Blacksmithing; Part Hobby/Part Job

[warminmn]

Cool, that makes sense.

[Greenleaf]

Fire welding a curtain rod finial

[Greenleaf]

Hand forged bar tongs for 3/8 rounds.

[Hoytman]

I feel like I should have been a blacksmith. Never had a chance to learn and try my hand, since I’ve spent so much time doing other things.

I’ve got a good place to start a shop. Part of an old covered kennel attached to my shed. Open on three sides and covered. It’s about 12’x12’ and to my way of thinking would work well. It just needs a chimney. The enclosed portion of the shed is block and about 12’x16’. I just need some tools to get started. A friend long ago deceased has nice 500+# anvil I should have talked him out of before he died.

[Greenleaf]

I feel like I should have been a blacksmith. Never had a chance to learn and try my hand, since I’ve spent so much time doing other things.

We are currently rebuilding three more forges for the shop. Not certain how many we would have now. Quite a few. Rebuilding the old blacksmith tools , be it solid fuel forge, hammers, top/bottom tooling , is a large portion of our work here.

We teach classes here in the old shop and that keeps us busy as well. Most beginners kick off the craft with a gas forge, simple tools and a rail track for anvil. Of you stop by the shop , I'll give you a rail track anvil.

[warminmn]

A 500 pound anvil, wow Hoytman, that would have been nice. Ive never seen one that large.

Thanks for the update Greenleaf.

[Greenleaf]

[quote=warminmn

Thanks for the update Greenleaf.
[/quote]

Keep the (forge) fires burning

[Hoytman]

We are currently rebuilding three more forges for the shop. Not certain how many we would have now. Quite a few. Rebuilding the old blacksmith tools , be it solid fuel forge, hammers, top/bottom tooling , is a large portion of our work here.
We teach classes here in the old shop and that keeps us busy as well. Most beginners kick off the craft with a gas forge, simple tools and a rail track for anvil. Of you stop by the shop , I'll give you a rail track anvil.

I would love to take you up on at least a visit. May try to work that out sometime. Shop looks awesome…about like what I seen in Rushville, IN at the steam show.

Do you watch the YouTube channel, “The Essential Craftsman”? He’s got a great channel all things construction and he has quite the blacksmithing shop as well.

[Hoytman]

A 500 pound anvil, wow Hoytman, that would have been nice. Ive never seen one that large.

Thanks for the update Greenleaf.

I’m not going to swear to it being that large but that’s what the old man that had it said it weighed and I have no reason not to believe him. This guy was a very unique individual. I went to church with him for years. He couldn’t read or write, but he paid cash for 14 new trucks over his lifetime. He’d have me and my dad come out after his wife passed away to read his bills to him. Any of you ever seen an electric bill for one month be $10 (mid 80’s)? I have…and that was regular for Albert and his wife. Only thing they used electricity for was their freezer. They used coal oil lamps mostly unless they had company…then they’d turn on the electric lights. They were just good old folks from a bygone era, that’s all.

He had half a dozen buckets of the 3 gallon size full of old pocketknives he’d sharpened so much that the blades were nearly gone…he carved monkeys out of peach seeds and gave them away to literally thousands of people over his lifetime. How many people do you know keep a pickled rattlesnake in a gallon jar in their house? How many people do you who have dug a basement, by hand with a pick, shovel, and buckets, underneath their mobile home…and he and another guy did it in 29 days?

This guy loaded his anvil up and took it to the nearest big truck shop where they took a forklift to get it out of the truck. Meanwhile, over in the corner some were taking bets if they could lift that anvil. Of that particular bunch of men only one could lift it off the ground, these were younger guys too in their prime. Jimmy got it off the ground. Many were astounded Jimmy could lift it. Then they got to asking the old man man how he got it in the truck, but no one believed his reply. So, ol’ Albert asked them where they wanted it. Most didn’t reply because they were laughing so hard…that is until he bent over and grabbed in the creases of his elbows and sat it back into the back of his truck. As the old coon hunters used to say, “when the tailgate drops, the BS stops”…and so did the laughing. Albert was in his mid 70’s when he did this to boot and there were plenty of witnesses including me that day…although I never doubted him anyway. I’d already seen enough over the years.


The best way I could describe Albert is like this… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodacious_(bull)# ... nners%2Dup. …although Albert wasn’t mean, he was built like a bull. I bet he could have been mean when he was young. He was shot 3 times…once by his own rifle as it fell out from behind his truck seat…shot right up through his back at his waist and came out his shoulder just above his shoulder blade. He lost half of his foot working on the railroad too. Albert had lived life to the fullest, for sure.

In his mid 70’s a head full of the thickest gray hair you ever seen. All of 5’ 9” of bibbed overhauls and long sleeve shirts everyday of the year and no discernible neck. Shoulders that seemed nearly as wide as he was tall and front to back half as thick. Albert didn’t have large hands that could palm a basketball, rather he had thick hands from decades of hand milking cows and hand troweling concrete that made his hands muscularly thick from the palms to the backs. He had fingers like silver dollars. Shaking hand with him was like shaking hands with a 6” round log…is the best way I can describe him.

He’d often ask his wife Annie, “Do you want to go to Alaska and if so how long before you can be ready”? Her reply was always, “I’ll be ready in 30 minutes”. Best I can recall Albert telling me that happened no less than a dozen times from Ohio. He had massive Longhorn Bull horns in every building on his property, including one over each of the two couches in the house. Albert did a lot of blacksmith work and a lot of concrete work in both construction and as a hobby where he had molds for nearly every concrete yard ornament you can think of.

Gosh I miss all the old timers I once knew. I guess that’s why I like hanging out on this forum.

[warminmn]

Wonderful memories! Thanks for telling the story.

[waytomany?s]

Wonderful memories! Thanks for telling the story.

You realize Bill is calling us old, right?

[warminmn]

You realize Bill is calling us old, right?

When i start talking about my neighbors that were born in the 1880's and 1890's that will make us feel even older

[Hoytman]

Considering I don’t know how old either of you are I was more referring to the likes of good old timers like my buddy Freetown Fred.

I think one of the moderators here is 90+ (someone correct me if I’m wrong). Lots of knowledgeable folks here over 65…and all of those guys make this place what it is…nothing short of flat awesome.

[waytomany?s]

If that's the case, HB better start serving prunes and medimucil.

[warminmn]

If that's the case, HB better start serving prunes and medimucil.

I always buy friends prune juice on their 65th birthday and it will be my turn all too soon!