Any blacksmiths here?

[VegasMichael]

I have been watching Forged in Fire on the history channel and am hooked. I would like to learn to be a bladesmith. Not sure about the apprenticeship involved but it seems the start up costs to have your own forge are expensive. I like the blue collar angle involved as well as the artistic element.

 

[_Snake_]

Gonna make a poop knife?

 

[VegasMichael]

Gonna make a poop knife?

Oh FFS no.

 

[HudsonFalcon]

Love that show too. We had a local guy burn down half his town mimicking that show.

Mayor: Amateur bladesmith started massive Cohoes blaze

 

[VegasMichael]

Love that show too. We had a local guy burn down half his town mimicking that show.

Mayor: Amateur bladesmith started massive Cohoes blaze

View attachment 1537109 View attachment 1537110

I'm actually being serious here, though. The ability to make a blade that can be formidable intrigues me.

 

[Coiled03]

I'm actually being serious here, though. The ability to make a blade that can be formidable intrigues me.

Can I ask.....why? Beyond the hobby itself, what's the point? This isn't the middle ages.

 

[VegasMichael]

Can I ask.....why? Beyond the hobby itself, what's the point? This isn't the middle ages.

I think because there is an artistry to it. A craft. There is a demand for people that can make a quality knife. When you are prepping your dinner, don't you want a good knife?

 

[SID297]

Would be a fun hobby.

 

[Smooth]

I just wanna watch trains. #foamerlife

 

[VegasMichael]

I just wanna watch trains. #foamerlife

I have an elaborate train collection. HO scale. Dad has Lionel.

 

[03Sssnake]

I love that show too, binged watched Forged in Fire thru to current season.

 

[carrrnuttt]

Like I've mentioned in another thread, FiF is appt viewing for me and my 12yo son.

We also love the spinoff, Knife or Death.

As for your original question, I'd start here: Beginners Place

 

[HudsonFalcon]

I have an elaborate train collection. HO scale. Dad has Lionel.

Gotta love dem HO's.

 

[derklug]

I am interested also. I love it when I have to fab things at the shop and get to get out the welders and torches. I have always been fascinated by custom iron worked fences and gates.

 

[EatonEggbeater]

I've always been curious about japanese folded blades where they'd fold the metal 15 to 20 times making layers.

I thought; with a modern powered hammer forge, why stop at 20, or 30? Thought about it a bit more, and realized that those layers get thinner and thinner each successive fold.

Started looking at the math (admittedly not with any precision) to see that if you start with a blade that's 1 CM thick, an Angstrom is about 1/10,000,000 of that thickness.

24 foldings gets you a bit thinner than that number; what happens when the layers are thinner than a molecule of what you're working with?

Does it turn back into a single piece? At what point are you simply making steel taffy? Are there any physically definable improvements to this metal?

Mostly curious, I'm sure someone has asked this before.

 

[_Satch_]

I've never seen the show, but my older brother is a Farrier/Blacksmith. He has always been very crafty, and some of the blades and steel things he has made over the years are incredible. Very time consuming though. A couple years back he tried to sell some of the things he made, but the time he had invested put the prices out of the realm of normal purchasers. Some of the stuff he's made over the years:
-Lots of knives
-really cool twisted steel fire poker
-cobra snakes made out of old rasps
-wine racks out of old horse shoes
-twisted steel shepard's hooks for hanging planters
-forged rose for my mom for her birthday, the next year he made a forged steel holder for it.

-Satch

 

[bgoose99]

Here's my $0.02, having gone down this path.

Go to any of the major online knife making suppliers. Get yourself some bar stock. Nothing fancy. 1084 is an awesome place to start because you can easily heat treat it yourself at home. Get some good files and a vise. And make a knife by hand using simple stock removal.

From design, to roughing out the shape and profiling, to hand filing the bevels, heat treat, tempering, adding handle scales (or any handle material), and sharpening.

Once that's done, do you still have the desire to learn to forge?

In my case, after 6 knives or so, I realized that keeping a nice car in the garage and also trying to make knives in there was not going to work for me. I enjoyed the process, and I have some knives that I can say I made, which is cool. And the total investment was mostly time, as the files and vise are good things to have in the garage anyway.

 

[Double"O"]

My neighbor is a ferrier. He has a modest amount of money into his forge equipment but nothing silly.

I mean he doesn't have a huge power hammer, or anything fancy. He does alot the old fashioned way...his arms...and they are pretty big lol

He makes a decent living at it

 

[VegasMichael]

The solitude and craftsmanship are what intrigue and attract me. The start up costs seem a bit prohibitive though.

 

[VegasMichael]

Gotta love dem HO's.

Imma gonna set them up this XMAS break.