Hammer Time

                I recently realized that I have a hammer problem.  Unfortunately there isn't a support group for this.  I know I'm not the only person on the planet that is a collector of odd bits. I'm not even the only tool collector, but I don't really collect tools.  Actually, I don't really collect.  What I do is make, or purchase, or acquire in whatever way possible, hammers.  I even cheat and reform hammers that I pick up cheap so that they do things that they weren't designed to do.  I love moving metal, so hammers are an incredibly useful tool to me.  I only have one claw hammer because I might have to fix the roof or tear something apart.  Mostly, though, I have fantastic specialty hammers.  Hammers that only do one thing.  I was thinking of including a picture of all my hammers here, but I don't want to have to put them all away again and by the time I got far enough away to get them all in one picture the handles would look like toothpicks and you wouldn't be able to make out the heads.  

This is pretty much what my claw hammer looks like only mine is dirtier and more beat up. 

 

                I was talking to a computer tech guy on the phone who was trying to help me with my online advertising which is unnecessarily complicated if you ask me.  I guess it's job security for the tech guys.  Anyway, he was looking at my web site while trying to come up with search keywords and, of course, he told  me he was learning blacksmithing so he could make knives.  Due to conversations like this one, I am starting to think that most people who are interested in metalwork and smithing are only interested in making knives.  I don't make many knives because there is too much grinding involved in bladesmithing.  I'm more into moving metal than removing metal.  In truth it isn't actually necessary to do any moving of metal when making a blade.  You could make an incredible blade without an anvil, a hammer or a forge.  I suspect this is why so many bladesmiths get into pattern welded blades.  Making the pattern welded billet requires the use of a hammer.  Moving metal with a hammer is so satisfying.  Grinding is not. 

I told the tech guy to start out doing this.  It's the start of a pattern welded billet using cable.  It could be more or less frustrating than stacking and folding.  I don't actually know.

 

                A hammer is the most basic piece of equipment necessary for moving metal.  There's a physics thing going on there.  A hammer is basically a stick with a weight on the end.  You swing it and it gives you great power.  Ask Thor.  Actually I don't know anything about Thor.  Norse god with hammer.  That's all I know and even that could be wrong.  Then I went off and looked up Thor on Wikipedia (which I know could be totally wrong too) and found our Thursday is named after Thor.  Also he used his hammer to "smash mountains".  That is an insane use for a hammer.  Hammers used properly are tools of creation not tools of destruction.  Plus, I like mountains.  They break up the monotony of not mountains, and help the directionally challenged know which way they are headed.  Unless, of course, they are all around.  Then maybe you have to smash one so you know which way is north.  I have other issues with Thor now that I have a deep Wikipedia understanding of him, but I will save that for another day.  

 

Ok. Seriously?  This is a toy Thor.  Why does he have wings on his head?  But also that hammer could only be used to smash mountains so now I get the mountain smashing thing. 

               

               I will say that making a hammer is a really cool thing.  Although, I will also say, it's a lot harder to do if you don't already have a hammer.  It's similar to trying to get your first job.  So very hard because you have never had a job before.  For this reason, I am going to suggest that you buy your first hammer.  Before you know it you will have a hammer problem just like mine.   Thanks to online shopping there are hundreds of places to buy hammers of every sort and every quality.  With a hammer, a pair of tongs, an anvil and a forge, you can work metal hot.  A hammer, a pitch bowl or a chunk of carpet, some chisels and you can work metal cold.  Eventually you will end up with a wall of hammers, four anvils, hundreds of tongs and several forges.  The proverbial slippery slope. 

There are times when I hate the internet and times when I love it.  

                 

                I can't really tell you how to find or chose an anvil.  They are heavy and expensive and if you are looking at used ones they can need a lot of repair which is a little complicated to do.  You can also use a chunk of railroad track in a pinch.  I've never tried this but I know it's done.  Tongs are easier.  They aren't too expensive or once you have a hammer, an anvil and a forge, you can pretty easily make a pair of tongs.  Or 20.  Or however many it takes for you to get totally comfortable with the skills necessary for tong making.  Ideally, you will need a punch to make tongs which you probably should have made, but you need tongs to make a punch so maybe just buy your first pair of tongs.  That was a fun circle.  You can also make a forge.  Purchasing a forge can be pretty pricey.  You don't really need much in the way of tools to make a forge.  I keep making new ones because I haven't found an ideal size.  Or a size that fits every project.  I use gas forges because coal is too complicated to deal with.  If you want to weld in a gas forge you need to add compressed air.  If you want do work in what is now considered the traditional way, make a coal forge.  If you want to be really traditional you will forego mineral coal and make your own charcoal.  And no, you can't just pick up a bag at the store.  It's not the same.  All of that is a distraction from moving metal though.  So just find an old drum or canister or something and make a nice little propane forge.  Add a compressed air valve if you really need to make pattern welded steel.  

I am in no way endorsing or recommending this plan because basically you can kill yourself if you aren't paying attention when you work with compressed flammable gas.  That's true whether you make your own propane forge or buy one.  At least it's a faster death than the one you will experience if you use a coal forge. 

 

                Lastly, get a hammer.  Or more than just one.  There are different types of smithing hammers that do different kinds of work.  Start with a rounder.  Maybe get a Swedish  pattern hammer or a French.  Those are just fancy cross pein hammers.  Go find some cheap ball pein or sledge hammers and modify them to do what you need.  Make a straight pein hammer from a ball pein hammer.  Finally or eventually, get a chunk of steel and make your own hammer.  That baby will feel so good in your hand that you will never want to put it down.  

This is a pretty inexpensive rounding hammer from The Hammer Source.  It's a pretty good place to start.  There are, naturally, much more expensive rounders and you can also make your own. 

                Guess what?  You now have a hammer problem and there are no support groups for that.

Get to work

j

                 

And so it begins

       

I needed a picture so this is it

    I've been considering documenting the way I work. I want to share the methods and skills I use to make the things I make.  I know there are a lot of books that show how to smith or weld or chase or engrave or whatever.  They are pretty dry, but also absolute.  I don't do absolute very well.  These books contain good information, but they also leave a lot out,  and sometimes they make the whole process so stinking hard.  I have a book on blacksmithing published in the early 20th century.  The first thing it instructs the new smith to do is make a set of tongs  You will need tongs.  I guess the problem for me at the beginning of the 21st century is that I don't know how you will make them without all the other things you will also need.  We no longer live at a time when there is going to be a forge and anvil at your disposal just down the street.  That makes me unsure how you can even begin to make tongs.  That's problem one. Problem two is that this book instructs you to make the tongs from 3/4" square bar.  I think that's insane even if you do have a forge, an anvil and a power hammer.  I don't know why anyone would make tongs from 3/4" square bar unless they really wanted to spend days making them.  My advice is that when you are starting out just go buy a pair for $40 and call it a day.  Later on when you need specialty tongs and you have experience, you can make them  from 3/8" x 3/4" flat bar or even 1/4" x 3/4" flat bar.  Why anyone would ever make a pair of tongs from 3/4" square bar is a mystery to me.  Better yet, if you really want to learn the lessons that you can  learn from making tongs, make a pair of tongs every day for a month.  After about 20 pair you will feel pretty confident about your ability to make tongs.  Make at least ten more pair.  Then you will have the knowledge that making tongs can give you and you will have a bunch of tongs.

     Anyway, there are also classes and conferences and YouTube videos where people show their skills, and you can learn an amazing amount from them.  I would never discourage anybody from taking a class.  Classes give the opportunity to work in a shop that has all the equipment you need to do the things that are being shown with an expert right there to get you past obstacles.  This is amazing and is a great way to start.  It will also be just like every other class you have ever taken.  As you can tell from my advice on making tongs, I don't think you will have learned anything if you just do it once.  If you did those calculus problems from high school every day until you really understood them, one at a time, and then did them a few more times, you would know calculus.  Maybe that's just me.  Still, you need to spend time practicing each skill until you feel comfortable with it.

     Conferences and videos are also valuable ways to learn.  I do think in order to learn from them you need a bit of background.  The demonstrators have practiced whatever they are showing until they are sure they won't make mistakes, but by the time they get to demonstrating they skip a lot of valuable information in order to do a better show and if they don't you walk away because it's so so so boring.

     Please don't misunderstand.  I'm not saying that my way is the best way, nor is it always the conventional way.  It's just my way.  Working with metal and making things is how I make a living.  I'm not a purist.  I think I have some practical information that might be valuable even if you never intend to make anything from metal.  I hope that looking closely at how I do my work will help you do yours.  Problem solving is problem solving.

     I want this to be the first chapter of an ongoing series. I intend to go deep, to share my successes and failures, my processes and my thinking.  We all struggle.  I will try to make my struggles entertaining.  Feel free to laugh even if I'm crying.

     There are a lot of skills that are guarded because we all fear competition to some degree.  My animal brain has lots of fear, but my rational brain knows that sharing my skills won't really create competition.  My work has me in it.  Your work doesn't.  Because of that, I will share my knowledge without fear. Besides, at the rate I write these posts, it will take a decade for me to get to the end.

    There are a finite number of skills and an infinite number of ways to manipulate them.  Maybe not infinite, but there are a bunch.  I will include sketches, even though I really can't draw with a pencil.  I will have videos and photos to help with understanding.  I will explain how I do things and why.  Along the way, if you have questions, I hope you will ask them.  There are a lot of ways to reach me.  Pick the one that works best for you.

      Each of us has a finite amount of time.  I want to leave some of my knowledge behind.  Some of it is useful and I'd rather pass it along this way than by having my brain kept in a jar.  I don't think that would be a good look for me.

     That's my plan.  Over the next ten to twelve appallingly slow years I will make a metal artisan of you all.  If you use it as a reference because you want to try working with metal, that's great.  If you just use it to know that you are not alone in the struggle to master your skills, that's good too.  After all,  it's always nice to know you are not alone.

So...until next month when we meet again
j

A dragon a day keeps the scorn of teens away

The six dragon heads from the demo.  Two have horns. 

A couple with beards

     A couple of months ago, actually just before winter break,  my daughter's art teacher asked me if I could come to the school and do a demo.  It would take place right after winter break.  Without really thinking, I said yes.  Then I thought it through..  You know how you spend the first 25 or so years of your kids lives telling them to THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS.   I should have paid attention to myself.  I guess the tone of my voice really is inaudible, although, it seems my kids did listen.  Where was I while I was blathering on about this crap. 

Side view. 

     I will admit that I have always been a girl who can't say no....sigh...get your mind out of the gutter.  I mean when it comes to work.  I very rarely say no when I am working.  There has to be a really good reason.  Like the plan defies the laws of physics or something like that.  Otherwise I will try everything I can to make it happen.  No is so final.  Final is done.  Done is beautiful.  Done without being right might be beautiful but it isn't satisfying.  It won't satisfy my customers and it doesn't satisfy me.  I'm a people pleaser.  What can I say?  Phooo...if you know me, you know that isn't true, but you also know how much I despise the automatic no response.

  

Horns

     No is easy.  Yes is a challenge, and a challenge met is a pleasure.  So I said yes to the demo.

I've never done a demo.  There are a lot of reasons for that.  I don't see work as a spectator sport.  I can't think of anything more tedious than watching someone work.  Also PERFORMANCE ANXIETY.  Big sigh. 

I like this one

     I said yes to this without having any details.  Yes can be problematic.  I found out after saying yes that it wasn't so much a demo as six demos.  One for each period of the day.  After hyperventilating for a few..well it seemed like days, I tried to figure out what I could possibly show.  What could I possibly demo.  I have a fairly wide range of skills, but some of them would be really painful to watch so forging something seemed safest.  The next question was what could I forge that would be magical enough to hold the interest of high school students.  

These are the basic steps to convert square bar into a dragon head.  Easy without an audience.

I don't know why I curved the neck

     A couple more days of panic and I finally settled on dragons.  I would forge dragon heads from square bar.   To forge dragons I would need a forge, an anvil, a vice and a few hand tools.  I could do this.  I felt that I should be as prepared as possible because there's nothing quite as unpleasant as the scorn of teens.  That's what a group of teens should be called.  A scorn.  A herd of cattle, a murder of crows and a scorn of teens.

Different lower lip

     It's impossible to predict all the problems you will encounter in any situation until you have lived through something similar.  My nervousness about this whole demo business led me to what I now call "A dragon a day month".  Yes, I did make a dragon almost every day for a month.  And yes, I now have a bucket of dragons that I will have to do something with.  It was actually a nice way to warm the shop in the morning. 

This is a nice trio

     A couple of days before the demo was scheduled, the art teacher asked what kind of power I needed.  I had been worried over the detail questions.  I told him I didn't need power.  I was honest.  I said I was bringing propane, an anvil, a vice and some hand tools.  I also said it should happen outside.  Apparently he had the sense not to mention to the schools administration that I was going to have any of these things.  He claimed nobody asked. 

     So...the demo happened.   

There are so many

     On the up side, I was able to make six dragons in front of six  groups of teens in the courtyard of the high school without lighting myself on fire, or drawing any of my own blood, or shooting a tool across the intervening space and skewering a student.  I consider that a win.  On the downside, there were so many things that I did not anticipate.  I work in a cave.  It's dark and there's no climate control.  Out in the courtyard in the sunshine,  I could not see the color of the metal.  I was never sure if it was hot enough.  I realized how much I rely on the color of the metal to gauge the heat.  Also I was staged under a tree.  I don't care what the poem says, it's not good under the limbs of a tree.  There are roots to trip over.  

Another

     Also, high school is weird.  There are a lot of people, and these are adults, that just seem to aimlessly wander around.  They were distracting.  Oh yeah, and some kids were setting up for some event in the courtyard for the last three periods of the day.  I had probably practiced too much so I made my dragon heads too fast and had to fill.  That was a pain that will linger.  I can barely hold the interest of my own teen.  Other people's teens, there was just no way.

Finally

     All in all, though, it went really well.  That the art teacher didn't bother to tell the administration I was bringing a 100 lb bottle of propane, or that I would have a 2000 degree open flame made it much easier.  And nobody got burned.  That's a win.  Plus the final period kids helped me load the tools back onto my trailer so I could get out of there.  

     Now I have six more dragons to add to my collection. 

Dragon candle holder.  Black heat horn mishap

     I don't know if I will ever do a demo again, but at least now I have some idea of how, and in front of the toughest audience anywhere.  Six scorns of teens.  It doesn't get any tougher than that.  I can demo for anyone now. 

Dragon door pull

   

    















     This is a fairly bad video I made of the demo.  As you can tell if you watch it, it is really hard to see the color of the steel in the sunlight.  At 3 1/2 minutes it's also incomplete.  It was hard to get video without blocking the view of the kids so the angles aren't very good and a lot of the demo is missing.  The sound was horrible so I turned the audio off.  But it will give a bit of an idea.  I'm working on my video skills so maybe the next video will be better. 

If it doesn't load it's on YouTube.  Here's the link

https://youtu.be/y7zo5Vcc6o4

  Ok, back to work.  Lots of dragons to process.
      j