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.

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I suppose that’s not a very interesting answer is it? A more illuminating questions might be: how is a woodworking vise different from other vises (sometimes spelled vices)?

To answer that, we must first describe a woodworking vise.

Anatomy Of A Woodworking Vise

A woodworking vise has two jaws. One jaw is stationary and is attached to the main body of the vise. The other jaw is movable and is turned via a leadscrew which is attached to a handle. Turn the handle clockwise and the moveable jaw is moved towards the stationary jaw. Turn the handle counterclockwise and the moveable jaw moves away from the stationary jaw. The handle also provides mechanical leverage allowing the user to clamp the jaws tight without excessive effort.

The vise jaws themselves are rectangular shaped, and are larger than the jaws of a metalworking vise. These larger jaws allows you to spread the clamping force out over a wider surface area, which can help prevent you from damaging the wood held in your vise. The mathematical way of describing this is pressure = force / area. Spreading the clamping force over a larger surface area reduces the pressure at any one point in the contact surface.

This is important, as woodworking vise jaws are made of metal, which is harder than wood. As a general rule in material science: hard scratches soft. As woodworkers we don’t want our jaws scuffing up the wood we clamp. Hence why woodworking vise jaws are larger than what you would find in a metalworking vise or engineers vise. Woodworking vise jaws are also smooth faced, while metalworking vise jaws are serrated. Again, this is to prevent the scuffing of the wood we are clamping.

Additionally, many woodworking vise jaws have screw holes that allow you to attach a block of wood as a sort of “pad” or cushion, this provides even more protection for the work you clamp in your vise, and it can improve the longevity of your vise jaws. I have also seen these pads applied via magnets or glue. These pads have many colloquial names and can be referred to as cheeks, jaw covers, jaw pads, etc.

Finally, we have the attachment mechanism. Woodworking vises are mounted on the side of the table, and are meant to sit flush with the table top. This varies quiet a lot from most metalworking vises, as they are usually bolted on top of the table. Table vises and hobby vises will use a c clamp to clamp the vise to the table.

Most woodworking vises will have you screw your vise to the side surface of your table, and the underside of your table.

Many vises will have “dog” holes on the moveable jaw of the vise. A dog hole is made to contain a little piece of metal called a dog that “bites” into a work piece providing additional clamping functionality. Vise dogs will often work in conjunction with bench dogs, bench dogs are just a little piece of metal that sticks up from your bench. Some vises such as a pattern maker’s vise will have vise dogs on both the stationary jaw and moveable jaw.

Finally, some woodworking vises will have a toe-in feature. A toe-in feature is when you put the top of the movable jaw at a slight inwards angle. This is to help prevent top to bottom racking in your a vise. Top to bottom racking is when the vise does not clamp evenly from top to bottom – more specifically it is usually caused when the bottom of the vise near the screw clamps more narrowly than the top of the vise which is holding your work project.

Tail Vise, End Vise

A tail vise is a vise that is inside and flush with your table top. The moveable jaw has a dog on top of it, and across from the moveable jaw will be a row of pop up bench dogs at various distances. These are slick vises as they blend right into the table.

Another variation of the tail vise is the wagon vise.

Leg Vise

A leg vise has a tall movable jaw that moves into the leg of the table for clamping. The stationary “jaw” of a leg vise is the table leg itself! The advantage of this design is it gives you a deep throat space within the vise for clamping large boards. The disadvantage is that it is prone to racking.

Shoulder Vise

A shoulder vise is a vise that is usually built into the workbench itself. These vises stick out from the bench and have a moveable jaw which clamps back INTO the table itself. These vises have the vise screw BEHIND the moveable jaw rather than in-between the stationary jaw and moveable jaw. These vises are useful when you must clamp boards vertical, as there is nothing underneath the vise jaws to get in the way of your board. These vises are often found in Scandinavian style work benches.

What is a woodworking vise used for?

As the name suggests, woodworking vises are used for all things woodworking! This can include the following:

• gluing
• sawing
• planing
• chipping
• chiseling
• engraving
• marking
• measuring

And so much more, the vise is used so often it is referred to as a “third hand”. It comes in *cough *cough handy, all the time!

What is a woodworking vise made of?

This can vary a lot between each model.

Most vises will have a main body made of either cast ductile iron, or cast gray iron. I have noticed that while metal working vises will often explicitly advertise which type of cast iron it is, woodworking vises do not. If I had to guess gray iron would be more common. If you are interested in more details on how this affects the strength and stability of your vise, I have an article on vise materials here, that goes into the specifics and the logic behind each material choice.

The lead screw will usually be made of high carbon heat treated steel. This is the ideal material for these types of screws, as low carbon steels* will be too soft and will need too much repair under heavy use. Any alloy with a higher carbon content will be too brittle and will fracture under heavy loads.

*Remember that heat treatments require a certain amount of carbon, so you can’t just harden a low carbon steel the same way you can a high carbon steel.

The material of the handle used to open and close your vise can vary a lot. A lot of times it’s just cheap aluminum, although some more expensive models will use steel. Some manufactures purposely build handles that will bend under loads higher than what the vise was designed for, so keep an eye out for this if you are not interested in this “feature”.

Material composition is not as important for woodworking vises as it is metalworking vises. Woodworkers are not generally interested in having as much clamping power as metal workers. This is because wood is so soft and really cranking your vise is a good way to scuff/mark up your work piece. In fact, some vises are made almost entirely of wood…

Scandinavian style workbenches

Scandinavian style workbenches will have a end vise and shoulder vise built into the table that are made entirely of wood – including the vise screw!

Conclusion

I provided a lot of details about wood vises in this article, but the wood vise is a very simple tool. It is used to clamp things in place while you work on them. That’s really all there is to it. If you are looking to buy a bench vise, you should check out my guide to the best bench vises; it is more focused on metalworking vises, but I will have a woodworking oriented one coming soon!

Credit for the title photo goes to nick fullerton on flickr.

The post What is a Woodworking Vise? appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

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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Luckily, swapping out your old jaws with new ones is super simple. Most metalworking vises (like my yost 750-DI) have jaws that are held on by two little screws.

Turn those screws counter clockwise until they come out. Pull the jaws off your vise. Put your new jaw pads on, and re-screw the two screws by turning them clockwise.

Viola, that’s it! Just make sure to choose jaws that are the appropriate jaw width for your vise.

How to make your vise jaws last longer

As I said earlier, hard scratches soft. Having jaws that are made of a harder material than your work projects will help your jaws last longer. The downside is that having harder jaws increases your chances of marring your work project.

Another thing you can do is avoid clamping with excessive force. This will make every part of your vise last longer, not just your jaws.

When to replace your vise jaws

Replace your jaws when they become uneven, or the serrated edges become smooth. If it feels like it’s getting harder to clamp objects down, it’s time to replace them.

The post How to replace the jaws on a metalworking vise appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

The first step to mounting a metalworking vise (sometimes spelled vice) is to pick the right table to mount it on. A good mid range vise will weigh up to 50 or 60 pounds, with more expensive models weighing even more. You will want a heavy table with a wide sturdy base. You also want table legs that end in wide feet. Avoid narrow and light tables; these tables run the risk of tipping over or breaking under heavy workloads.

Position of vise on shop table

Once you have selected the proper shop table, it’s time to to pick the spot where you will place your vise. Conventional wisdom dictates that right handed people should place their vise on the left corner of your shop table. Left handed people should do the opposite, and place their vise on the right hand side of the table. Make sure to place your vise close enough to the edge that all handles, rotating jaws/heads, and swivel bases are free to move without impediment. It’s very easy to test this before bolting your vise by actually moving the different vise pieces around and ensuring that no piece bonks into the table. I also recommend placing a LONG piece of stock into the vise jaws to make sure that it can clear the table when placed vertically.

People with multiple vises in their shop will sometimes place the extra vise in the middle of their table along the edge. This is fine if you have vises to spare, but I wouldn’t recommend doing this for your first vise. A vise that is not placed on the corner will have limited mobility if it has rotating heads and swivel bases. It will also be more awkward placing some work pieces in a vise that is not on the corner.

Some people will install an additional piece of wood or metal underneath the table to beef up flimsier tables. My yost 750-di instruction manual recommends a 18″x18″x2″ piece of wood or 18″x18″x1/4″ metal plate for this task.

Once you have the vise in a working position, mark your table through the vise boltholes for drilling.

Drill Bolt Holes

Drill the bolt holes where you marked them. Place your vise over the drilled holes and put your bolt through the vise bolt holes. Lock the bolts by placing a lock washer on the underside of the bolt and sealing it into place with a fastening nut. U

And viola, you are done. The actual installing of the bolts isn’t too bad, but it is important to get the placement correct so that you are not drilling holes all over your table.

Another recommendation I have is to use the bolts recommended by the manufacturer. For example: my yost 750-di is supposed to use grade 5 hex bolts that are at least 2″ longer than the table thickness.

Mounting a Portable Vise

There are different types of mounts on portable vises. The most common is basically just a C clamp. To use it, turn the clamp handle counter clockwise to open the clamp. Place the clamp on a smooth flat part of your workbench, and the turn the handle clockwise to tighten the clamp. The only real gotcha here is that many work surfaces will have ridges on the underside of the table, these can compromise the clamping ability of your vise if you do not account for them.

It’s not a bad idea to test the sturdiness of your clamp job with a little shake. You don’t want the vise falling off the table when it is burdened with your work piece.

Smaller vises will sometimes have a vacuum clamp. These are generally not intended for metalworking, and I don’t recommend using them.

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Clamp the vise to the Table

Most models of table vise will have a c clamp on the underside of the vise. Turn the clamp screw counter clockwise until the clamp opening is slightly larger than the surface you will clamp it to. Take this time to make sure there is no debris or dirt on either end of the clamp pad as this may affect how well your vise clamps to the table. Once the clamp is open and free of debris, clamp it to the work table by turning the screw counterclockwise. C clamps work best on a surface that is flat and smooth. A surprising number of tables have ridges on the underside of the table or awkwardly placed brackets, so make sure to check where these are before clamping.

Open Vise Jaws

Once your table vise is properly clamped to the table, check the vise leadscrew and make sure there is no debris stuck in the screw. Dirt,grime, and shavings of any kind will greatly increase the wear and tear of your vise screw. This is less of an issue on vise models where the leadscrew is hidden inside a slide or a case.

Once you have determined your vise is clean, open the jaws by turning the handle counter clockwise.

Close Vise Jaws

Once the vise jaws are open, place your work piece inside the vise jaws and turn the lead screw clockwise. Turn the vise handle until the jaws are clamping your work piece firmly enough that it won’t move around, but don’t overdo it. If you clamp your vise too tightly, you run the risk of ruining either your work piece or your vise.

Ball Joint Vises

Many table vises have a ball join at the base of the vise that allows you to swivel the vise in nearly any direction. Locking and unlocking this vise is as simple as turning the handle attached near the ball joint. Most vises will come with a set of instruction that will clearly indicate which handle to turn.

The post How to use a table vise appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

Weight

Table vises are small tools, they must be in order to be portable. It’s not good having to lug around a 50lb vise. As such, most table vises weight between 2lb and 8lb. That’s roughly 1kg to 4kg in the metric system.

In contrast, most metal working vises are between 20lb and 50lb (9kg to 23kg), with some going up to 200lbs!

Jaw Width

The jaw width is a measure of how wide the jaws are along the horizontal axis. It measured by taking the length between the top of one side of the jaw, to the otherside of the same jaw.

Again, table vises come in smaller sizes than other vise varieties, with sizes ranging between 1.5″ and 3″ (roughly 40mm to 75mm).

Jaw Opening

The jaw opening measurement measures how wide a pair of jaws can be opened.

The smallest table vises will have jaw opening of around 1″, with larger vises having 4″. That’s roughly 30mm to 100m in the metric system.

Throat Depth

The throat depth measures how much space is between the top of the jaw pad and the top of the screw/slide. It is a good measure to see how big of a work pieces you can fit in between the jaw pads. Most table vises come within 1 inch of 1 inch (roughly 30mm).

Clamp Opening

This measures how big the c clamp screw is, and determines what surfaces you can attach your table vise to.

The clamp opening can vary from 1″ to 3″ (roughly 20-30mm).

How To Choose A Table Vise

Without knowing your intended purpose, it’s hard for me to give a specific and helpful answer to this question. But I will try anyways.

The number one mistake I see new vise owners make is they don’t pay enough attention to throat depth when buying a vise. Vise sellers love to promote the jaw width of a vise (which is important), but they tend to undersell the throat depth for whatever reason and bury it in the middle of their sales copy. Throat depth can be a huge limiter in what size of work pieces you can clamp in your vise, make sure to pay close attention to it.

Another mistake I see is people make is that they over-optimize on price and buy a vise just big enough for their intended purpose. What ends up happening is they eventually go on to buy 5 vises over time, as they always bought the smallest vise possible and kept having to buy bigger vises as their needs grew.

It’s generally a good idea to buy a vise 1.5x bigger than your current intended use. It’s much easier to put a small work piece in a bigger vise than it is to put a big work piece in a small vise.

But I understand no one has unlimited funds, and smaller vises are generally cheaper.

Another thing to consider is whether you should buy a table vise at all. If you don’t need the portability that the c clamp of a table vise provides, you may be better off just buying a bigger stationary engineers vise or metalworking vise. I have a guide where I go into details into what you should look for when purchasing one of the larger vises.

The post What table vice sizes are available? appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

As such, it’s not possible for me to give super definitive answers as to what the different types of table vise are, I will instead do my best to generalize the vise market as I personally see it. You will find exceptions to all the rules I write below.

That may seem a bit pedantic, but I think it’s important to remember this lack of centralized standards. A quick look at vises being sold on amazon will show you just how much variation there is in the naming of vises.

With that vise naming got’cha out of the way, let’s take a quick peek at some of the different types of table vises.

Hobby Vise

A hobby vise is an ideal vise for small arts and crafts. You will commonly find hobby vises used in:

• Jewelry making
• Model making
• Sculpting
• Gluing operations
• Soldering
• Electronics

A hobby vise will be lighter and smaller than an engineers vise. A hobby vise will usually be made out of aluminum and will have a soft material for the vise jaws – at least compared to the serrated hardened steel jaws you will find on a lot of metal working vises.

Smaller and softer? That doesn’t sound like a good thing! Well these design choices make a hobby vise A LOT cheaper than a solid metal working vise. If you know you will only ever work with small arts and crafts, a hobby vise will get the job done and save you a lot of money.

Jeweler’s Vise

As the name suggests, a jeweler’s vise is specifically aimed at the making of jewelry. There is a lot of overlap between a jeweler’s vise and a hobby vise. Most jeweler’s vises are small and made of aluminum – although I do occasionally see cast iron jeweler’s vises that are selling well. Most jeweler’s vises on the market at the time of writing have a C-clamp for table attachment, and quite a few models have a swivel ball joint at the base.

Multi-Angled Vise

A multi angled vise is usually just a vise with a ball joint. As I mentioned earlier in the article, both hobby vises and jewelers vises can have a ball joint as well. A vise labeled as a multi-angled vise is just making this feature it’s primary selling point.

Because remember, there are no standards for vise naming.

This ball joint make it easy to move the vise to accommodating positions for unusually shaped work pieces. It’s also useful for making angled cuts and detail work, as you can position the vise in such a way as to maximize your own comfort.

All of these table vises are on the smaller side, and are not meant for heavy work such as working with steel. If you are looking for something a bit beefier, check out my guide to the 3 best bench vises.

The post What are the different types of table vise? appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

With that being said, I will try and generalize what I NORMALLY see, but you will find exceptions to all the generalizations I write below.

That may seem a bit nit-picky, but a quick glance at table vises on amazon will illustrate just how much variation in naming there is.

With that necessary pedantry about naming out of the way, let’s get down to it : ).

What is a table vise? A table vise is generally a small portable device that fits neatly onto a table. These vises usually have a c clamp underneath them that allows you to quickly attach and detach the vise to the table. This stands in contrast to mounted or bolted vises, which need to be permanently bolted onto a work station. Bolted vises tend to be larger than vises with c clamps. There is also a third base type, known as a vacuum base. These act like a giant suction cup that sticks your vise to the table. You engage the suction action through a handle. In my personal experience, these vacuum vises are unreliable, but I’m sure there are high quality vacuum base vises out there.

Like all vises, a table vise will have a movable jaw and a stationary jaw. The movable jaw is moved towards and away from the stationary jaw via a lead screw. The lead screw is turned by a handle.

Attached to the two vise jaws will be serrated jaw pads made out of hardened steel. These are the vise jaws you most commonly see on metalworking vises. I occasionally find vises labeled as “table vises” with the broad woodworking jaw pad, but this is less common.

The problem with serrated pads made out of steel is that they will often scratch or mar the work pieces placed within them, especially if you clamp the jaws too tightly. This is because hard materials tend to scratch soft materials. To get around this you can purchase jaw covers made out of rubber,plastic,leather, aluminum, and other softer materials that won’t scratch your work as badly. These jaw covers are also easy to replace as they wear out.

What is the body of a table vise made out of?

Most heavier vises are made out of cast ductile iron or cast gray iron. You will occasionally find smaller vises made out of aluminum, and larger vises made out of forged steel, but the vast majority of vises are ductile or gray iron. Ductile iron is usually the best material for the price (in my opinion), but if you want more details, I wrote a whole article on the different materials a vise body can be made out of.

What are table vise lead screws made out of? What about the handle?

The lead screws are usually made out of hardened high carbon steel. This is ideal as you need a material that is hard enough to resist the wear and tear that a lead screw will endure, but it must not be so brittle that it will completely snap under high clamping loads. Lower carbon steels are too soft and need constant repair. High carbon cast irons are too brittle and will fracture too quickly.

The handle can be steel or a softer material like aluminum. Some manufacturers actually design their handle to bend under high clamping loads to try and discourage you from clamping things too tightly and breaking your vise. Whether you actually want this feature or not is up to you.

A table vise can come with a number of optional features such as:

• swivel base
• pipe jaws
• anvil
• tilting mechanism
• quick release
• ball and socket swivel

What is a table vise used for?

A table vise can be used for a number of things such as:

• glueing
• filing
• sawing
• holding steel rods and bars
• holding lumber
• holding pipes
• drilling
• screwing
• buffing
• grinding

Just remember that a table vise is generally smaller in stature. If you plan on subjecting your vise to heavy workloads, you may have better luck searching for “engineers vise” or “metalworking vise”. I review some on my article on bench vises for sale.

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