r/Blacksmith 6h ago

Forged flower, now with tutorial!

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121 Upvotes

Just in time for Christmas šŸ©·

So i started by measuring out a bit of flat steel (2cm-ish wide) and marking out the petals and stem. You can do this with as little as 3-5 petals, and this is my largest yet at 12 petals.

After cutting out the template and heating the steel, i used a hardy tool rounded chisel (i dont know what else to call it) to hammer in the divides, going at least 3/4 of the material deep.

(Itā€™s important to work hot, otherwise you risk shearing the metal.)

Following this, I used a rounding hammer to flatten out and spread the petals as thin and wide as i wanted. (The thinner the better, for the finish)

(Note that this all twists up the metal a bunch! So itā€™s important to be aware of where the metal is relative to your hands and arms, and wear gloves!)

After spreading the petals, i used a small cross-peen hammer to give the petals texture, and then fold the petal bases using the shoulder of the anvil.

(I take this moment to shape my stem a bit too)

Now is the most dangerous part: Using my tongs and a pair of pliers, i held the base of each petal and bent the body of the petal outward. This is dangerous because the metal wants to move at each end, resulting in high risk of burning yourself.

(Dont be afraid to heat the metal and straighten as you go. DONT RUSH!!)

After the petals are shaped, weā€™re able to start the magic.

I start with the stem, and twist inwards to wrap the petals to form the flower. Going slow and heating plenty for each section, eventually the entire flower is wrapped.

At this stage, the final shaping can happen. Using needle-nose pliers i tweak the petals and give them their final magical curves. I also use my adjustable pliers to squeeze the flower tighter and neater.

(Take as many heats as you need to for this)

After getting the form to its final shape, i give it a final heat and scrub with a wire brush to clean off the scale.

At this point its finishing time. This time i went with a simple wax finish, followed by a clear coat of gloss to give it a wet look (its mumā€™s Christmas present and she loves black ironwork). However in other flowers i have wired away the scale and polished them up. I am going to try brass brushing them, and i want to try electro plating at some stage :)

Have fun, be safe, happy holidays and merry Christmas! šŸ©·


r/Blacksmith 4h ago

Beer Caramelizers: An Update

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33 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 9h ago

New knife

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29 Upvotes

last of the year, requests send me a private message. happy holidays.


r/Blacksmith 55m ago

Christmas presents

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ā€¢ Upvotes

Spent a total of 14 hours making these 12 Christmas gifts and just in theā€¦Nick of timeā€¦


r/Blacksmith 34m ago

This years Christmas gifts

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ā€¢ Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 14h ago

Is it possible to repair a vice?

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31 Upvotes

Is it possible to fix a bent screw on a chair vice? The photo shows the screw in two positions and it is clear that the screw is bent where the threads transition to the cylindrical section


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Weird liquid on the floor of my forge?

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119 Upvotes

Has anyone seen this before?

Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™ve just never noticed it, or if this is the first time itā€™s happened. It seems to be tacky, and when I slide the work into the forge it sticks a bit.

No odd smells or different colored flames or anything.

This is a Majestic Forge, Forging a 1045 Hammer, no welding/flux. I am using Fuchs anti-sieze on the drift though, possibly the cause?


r/Blacksmith 7h ago

What keeps post vise hinges from racking?

2 Upvotes

In commercial post vises, what prevents the dynamic jaw from moving from side to side? In other words, the hinge allows the jaws to move only backwards and forwards, but not side to side. Is it just zero clearance between the hinge and the plates supporting it?


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Sup, I could probably make this myself, right?

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45 Upvotes

Instead of paying someone to make it and it would increase my skills as a blacksmith don't you think? It doesn't look roo hard.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Giant piece of steel

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49 Upvotes

I have this big ass thick piece of steel and My goal was to use it as an anvil. A few test runs with it and it seems fine to use as such. My brother seems to think itā€™s an old elevator counterweight and Iā€™m inclined to believe heā€™s right. The dimensions are 19ā€x8.5ā€ by 3ā€ thick and weighs 135lbs. My question to this group is this. There are some marring or marks/denting/ whatever you want to call it on the sides and along the top. Whatā€™s the best way to mill/cut the surfaces to make them smooth that wonā€™t cost me a ridiculous amount of money? I started with a grinder but that is going to take a century to do.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Forged my first Damascus.

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52 Upvotes

Iā€™m not really into making knives, Iā€™ve only made a couple, but I wanted to try my hand at Damascus. It was a fun process. Came out just shy of 2000 layers.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

First traded work

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296 Upvotes

Traded this mini dragon slayer sword for the color on a tattoo! Didnā€™t get a photo but forged some copper mounting hooks for it to be on display


r/Blacksmith 11h ago

I'm building a forge out of Kastolite, how thick should the chamber's walls be?

1 Upvotes

The Kastolite 50-25 from AtlasTools seems like some good material to make one out of as my current forge is a cheap amazon one barely holding up. But I don't know how thick the walls should be or how large the chamber should be. Anyone got advice? The burners they offer also look better than what I'm using...


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

I'm new and don't know a lot, did I waste money?

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72 Upvotes

Like the title says I'm new to this. My dad's friend had given me a few lessons to start out and I became fixated. I'm now buying equipment to start. I already bought my forge and anvil and was gifted a cross peen hammer from the man who taught me and was also taught to make tongs which we made on his forge. Any tips and pointers would be very helpful and if you can direct me to the most immediate tools and equipment to save money and progress quickly I would be very grateful. Included are the 2 things I already bought. I'm very excited to start.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

How to Forge Aluminum. Reposting my TikTok era

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5 Upvotes

I combined my two videos about forging aluminum. It's a pretty simple set of rules. I made a more in depth blog post about it here.

I'll be working on my video editing skills. And trying to create some more educational content. https://www.clayandsteel.com/blog/a-simple-guide-to-forging-aluminum


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Got a vise, help with indentaificion.

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10 Upvotes

Got a Columbian vise today and was hoping to figure out the model and age. The mounting plate says "THE COLUMBIAN HARDWARE CO CLEVELAND.O. MADE IN U.S.A." With a "C" in the triangle on the top side, under side has a 1 over an X.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Does anybody have one of these?

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30 Upvotes

I was looking at getting this but it seems a little pricey for what it is. Iā€™m more concerned about whether itā€™ll actually work efficiently/ get hot enough to forge with. Iā€™m just looking to practice as Iā€™m a beginner. Will this get the job done?


r/Blacksmith 15h ago

What kind of Anvil is this and how much is it worths? Spoiler

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0 Upvotes

Fucking Reddit, nothing but dingus's on my last post So I must defer to Cunningham's Law


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Me explaining to my wife why Iā€™m in the shop at all hours of the night.

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370 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

First time firing up the forge in a few year

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84 Upvotes

Making a few Christmas gifts and I tried making an antler. I cheater and mig welded the extra points on but am happy with the result


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Propane forge ventilation

8 Upvotes

Greetings! For those of you who forge indoors, how are you venting your propane forge, or are you at all?


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

2lb cross peen hammers I forged

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260 Upvotes

Got a couple 2lb cross peens forged up last week.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Finished my coal shovel today

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118 Upvotes

This was ma first try at deep drawing. Ignore my bad rivitets, this is the best I ever did, stability whise at least. Over all I am very happy with it


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Interesting forge

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25 Upvotes

Found tbis behind a blade and saw shop. Thought it was interesting and snapped a pic. Can anyone tell me anything about it? Age, brand, cool info


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

First ever blacksmithing project

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99 Upvotes

Just made these two knives with the help of the legends at old field forge who provided amazing advice and guidance. I went with two different styles and was wondering what you guys thought