Backyard Bladesmithing 

Nicole. As a blacksmith and bladesmith of over 40 years and a father of two daughters. YOU ARE AWESOME!!!! I am so happy that you contacted a local smith to further your skillset. This will save you tons of time and money in mistakes. The little backyard forge is set up nicely. I also love that you are learning to switch hit right off the bat. If i might a couple of tips to save time and your joints. If you are mostly right-handed. put the forge to the left of the anvil or even in front of the anvil. this will save fuel. Go back and watch the footage of you swinging hard. you are having what is known as " Chicken winging" try to keep the elbow "in" when you bring the hammer up. this will save your joints. Lastly the anvil face should be at a height that when you are standing upright with a clenched fist arms hanging down strait. your knuckles will graze the face of the anvil. This will give you more power on each swing, and ease future wrist pain. Hope some of this helps. Thank you for taking us along on this new journey. I hope that you continue to evolve your new craft. and may it bring you as much happiness as it has brought me in the last 43 years. Tom B. in ND

As a old toolmaker once told me, if you don’t make any mistakes, you’re not doing anything.

My son has ADHD and blacksmithing has been a way for him to relax and concentrate. It holds his attention and he finds it to be a way calm his mind.

As a BC, ADHD queer who is trying to get their life together to do.... essentially what you are doing.... these videos are so healing and joy-making

You are a fascinating individual Nicole, and I admire your willingness to try things. Thanks for sharing your journey.

For roughly 25 of my 50 years on this beautiful planet, I've been watching video content. This right here is the best I've ever seen, and I'm dying for you to turn this part of your journey into a series.

Thanks for being willing to be vulnerable and show the process of learning a new skill. I am sure this is encouraging to a lot of people

Messing up is part of learning something. Learn from your mistakes and have fun. Really love your video.

There is much honor in facing down something new and working with what you have. You forge like a joyous dwarf I once knew! Fantastic content!

Your disclaimer was unnecessary, this is exactly what I was looking for. This is also the second or third video that emphasizes how simple you can start but with time and practice you will get better. Thank you.

I watched this with my roommates cat. He was very interested, lol as was I! I just started learning blacksmithing myself. But this is the first time I've notice my roommate's cat interested in the craft.

Torag and Hephaestus look upon you with a smile

I'm only a few years into blacksmith and bladesmithing myself. It's fantastic that you're doing this as well as showing your process, especially the fun of ADHD. Don't ask me about my bag of partially completed forging projects.... But if I may be presumptuous, I'll offer some unsolicited advice. I teach blacksmithing classes now. Well, assistant teach anyway, but that does mean I'm pretty focused on watching what the students are doing and trying to remind the actual instructor about things that they're so used to that newer people aren't. So I do see a lot of the classic beginner mistakes, and I'm gonna be a bit mad about your friend not pointing them out. Couple of big ergonomic/safety things and a couple of small nuances: -- Don't rest your thumb on the back of the handle. Your thumb is going to take more stress and damage the ligament and tendons in your thumb and wrist -- The grip you use should be hand wrapped completely around the handle, and a VERY loose grip. Your hand is just there to guide the hammer as it falls. The old saw is someone should be able to pull the hammer out of your hand when you're at the peak of your swing -- Someone else in the comments mentioned, you're choked up really high on the handle. Hand position on the handle is a trade off between power and control. The further up the handle you are, the less power you can generate but the more control you can exercise. Holding the end of the handle puts physics in your favor by having a longer lever arm. -- This is THE most common novice thing, not bringing the hammer up high enough, using too much wrist, and not driving through the anvil. Again, it's all physics. The higher you bring the hammer up, the more velocity you can generate, which is going to impart more force into the piece. And if you're using your wrist instead of your whole arm to control it, you're putting more strain on your wrist and robbing yourself of the power of gravity and the rebound of the anvil. Driving through you didn't seem to have any trouble with, which is understandable xD And related to that, you're standing nice and close to the anvil, so didn't fall into that trap. -- Great job on eye protection and mask while grinding, and maybe I just didn't see them, but always, always, ALWAYS wear ear protection. Especially while forging, but also grinding. Being outside helps, but striking the piece on the anvil produces a lot of strong high frequency waves, and it WILL kill your hearing. Nuance stuff -- When quenching anything, you want to move the piece only vertically (up and down in the oil). You want to disrupt the steam jacket that gets created, but you want to keep the blade oriented smartly. You never ever want to move it laterally, because you'll be breaking up the steam jacket on one side but not the other, and so one side can cool down faster and increase the likelihood of a warp -- Canola works of course, but it's still too slow for a lot of blade steels. Parks 50 is the thing everyone uses. It's kinda pricey, but it's worth it in the long run -- I don't know if you just didn't show it, but there wasn't any normalizing cycles before the quench. If you didn't normalize, I'd put all my money on that's why there was cracking -- Is there a ball valve next to the actual forge on the gas line, or just the regulator on the tank? I'd strongly suggest having a valve next to the forge so you can shut the gas off right there I hope you continue to enjoy blacksmithing and make more videos, because I think it's a ton of fun and spend a lot of time spreading the craft. And that's the main reason for all these words, so many people end up hurting themselves because they just don't know or don't think it's that big of a deal. But it's all repetitive, one time won't kill you, the accumulation will.

Great video. Love that you showed your little misadventures along the way. And you look like you are having an amazing time learning.

That was fun to watch. I could see your hammer technique improving throughout the video. One thing I’ve noticed over several decades of smithing is that beginners (myself included) often gravitate towards larger hammers. After thirty years I’m back to using the same 40 oz (1.1 kg) hammer I started with. (No, I’m not old and feeble yet.) I think your rounding hammer is the only one that’s even close to my preferred weight. If you’re choked way up on the hammer with the handle braced against your forearm you’re not getting the best from either your hammer or your arm. A friend of mine used to say “You paid for that whole handle, might as well use it.” 😆

I didn't know that you could get cooler than you already are... but you did. I love this SOOO much.

I'm loving this channel

Still haven't done much with my blacksmith setup. Always been more of a woodworker but it's always been funny to me that the first thing everyone always thinks about with blacksmithing is blade smithing. It's like come on guys there is so much more you can do with it then just blades.

Cheers to you Nicole as you engage in blade smithing and forge work ! You have my admiration ! I'd like to share a true family accident story. Years ago, my dad used some loose weights to hold something in place on a project and then everything fell over and the weights mashed his big toe. Bolting your anvil securely to the supporting stump could spare you from experiencing a similar toe-mashing accident.

Nicole, would be glad to see you planting trees, or at least just one. That will make my heart full of joy.

13:50 - M*A*S*H. hahaha!! Your friend is genius. 15:25 - keep hammering away at it. Brilliant.

Please never stop making videos Nicole. Honestly, your videos are like meditation for me. Thank you for sharing them.❤❤

Congratulations on your new chapter, moving from smack wood with axe to smack metal with hammer! A knife maker once told me that I would save a lot of metal if I practiced grinding with wood knife blanks. He's right.

I love seeing humans do things the human way instead of the youtuber or professional way. It's so much better of a viewing experience

Loved the honesty and progression here. Format and length were spot on. Keep up the crafts.

This was a very soothing video. I like that you're not looking for perfection, more that you're doing something for the joy of doing it. Also, the ADHD digressions are very relatable. Love this a template for longer form content. Thanks, Nicole

It's so refreshing to see someone making content that doesn't portray "perfection". It's your honesty and imperfections we love. Oh, and the biceps too!

It's heartening to see your hammer technique evolve even from the first project you show in the video to the second

Great to see you swinging a hammer. Bladesmithing is challenging but so worth it when you start with a concept and end with a finished blade. 😃👍👍

also much love and appreciation sent your landladies ways, that was awful kind of them to let you do this and show it all to us. so thanks to them times a thousand.

As a fellow blacksmith(one who has yet to smith as much as he wants to), I love your smiles at the 3:25 mark and during the sword tests at the end of the video. I know the feeling and it's wonderful.

Thank you for giving us this window into both the start of your blacksmithing journey and what it's like to create with ADHD. I have ADHD too, and have been casually interested in smithing for a while. This looks like a much more accessible way to get started than diving in with both feet!

This content from you makes me profoundly happy.

I would so love to have a forged blade from you. Those look awesome

Love your humor and persistence in your new adventures in blacksmithing. I really like to see women do the supposed mens work persay. Don't stop because every ping of your mallet is a new ping towards perfection. 💯🙏🇨🇦

And then, a new passion emerged...🔥 Yes, passion! I noticed that with your excitement about working with metal! ⚒️ Oh, Nicole!!!❤️ That's why I'm your fan! You're not only awesome and badass, also very cool!💪😁 Impressed that you did everything by yourself!😲 I'm so happy you discovered and developed a new skill! I understand you!🤗😍🔥⚒️ It was like that with me too when I started learning to weld 👩‍🏭, I made a lot of mistakes to learn how to do what I do now, and today I make new mistakes while learning new things on the job, and I tell you, it's precisely by making mistakes that you learn faster, because by understanding the mistake, we learn to get it right! No one was born knowing everything. And please wear gloves when handling the sander! My heart almost stopped seeing you sanding without any protection and then seeing the bandage on your finger 😱 (the story about hitting your finger didn't convince me 😑), safety first, ok?😉 I really love following your journey and discoveries. Warm hugs with all the love that I have for you and Bambi! Thank you! 🤗🐶❤️

Hello Nicole, I am a trained locksmith and blacksmith from Austria and I always admire your work. :) 👍

That looks like a beautiful little place you've got there to work in. It's way better than a stuffy old workshop, although your friends workshop looks pretty nice.

Great to see what you are starting here Nicole. You are at the beginning stage of what I hope continues into a really enjoyable pastime. You are starting as many hobby smiths do, with minimal equipment and whatever scrap steel. My first tongs where made from re-bar and are ugly as, compared to what I can make now, but I kept them. They did the job at the time and remind me of my beginning stage. Just a couple of things you may want to consider, when you start wholloping away at a larger piece of metal, keep your elbow closer to your body. It will protect your elbow and shoulder joint over the long term. When quenching, vigorously move the hot iron in the oil or water to stop bubbles forming which will affect your quench……and oh yeah, I had a laugh watching you fill that huge container with oil. Try a pipe or rhs blocked at one end. Same result, much less oil. I hope you keep learning this path as it is very rewarding, and I don’t mean financially though it can be that also. I look forward to your progress

The best way to be nice is to know how to be self-ironic, well you are a champion at this. And what's more, you have a winning smile.🙂

Great job turning that little nook of space into your little nook of space , you rock thanks for sharing your journey and adventure.. As they say like iron sharpens iron ,a womans sharpens the world...or something like that...😊 😉 keep doing what you do you're such an inspiration to so many..Stay sharp...😊❤

Can't wait to see more of this type of video. Watching you learn to blacksmith was really entertaining.

Well, I think you're now the second Canadian blacksmith I follow. Awesome video! It perfectly illustrates the lesson that what people call "failure" is actually just a natural part of progression. First part of every sport I've ever learned was how to fail safely and effectively. How to fall off the climbing wall without hurting yourself. How to take a punch. How to recover from a gutter ball or get back up off the ice. All part of learning :)

That's life - "just keep hammering away at it" Thanks for a wonderful, relaxing look at a fun part of your life...

You're inspiring. Love your joyful attitude and sense of adventure.

Very cool, one of the best phrases…”well, let’s see what happens today”. Keep up the good work.

I can't wait to see more of these your personally and charm are so inspiring and I am super excited to watch your development in your new hobby ❤❤

There is a refreshing innocence that comes across in your short videos, keep on the journey and stay true to yourself 👍

Always fun watching a new smith at work. I readily suggest reading a few books that focus on smithing as well as getting more tongs (I seem to add a couple pairs every year myself). Also, watch other smiths when you can, it's amazing what you can learn from just watching.

Right on !! Being mostly self taught myself.. I can relate ! Blacksmithing/bladesmithing, is a receding horizon. One never knows, where it will lead to....

you know what this is absolutely wonderful. yes mistakes were made, but you learned tremendously. always awesome. thanks for sharing the learning curve.

great work. And good job spreading the craft. keep it up. Also... what a place to forge. Outstanding.

Nice job! We all started somewhere!

Very nice Nicole. Thank you! As a fellow fabricator it’s great to watch but on an even more important level, I think , you bring the beauty of humility into a world it so sadly lacks😉

Awesome video, you always make me smile. I have used old diesel engine oil in the past for heat treating metal and it's usually free.

all great swords have names. Sting. The masamune. Oathkeeper. A name for yours... Kindlingmaker. ^_^

I've seen some excellent knives hammered out of rasps, files, rebar, railroad spikes, and even ball-bearings (used to be a pulp mill in my town; folks scrounged those ball bearings from the heavy machines out there and turns out they were made out of some really good steel). You're doing great -- better than I would, that's for sure!

Да вы просто , Чудо. Вы молодец и каждый следующий день- тренинга такого- ремесленного, повышает ваш навык и жизненный опыт.

For my first sword I ran into the same problem of not having a long enough forge to heat the whole blade up at once for the quench. I ended up extending my forge with some firebrick (to be found wherever woodstoves are sold) and then I mounted one of those weed-burner torches, the kind you hook up to a propane tank, at one end. When it was going full blast it looked like a rocket engine, but it was able to heat up the whole 26" blade for the quench. My wife stated that I was going to burn my shed down, but so far it has survived. Side note: you can get peanut oil in 5-gallon containers from a restaurant supply place, it's what I use to quench. A little cheaper that buying a bunch of one-gal. canola oil bottle from the supermarket.

The enjoyment of seeing something you make chop something is priceless. You are diving into one of me favorite things, forging. Hope to see more!

Nice video. I like your friend’s shop. My shop is getting there. Started my blacksmithing journey in 2020 and love it. I love making everything from knives, hooks, cooking utensils and pans… I have a few favorites I watch here on RU-vid that I have learned a lot just from watching techniques they use and projects they create. If you’re interested, I can list them later. Good job

loved watching this reminds me of my daughter in sooo many ways

"Let's see what happens today. " I truly envy you. 😁💜

Hey at least you are doing something and bringing us along to watch you do something 😊

As an ol blacksmith its awesome to see someone carrying on the tradition. And yes, keep hammering away at it you will get there. And it is good to see you as a perfectionist. That my friend will make you great and you will go far. There isnt no better critic than yourself. Keep on keeping on, you got this!!! P.s. loving the videos for years. Just dont comment much. 😂😂

Yes we are all flawed and imperfect but I do find your smile and twisted humor just about perfect!

This is something I really want to learn to do as well. Massive kudos to you for going out and doing this. I loved watching you start this journey. Leaf springs can be AWESOME for making knives, and you can usually get a huge bundle of them from a scrap yard for not much money.

This was awesome!! Nicole, you're my spirit animal frfr!!😊💪🏼💖

The value of toolmaking…good stuff

Я знаю, что ты никогда не отчаешься, и всегда доведешь любую работу до конца. И я за это тебя очень люблю!!!

Ho appena scoperto il tuo canale, grande Nicole sei una gran donna, forte e il tuo sorriso è sincero👊✌👊 Anche a me piace divertirmi modellando i metalli, bronzo, ottone, fare orecchini, pendenti, bracciali. Continua, realizzare oggetti di uso comune e lame riutilizzando lime dismesse o altro è bellissimo, si ridà una nuova vita invece di sprecare inutilmente. Vivi in un luogo bellissimo, veramente veramente bellissimo.

Thats super cool. Thanks Nicole for the entertainment!

You're off to a good start, Nicole. These pieces look awesome. Next steps is a shed, if you don't have one so you can smith whenever, an annealing/tempering oven and a power hammer.

You remind me so much of myself! I am constantly looking for things that I had in my hands only a few minutes before and I'm a hazard to myself. I once Googled how to make a small bomb so I could blow the remainder of a fence post out of the ground!! 😊. I love your videos!!!

Me: I wonder what Nicole’s up to… Nicole: * smiths a whole ass sword in her backyard * Me: 😳

Hell yeah this rocks. Folks who are super experienced make it look pretty easy but it's so not. Especially some of the RU-vidrs with super slick editing and stuff.

Reminds me a lot of when I started smithing. It's always fun

Thnks for sharing your new adventure with us.

I took a blacksmithing course a few years ago, and this is really making me miss it. Hitting things with a hammer is very therapeutic! 😅

I need to drink all of these 😄. Beer and blacksmithing belongs together.

"I seem to enjoy hitting things". Me too, bestie, me too

Yes, it's what we like, don't have shame about some little mistakes, it's the only way to improve (filming a lot and editing too) ^__^ the more "humble" you are, the more you learn but sometimes a plan, if sustainable, is necessary

I for one like learning from others mistakes, thanks for the lesson 👍🏻

Oh thank god. I was actually starting to think you were literally perfection. This is just you learning something new. Rock on.

Awesome! I suspect if you lower the anvil a couple inches, you'll get a more natural swing that's mostly in the elbow and saves your shoulder. Keep up the good work!

I just adore your attitude towards everything you do! Brilliant! 👍

Hey Nicole 🌹🍃Always get a Laugh watching you & learn some new stuff as we follow along the Scenery 🥰🌺✌️💚😎🌈🌊🌴☀️

forged in fire future champ right here!

Nicole, i couldnt look away from your eyes😍 thankyou for posting such a long video on RU-vid🥰

8:52 (Nevermind. I kept watching.) It's so awesome how the water catches on fire when the hot steel goes in.

You had me at the first Angry Orchard Hard Cider. But three? That's hero status.

Looks like you are having such fun. Enjoy

The look of contempt when you're beating on that steel is priceless 👍😊

There are two types of people in this world. Those that have made mistakes and those who will. Keep learning!!!

Your landscaping inspired me to get off my rear and go for some fresh air! I'll finish this later... Promise

My new favorite blacksmith!

My son and I want to get into blacksmithing soon. We know almost nothing about it, so I'll be trying to learn from your channel with you. It'll be a fun adventure

0:11 Perfection is an illusion, no matter what anyone anywhere says. Anyone can strive for "perfection", but it is forever unattainable. Likewise, "perfection" is in the eye of the beholder, it's different for everyone... It's the ultimate paradox.

Very cool! I started learning smithing a number of years ago, but never had a chance to keep up with it. One thing the guy told me was to be careful how you quench/heat treat certain metals. That chisel you used may have been an air hardening steel, as apparently most punches and chisels are air hardening. He also told me not to make the mistake of quenching a previously oil hardened steel in water, as apparently it *can* go... boom? He did say though, if you're not sure, take a few pieces and harden it all three ways to see how it holds up.

love seeing your smile as you hammer on the pieces :)