Lesson learned about cheap imported tools the hard way, has anyone else had a power hammer base fail on them or am I just unlucky?
I know everyone says you need a TIG or MIG for thin stuff like 18 gauge... but I had a job last month fixing a rusty exhaust on a '87 F150 in my driveway in Tulsa. Used a 1/8 6013 rod cranked down to 50 amps on my old Lincoln tombstone. Got a clean tack that held without blowing through. The trick was keeping a real tight arc and moving fast, not pausing at all. I learned that with the right motion and rod angle you can actually work thinner metal than the books say. Has anyone else had luck with stick on automotive panels?
Used to crank my forge until the metal was almost white-hot before hammering. Thought that made it softer and easier to work. Then a guy at a hammer-in in Nashville showed me how I was burning out carbon and making my blades brittle. He had me try working at a dull orange heat instead and the difference in finish quality was night and day. Anybody else have a basic technique they stuck with forever before someone called them out?
Used to spend half my night babysitting the fire, poking at it, waiting for it to get hot enough. Now I just flip a valve and start hammering. In the first month alone I finished 8 hooks compared to my usual 3. Anyone else make the switch and see a big jump in output?
I was just tallying up my work from last year and realized I passed the 1000 mark on knife blanks in December. That number surprised me because I still feel like a beginner half the time, but seeing it on paper made me think about all the time I spent at the anvil in my shop in Tulsa. It made me wonder if there's a point where you stop second guessing your hammer blows or if that feeling ever goes away. Has anyone else hit a milestone that made them realize they've actually been at this longer than they thought?
He told me he aims for a softer edge on his axes because they're easier to touch up in the field, and now I'm wondering if I've been over-hardening my own tools for years has anyone else switched to a lower Rockwell for field tools?
I picked up a brand name hammer at the supply shop 3 months ago for $75. Took it to a job out in rural Ohio last Tuesday. By noon the handle felt loose and the face chipped on a 3/8 inch bracket. Switched to the old one my grandpa passed down. Heads been reground twice and the handle is wrapped in electrical tape. Worked perfect all day. Makes me wonder why folks drop cash on new tools when the old stuff holds up better. Anyone else stick with vintage?
I swear I see way too many beginners skipping the normalization step and wondering why their blades crack or warp. Normalizing is just heating the steel up to critical temp and letting it cool in still air, it takes maybe 15 minutes extra. I had a guy bring me a knife last month that he'd heat treated three times and it still had a huge curve in it. He was just going straight from forging to quench without any prep. I showed him how to do three normalization cycles on a fresh piece of 1084 and the difference was night and day. The blade came out straight and held an edge way better. It doesn't matter if you're using a gas forge or a coal forge, that step saves so much headache later. Has anyone else noticed this getting worse or is it just my shop?
Switched to canola oil heated to 130 degrees after he insisted cold oil was causing microcracks, and the edge held up through three test chops on an oak log without chipping - anyone else saw a big jump switching to warm oil for high carbon steel?
I argued with a guy named Tom at a hammer-in in Ohio last summer. He said my $200 propane forge was making my steel too brittle because it wasn't getting hot enough. Tbh I thought he was just old school and stuck in his ways. After ruining three blades in a row I finally switched to a coal forge and my edge retention doubled. Has anyone else had a similar switch that actually worked out?
At North Carolina Forge Council meeting last month, this old timer walked over and said you're gonna crack that blade so fast. He showed me his canola oil setup and I switched right then. Anyone else have someone fix a bad habit you didn't even know you had?
I spent like 4 hours yesterday trying to forge a basic pair of bolt tongs from 3/8 inch round stock. It was supposed to be a quick project but I kept messing up the rivet hole alignment and had to reheat like 6 times. Found out when I looked it up later that a lot of old timers on the IFI forum say beginners should expect to ruin 3 or 4 pairs before they get one right. That made me feel a bit better honestly. Anyone else have a simple project that kicked their butt way harder than expected?
Picked it up last Saturday near Dayton and after cleaning off the rust realized it still had good bite, way better than the cheap ones from the big box stores. Anyone else ever luck into old tools that just work better than new stuff?
I was just cleaning up my shop after a long Saturday and counted my finished spike knives... somehow I've made over 500 of them without really noticing. That's a lot of hours at the anvil just banging out the same shape over and over. Anyone else ever count up a specific project and get surprised by the total?
I've been using propane for years but last weekend I visited Bill's old blacksmith shop outside Dayton and he let me fire up his coal forge. The heat was way more even and I could get the steel to welding temp way faster than I ever could with my propane setup. Has anyone else made the switch and had a similar experience?
I always used charcoal from the hardware store because it was easy to get. Finally tried a 50 pound bag of bituminous coal from a supplier in Ohio last month. Heats up way faster and holds temp way steadier than charcoal ever did. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big difference in their welding heat?
Last week my buddy Dave dared me to make a knife out of an old railroad spike he found near the tracks out back of his shop. I figured it'd be a quick project, no big deal. Got the spike hot, started hammering it flat, and about 20 minutes in the whole thing split right down the middle like a piece of wet wood. Sparked up pretty bad too. Scared my dog and left a scorch mark on my anvil that's still there. Anyone else had a project go sideways because you were half drunk and in a hurry?
I dropped 75 bucks on these nice forged tongs with leather grips and the leather caught fire while I was pulling a 3/8 inch bar out of the forge, so now I'm back to using my rusty old ones - anyone else had fancy gear just fail on them like that?
I was dead set on using water for everything because that's how my grandpa did it. Then I ruined a 1095 blade I spent 6 hours on when it cracked right down the middle during quench. That failure made me read up on heat treating and now I use canola oil heated to 130 degrees for high carbon steel. Has anyone else had a bad experience sticking to old methods too long?
I found a thick brake drum at the scrap yard here in Tucson and spent a whole Sunday drilling and welding a firepot into it. Fired it up with my coal forge blower and within 10 minutes a hairline crack ran right down the side I welded. Guess I didn't preheat the drum enough before welding or used the wrong rod. Has anyone else tried making a forge from scrap and had it fall apart on you?
He said every new smith these days just dunks iron in water and calls it good, but he swore oil gives you way better control over cracks. Has anyone else dropped water for oil after years of doing it one way?
I spent 15 years just wailing on cold metal because I thought heating it up twice was a waste of time. Then last spring I was working on a set of fireplace tongs and a guy named Carl from the local guild watched me and said "you're just making more work for yourself." He was right, I stopped fighting the steel and started letting the heat do the heavy lifting... has anyone else had that "wait, I've been doing this wrong" moment?
I was tinkering with my homebuilt forge last weekend and the blower kept cutting out after 5 minutes. Tore the whole motor apart, checked bearings, cleaned the impeller, even rewired the switch. Six hours later I found a wire nut that was barely hanging on inside the junction box. One twist and it was fixed. I almost threw the whole thing in the scrap pile. Anyone else waste half a day on something that dumb?
Finally got a knife that held an edge instead of chipping to hell, turns out I was overheating the steel before quench and just had to watch the color closer, has anyone else messed up their heat treat that bad starting out?