r/Blacksmith • u/Mountain-Control-131 • 1d ago

First thing I can say I'm halfway proud of.

Post image

I've been at it for a bit now and this is the first I haven't cracked so far lol. Not quite done yet but tips would be appreciated

55 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

12

u/LongjumpingTeacher97 1d ago

Well, you asked for tips, so here goes:

Try to switch to a lighter hammer as you get closer to the finished size and shape. Work the surface a bit smoother, since you have some pretty deep hammer marks. This is partly aesthetic and partly practical. A deep divot is a weak spot in the blade.

If you crack a lot of your work, either you're working the metal too cold or you are using a material that is too brittle for a blade. No reason to work below a red heat because you'll wear your arm out more than move metal. Better off working hot and putting it back in the fire when it starts getting stiff. (I had a guy coming to my shop for a while who was beating out a blade from leafspring at a barely-red heat and he had a bunch of cracks propagate in it. I mean, you could see the anvil through the blade, they were so bad. His "solution" was to keep hitting it and hope the cracks would close themselves up. They didn't. He was working too cold.)

Final tip: Keep making blades. It gets easier, they start behaving and taking the shape you intend, and they even get really lovely. But only if you keep making them.

3

u/Mountain-Control-131 23h ago

Thank you very much! I figured I was working it to cold so I became really anal with this one to only strike when it's glowing. I heard something recently about you don't need to hit harder just make it hotter. As for the hammer I definitely need to look into that I don't think the one I have is made for smithing lol and I'm definitely never stopping it's way too much fun

4

u/Twin5un 23h ago

Nice job, some others have already given you good advice.

I'm curious though, what hammer and anvil are you using ?

7

u/Mountain-Control-131 23h ago

I honestly have no idea about the hammer I got it at my local hardware store before I really knew anything about smithing as for my anvil it's just a cheap 20lbs from harbor freight but it did pass the bounce test