c/blacksmiths

My coal forge went from a smoky mess to clear blue flame in about two weeks after I switched to nut coal.

Can we talk about the 'artisan' label at craft fairs

I heard a guy at the Springfield market say 'if it holds an edge, it's a tool, not art,' which made me think about whether we're pricing simple forged items too high just for the story.

Shoutout to the old timer at the Tucson flea market who showed me a trick for drawing out a taper without a power hammer.

Tried quenching a leaf spring in used motor oil and it didn't go how I planned

I had this old leaf spring from a truck and wanted to make a knife. My buddy said to quench it in used motor oil instead of new, said it would be slower and less likely to crack. So I heated it up to non-magnetic, got it in the oil, and it just didn't get as hard as I expected. The file still bit into it pretty easy after. I think the oil was too dirty and maybe too cool, like 80 degrees. Learned that the condition of your quenchant matters a ton, not just what it is. Has anyone else had weird results with different batches of used oil?

The weird thing I saw at the county fair forge demo last week

Last week at the county fair, the smith doing the demo was using a 3 pound cross peen for everything, even drawing out thin stock. Three years ago, you'd see people switch hammers for different jobs. Last month at the guild meet, two new guys said they only own one hammer because a YouTube guy told them to 'master the tool'. It feels like a shift away from having the right tool for the job. Has anyone else run into this 'one hammer to rule them all' idea lately?

Bought a $400 propane forge and it changed my whole approach to the craft

I've been working with a coal forge for years, thinking the extra control was worth the mess. Last fall, I finally got a two-burner propane forge for about four hundred bucks. The first time I used it, I realized how much time I was wasting just managing the fire and cleaning up soot. Now I can get to a consistent heat in minutes and focus entirely on the metal. It feels like I'm actually forging more and fussing less. Has anyone else found a tool that just made everything click like that?

Heard a rumor about quenching in used motor oil to save cash. Tried it on a small knife blank and the results were a disaster.

My neighbor's 'quick fix' with a cold chisel on his gate hinge nearly cost him a finger

Last week, I was helping him out in his garage in Springfield. He was trying to cut a pin on an old wrought iron gate hinge, and he just grabbed a regular cold chisel, laid it on there, and gave it a whack with his 3-pound drilling hammer. The chisel shot off like a bullet and embedded itself in a 2x4 about three feet away. He was holding the hinge with his other hand, and his thumb was right in the path. It missed by maybe an inch. I told him right then, you never, ever use a cold chisel for that unless you've got it in a proper vise or held with tongs. The metal is too hard and the angle is wrong for a freehand strike. I showed him how to use a cut-off wheel on my angle grinder instead, which took about 30 seconds. How many of you have seen someone treat a chisel like it's just a fancy screwdriver?

I swore by my old coal forge for years, but propane finally won me over

I always thought a coal forge gave better heat control for Damascus, but my buddy in Tacoma let me use his propane rig for a weekend. After making a 300-layer billet with way less scale and no smoke in my shop, I had to switch. Anyone else make the jump and find it better for pattern welding?

Been using the same coal mix for years, but a cracked axe head made me rethink it.

I was working on a 3-pound camp axe last week and the weld at the poll cracked during the final heat treat. My buddy from the Tacoma guild took one look and said, 'Your fire's too dirty for that steel.' I'd been using a 70/30 bituminous coal to coke ratio for everything, thinking more coke was just a waste. Turns out the sulfur was making the welds brittle. Anyone have a good, clean mix for tool steel they'd recommend?

Read a book on old farm tools that said a forge could burn 30 pounds of coal an hour

I found this in a book from the library called 'Forging the Farm'. It was talking about how blacksmiths in the 1800s worked on big farms. The book said a normal forge, just for regular work, could go through 30 pounds of coal in a single hour. That really surprised me. I guess I never thought about how much fuel they needed back then. It makes you appreciate how efficient modern forges are. Has anyone else come across stats like that in old books?

Showerthought: My old anvil started to sound flat after about 18 months of heavy use.

I'm in a shop in Tacoma and the face on my 150lb Fisher just went dead, no ring at all. The rebound went from about 80% to maybe 50% in that time. I think the face plate is starting to delaminate from the body. Anyone else had a Fisher go quiet on them like that?

My old mentor in Denver always said to quench a blade in oil, never water. Last week, a guy at the forge told me water is fine if you know the steel.

Three years ago, I cracked a good piece of 1080 because I used water like he said. Now I'm not sure which advice to follow. What's your go-to quenching method for simple carbon steels?

Just burned through a $40 propane tank in one afternoon trying to forge weld

My regulator was set way too high and I didn't realize it until the tank was empty. Anyone know a good way to check your flow rate before you start a big project?

Talked to a farrier about steel and it flipped a switch for me

I ran into a farrier at the hardware store yesterday and we got chatting about metal. He said, 'I don't pick steel for the project, I pick the project for the steel.' He was talking about using old truck leaf springs for hoof knives because they hold an edge through tough work. I've always just grabbed whatever mild steel was handy. Made me stop and really look at the scrap pile differently. What's a piece of steel you guys have that made you change a project plan?

Cleaned out my coal bin today and found I've burned exactly 2 tons this year.

I keep a simple tally on the wall for each bag I empty. When I added it up, the total was 4,000 pounds. That's a lot more than I thought I was using for my small shop. It made me look at my forge efficiency and air flow setup. Anyone else track their fuel use and find a number that made them change things up?

Spent three hours trying to get a clean weld on a simple gate hinge.

Kept getting porosity until I realized my flux core wire was from a batch that got damp in the garage. Anyone know a good way to store it to stop that happening again?

Just dropped $150 on a proper respirator after a bad grinding day

My old dust mask was useless against the fine metal particles, and I spent the next day coughing. What's your go-to for lung protection when you're at the grinder?

My old coal forge finally gave out on me last Tuesday

The firepot cracked right down the middle during a long session working on a gate hinge. I was able to finish the piece by moving everything to my buddy's propane forge across town. Has anyone had luck welding a cast iron firepot back together, or is it time to just build a new one from scratch?

My old vise was slipping on a tricky scroll bend, so I tried wrapping the jaws with a strip of old inner tube.

The extra grip was perfect, and I finished the piece in half the time. Anyone have a better fix for a worn vise that doesn't involve a full rebuild?

My first attempt at a Damascus billet looked like a rusty brick, but after switching to a 3-pound cross peen for my final forge welds, the pattern popped like a photo in a book.

What hammer weight do you all find works best for drawing out those welds without killing your arm by the end of the day?

Showerthought: I started using a piece of old conveyor belt as a heat shield for my anvil's horn and it's saved my leg from a few nasty burns.

After getting a second-degree burn from accidentally brushing against the hot horn while working on a scroll, I cut a section from a scrapped belt at work and clamped it on, which blocks radiant heat way better than the leather apron alone.

I finally got the hang of forge welding after a bad start three years ago

Back when I first tried it in my old garage shop, I burned through three pieces of mild steel trying to get them to stick. The flux just bubbled off and left a mess. Last week, I tried again with a fresh can of borax and kept my fire at a steady orange heat, not white hot. The two pieces fused on the first solid hit with the hammer. I think the big difference was cleaning the metal with a wire brush right before the flux. What's your go-to trick for a clean forge weld?

A retired shipyard welder told me my hammer blows were 'all arm, no shoulder' and after a month of focusing on that pivot, my tenon shoulders are way cleaner.

Honestly, I was getting frustrated with my joinery until he pointed out I was basically just muscling the steel instead of letting the hammer's weight and my body's rotation do the work, so has anyone else had a simple form critique that fixed a bigger problem?

I tried quenching a leaf spring in used motor oil on a dare, and the results were a total mess.

A guy at the scrap yard bet me a six-pack that quenching in old 10W-30 would give a better temper than my usual canola oil. I figured, why not, it's free. I heated a piece of spring steel to a bright orange and dunked it straight into a bucket of the stuff. It didn't just smoke, it basically caught fire for a second, and the piece came out with a weird, soft scale and a warped bend I couldn't hammer out. The lesson wasn't about the oil, but about skipping the basics. I got so caught up in the 'trick' that I forgot to normalize the steel properly first. Has anyone else had a simple step they skipped that ruined an otherwise good piece of metal?