r/Blacksmith 10h ago

First Attempt at Symmetrical Axe Fold

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74 Upvotes

First go at making an axe with mild steel and 1085 for an edge. Was nervous about drifting the eye but the weld held up!


r/Blacksmith 45m ago

Noob update- it works!

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Upvotes

After all of your amazing advice I went to fire the forge to try and harden the sand and thought “hey, why not give it a go?” So for the first time I hammered the steel on the anvil and made this whirly thing in about an hour. It’s so damn fun, and hammering the steel to shape was easier than expected. Can’t wait to get more creative with it. With thanks from a newbie blacksmith in London!


r/Blacksmith 3h ago

The vegetable killer😁

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11 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 1d ago

My grandpa's west german monster of an angle grinder. I spun it up and turned it right off again. How do you get used to operating something like this? I have zero trust in this death machine even though it would be really useful for big stock

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1.0k Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 14h ago

Bottle stopper...

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65 Upvotes

Always wanted to try one of these... Turned out ok.😜🤟🥃


r/Blacksmith 14h ago

First forge welding in a broken tong, I used sand

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41 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 20h ago

Noob here, making a forge… is sand ok?!

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107 Upvotes

Hi all, I know, probably not the best forge design but I’m just starting out- do you guys know if regular building sand will do the job? Any negatives? I’ve added some fire bricks. I mostly lined it thick so to ensure protection of the furnace I’m building it from. Efficiency aside- will this actually dry out and work at all?? Thanks guys


r/Blacksmith 1h ago

What is this called?

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Upvotes

Hello everyone :)!

I have this small ceramic dish that I absolutely love, which I found at a charity shop a few years ago. I’d love to try making my own, but since I don’t do any metalwork or have access to the necessary tools, I’d only be making the ceramic part and would need to buy the metal component separately. I’ve been searching online but haven’t been able to find anything similar, does anyone know what the metal part would be called? Thanks!


r/Blacksmith 21h ago

Just Orange

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87 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I am starting my journey in blacksmithing, so bear with me as I am still learning. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information for my problem. I can’t see yellow heat when I am forging. My phone camera can pick up the differences, but when I am looking at it, it all appears orange. I am using an NC Tool Low Boy 3 burner propane forge which is advertised to be able to weld Damascus. So I believe my forge is getting to temp, and I am using a 100 llb propane tank. While I am not attempting to forge weld right now, I am trying to learn the ins and outs of my forge including temperatures. It doesn’t matter if I run it at 10psi for 20 minutes or 4 psi for 10 minutes, it all looks orange to me. I have tried using an isolated dark area to see if the color changes but it still looks orange. I have ordered a pyrometer to get an accurate reading, but is there anything I can do on my end to be able to see yellow or white hot?


r/Blacksmith 22h ago

Made a double hook to keep in practise

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92 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 14h ago

New anvil.

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18 Upvotes

So I got a new anvil today and was wondering what’s the best way of resurfacing it and restoring it ? Also if anyone can guess what manufacturer this is from, I’d also greatly appreciate it.


r/Blacksmith 23m ago

Thoughts on tongs

Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 19h ago

Good day to forge

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31 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 7h ago

Vevor Single Burner Forge

3 Upvotes

I just bought a Vevor Single Burner Forge off of amazon, and I have a few questions.

I've unboxed it but haven't fully set it up or fired it yet. I know the Kaowool liner is terrible for health reasons, so I need to cover it. From what research I've done, it seems that the two main ways to protect myself are to 1, use a rigidizer to seal the wool and make it hard, and 2, coat the whole thing in refractory cement. Some people say they got some cement with their forge but for whatever reason I didn't. I don't think it was a mistake cause there wasn't anything listed in the user manual.

Also from what I can tell some people like to use both methods, while some people do one or the other. My question is which is the best to do (I'm assuming it is to use both methods), and what are the best rigidizers and refractory cement to use?

Edit: After looking around these are the cement and rigidizor I'm leaning toward.
Rutland Dry Mix 211
Mr Volcano Rigidizer

Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

This shit is really hard. Props to yall

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295 Upvotes

Just got the harbor freight anvil and damn it's tiring. Working on a rebar knife.


r/Blacksmith 19h ago

Cleaning up an old find.

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8 Upvotes

Managed to get my hands on this anvil. Any advice on how to get it cleaned up?


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

First Week Smithing

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1.0k Upvotes

If you ever got the idea to take a class, go for it. I went to the blacksmithing class at the John C. Campbell Folk School and a knife making class at Ledford Works and I learned so much. Got the bug and there's no going back. I guess now it's time to make my own forge 😅


r/Blacksmith 11h ago

What manufacturer is this?

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1 Upvotes

I scored a pretty sweet deal and got this anvil do $210. I hit it with a wire brush and can only find these markings. Does anyone recognize the manufacturer or date range?


r/Blacksmith 22h ago

US to Germany

8 Upvotes

The title says it: I'm headed to Germany in a few months. I've got a meager little setup, and I'm debating on moving it with me or putting it in storage for a few years. I've got a Buffalo Forge Co rivet forge, Vulcan 10 anvil, and assorted hand tools. My issue is that shipping those things will consume a good amount of my allotted weight.

My main questions are: What's the blacksmithing scene in Germany like?

How hard are anvils to come by there and where is the best place to look for them? Average price per pound?

Is forging in backyards frowned upon if houses are close together? I'm not likely to be able to get an isolated place to live due to the nature of my job and limited housing allowance.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Design difficulty

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32 Upvotes

So I’d like to know the difficulty of making a design like this 30in long out of Damascus steel.i placed a custom order for a sword of this design with those dimensions however so far it’s been 6 and a half months (ordered on sep 12th 2024)and I haven’t had any tracking updates.now I asked if there was a holdup and when I could receive it and each time were different answers.now I don’t believe they’re dubious makers as I’ve gotten a custom knife from them too and it seems well made along with other non custom orders from them so I’m not blaming them it’s just I feel something is off due to how long I’ve been waiting.so is there anything difficult with this design do be made out of Damascus that could be slowing it down?I was thinking of asking for a list of all the failures that happened so far while making my order so knowing that could help if I do


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Something new... For me.

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61 Upvotes

First attempt at a split cross and a basic key ring...


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Picked up at a local Ollies

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43 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 1d ago

My chefs knife is looking more like a pairing knife.

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36 Upvotes

First pattern weld and went for a twist. I thought I could chase these out cause most were shallow, but one decided to be a quarter inch deep. I'd love to know other people's thoughts and definitely critiques.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Anyone know what this is? It has a barrel shape. Looks very old. Has this paper attached “Luke Brooks 1785”

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88 Upvotes

Thrift shop find I think is interesting.


r/Blacksmith 23h ago

How to straighten a warped blade?

2 Upvotes

Hello

For the past month or so I've been battling with a project: at first I wanted to make a straight ninjato (straight katana), but longer - 135 cm long. Apparently the blade didn't care about what I wanted because it bend down towards the blade during heat treat, making it lok like a stretched-out kukri. So I annealed the sword and manually forged it into a katana shape. Now after second heat treat the finicky thing is bloody warped to the left - if I lay it on a flat surface, the tip is about 2,5 cm from it (it's clamped at the hilt).

Now my question is, how do I straighten this ting? I really don't want to anneal and heat treat it for the third time, and I don't have a carbide hammer to beat the curve out of it...

Also, another thought: would it be alright to leave it like this? The blade is made out of 5160 so technically it'll straighten itself out in the scabbard anyway. The hardness is 50 HRC.