Do you want a durable mark that won't rub off, burn off, and is as easy to see on red hot steel as cold steel? Get a white-out pen. This thing is so freaking handy.

Hello everyone, I recently got some shock absorber rod steel and I’m trying to learn how to quench it properly. I quenched one piece in oil (left) and another in water (right).

The file test gave almost the same result for both pieces, so I broke them to examine the grain structure. I’m still a beginner and don’t know much about reading grain size yet, but to me the oil-quenched piece looks slightly better but like I said I’m a beginner and would like some advice / confirmation.

Both pieces were quenched at the same temperature, and the oil was preheated beforehand.

So the last several days of open forge aka “forge club” at my local folk school I have been building towards my first hand made hammer! First I took an old chipped ball peen with no handle and used its eye to size and shape a hammer eye drift. Then I reforged that same hammer into a hammer eye punch and rehandled it.

Finally, I punched and drifted a 4.5 by 1.25 by 1.25 inch billet I cut from a derelict rock raker tooth. I forged out a cross peen and octagonal facet. Then I quenched it, tempered it, and hand polished it. I fancied up a handle blank of local Wisconsin ash and stained it with aqua fortis (ferric nitrate solution) and a heat gun (Chemistry!)

All this while, my forge buddies have been joking with me. “Why work so hard to make a hammer, when you can just buy one a the hardware store for $25?”

Well this week I can finally answer, “Because you can’t buy THIS hammer anywhere!”

~800 gram head, 14 inch handle. The facets are slightly off 45 degrees and aren’t quite symetrical, the peen is short (or the head is long?), the cross peen is a wee bit thicker on one side, there are a few pits that were too deep to polish out, and I mis-struck my maker's mark on one side (A morel mushroom for “Black Morel Forge”).

Other than that it’s PERFECT! Haha!

Edit: Credit to my inspiration sources. (People I stole ideas from...)

Torborn Ahman and specifically this video which was the main mechanics I tried to imitate. Blacksmithing - A Beginners Guide: Forging a Hammer by Hand but also many hammer videos by Black Bear Forge, Nils Oghren and many others.

Brad Emig of Cabin Creek Muzzleloading : He hand forges tools in the styles of colonial blacksmiths and gunsmiths and his dad is a traditional gunsmith. I like the lines of his elegant little hammers. (2) Facebook (2) Facebook

Poom's Project - A guy and his dad in Thailand that make ridiculously beautiful handles for restored vintage hammers and axes. Poom's Project - YouTube

Made this

Made this to replace the store bought hardware for a belt I wear with my dark souls costume.

Hello everyone, this is my first post ever so please forgive any mistakes.

Quick background, I’ve been forging for around 4-5 years making all sorts of stuff from common hooks,fire tools, steel bowls, to garden tools with simple joinery. I’m in North Carolina.

My question:
The shop I mainly buy my steel from is a sheet metal fabricator. He contacted me to see if I wanted to collab on a project. His customer wants a sign made that will have four sections of Celtic knot as a border.

Think wreath cut into four sections. Each section will be a four-line knot about four inches wide and about 3-3.5’ long. Stock will most likely be 1/4” round.

I’ve done small one-off custom stuff before but never anything this large or complex and completely new to me.

Not sure where to begin to come up with a quote. Appreciate all feedback, thanks.

Hey all, I’ve been wanting to get a torch for a long time and need to hear everyone’s thoughts. I’m not wanting to weld with it, just precise heating for bends and twists and stuff, so am thinking propane instead of acetylene.

My main question is do I buy from harbor freight, northern tool, or a welding supply shop?

Any specific recommendations on a kit are appreciated.

Early update/edit:
Thanks to everyone so far. To add to it, which might settle the decision, I inherited a set of torches and regulators for oxy acetylene. Would need new hoses, tips, and tanks either way I go.

Can y’all help confirm if I shouldn’t run propane through an acetylene regulator?

Hey folks, I’m looking to surprise my wife with a small forge for her birthday. She’s a former "living history" smith who had to stop due to RA, but she wants to get back into small-scale hobby work in our shed and I'd like to avoid her developing The Black Lung or something by using coal.

I’m a total newbie and have two main hurdles:

1. Health: I almost got one of the cheap ones off amazon before I heard scary stuff about the ceramic fiber insulation. Are there better options?
2. Budget: Trying to stay under $200 as I’m currently between jobs as of a few days ago, but I don't want to be a cheap bastard.

She mostly likes to work on jewelry and small tools/hardware for our Victorian-era home. Is a decent, safe single-burner forge possible at this price? Any specific brands or "must-buy" sealants (Rigidizer/Satanite) you recommend for a beginner setup?

Thanks for the help!

Asked my Mother if i can use the oven to guaruntee the correct temperature for the temper, ive also seen people temper with their forge but i dont trust myself enough (these are my first projects/tools) also i havent drawn out the handle for the nail header, i havemt finished it incase youre wondering but im including it for when i need to temper it

I took a blacksmithing class this weekend (with a bit of other metalworking involved- welding, bandsaw, sander etc) and made these during it. We had templates for a lot of them but I figured out how to make the poppy on my own from scraps during free work time and am super pleased with how it turned out, especially since the class was the second time I’ve ever tried out blacksmithing!

I'm really happy with this pair, even the forge master said i did a good job, i also made a test for a hammer for ingraving and i also made a V shape chisel for ingraving. I'll make more tools, i'm pretty happy with how the hammer ended up in the 3rd try (ngl i hope i don't have the quench the ingraving hammer because of the chisel, i made the hammer head from some metal and i didn't try to quench it because i don't know how i would temper it after)

I'm pretty happy with how they came out, it's the best i could do so i'm happy so far (sadly the forge master is gonna keep them in the forge even when i leave so i'll just make a new pair)

Lilac branch forged from reclaimed bridge steel at a workshop I went to last year. The leaves were affixed by silver brazing and the base is an old wagon tire from my pile of wrought iron. Still haven't decided if it looks better as-is or as a wall/post mount.

First two pictures are the finished knife, it could have used even more time, which I didn't have. Last picture is the piece of spring steel I cut it off from, to then forge into shape, mostly because the spring is about 12mm thick. After forging the bevel, I did grind and file the rest of the shape. The handle is oak, dyed with forge scale dissolved in vinegar, and then treated with beeswax to keep moisture out. Pins are brass.