Getting all the Toys?

 

' Getting all the TOYS ?? '

Over the period of varying personal isolation because of COVID, there has been an explosion of internet available information related to blacksmithing topics. With so many individuals having time available, and stuck at home, many are using this as an opportunity to concentrate on their ‘hobby’, even to the point of attempting to turn it into a business. Social media and YouTube contributions abound.

It would be easy to launch into a critique of the inherent problems of personal opinions, promotion over information, enthusiasm over experience. Safe to say that ‘viewer beware’ certainly needs to be considered.

But what I wanted to talk about was what seems to be developing, especially on Facebook ‘discussion’ groups, is a concept of ‘You need ALL the toys, before you can start’.

Wrong!

All you actually NEED :

- a reasonably heavy, fairly flat, surface to hammer on.

- a hammer of suitable weight

- a method to heat a bar into at least red hot

- Patience!

8th century Blacksmith’s tools – grave find, Staraya Ladoga, Russia

Hammer here is likely a jeweler’s or small raising type – not for forging.

Given my own interest in European history and the Settlement period, I often fall back to looking at what tools ancient blacksmiths had available to them. There is a lot of interest over the last decade in Viking Age objects, swords and axes especially. The smiths who made those objects (pre Christian) were most commonly buried with tools. The well known tool box find from Mastermyr (Gotland, Sweden) is a full inventory of blackmithing and woodworking tools. Admittedly anvils themselves are uncommon as artifacts. Most typically, a single mass of iron has formed into a simple block or L shape. With the starting iron blooms in the range of 8 – 10 kg (10 – 22 lbs) the result is often hand width sized at best. The other basic tools almost always found (and the first you would make) are a straight cutting chisel, a round hole punch, and then a pair of tongs. Hammers used to forge those swords and axes? Most typically square faced cross peens, in the size range of 700 to 1000 gms (that is 25 to 35 ounces for American readers). The forges used were most often simple shallow bowls in the ground, fired with charcoal.

Having a high temperature propane forge (capable of forge welding large billets?) is nice, but not required at an entry level. Nor a high speed belt sander. Or a power hammer, or hydraulic press. Ask any of the old hands, just what they had when they started?

Interest

Will

Perseverance

I freely admit, that having quality tools can make work significantly easier. But the real truth is that good work is based on practice. (I worked on a piece of rail track for an anvil for at least the first three years when I started, a coal forge cobbled together from cast off parts with a vacuum cleaner as blower).

So my best advice?

Just get started !

- Skill will come with time.

- Expect to work up to better tools, and more specialized equipment, as your accumulated experience suggests.

- There is no ‘absolute perfect’ hammer (despite what people selling hammers say, this is a highly personal choice, based primarily on body type and working style).

- Time spent developing hand technique will most definitely pay back, even if later you invest in power assisted forging machines.

Some related commentaries from this blog :

Basic Tools for Blacksmithing

‘What do I need?? Part 1, Forging’ - April 2020

https://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-do-i-need.html

‘the Big Box...’ (student tool set) - March 2018 :

https://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/big-box-jay-has-on-stage.html

On Hammers :

‘Getting Hammered’ (part 1, shapes) - February 2018 :

https://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/getting-hammered.html

‘Getting Hammered 2 – Dynamics’ - March 2018

https://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/getting-hammered-2-dynamics.html

‘Getting Hammered 3 – Setting Up’ - March 2018

https://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/getting-hammered-3-setting-up.html

(A general search of the over 1000 commentaries on the blog is sure to find other segments of interest!)

Author’s Note : This is an expanded version from the original that appeared in the Ontario Artisan Blacksmiths Association (OABA) newsletter ‘The Iron Trillium’ in Fall 2021, prepared on the request of Bill Ganoe of the Arizona Artist Blacksmith Association (AABA)

© 2022, Darrell Markewitz (please contact the author before re-printing)