Blacksmith John

Turns out blacksmithing is a hoot! We've had four classes now, and they have all been instructional and fun. On the way there last time, we saw this...


A nice way to start the evening. Then it was on to class, where we made steel very hot and tried to form it into something.


I've spent the past couple classes making a set of tongs.


This is me cutting out the bad weld I made to try again. I'd like to say that it went great, but for some reason, I just could not get the two parts to stay together. After the three hour class was done, and I had fused those two pieces at least five times using various methods, I decided to just make the other half of the tongs out of a new piece of metal. It took about twenty minutes.

Next class I'll rivet them together and have my tongs! I also hope to start a railroad spike knife, as I have a great many ideas about making those! I'll show you one when I get one done.

That's about all for now...

More Later