Building tools (video)

[Sonnich Jensen]

I really like this, wish I could do that too... but then again I dont really need it

[Keith Nuttle]

It is amazing that modern man is finally figuring our they can do things without electricity and build tools like our ancestors have done for the last several centuries.

I guess that is the reason the the PBS show the Woodwright has been on TV for the last 40 years. I got hooked in the show where he went out into the woods and cut an oak tree. He cut a section from the trunk the length he needed and then proceeded to SPLIT out the two 2X8 that he needed.

My grandfather was a blacksmith, and I have one of his tongs that he made to fit his hand. (Missing finger) It is bent so the one arm neatly fits into the hole caused by the missing finger. With the bend he could use the tongs with one hand while he used the hammer with the other.

[PHT]

About the closest anybody comes to being a blacksmith nowadays is those that shoe horses. In the past this was done the the blacksmith. Most all iron work nowadays is done with machines. When I was in high school (many years ago) we was required to do some items using a forge as a blacksmith would. It was a something you did not forget.

Paul T.

[Keith Nuttle]

Blacksmithing has made some what of a come back even though it will never be what it was in the 1900's. Yes there is a large need for the shoeing of horses, and you can usually find one around a horse show.

The other place to find blacksmiths is the many historical recreations and historical sites. If you go to some place like Feast of the Harvest Moon in Lafayette Indiana you will find a dozen working blacksmiths. Some with a simple forge to some very sophisticate set up. Many historical sites, have a working blacksmith shops, examples are Marbry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Connor Prairie in Indiana, Tryon Place in New Bern NC, and many similar sites.

While they practice the historic profession, their main products are hinges, and other simple iron items. I believe I saw one where they were making an iron fence.

In some historical sites, they do the larger task, such as wagon repair and construction and other Blacksmithing project to maintain the site and the historical accuracy.

[Casper]

That was a really great video. Thanks for sharing. I admire that guy's reuse of tools and creativity.

[CW]

About the closest anybody comes to being a blacksmith nowadays is those that shoe horses. In the past this was done the the blacksmith. Most all iron work nowadays is done with machines. When I was in high school (many years ago) we was required to do some items using a forge as a blacksmith would. It was a something you did not forget. =============================================================================== There are plenty of working blacksmiths around.

[Puckdropper]

"CW" wrote in news:vuGdnbcvDM7uF-jMnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

*snip* There are plenty of working blacksmiths around.

There are also plenty of hobbyist blacksmiths around too. They're probably like woodworkers, you wouldn't be able to tell them on the street but in their work space there's a pretty nice set up.

Puckdropper

[CW]

"CW" wrote in news:vuGdnbcvDM7uF-jMnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

*snip* There are plenty of working blacksmiths around.

There are also plenty of hobbyist blacksmiths around too. They're probably like woodworkers, you wouldn't be able to tell them on the street but in their work space there's a pretty nice set up. ========================================================================== True. I used to be one.

[willshak]

That's a farrier.

[John Grossbohlin]

I know quite a number of blacksmiths... Some from my time working in the gunsmith shop at Colonial Williamsburg. There are three blacksmiths within 5 miles or so of me right now. Two do commercial commissions and the third is pretty much retired now being in his late 70s.

Peter Ross was master of the blacksmith shop at Williamsburg when I worked there

Roy Underhill has had him on the Woodwright's Shop numerous times.

I just posted some photos to abpw of some kitchen cabinets made from solid crotch walnut with hand forged hinges, etc. These reside in one of my friend's home in VA whom I visited this past summer on my bicycle trip from FL to NY. My friend was a gunsmith at Williamsburg and held other skilled positions at Williamsburg prior to his retirement.

John

P.S. If you want to read about my trip...

[Swingman]

Very cool. Bookmarked it on my iPad and taking it to bed tonight for a proper read. Looks great. Thanks for the heads-up.

Nova recently did a show of a blacksmith/swordsmith reverse engineering a viking sword, pretty interesting if you've ever done any banging on hot metal yourself:

[Swingman]

Enjoyable read, highly recommended.

"It's now an entertainment, sound bite and tweet world... not much depth to it."

Seems to be that way almost everywhere.

[John Grossbohlin]

Thanks! It was a lot of work keeping up on the journal while on the road...

Not sure I ever posted the link to the 2011 trip. The 2011 trip was through the Rockies which was a challenge for someone who lives and works less than

200 feet above sea level!

[John Grossbohlin]

The reverse engineering thing is quite common among the museum crowd. ;~) My "hero" in that respect is Wallace Gusler... Wallace redeveloped the 18th century (and earlier!) technology to make guns. If you've ever seen the movie The Gunsmith of Williamsburg you'll understand why I feel this way! There is DVD titled "Forging a Flintlock Rifle Barrel" with Jon Laubach that is available from

that you may find interesting (as well as others including The Gunsmith of Williamsburg). I worked with Jon at Williamsburg on the "dumb" end of barrel welding and reaming (hand turned reaming bench). I visited with him this summer too... learned a LOT from him!

Looking at tool marks on original pieces, whether iron, silver, copper, wood, stone, etc. gives clues to how things were done. I think the trick is finding the patterns across different similar items. This as, as those of us here on the rec know all too well, there are myriad ways to do things... some excellent, some good, some bad and some just plain ridiculous. Also figuring out if the work was done by a beginner vs. an expert is important. I've seen original Shaker pieces that probably (clearly?) were the work of beginners and if they were the only pieces I'd ever seen I wouldn't be terribly impressed with the Shaker's work! One questionable one that comes to mind had half-tails on the ends and the tail board curled (cupped) at the edges.

I'd seen ads for that... will check it out.

John

[Swingman]

I've a lot of respect for the art, having been exposed to it for a time myself.

My paternal grandfather was a blacksmith. I grew up around horses, learned to cold shape and apply and reset shoes early on, but started hot shoeing in earnest after I got out of the service.

Since I'd already gone to college, I used the GI bill to attend Bud Beaston's (RIP) "Oklahmoma Farriers College", which had a pretty good course in basic blacksmithing, as we were required to make all our own tools that we would later use in the craft.

(some of which I still own, and those I don't, my Dad, who still rides at 90 and owns a racehorse farm, inherited the rest ... (reminds me, I need to get my anvil and stand back one of these days ))

And, being taught by a respected Master of the art, it was an excellent course in the specifics of hand forging horseshoes for corrective purposes.

As anyone has who has ever tried it will appreciate, there is a definite art to shaping, to effective purpose, hot metal, with tongs in one hand and a hammer in the other, particularly to the precise shape of each individual foot of a horse with the express purpose of influencing their gait.

I got proficient at it, and made a good living for a few years while I was single, but decided it was not something that would ultimately send kids to college after getting married ... also got extremely tired of the modern horse business being more for the vanity of the man, than for the good of the horse, a conclusion/aversion I still harbor to this day.

For those Houstonians who have been there, and unless my Dad still has some which I don't know about, the last known example of my hand forged horseshoes was still hanging on the wall behind the bar of McGonigel's Mucky Duck last time I was there. :)

[Leon]

I watched the Texas Country Reporter show that focused on Angel Sword. Apparently this guy holds some world records

Anyway he demonstrated the sharpness of the sword by cutting a piece of paper, not on the edge of the paper, he shave a layer from the surface of the paper to make it thinner.

Located in Driftwood TX

[John Grossbohlin]

I'm reminded of my son's comment early on when he was learning woodworking... "It's like magic." ;~)

John