas, to the World War II era.

As a component of this education, the George Ranch Historical Park offers two blacksmithing classes:Traditional blacksmithing skills I, and Traditional Blacksmithing Skills II.

The first class is geared for beginners with no metalworking experience. This semi-private blacksmithing class will teach students about blacksmithing safety, blacksmithing equipment, and blacksmithing techniques such as: drawing out, twisting, forged welding, punching, and scrollwork. As a part of this course, students will finish items that they will be able to take home with them after class. This class lasts from 9 AM to 4 PM, and has a maximum number of participants of four.

The second class is a continuation of the first class. Topics covered in the second class include: Forge use and care, heat treating, annealing, quenching, normalization, and tempering. Like the first class, students will make a project to take home. This class also lasts from 9 AM to 4 PM. And like the first class, it sticks to the philosophy that a smaller class size is better, and limits the maximum number of participants to four.

8) Balcones Forge 

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing
• Classes: Small group, weekends, full day, mornings, afternoons, demonstrations, conferences, monthly meetings 
• Price: $20
• Website: http://www.balconesforge.org/
• Telephone: 210-216-1926
• Location: Dime Box, Texas 77853

Balcones Forge is a non-profit organization and an affiliate of the Artist-Blacksmiths Association of North America (ABANA).This organization facilitates interactions between professional and hobbyist blacksmiths through monthly meetings and special events.

They also give you access to an extensive library of books and videos. Balcones Forge seeks to educate the public about blacksmithing by giving demonstrations at many Central Texas events.

Members of this organization have done demonstrations at many events such as:Pioneer days, Founder’s Day in Fredericksburg, The WurstfestSchool Days, The Folk Fest in new Braunfels, The Texas Natural and Western Swing Festival in San Marcos, the Zuker Botanical Garden in Austin, the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, and the Mission Espada in San Antonio.

In addition to these demonstrations, Balcones forge members occasionally host blacksmithing classes. The current class is a class on knife making taught by instructor Tim Tellander.

These classes By Tim are taught on a one-on-one basis at his forge in Bulverde Texas, and take place in 2, 10 hour sessions spread out over two days.

9) Volundr Forge

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing
• Classes: Small group, 4 hours, evenings, weekdays, open forge 
• Price: $40-$150
• Website: https://volundrforge.com/
• Telephone: N/A
• Location: 4223 S Presa St, San Antonio, TX 78223

Volundr Forge is owned and operated by J. Alex Ruiz, a Forged in Fire champion who has been forging since 2015, after purchasing an anvil in an estate sale.

His classes are located at the South Texas Association the Blacksmiths headquarters and can be tailored to people of all skill levels. Ruiz’s Intro to blacksmithing class focuses on the basics of the crafts and allow students to create a project that encapsulates all they learn in class.

All materials and tools are included in the cost of the class.

They also do something very cool, which is they host open forge nights. These open forge nights allow experienced blacksmiths and new blacksmiths to interact while working on small projects. The instructors are available during open forge nights, and will answer any questions and provide feedback and help on projects.

This combination of classes and open Forge Nights provides a unique opportunity for blacksmiths living in central Texas. The blacksmithing community is a fairly small one, so meeting other blacksmiths in your area will open up many doors for you. I wish more organizations did open Forge nights.

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If you are looking to take classes in western washington, you have many options along all the major population centers.

If you are looking to take classes in central washington, I’m afraid there are not too many options, and your best bet will be to go east to Spokane, or west to whichever class is nearest you.

If you do have to travel to see one of these educators, it may be worth mentioning that fact to them, as many are accommodating to traveling smiths.

I have tried to select classes from people who make good art themselves, or are exceptional in some other capacity. I did this by examining the galleries and portfolios of the instructors who work in smaller shops, and by looking at reviews for the businesses that do blacksmithing classes as their primary source of revenue. 

These lists of classes are hard to maintain, as when people close up shop they don’t exactly reach out to random bloggers to let them know that they no longer teach classes. If you find that one of the classes below are no longer being taught, reach out and let me know at GallivantingCraftsman@instructor.net

Whether you are looking for “blacksmithing as an experience”, or for hands-on instruction from a skilled craftsman, you will find what you are looking for below.

List of Blacksmithing & Bladesmithing Classes in Washington State 2022 [Current]

1) Lawless Forge

• Classes: Classes focusing on creating a specific finished product, public, private, and corporate
• Price: $40 for kids, $80-$240 for adults
• Website: https://lawlessforge.com/
• Telephone: (206) 552-8341
• Email: info@lawlessforge.com
• Location: 3600 Marginal Way S Seattle, WA 98134
• Hours: 9am-9pm

Lawless forge stands out from other blacksmithing classes due to its organizational ability and variety of offerings. They offer everything from 1 on 1 private classes, professionally done corporate outings, and everything in between. Their group rates are cheaper the more people you bring, making it a great group activity for co-workers or family. They also offer public classes, which allow you to show up solo for a cheaper rate than you would otherwise get.

They have incredible online reviews. As of the time of this writing, they have a 5 star rating, and over 500 reviews on google reviews. They have a 5 star rating on yelp, with over 150 reviews, and have a 5 star rating on facebook with thousands of check ins and followers.

Most of their classes are focused on helping you walk out of the class with a unique hand crafted item such as damascus steel ring, bottle opener, or knife. This allows you to learn new skills and walk away with a one of a kind item in a short 3 hour class.

As  I alluded to earlier, these folks run a more organized and professional outfit than you will find in most places, they are worth checking out if you are in the Seattle area!

2) Red Troll Forge

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing
• Classes: Private classes arranged on an individual basis
• Price: $250 for individuals, $400 for 2-4 students
• Website: http://www.redtrollforge.com/
• Telephone: (360) 921-3804
• Location: PO Box 87313 Vancouver, WA 98687

Classes are taught by Nick Marcelija, a champion of History Channels Forged In fire. He is an expert blacksmith and bladesmith, and will provide some of the best lessons in blacksmithing available in the southwest region of Washington.

He offers a number of classes such as: a class on blacksmithing basics, an axe class, a knife blade class, a class on knife handles, and finally a class all about damascus.

He covers a number of techniques such as punching, drifting, bar folding, flattening, tapering, drawing out, upsetting, bending, splitting, twisting, riveting, and punching.

He also covers forge construction, anvil selection, and hammers. To find out which techniques are taught in which class, check out his website!

3) Fire Horse Forge

• Type: Bladesmithing, Blacksmithing
• Classes: public, private classes available for beginner through advanced students. Classes take place over 2-3 days.
• Price: $535-$975
• Website: https://www.firehorseforge.co/
• Telephone: (206) 229-6008
• Email: firehorseforge@gmail.com
• Location: 1415 NW 49th St Ballard, WA 98107

Fire Horse Forge is the brainchild of a fellow named David. Growing up, David’s parents once told him that he was “from a different time”, so it only seems natural that he would one day stumble into the art of hand forging works of art.

It was a gradual process, he began working with jewelry and metal at the age of 15. He transitioned to forging gradually after taking a sculpture course in college in 1982. He began forging full time in 1992, roughly 4 years later, and has never looked back.

David is a skilled craftsman, and has done many ornate and beautiful private commissions over the years, to get an idea what he is about, check out the pictures at the bottom of his about page: https://www.firehorseforge.co/about-david

David offers a number of classes on knifemaking. These classes include making a “brut de forge” style blade, a chef’s knife, and a damascus chef knife.

These classes run 2-3 days, 9am-5pm. They are very in-depth, and done in small groups, making them great for people with investigative personalities who want to understand everything that they are making in detail. 

In these classes he goes over: ergonomics and stance, efficiency at the anvil, forging, heat treating, handle preparation, grinding, final assembly, design and layout, differential heat treating, grinding, handle selection, profiling, and edge geometry.

4) Thorne Metals Studio

• Type: Blacksmithing
• Classes: Individual and group classes available
• Price: $200 for groups, $400 for individual students
• Website: https://www.thornemetals.com/#home-section
• Telephone: (360) 293-8257
• Location: 13751 Daybreak Ln Anacortes, WA 98221

Thorne metals sudio is owned and operated by Paul Thorne, a blacksmith with a truly BEAUTIFUL portfolio of work. I highly recommend you go to his website and check out his “portfolio tab” as it will not only bolster his credibility as a craftsman and teacher, but will also provide inspiration as to what is possible with your own future projects.

Paul teaches 3 different classes. Those classes are “introduction to blacksmithing”, “blacksmith tong making”, and a catchall “Specialty Classes”.

In “introduction to blacksmithing”, he focuses on how to make your own custom tools. He places special emphasis on the fundamentals of tool design, function, heat, force, tooling, and the iron itself. Using this knowledge, you will forge your own shepherd’s knife along with other basic tools. This class provides a solid foundation and is required for follow on group and private classes.

The next class is called “Blacksmith tong making”. In this class you will go into great detail on all things tongs. You will learn how to improve the tong jaws, joint and reins design, forging, assembly and fit, flat jaw, box jat, flat bar, pick-up, and other tong types will be addressed. Other topics include tong handling, size, material, forging style, and history.

Finally he teaches specialty classes. These can vary and depend on his availability and a supply of willing students.

5) The Old West Forge School of Blacksmithing

• Type: Blacksmithing
• Classes: Small group classes
• Price: $415 per class
• Website: http://www.oldwestforge.com/
• Telephone: (509) 493-4418
• Email: Tim@OldWestForge.com   
• Location: White Salmon, WA

Old West forge is located on Tim and Holly Middaugh’s farm in Klickitat County north of White Salmon Washington. It is here at the base of Mt. adams that you will learn forgecraft in classes that last for 3 days from 8am-4:30pm.

They offer a number of different classes aiming to instruct smiths of all skill levels. Their “beginning blacksmithing I & II” classes will you teach you the fundamentals of heat-treating, punching,drifting,tapering,drawing out, mortis and tenon joints, collars, scrolls, project layouts, and tongs. These courses are sequential, and completion of the first class is required for the second class.

They also offer “Intermediate blacksmithing I, II, and III. These classes build on the techniques taught in the first two classes, and will have you making freestanding lamps, fireplace sets, more complex tongs, garden gate components, in addition to studying mortise and tenon joints, slitting, and drifting to a further degree of detail.

Finally they offer the class “ Wizards, Cowboys, and Dragon heads”, this in my view is the coolest classes, as it focuses on forging heads out of steel. This is very difficult to do well, and it’s worthwhile learning the techniques taught in this class.

6) Kempf Forge

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing 
• Classes: small group, private, full day, half day 
• Price: $60-$100 per hour 
• Website: https://kempfforge.com 
• Telephone: (360) 957-8087
• Location: Shelton, WA

These classes are taught by Ethan Kempf, a bladesmith who has been forging professionally since 2015. He is self taught, has a very successful online store selling knives, and is a Forged in Fire champion.

He teaches a number of classes in his forge, which is located in Shelton Washington roughly 30 minutes northwest of Olympia, Washington.

He has two primary classes.

The first is a “basic forging” class which lasts about 4 hours. During those 4 hours you will go over tapering, rounding, points, upsetting, hooks, loops, triangles, brackets, wands ,punching and drifting holes, making spatulas and BBQ forks, and much more.

His second kind of class focuses solely on blades. He leaves it up to you to decide what you want to work on. In the past he has helped people make axes, battle knives, chef’s knives, hunting knives, and even everyday carry knives. He generally tries to get the project done in one day.

Classes are by arrangement only, and he expects payment after the course is over, preferably in cash.

Ethan is an incredibly skilled bladesmith, I recommend everyone check out his instagram as he has some truly spectacular blades. He makes everything from practical everyday blades, to blades that look like they belong in a fantasy RPG or a Cthulhu sacrificial ritual. I’m a fan, seriously.-

7) Morgan Jade Ironworks and Forge (Eastern Washington)

• Classes: small group, full day, two days 
• Price: $400-$9,900
• Website: http://www.morganjadeironworks.com/
• Telephone: (509) 413-9727
• Email: david@morganjadeironworks.com
• Location: 2403 E Euclid, Spokane WA 99207

These classes are taught by a fellow named David Kaily, who makes some absolutely breathtaking railings and gates – take a minute to check out his gallery if you can. 

Having been exposed to smithing at a young age, David felt drawn to smith work, and took a class in 2011 to expand his abilities. Having fully caught the smithing bug, he has spent his time since then making commission art projects, railings, and gates.

David, through his company Morganjadeironworks – which I will shorten to MJI from now on – offers both an 8 hr day class for $400, and a 2-4 week blacksmithing school.

The 8 hour classes are customized to your needs, so if you have a special area of interest, they will tailor your day to fit your needs!

The blacksmithing classes last between 2-4 weeks. They are quite spendy, but you get some high quality equipment including a forge, an anvil, a post vise, and a bunch of other blacksmithing tools to go with your education.

If you already have some tooling of your own, you may deduct their expenses from your class tuition.

Are there any blacksmithing classes in the Tri-Cities area of Washington?

I couldn’t find any, your best bet is to go to Spokane and work with the folks at morganjadeironworks. If you know of any classes in the Tri-Cities area, email me GallivantingCraftsman@instructor.net

8) Alderleaf Wilderness College

• Type: Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing 
• Classes: small group, full day, two days 
• Price: $450 
• Website: https://www.wildernesscollege.com 
• Telephone: (360) 793-8709
• Location: College: 18715 299th Ave SE, Monroe, WA 98272  Specific Class: Nordland, WA 

These guys don’t host classes very often, but when they do it’s from the interesting perspective of wilderness survival. They made a knife tailored for bushcraft out of recycled car springs. Students learn all the fundamentals of forging such as heat treatment and tempering their blades. The class was previously taught by Erik Newquist, an expert in tool making.

They may be worth checking out, but I don’t think they are a reliable source of classes.

title image source

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Not too exciting right?

Well, it gets more interesting when you start looking at older anvils, particularly in America. For a good portion of American history, we imported our wrought iron anvils from England. These imported English anvils used a different system of weights known as the “stone” system of weight.

A stone is equal to 14 pounds.

Eight stones is known as a “hundredweight”, which is 112 pounds. A hundredweight is sometimes written as “cwt”.

How to read an anvil measured in stone weight

With the anvil horn pointed right, these numbers are usually written on the face of the anvil. To read these weights, you will do 2 multiplications, add the totals of these two multiplications, and then add the final number to the right. It’s easier than it sounds, so I will walk your through an example.

Example: 2 2 9

The first number indicated the number of hundredweights (112lb). So a 2 in this position would equal 2 x 112 = 224 pounds. Anvils that weigh less than 112 pounds will have a 0 in this position – with some exceptions; there are some really old anvils that were made before 1700 that have no number in this position when the anvil weighed less than 112 pounds.

Just as the left number is a multiple of the number 112, the center number is a multiple of 28. 28 is a quarter of a hundredweight. This number will be a 0,1,2 or 3. It does not go over 3. So a 2 in this position would equal to 28 * 2 = 56lb.

The right number represents any weight under a quarter weight. So you will find a number between 0 and 27 in this position. You don’t have to do any multiplication for this number. In our example above it is 9.

To get the total weight, add 224+56+9= 289lbs.

In expanded form, it’s ( 2 x 112 ) + ( 28 * 2 ) + (9). You don’t need the parenthesis, I added them because I thought it made it easier to understand.

Some anvils will have a period or dot punched between the numbers.

On colonial anvils made before the 1800’s, these numbers were cut with a chisel. Some of these anvils had dots punched between the digits, others did not.

Number punches came into use during the late 1800’s, and these gradually replaced the chisel method of writing the numbers.

While the stone weight system was the most common system used on anvils imported to America from England, not ALL of these anvils use it. There are examples of English anvils using pounds, although it’s not common.

Brooks anvils

Brooks anvils are unusual in that many of their models use a slight variation of the stone weight system described above. Take for example a 500lb anvil.

In the traditional stone weight system, this would be marked as 4 1 24.

Brooks anvils would instead be marked 4 1/2. Roughly read as 4 and one half hundredweights.

Accuracy Of These Numbers

Modern anvils are usually made within 10% of the advertised weight. There is way more variation away from the advertised weight than I would like…with the companies usually delivering anvils lighter than advertised. Which is a shame, as modern manufacturing techniques give the company a great deal of control over how heavy the anvil will be.

Older anvils usually sold pretty close to their inscribed weight, often within a pound or two. The problem is that these anvils are so old, that they tend to shed weight through rust, use, and abuse. Meaning an old anvil will often come well under the weight written on its side.

You really won’t find too many anvils that come in over their advertised weight.

That’s about it. The numbers on the face of the anvil usually represent its weight. This weight is sometimes given in stone weight. There can be a lot of subtle variations of these markings depending on the make/model/year it was made. If you are interested in buying an anvil for youself, check out my guide to buying blacksmithing anvils.

credit for title photo goes to Matthew Dillon on flickr.

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Beginner smiths are easier to shop for, as it is likely they are still missing basic tools and equipment. The only downside to this is that a lot of the basic equipment that goes into a blacksmith shop can be fairly expensive – with some items costing over a hundred dollars. Luckily most tools that a smith uses will last for years or even decades if they are treated with care!

Experienced smiths are harder to shop for, as they likely already have everything they need.In this article I will recommend a few gifts that will hopefully delight even the most experienced and well-equipped smiths.

Christmas Gifts For Beginner Blacksmiths

If a smith is new, he will likely be missing some key supplies. Take a quick skim for the list below and see if there is anything your smith in question will be missing.

1. The cross peen hammer
2. The V-bit tong
3. The anvil
4. The forge
5. Eye protection
6. Ear protection
7. Clothes made out of natural fibers – or a work apron
8. Some bar stock

If you are looking for a more in depth explanation as to why I recommended these specific items, I have a great write up over at 8 essential items for a new blacksmith

Christmas Gifts For Experienced Blacksmiths

Experienced blacksmiths are a little harder to shop for, as they rarely NEED anything to do their work. Don’t worry if this sounds like the person you are shopping for, there are still lots of things you can surprise them with that they will enjoy.

If the person you are shopping for is a trivia oriented person – for example maybe they memorize car models, train models, or are the type of person to know the name of every obscure tool ever made, they will love the book anvils in america. This is the de facto text on anvils in America, there are no books better on the subject. This is also a great book for smiths who frequently go to estate sales, garage sales, and the dump in search of great anvils as it’s a wonderful reference for whatever you might find.

Other great books include:

1. The Pattern-welded Blade: Artistry in Iron (great for knife makers)
2. Thomas Wilson’s Ironwork Notebooks
3. Traditional Ironwork Designs
4. 1100 Decorative French Ironwork Designs

I know what you are thinking by now, this guy is a shill for the blacksmithing book industry! Well let me just say: blacksmithing is too niche to have shills. I am sympathetic to the idea that not everyone will be interested in books. So let’s check out some other great gift ideas for blacksmiths – ideas that do not involve reading : )

Another great option is blacksmith T-Shirts. Which one you should get comes down to the person you are shopping for. They have it all: snarky shirts, patriotic shirts, witty shirts, minimalistic shirts, and everything else you can think of.

If that doesn’t interest you, there are also a lot of great shop signs on amazon that would look great in a shop or garage.

Another good one:

An increasing number of blacksmiths – particularly younger ones – get into blacksmithing through rpg’s and video games. If the person you are shopping for is into D&D or table top games, you could get them a set of blacksmith dice.

If you are buying a gift for a blacksmith that wears jewelry, there are a number of blacksmith necklaces for sale as well.

Blacksmith Paintings

If you didn’t find a sign that fit your needs earlier, there are many great paintings created by talented artists that you can find as well!

Conclusion

While it can be difficult to buy things for a craftsman that prides himself on building everything for himself, it’s not impossible. Hopefully this article gave you some creative ideas for both experts and new blacksmiths alike. Hopefully you will find something that will surprise and delight your gift recipient.

Title image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachaelvoorhees/7290804368/ under the SA 2.0 license

The post Gifts For Blacksmiths – Buy Something Thoughtful and Surprising! appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

Learn how to do it the right way below.

First heat your stock to a nice bright orange/yellow heat.

Then, to draw out your steel correctly, you will want to hammer indents perpendicular to the direction you want to lengthen your steel. Then once you have done that, you flatten out the ridges or you rotate your stock.

It’s really that simple.

You can create these perpendicular dents in a number of ways. The easiest way is to place your stock at a 30-45 degree angle on the edge of the anvil, then strike your hammer at the same angle.Then rotate your stock 90 degrees and strike it again. Rotating 90 degrees after every blow allows you to keep the general shape of your stock better as you draw out your steel.Constant rotation will also help minimize heat loss in your stock, thus increasing your work time. If you are forging a taper, you will want to move your stock slightly so the edge of the anvil moves down the taper after each blow. Using this edge of the anvil method, you can draw it out slower by hitting your hammer flat, or you can draw it out even  faster (by creating a double fuller effect) by using the peen or the edge of your hammer face in addition to the edge of the anvil – just be warned this requires more skill to make it look nice.

I like this method best as it doesn’t require any special tools other than your forge and anvil. You don’t even have to have a proper blacksmith hammer for this method.

You can also use the horn instead of your anvil edge as the bottom die. This works better with very large anvils, as small anvils tend to jump around when you bang on the horn. Using the horn as the bottom die tends to move metal slower, but it is easier to clean up in my opinion.

Another technique for drawing out metal is to use a rounding hammer. Rounding hammers make it very effortless to have a small contact area when drawing metal, this allows you to move steel very quickly with little effort.

Another method for drawing out steel is to place your bar FLAT over the edge of the anvil. Then you will do what is called a half faced blow. A half faced blow is when half your hammer face hits (the stock) over the edge of your anvil, and half hits above the anvil. This creates a shoulder like effect with the piece of stock that remains on the anvil getting flatter and longer.

Finally, you can use a fuller for drawing out steel. There are many different types of fullers, and I won’t go into them in this article. But the general concept is the same.

All those options aside – I go back to the first option. I like using the side of the anvil as I find it’s faster. Try all these techniques, it takes experience to improve your intuition on how to move metal! A big part of getting better as a smith is to get a lot of reps in and to try a lot of different techniques.

Why do we draw out steel in this way? Well imagine if you placed the steel rod flat on the anvil, now imagine you struck it with the full face of the hammer…what happens? The steel flattens in ALL directions. Yes you lengthened it somewhat, but you also squished the steel off to the side. This is inefficient. You will have to constantly flip your stock on it’s side and squish back all the stock that went in the wrong direction.

In addition to this 360 degree squishing, you will also have an enormous contact area when using a flat hammer face on a flat piece of stock on a flat anvil. It’s hard to move metal efficiently with a large contact area as all the force gets dispersed. In short: smaller contact area = quicker movement of metal.

That’s it, now all there is left to do is practice! So get in your shop and practice!

The post How To Efficiently Draw Out Steel Like A Blacksmith appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

For the price range this forge is well built, and in my opinion will make a great starter forge for someone who doesn’t already have a lot of metal working tools. If you can build your own forge that’s great, but that’s not an option for a lot of people and I think this forge is a good stepping stone for people new to the craft.

There are some downsides however. The hells forge double burner propane forge has a lot of the same problems as other propane forges. 

For starters, it’s VERY noisy.

You must also be very careful not to get flux on the ceramic blanket or it will melt it like water on a sugar cube. This is true for all forges made of ceramic wool and is not unique to this model.

There are other issues as well. All propane forges release carbon monoxide, this forge is no different. The manufacturers themselves recommend that you only use this product outside.

It also has one problem that is unique to this product: the burners are positioned directly on top of the forge, and they shoot straight down into the bottom of the forge. Many smiths, especially knife makers, like the burners off at an angle as this creates more of a swirl pattern with the flames as they bounce off the angled side wall. The thinking goes that swirly flames create a more even heat than flames that shoot straight down.

This isn’t really a deal breaker in my opinion, and lots of people – myself included – have successfully made knives using this forge.

The upshot of this design is that you can easily place a hard firebrick at the bottom of the forge directly in front of the flames initial path, this prolongs the life of your coated wool.

My experience with assembly & additional info

The manufacturers apply a rigidizer before shipment. The wool on my forge was slightly crispy and burnt at the point where the red burner pipes entered the shell. I suspect this was from when they cured the rigidizer at the plant.

The forge comes with a container of  HELLCOAT 3000 Refractory Coating to be applied by you. This coating helps contain loose fibers from the blanket and improves the longevity of your forge. These ceramic blankets are not good for your lungs, especially when they start to burn and get crispy, so I applied my coating good and thick.

There are serious occupational risks associated with blacksmithing, I suggest you take potential dangers seriously. To see what I mean, look at this sad thread over on iforgeiron about a 28 year old who ended up needing a lung transplant : https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53239-ceramic-wool-insulation-safety-alert/

But don’t be turned away, just be cautious. There are smiths that have been using propane forges for DECADES without issues. Just remember, the paranoid survive!

I wore a respirator with p100 filters while setting up my forge – but this does not constitute as a safety recommendation. I don’t know enough about these ceramic blankets to know whether that’s sufficient or not, but I do know that when I began to apply my hellcoat 3000 coating A LOT of small fibers were kicked up and were visibly floating in the air. I’m glad I did this upwind outside, and I”m glad I had my respirator on tight.

I also recommend you wear disposable gloves that go at least half way up your forearm while applying the hellcoat mix. Even if you are careful you will get some coating on your hands and arms. It’s not a bad idea to wear clothing you don’t care about as some coating may get on your clothes. I applied the coating to the middle of the forge first, and then worked my way outwards to minimize the gunk that got on my arms. 

I also dusted/hit my clothes with a broom when I was done applying the coat, but I”m a paranoid germaphobe and didn’t want to track refractory dust into the house.

The refractory coating just looks like grey clay.

The instructions say to mix your coating until it is the consistency of a thick smoothie. I did this and it applied fairly easy, but I had a hard time filling gaps that would form every time the ceramic blanket had a change in the shape of its folds.These folds squished around every time I applied more of the mix, so I”m glad that they give you A LOT of hellcat 3000. I think if I had made the last ⅕ of my coating a little runnier, I may have been able to fill in the last few gaps better, but it’s hard to say for certain now that it’s all said and done.

Overall the assembly experience was pretty easy. Putting the different components together was easy. I tested my assembly for leaks with soapy water and found none. The rubber caps they give you for this test are TIGHT by necessity.

My experience curing the Hellcoat 3000

Curing was easy. 

I had issues with a sputtering flame the first time I tried to light the forge – however it was my fault for not reading the instructions thoroughly. The instructions clearly state you need to close the choke to unused burners when lighting…I just got excited and forgot!

Would I Recommend This Forge To A Friend?

Yes. This forge does everything it advertises and is a great forge for people who don’t want to make their own forge.

If someone already has a lot of metal working tools and wants to build their own forge, then they should do that. If someone has lots of strong opinions about what the perfect forge looks like, then they should build their own forge.

For everyone else, I recommend you pick one up here. Too many new smiths spend months dragging their feet and getting stuck in paralysis by analysis. Buy this forge, read the instructions front to back thoroughly, and begin forging.

I have had a lot of fun with this forge, and suspect you will too!

Heat Times

Detailed table coming soon – it heats up steel from a cold start MUCH faster than my solid fuel forge.

How Long does a 20lb tank of propane last with the Hells Forge Propane Forge?

4-6 hours at 20 psi max capacity with both burners, I usually run only one burner at about 50%-75% and this lasts quite a bit longer.

Can the hells forge double burner propane forge forge weld?

Yes. I will post pictures soon.

The post I Tried The Hell’s Forge Double Burner Propane Forge – My Review appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

I will often recommend new smiths begin with a JABOD (just a box of dirt) forge, not because it’s the best forge – it’s actually pretty suboptimal – but because these forges illustrate just how little equipment is needed to begin smithing. These types of forges are quick and easy to make yourself…

But many of you are busy people with day jobs, and while manufacturing your own forge can be fun, it can also seem like an unwanted burden to people who just want to begin hammering iron as soon as possible.

For many new smiths, it can be worthwhile to buy a ready made solution that will allow you to hit the ground running. These pre-built forges will allow you to get some shop time; this shop time will in turn provide valuable information about your own unique preferences and needs while smithing. You can use this feedback to customize or build your own forge to fit your own personal needs.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that it’s a mistake to try and worry about the “perfect forge” when you are new to the craft…you may not even have enough experience to know what you like yet! So don’t overthink it.

Buying a prebuilt forge is a great way to quickly begin your smithing journey.

So which forge should you buy? There are many different types of forges, all of them with unique pro’s and con’s. While there are many different types of forges, I will try and go over some of the most common ones below.

Types Of Blacksmith Forges

There are 3 major types of blacksmiths forges. They are solid fuel forges, gas forges, and induction forges. The vast majority of forges you will see for sale will be one of these 3.

Solid Fuel Forge

The solid fuel forge is the “classic” forge. These forges work by providing air flow to a combustible material such as coal,charcoal, or coke.This type of forge typically consists of a few parts:

Parts Of A Solid Fuel Forge

• A hearth/fire pot to store the fuel
• An air source, this can be a bellow, or any type of electric blower
• A tuyere or pipe that delivers fresh air to the fire
• A gate that allows you to easily dispose of ash and waste byproduct
• Some advance forge designs will have a gate that lets more or less air from the blower, this allows you to more readily control your heat.
• an exhaust hood or some other mechanism for channeling smoke away from your lungs

  

• Most everyday blacksmiths don’t use this, but some more enterprising fellows will have a thermometer of one sort or another on their forge. Choosing the right thermometer is an entire article in itself, so I won’t go into details for now. These tools are useful for maintaining a consistent production environment.
• Some forge designs will have refractory bricks in between the fire and the steel frame in order to prolong the life of the steel frame.

Pro’s Of A Solid Fuel forge

• Easy to make, cheap to buy
• The de facto choice for historical reenactors
• Simple to understand and modify
• Can get to high temperatures easily
• Easy to forge weld with sufficient airflow.
• Can deal with large and unwieldy projects more easily than propane or induction forges
• There are many designs, but all are pretty similar and easy to understand

Con’s Of A Solid Fuel Forge

• It takes a bit of work to make them portable
• Burning fuel is not great for your lungs and can annoy your neighbors
• Can be stinky depending on the fuel source used
• It can take awhile to get the forge going
• The pile of fuel in the fire pot will need to be maintained as you work – some people like this and count it as a pro
• Takes some effort to get long pieces to heat consistently across the stock.

Solid fuel forges are a great way to get started with blacksmithing, it’s how I got started and you really can’t go wrong. If you are looking for an in-depth guide that goes over the pro’s and con’s of all the different types of forge fuels, check out my guide on blacksmith forge fuels

Gas / Propane Forge

While propane forges are not good for historical purposes, they are incredibly practical and great for your average blacksmith who may be stuck in a suburban environment or may not have a lot of workshop space to devote to the craft. Gas forges are easy to setup and put away, are relatively portable, and don’t take up a lot of space in the shop. Once you have your propane forge setup properly, it can provide remarkably consistent heat, which is great for projects requiring more precision. These forges are also much much cleaner than solid fuel forges.

Like anything in life, there are tradeoffs and propane forges do have some downsides. For starters, they are incredibly noisy, and hearing protection is required. It can be difficult to get sloppily built single burner propane forges to welding heat, and they can be a bit fragile. Flux that is the result of regular forge welding work will melt right through the insulation material in most propane forges. If you are not careful you can significantly reduce the lifespan of your forge by being sloppy with flux.

Pro’s of a propane forge

• Clean Compared To Solid Fuel Forges
• Easy To Setup And Put Away
• Consistant Heating Temperature
• Space Efficient
• Can Be Made More Powerful By Adding Additional Burners

Con’s of a propane forge

• Noisy
• Poorly Constructed Propane Forges May Struggle To Reach Welding Heat
• Insulation Material Is Easily Destroyed By Flux
• Insulation Material Is Harmful To The Human Body

Induction Forge

Induction forges are really freaking cool, but they are expensive. An induction forgue heats up metal without touching it through electromagnetic induction. They are nice because they don’t create environmentally harmful byproducts, and they allow you to have much more control over your heating process. This is great for larger production runs as you can have a more consistent manufacturing process and a more consistent product as an end result.

I will review some induction forges later on, but I will focus more on solid fuel forges and gas forges as they are about ½ – ⅓ the price of the cheapest induction forges. I would only recommend one of these forges if you are a business or a very environmentally conscious person.

Pro’s of an induction forge

• Heating up a piece of steel with an induction forge is significantly faster than with a gas or solid fuel forge. You will be able to do more work in less time, and your arms will get bigger as an added bonus : ).
• Much less likely to disturb neighbors, no smoke, no smell, ventilation is much easier to handle.

Con’s of an induction forge

• Big or irregular pieces don’t work well, may not be a great option for artists who routinely do big or unusually shaped pieces.
• Expensive $$$
• Require A Lot Of Technical Knowledge To Modify Safely
• Must have an electrical setup that can support it.

Best Blacksmith Forges For Sale (Review / Guide)

If you are not interested in all the options available and just want my top pick for the best blacksmith forge for sale, my pick would be the hellfire double burner portable propane forge. This forge offers the best bang for the buck and with two burners should be able to handle most of your blacksmithing needs. Unlike solid fuel forges, this forge will be up to working temperature within about 10 minutes, which makes it much easier to do one off projects in the afternoons or on the weekends. This product is easy to assemble and is made with a consistent quality, I mean just look at the reviews!

This forge is capable of reaching 2300 degrees Fahrenheit and comes with a container of HELLCOAT 3000 refractory coating which will ensure longevity under high temperatures. Another thing I like about this particular forge is that it comes with two thick fire bricks for the bottom of your forge. These bricks will help protect your forge from damage, especially from flux and slag.

It’s relatively cheap, easy to assemble, and will get you started on your blacksmithing journey, there really isn’t too much else to say! Get yours -> here.

Best Solid Fuel / Coal Blacksmith Forge For Sale

So if you are looking to buy a solid fuel forge you have 2 options on amazon at the moment. The first is to buy a fire pot and blower separately and then assemble them however you see fit. The second option is to buy a forge that comes with all the parts you need but may not have all the bells and whistles you would like. I will go over both options briefly.

The first option involves buying a firepot, I recommend the 10” x 12” x 5” fire pot manufactured by Simond Store. This is a sturdy firepot weighing in at 44lbs and should last you a good long while. I like this firepot as the ash gate and the tuyere port are already built into the fire pot – some fire pots for sale are JUST the pot, and you have weld other parts onto it….a PITA in my option.

After that all you need is a table for the pot, and a blower. If you want a blower that is sturdy and can withstand the stress of your forge, I recommend the Sunlar 110V 250W electric blacksmith forge blower.  This blower has 4mm thick advanced aluminum material protecting the blower, and will last longer than flimsy plastic blowers.

If you don’t feel like putting all that together and want an easy to assemble solid fuel forge, another great alternative is this forge manufactured by whitlox. 
It ships in 4 boxes, and is pretty easy to setup. The only thing I don’t like about it is that ashe will accumulate during long smithing sessions, and the cleanup will always be a bit of a mess. Other than that it’s a solid forge and has all the pieces you need so you don’t have to shop around for a bunch of disparate pieces.

Best Propane Blacksmith Forge For Sale

I already mentioned the Hell’s forge two burner forge as my top blacksmithing forge pick, but a good runner up is a single burner forge made by the same company.If you are super budget conscious or are absolutely 100% sure that you won’t be working on larger projects, this is a good small propane forge.

It has 1” ceramic fiber blanket on the inside of the forge and comes with an additional refractory paste that is applied by the user. Like the double burner posted above, this forge comes with a thick firebrick at the base of the forge to further protect your insulation blanket.

Best Induction Blacksmith Forge For Sale

I want to admit up front, I have never personally used an induction forge. I think they are cool, and I think I will buy one in the future, but I can’t claim any expertise on the matter (maybe I’ll do a little research and do a write up on them in the future). But they are worth mentioning anyways as they can heat up a piece of stock to a white hot temperature in a VERY short time period. They do this without the headaches involved in burning fuel. I’m coming to believe they are an option that should be taken seriously if you have the money for it.

If you are thinking of buying an induction forge, I would check out this model by happy buy.

Cheap Blacksmith Forge

The cheapest blacksmith forge that I can think of is JABOD forge as was mentioned in the beginning of the article. These forges are super simple to make: just make a big box and cut a hole for your tuyere in the side. Stick one end of a black pipe in that hole after removing the paint on the pipe and then hook it up to an air source. Easy peasy. These forges do however have drawbacks, you can’t drain the ashes easily, they take a lot of work to cleanup, and you will also probably want to make a stand for them. I still think it’s easier to just buy a propane forge as is mentioned above.

Best Portable Blacksmith Forge

Portability is important for blacksmiths that are on the go. Once again I”m going to have to recommend the double burner propane forge from up above. Unless you are doing a competition or something where an even quicker heat up time is necessary, that forge should serve all your needs while being easily portable.

Source for title image

The post No Bullshit Guide To The Best Blacksmith Forges appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

However, it may be difficult to compare the pricing of these spikes with other sources of steel stock. Therefore I did some quick napkin math for you down below:

(note:these figures were done in 2019, and may not stay up to date through time due to inflationary pressures.)

If you buy them online, used railroad spikes cost ROUGHLY (it will fluctuate) $.80/spike to $1.30/spike – this doesn’t include shipping. Buying in bulk will get you a lower per unit price and will generally save you money on shipping.

How much is that per pound of steel? Again it depends on what exactly you buy. In my experience, a 6.5” spike will weight about .76 lbs. 1/.76 = 1.3158 spikes per pound.

For the lower range we can calculate $.80/spike * 1.3158 spike/lb = $1.0526/lb.
For the upper range we can calculate $1.30/spike * 1.3158 spike/lb = $1.71/lb

So if you are an absolute value hound, buying bulk orders of railroad spikes CAN BE marginally cheaper than small orders of steel stock – as small orders generally cost significantly more on a per lb. basis.

However buying bulk orders of mild steel rods and bars is waaaay cheaper on a per lb basis.

So basically bulk orders of railroad spikes can be a money saver for at home hobbyists.

If you are a business and a bulk producer forget it, you can buy higher quality steel at lower prices by buying in bulk.

But this all assumes you are a buyer of rr spikes. If you plan on salvaging or scrapping them, you will basically get a small fraction of the above values. Just be careful, there are a lot of laws concerning railroad equipment. Railroads own the land surrounding the tracks, so if you see spikes that are “discarded” on the side of the tracks, these ARE NOT FREEBIES. Stealing them is equivalent to walking into someones workshop and helping yourself to their stuff, it’s not cool and could get you into a lot of trouble.

But it’s not all price vs quality of the material. There are other benefits to using railroad spikes…

Railroad spikes are often used as stock material by beginning blacksmiths. Used/old railroad spikes can be bought very cheaply, and are often the perfect size for knives and small tools. This allows newbie smiths to

practice their skills cheaply without being excessively burdensome as they don’t need to waste lots of time on stock removal or cutting stock down to size.

In addition, I find that railroad tracks can make great practice stock for practicing various twists.

On a less practical and more artistic note, railroad spikes are a symbol of industry and technological growth. Many metal working artists incorporate railroad spikes into their work as the symbolism of the railroad spike is very powerful…and it looks cool!

Things people make out of railroad spikes:

• Knives
• Bottle Openers
• Axes
• Coat/Hat hangers
• Door Knockers
• And so much more

Now I don’t want to oversell the value of railroad spikes. They ARE NOT the perfect stock material for all projects. In fact they are quite inferior for many purposes such as making punches or chisels or other things that should be made out of higher quality steel.

If you spend time on youtube and pinterest, you will see many projects made out of railroad spikes that would have been better had the creator used a higher quality material…

And this is OK, these creators are just exercising their creativity and playing with the restraints of the material. I just don’t want newcomers to the craft thinking they should use a RR spike for everything. Railroad spikes are good cheap stock material, but don’t use them for absolutely every project or you will slow your progress as a smith and metal worker.

Railroad Spikes For Sale

If you are looking to buy railroad spikes online, US Rail sells them in packages of 25-300 spikes online. As with most things, you will get much better deals if you buy in bulk. The larger sizes are actually pretty economical for new smiths, and can be great practice material.

Remember they come in the perfect size for many hand tools, allowing you to focus on more interesting techniques than stock removal. These will be rusty, and will require some work to remove the surface rust. However rust removal is pretty easy work, and it is good practice for anyone who might one day want to work with antique materials.

If you have even the slightest interest in working with rr spikes, you might as well just satisfy that interest by getting some here.

What Are Railroad Spikes Made Of?

There are standards for this sort of thing. For example, the astm has the A65 standard. Sadly, like all astm standards, it costs a pretty penny unless you get the information through your local library.

If I could just share the facts and figures with you, I would. But I expect they don’t take kindly to random bloggers sharing their information for free. I’m sure there is a process for this sort of thing, but I have no idea what that process is, and frankly I’m too lazy to figure it out at this moment…maybe I will come back and edit this section once I know for sure.

But since I can’t give you official figures, I can share some personal experience. Having run the spark test on many railroad spikes, most spikes, to my eyes, seem to be pretty low carbon. I have occasionally come across some higher carbon spikes, which makes sense, because railroads DO USE several varieties of spikes. But the vast majority of spikes are cheap low carbon steels.

Railroad Spike Art

There is an intangible beauty to railroad spikes, as such they are often used as stock material by artists. I think part of this popularity is due to how many things a railroad spike can represent. It can be a symbol for technological progress, american expansion, or the labour of the everyday blue collar man who originally built the railroads.

Railroad Spikes For Blacksmith’s

I have kind of already touched on this, rr spikes are popular among blacksmiths and blacksmith content creators as they are cheap and about the right size for many small hand held tools. They are not a perfect material but it’s a lot of fun to make tools out of rr spikes and I recommend all aspiring smiths try working with these spikes at least once.

Types Of Railroad Spikes

There are a number of different types of railroad spikes. The two most common are:

1. Dog Spike
2. Screw Spike

Railroad Dog Spike

These are the most common type of railroad spike, and the vast majority of forging art projects are done with this type of railroad spike. They feature a L-shaped head that slopes off slightly.

Railroad Screw Spike

These are the second most common type of railroad spike – although they are not seen as much in the online blacksmithing communities as the dog head spike. These are used to fasten concrete rail sleepers. While there isn’t a lot of variety amongst dog spikes, there are many different types of screw spikes all with small variations in lengths, thread profiles, and drive heads.

Less Common Screw Types

1. Ss series sleeper screw
2. Square head screw spike
3. Hexagon screw spike
4. Double-head screw spike

While I would love to give you an in depth appraisal on all the above screws, I think that’s a bit out of scope for this article. In addition, I’m not really that much of an expert on this kind of thing, most of the info above I

got from http://www.railroadfastenings.com/railroad-spikes.html, a very niche site if I have ever seen one!

Title Image Source

The post How Much Are Railroad Spikes Worth? Are They Worth It? appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

Today I will go over some basic information about punches. What are blacksmithing punches? what is the best steel to use when making a punch? What different types of blacksmith punches are available? How do you use a blacksmith punch? Which blacksmithing punches should a beginner buy?

Before we get to all that, it may be useful to go over some more general information, so that you have a broad understanding of these tools.

What Are Blacksmith Punches Used For?

It’s pretty straightforward to be honest.

1. Punching Holes
   • A hole for fasteners
   • A hole for the eye of an axe or some other tool
2. Decorative Stamp

Steel Selection For Blacksmith Punches

While I sometimes like to pretend I’m the master of all blacksmithing knowledge(joke), I have always been a bit weak when it comes to alloy knowledge and metallurgy. For most projects this isn’t a big deal – as mild steel works for most projects- but I think it matters a fair bit with punches as punches have to endure quite a bit of heat/kinetic abuse.

So to overcome this deficiency, I’m going to try and compile recommendations from other well known blacksmiths on what is the best type of steel for a punch.

John over at the excellent Black Bear Forge recommends the following alloys:

• 4140
• 5160
• S7

4140

4140 is a steel that is alloyed with chromium and molybdenum, as such, it is sometimes referred to as chromoly steel. This steel has a good strength to weight ratio and is harder and stronger than standard steel, making it great for our purposes of creating a blacksmith punch.

Interesting to note, 4140 has significantly less chromium than most stainless steels, hence why we don’t see the same corrosion resistance in 4140 that we see in stainless steel.

According to Metal Super Markets, AISI 4140 steel is composed of .8-1.1% chromium and .75-1% molybdenum.

5160

5160 is another great steel for making blacksmith punches. 5160 has a tensile strength of about
105000psi (source ) vs 95000psi () for the 4140 examined earlier, this make 5170 slightly stronger than 4140.

According to the site linked above, it has about the same hardness as 4140.

S7

S7 is a steel designed with shock-resistance in mind. It does this at the expense of hardness(source). You made be concerned with the drop in hardness compared to the other two steels we discussed, but don’t be. Hardness isn’t as important with punches as it is with cutting tools that have an edge. S7 is a great steel for blacksmith punches.

Sooo Which One Should I Pick?

Any of the above 3 will work fine. Pick one you have experience with if possible. If they are all foreign to you, pick one based on price or ease of access. Really, unless you are doing some highly optimized industrial process, all will work well

Types Of Blacksmith Punches

All blacksmith punches serve a similar purpose in that they are used to create a hole in a piece of stock. I’m going to include drifts and chisels in this list as well as they are used for this purpose too.

Because there are so many custom made punches out there, it’s not possible for me to list every type of punch/chisel/drift in existence. I will go over some of the more popular ones below.

1. Blacksmith Drift
2. Slitting Chisel
3. Slot Punch
4. Square Punch
5. Ball Punch
6. Eye Punch
7. Decorative Punches

Blacksmith Drift

While punches are used to create holes by shearing out unwanted material, drifts are used to further shape the inside of already created holes. Drifts are often used in conjunction with slitting chisels or slot punches.

Blacksmith Slitting Chisel

Slitting is using a chisel to cut a hole in the middle of a piece of stock. Slitting is often used in conjunction with drifts to further shape the hole provided by the slitting chisel. If you ever hear the phrase “slit and drift”, this is the process it’s referring to.

Blacksmith Slot Punch

There is a fair bit of overlap between a slot punch and and a slitting chisel. Colloquially the terms often get used in haphazard ways, so I’m not honestly sure if there is a standardized difference between the two. In my mind, a slot punch is somewhere between a chisel and a normal punch…but this may not be correct.

For a more authoritative source, check out Mark Aspery’s short video on the matter:Source

Blacksmith Square Punch

As the name would suggest, square punches are used for punching out square holes.

Blacksmith Ball Punch

These punches are used to make round dimples or holes in stock.

Blacksmith Eye Punch

Eye punches are used for making inverted dimples (small bumps) in the surface of a stock.

Blacksmith Decorative Punches

This is kind of a catch all category. Decorative punches are specially made to repeatedly and reliably punch a certain shape such as a company logo or a complex shape that would be difficult to engrave by hand.

How to Use Blacksmith Punches

Steps:

1. Clamp down your stock that will be punched. Don’t clamp it down over the hardy or pritchel hole, as this will cause ugly bulges and deformations in what would otherwise be a nice round hole.
2. Before you heat up a stock, punch a small indent that will serve as your guide once your stock is heated.
3. Drive the punch through the material until there is just a sliver of stock left. Make sure to cool your punch frequently in water, especially on deep cuts. DO NOT let your punch get to a glowing cherry red. If your punch does get too hot, let it air cool before you cool it in water –

   

   you don’t want it to crack. Your stock will heat up your chisel/punch, in this heated state, your chisel/punch is much more likely to dull and deform.

4. When you have just a little piece of material left, flip the piece over and place it over the hardy hole, find where your previous punching efforts have left an indent, and shear through the hole from the other side.
5. If you are doing multiple holes, you may need to cool your punch after each use.

Use The Cooling Stock To Your Advantage

Some people find that the final process of knocking the slug out is easier as the piece of stock cools. This is because it makes it easier for the punch to shear through your stock. In addition, it can be easier to see where you hammered on the other side.

To be clear, when I say “cool”, I mean the stock is glowing a dull cherry red. You don’t want it too cold.

Hot Chisels and Punches Vs. Cold Chisels and Punches

Hot chisels as the name would suggest are used on heated pieces of steel. These hot chisels/punches tend to have a slightly sharper cutting angle, making the cutting process easier. They will also have a longer handle, as this keeps the craftsman’s hands away from the hot steel.

Cold chisels and punches on the other hand, tend to have a wider cutting angle. In addition, cold tools are usually heat treated to provide additional strength to the tool. This is why it’s generally not a good idea to use cold tools on hot work, you will lose the temper! These tools are also often used outside the blacksmithing arena.

*For those of you who are new to the craft or have forgotten, tempering increases the strength of a steel at the expense of the hardness.

On hot punches:

I must stress that I’m not an expert on the topic, but I would be wary of using just any old punch tool for sale. As the old saying goes: “If it don’t rust, don’t trust”. This is especially true when using hot punches. I often get accused of being paranoid, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I would only use plain ol’ steel punches for hot work. I see a lot of affordable punches on amazon, but many of them are coated tools. I don’t think it’s wise using these tools when they are in contact with heated stock.

Best Blacksmith Punches

As with all blacksmithing tools, you can make your own punch if you wish. Most experienced smiths will make custom punches at some point in their career. For advanced projects, it can sometimes be easier to make your own punch rather than try to track down the size/shape/type of punch that you need.

But should everyone make their own punch? Should beginners? I think the answer basically comes down to your motivation level. If the thought of smithing a punch gets you fired up, then hell yea, go make that punch.

But most people get into forging to make cool stuff like unique ornamentation, armour, and weapons. Axes and knives are way cooler than run of the mill blacksmith tools. In addition, if you are a beginner, working with the quality of steel necessary to make a durable punch may be a PITA. Tool steels are harder to work than mild steel, and they are more finicky when it comes to hardening and tempering.

I don’t say this to dissuade people from making their own punches. Far from it! Making your own tools is part of the beauty of blacksmithing. But many blacksmiths are too quick to think they need to make everything from scratch. It can be more fun, and more efficient to just buy high quality tools and get rolling on the good stuff.

I think I will post a tutorial for making your own punch in the future, but for now, let’s go ahead and take a look at some of the best blacksmith punches currently on the market.

Best Blacksmith Punches For Beginners

Best Blacksmith Ball Punch

The first punch on our shopping list comes from Pieh Tools. Pieh Tools was founded in 2003 by United States Air Force veteran Amy Pieh. Growing up, Amy’s parents owned the company centaur forge, so she was surrounded by blacksmiths and farriers from a young age. She brings a lifetime of experience and service and provides good tools for blacksmiths, I highly recommend their wares.

Now that we know a little about our merchant of choice, let’s examine one of the best ball punches for sale. This little beauty is made of ½” round S7 tool steel (good shock resistance). This is an excellent punch that will allow you to quickly starting making beautiful works of art.

Best Blacksmith Eye Punch

This punch is sold by the same company that sold the ball punch previously. The amazon page is a bit sparse, but I’m willing to guess that it’s also ½” S7 steel tool. It is hardy and will be able to hold up to energetic use. Get yours here.

Best Forging Punches For Axe Making

I like using a classic slit and drift.

To punch an eye for an axe, follow these steps:

1. Heat the stock to a dull cherry red. Mark the center of your eye at this cooler heat, it’s easier to see your work at this stage. The taller and thinner the stock the more important it is to get your center point in the exact center.
2. Heat your stock up to a bright yellow. While you are waiting for this step, decide if it’s better to use a slitting chisel with a drift or whether you should use a slot punch the whole way through. Generally speaking, the slit and drift is better for tall/ thin pieces or pieces where you don’t want the eye to bulge as much.
3. Begin punching through the material. Make sure to cool your punch frequently, you don’t want it getting to hot as it will deform. Don’t cool it in water if the punch get too hot, you don’t want to crack it .
4. Some people find it easier to punch/chisel in a straight line by rotating the piece 180 degrees after every few blows. This can help you avoid punching at an undesired angle.

Handle Styles For Blacksmith Punches

While I’m sure it’s possible to come up with other combinations, in my mind, there are only two handle types. One has a handle that runs perpendicular to the punch, this keeps your hand far away from both the heat and the hammer. The other handle type is just an extension to the punch.

Alternatives To Punches

Odds are that you are reading this site because you are interested in traditional blacksmithing techniques, that’s great! But it is worthwhile mentioning other techniques as well. Sometimes when you are crunched

for time, it really is easier to just use a drill press. Purists will scoff at this, and that’s fine. But there is no need to handicap yourself if you don’t want to, it’s OK to use modern machinery as well.

For sheet metal it’s also important to remember that you can use a variety of punches such as this hand punch. or this electrical punch.

Conclusion

The need to punch holes is a common one in metal working. You may need to punch holes to fasten two distinct pieces of stock together, or maybe you need to punch out the eye of an axe; either way, knowing the classic blacksmith techniques will allow you to be a more versatile metal worker, and will allow you to tackle anything that comes through your workshop. Stay safe yall, have fun, and happy smithing!

post title image source – Boston Public Library

The post Best Blacksmith Punches And How to Use Them appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

The word itself refers to the dark color that certains types of iron oxides exhibit. What Is A Blacksmith? Good question, a blacksmith is a craftsman who shapes wrought iron or steel by heating the material and then shaping the steel through a series of hammer blows. This is commonly referred to as forging.

Why must a blacksmith heat up a piece of steel? Steel – like most iron containing materials – is incredibly hard. Heating a piece of steel to over 2200 degrees fahrenheit (1204.44 celcius), makes it significantly softer than it would be at room temperature. This allows a blacksmith to shape the otherwise unyielding steel into a more desirable shape.

As a rough rule of thumb, a good forging temperature for most metals is 70% of the metals melting temperature in kelvins.

Blacksmiths have been shaping wrought iron or steel in some form or another for thousands of years. These ancient craftsman were vital to their local economies, as they supplied many of the tools needed by local villagers or townsfolk.

What Do Blacksmiths Make?

Blacksmiths can make just about anything as long as it’s made out of a ferrous material and can be handled by a small team of people. The following is a non exhaustive list of commonly produced tools:

1. Plows and other agricultural tools
2. Weaponry
3. Armour
4. Hinges, nails, and a variety of fasteners
5. Religious and decorative work
6. Tools for other craftsman
7. Light fixtures
8. Horseshoes and farrier equipment – this was vital in a time before cars!
9. Kitchen utensils
10. Gates and railing
11. Hinges

In colonial times, blacksmiths often played a vital role in the strengthening of old wheels, as purely wooden wheels would wear down too fast. Blacksmiths would supply a perfectly measured strip of iron to the wheelwright, who would in turn fasten the strip of iron to a wheel. (Wheelwright Source)

How Blacksmiths Have Changed Over Time

For much of history, the forge work performed by a smith was the peak of human technology. Metal generally has favorable characteristics that are not seen in other building materials such as wood or ceramics. For example, metal has a much higher mechanical strength, this high mechanical strength combined with metals ability to be shaped into a sharp edge made it the ideal material for many tools. Later on in the industrial age, metals were used for their good thermal and electrical conductivity in addition to their mechanical properties.

But metal is not perfect for all applications. It tends to be susceptible to corrosion and is often more expensive than other materials – this was especially true before the industrial revolution.

Pre Iron Age

While the term blacksmith specifically refers to smiths that work with iron or steel, you can see the beginnings of many metal working techniques in the ancient smiths who worked with copper,bronze,gold, and silver. These materials did not have the same mechanical strength as the iron based alloys that eventually replaced them, but they are more easily found on the earth’s surface in a ready-to-work state. These softer metals also have a lower melting temperature and are more malleable than iron, reducing the barrier to entry of ancient smiths.

Many techniques that are used to treat iron based metals were first perfected on these softer metals. Techniques such as :

• Forging
• Casting
• Smelting
• Work Hardening

Advances in metallurgy and metalworking techniques came sporadically, and they seemed to come largely from tinkerers benefiting from trial and error. Ancient smiths did not have a great scientific grasp on why things worked the way they did. I’ll provide an illustration below:

History shows that metallurgy passed through all the stages of quackery with everything else in olden times. In Europe, as late as the sixteenth century, scientists and metallurgists still adhered to the phil Osophy of Aristotle regarding the nature of iron and its ores. The origin of ores was said to be due to a condensation of vapors in the interior of the earth. Two principal forms of matter formed the substance of all metals, according to the then prevailing theory. Sulphur and quicksilver were these principles or bases. The natural heat of the sulphur forces and roasts the quicksilver in the crevices of the earth in such a way that the combination of both these sub- stances is the origin of all metals, differing only in purity, but not in composition. Gold represents these combinations in its purest, iron ore in its most impure, state. Some maintained that, if the purification of iron ore had continued, it would also have become gold. Steel was considered purified iron. Albertus Magnus says: “Steel is nothing else but iron, only more refined, since the watery parts of the iron have been driven off by distillation, whereby the iron is made harder and denser.” Agricola and Birrin- guccia, who had advanced beyond the philosophy of Aristotle, agreed with Albertus Magnus. Monardus declared steel to be iron with less sulphur than the latter, which was driven off by treatment of the iron in fire. Caesalpinus thought if the refining of steel was continued for a sufficiently long period, it would become silver. It is not done, however, because of the resulting loss of metal, and because in its steely state it was best suited for its purpose. The medic- inal qualities of iron were attributed to this mixture of sulphur and quicksilver. Since most scientific metallurgists of the sixteenth century were physi- cians, much stress was laid on the medicinal quali- ties of iron, although iron played an important part in the medical knowledge of the ancients. Carpenter and Builder

Obviously that’s all nonsense, but that came from as late as the 16th century! The above quote is sourced from an open domain book from the late 1800’s – about 10 years after my scandinavian ancestors got shipped up to minnesota by box car – called “The Blacksmith & wheelwright”. If you have some free time I recommend flipping through it, it’s a blast seeing a snapshot of technology from 100+ years ago.

If it seems counterintuitive that they were able to make progress without understanding the science, you are not alone. For a long time I just naturally assumed that technological innovation stems from scientific discovery. But CLEARLY that’s not the case for ancient and medieval smiths. So what gives?

One of my favorite authors, Nassim Taleb, gives a clue in the following article.

Further, it is in complex systems, ones in which we have little visibility of the chains of cause-consequences, that tinkering, bricolage, or similar variations of trial and error have been shown to vastly outperform the teleological—it is nature’s modus operandi. But tinkering needs to be convex; it is imperative. Take the most opaque of all, cooking, which relies entirely on the heuristics of trial and error, as it has not been possible for us to design a dish directly from chemical equations or reverse-engineer a taste from nutritional labels. We take hummus, add an ingredient, say a spice, taste to see if there is an improvement from the complex interaction, and retain if we like the addition or discard the rest. Critically we have the option, not the obligation to keep the result, which allows us to retain the upper bound and be unaffected by adverse outcomes.
This “optionality” is what is behind the convexity of research outcomes.

So basically trial and error in situations where the error doesn’t hurt you much can advance both yourself and society.

If this sounds interesting, he has a whole book on the topic that is one of my favorite books ever written.

I promise the book is an easier read than that edge article. He has an entertaining writing style that makes otherwise dry math concepts interesting. And I’m not alone, just look at those reviews!

However don’t get totally swept up in the world of undirected chance. I think Peter Thiel gives an excellent counter argument in his article You are not a lottery ticket.

But I’m getting off into a tangent, back to the topic at hand…

Iron Age

It’s difficult to make broad generalizations about the transition from the bronze age to the iron age as things varied wildly based on geography. Different geographical areas had access to different resources and technology. As such, forging techniques were not spread uniformly across the continents.

In addition, it’s not enough to merely have a few iron based artifacts for a civilization to be considered an an iron working society. Generally a civilization is considered to be in the iron age once cast iron or wrought iron tools are widespread and noticeably better than their bronze counterparts.

Another important thing to note is that not all iron based alloys are the same. Iron alloys with extremely low carbon contents, are not much harder than bronze. So civilizations that had access to large supplies of the relatively rare tin (tin is necessary to make bronze) may have prefered bronze over low carbon iron in some situations.

But iron is much more common than tin, making it more economical for many civilizations. In addition, smiths at different times and different places stumbled upon a new iron alloy known as steel. Steel is is an iron alloy that has carbon as a part of its composition. As a rough rule of thumb, the more carbon in an iron alloy, the harder it is. This comes at the expense of brittleness, to repeat, harder steels tend to be more brittle.

There are advances in modern metallurgy that somewhat circumvent this rule, but when examining iron alloys in a historical sense, this is a good rule.

An iron age civilization would have significant advantage over a bronze age civilization – this is especially true for civilizations that had techniques for adding carbon to their iron alloys. This advantage comes from better weaponry and better tools. Hardier tools allow laborours to get more work done before the tool must be repaired or replaced thus increasing output. Better weapons allowed generals to win battles at a lower cost of life.

It was during the iron age that blacksmithing first became a specialty. A person who was experienced in working iron and iron alloys would prove to be immensely valuable to his community.

Blacksmiths During The Industrial Revolution

Blacksmiths were not immediately phased out as the industrial revolution progressed,rather the demand for a blacksmith’s work decreased in phases. These phases were the result of a number of technological and cultural changes.

The adoption of interchangeable parts reduced the need for small scale artisans such as blacksmiths. Creating large volumes of replaceable parts in a factory setting meant that it was often cheaper to buy a replacement part than to have the local smith fix up a tool or machine.

Speaking of machines, the rise of machining further reduced the need for blacksmiths, as new machining production practices could produce certain tools and parts at a much lower cost than a single blacksmith could.

Finally, the adoption of automobiles also reduced the need for blacksmiths and farriers. With the adoption of cars, there was less demand for horses(horse shoeing), wagons, and carts. All of which had provided a source of income for blacksmiths.

Blacksmiths Today

Prior to the invention and adoption of the internet, most businesses were HEAVILY constrained by geography and distribution. Business would make products in factories, sell them to wholesalers, who in turn sold those goods to retailers. As an end result, products only got made that had enough mass appeal that they could be sold by retailers. This distribution constraint greatly reduced the variety and types of products that could be profitably produced. It simply wasn’t profitable to make highly niche products that were only interesting to a few people.

The internet has largely lifted this constraint. With the internet, it is now possible to sell highly niche products, as your customers no longer need to be concentrated around retailers who sell your product. If you have a potential market of only 2000 customers, and they are dispersed around the globe, it is now possible to sell these highly niche products to them in a way that is affordable.

So what does this have to do with blacksmiths? Well, while most people don’t care whether it’s a machine that makes their products, or a craftsman who imparts thousands of years of tradition into a hand crafted piece of art, SOME PEOPLE DO. And with the internet, it’s now possible for artisans like modern blacksmiths to affordably sell their wares to these people. The internet has reignited cottage industries like blacksmithing, by fundamentally changing the way the distribution of products works. This is really exciting!

No longer are blacksmiths relegated to antique restorations and renaissance fairs. It’s now possible for blacksmiths to fully or partially skip the wholesaler to retailer distribution network described earlier; they can sell unique works of art to customers regardless of geography.

This means more products for consumers, and more opportunities for small scale craftsmen who are not interested in producing mass produced interchangeable parts. It has opened up the art market in a way that has never been seen before.

It’s now possible for a business to make a comfortable living serving just a few thousand (or less) fanatics. The technical term for this business model is called “The long tail of the internet” – or some variation of that. It refers to the long tail of a power law distribution.

I find this topic endlessly fascinating, especially in terms of what it means for blacksmiths…but I can’t cover this topic thoroughly in this particular article. If you are interested in more information, check out these resources

1. https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
2. https://www.therobinreport.com/the-long-tail-theory/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail

To summarize, the long tail of the internet may be reversing the economic trends we have seen since the dawn of the industrial revolution…how exciting!

Blacksmith Techniques

Blacksmiths utilize a number of different techniques when shaping metal. Most of these techniques are fairly straight forward, so I will only describe them briefly.

Blacksmith Forging Techniques

While there are lots of small niche techniques that exist, the most common techniques are as follows:

1. Drawing

Drawing is the technique used to lengthen a piece of steel at the expense of reducing the other dimensions along the stock.

There are a number of different techniques used to draw out a piece of steel. The two most common that I see involve using a “fullering” tool or the edge of the anvil.

A fullering tool is a tool with a rounded or parabolic head that is used to create indentations in the piece of steel. Once the smith has made a series of these indentations, he then hammers out the ridges with his hammer or with the help of a tool called a “flatter.” This elongates the steel but reduces it along the dimension being hammered.

Fullering tools come in a variety of forms:

1. 1. • They can be attached to a hardy shank (bottom fuller)
      • They can come in the form of a hammer shaped object which is placed on top of a piece of stock. The fuller tool is then struck with a hammer on the backside of the fuller which creates an indent in the stock.
      • They can be attached to a spring apparatus which allows the smith to fuller two sides at once. These are commonly called spring fullers.
      • They can come in the form of a guillotine, which is similar to the spring fuller in that it allows the smith to work two sides at once. The guillotine apparatus is also commonly used with blacksmith butchers, a tool used to form even shoulders on a piece of stock. The guillotine is sometimes simply referred to as a jig.

Fuller tools come in a wide variety of shapes and angles, a skilled blacksmith will often have many different fuller tools.

The other technique used for drawing out steel is to use the hard edge of the anvil as a fuller. Just like with the fullering tools, the smith will create a series of ridges on the drawing piece by placing the steel at an angle to the anvil edge. The smith will then flatten these ridges with his hammer.

2. Bending

Bending is exactly what it sounds like. Generally the smith will place an object in the shape of the desired bend under the piece of steel, and then strike the top of the stock until it matches the shape of the object below.

Smiths use a variety of tools to accomplish this task. They will commonly use the horn of the anvil to shape a round shape for example.

They also use a tool called a mandrel. Mandrels are cone shaped tools that are either placed on the floor or inside the hardy shank of a blacksmiths anvil. The smith will then bend stock around the edge of the mandrel.

There are also many custom made tools, some of which don’t have formal names. Smiths will often forge their own tools to make bending easier.

3. Upsetting

Upsetting is the opposite of drawing. It involved thickening a portion of the stock by shortening it along another dimension. An easy example would be upsetting a short cylinder rod by placing one end down, and striking the opposite end. Upsetting can be tricky, and takes practice to get it right. It’s very easy to warp the stock by accidentally applying force at a wrong angle.

4. Punching

Simply put, punching is creating holes, slits, drifts, and indentations with a tool such as a punch,slit, drift, stamp, or chisel. Punching is a common operation, and is used for a variety of tasks such as:

1. • Creating the eye in an axe or hammer
   • Stamping your brand or logo on your work
   • Punching holes for rivets or other fasteners

There are of course many other techniques, but these are some of the most common ones in use.

Learn More

If you are a beginner and are looking for a guide on all the different tools shown in these pictures, check out my guide on blacksmith tools.

If you are interested in picking out your first pair of blacksmith tongs (it’s harder than you think), check out my guide on blacksmith tongs.

If you just want to get started quickly, check out my guide on building your own blacksmith kit.

If you are looking for more in depth information, check out these blacksmith books.

Article title image source

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