Contact me: TechnicusJoe@gmail.com Even thought of making anything else to make of a railroad spike, but a knife, bottle opener or letter opener? Why not turn them into a useful pair of tongs!?
Well it is. If you have what is needed, you can make a whole airplane easily ._. A good bouncing Anvil, a proper made Hammer, a good forge, enough time, and on top of that, the fukin' skills he's got ._.
Another great job Joe! So many videos about spike projects, but this is a first! I worked for the Chesapeake Western Railway from 1970 To 1988, and spent several years driving spikes by hand into those hard oak Xties, and back then when picking up a spike to drive it in, little did I know all the useful things that spike could turn into by a Master Blacksmith! Really enjoyed this one, as it turned into something that could hold a spike while you could make it into something else! Take care!
I finally found this video and it was exactly what I had been looking for. Well done and easy to grasp the concepts and surprising just how large a set of tongs can be made just from 2 spikes. Love it.
Absolutely awesome video editing. You have an amazing level of talent and skill. I always learn so much when watching your how to videos. You are an inspiration to me and many others. Thanks for the time and the great work.
sadly i think he removed a lot due to people leaving rude comments. i only just noticed this myself today as i went to rewatch some of his older work as well. by the way Joey, you're nothing short of an amazing smith, and thats putting it lightly. hope to see more of whatever you have been getting into lately because im sure its worth seeing.
Nice work there who'd ever think that a railroad spike would do that. Well now I got to walk along side the train tracks and pick up some railroad spikes they're everywhere in the area where I live. They recently changed the ties and there's a bunch of spikes laying around.
Thought you were going to make tongs to hold the curved head of the spike. I didn't think you could make a regular bolt tong out of a spike. Was very impressed. Your as much a artist as a working blacksmith. I learned something there. Thx
it should be legal to collect railroad spikes from the tracks. Me and my friend got 41 lbs of railroad spikes and a 21 lb tie plate ; it was a lot of fun walking home with all that weight
Yes and if they catch you there is no playing stupid or saying your an artist or blacksmith , to them it's stealing considering they have magnets that recover all the steel off the tracks and they themselves scrap it and get a return on they're investment of the lost spikes and other steel laying around that was not salvaged
Very cool! I just walked a railroad and found 5 loose spikes in about 15 minutes. I can't wait to get home and make something with them! I'm on vacation right now.
Always making it look easy Joey. Keep up the great work. God Bless. You ever come to the states? If so swing by my forge in north central Florida and we'll hammer some together. Don
Joe, have you ever gone back and watched one of your own videos and caught yourself using a technique that you needed to change? I would think that filming yourself and then watching them would be a great way to tune your skills.....
yo veo muchos videos donde muestran la fabricación de herramientas, cuchillos, y otros objetos con un clavo de riel, sabes que grado de dureza tiene el acero con el que se fabrica el clavo de riel y como es la mejor manera de templar este tipo de acero saludos cordiales
As always, beautiful work. Do you work both halves of the tongs in the same stages or do you complete one half then the other? I find that I get better symmetry when I do each stage of each half at the same time. Thanks Joey. You have taught me a lot.
+SUPERMAR10312 If you look at 5:57, you can see there still is a tremendous amount of stock in the spike. This is drawn down to the same thickness as the hinge plate and then tapers all the way down. A big volume can become a long taper. This gives you perhaps the idea there is more material. Compare the 2 shots. There is a lot of material first, not to long. Then there is a lot of material, thinned out and very long. It's steel that I moved to a new place.
Hey, I'm new to blacksmithing and I'm getting started on some easy stuff, just some rr spikes. Is there a certain pair of tongs I would need to hold them while hammering? Or a certain set of tongs you recommend?? Any help would be much appreciated
+SUPERMAR10312 I lift the steel, so the anvil doesn't rob the heat out of my stock. So I can forge hotter for longer. Making it easier to forge to the steel.
+TechnicusJoe - Joey van der Steeg That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the extremely quick reply! I'm going to be getting into blacksmithing soon, but before I can get all I need I figured I might as well watch videos and read about it.
It takes me five heats just to get the the head of the spike to square up , I think what I'm seeing is that he's bringing that thing up to forge welding heat , I'm to nervous for that but I'm going to try tonight , it's rediculouse how much time I see that I have been wasting
I have a question for you! In this video you hammer with your right hand, But, in other videos, you hammer with your left hand! 8-O Which is natural, and why do you switch?
Take a better look. For example at 2:41 you can see me forge left. At 3:49, still left. 4:16 still. At 4:53 you see me forge right handed. At 6:15 still right handed. At 6:38 I am back at left. At 7:29 I go to my right hand again. 8:18, punching with left. 9:07, cutting the jaw with right. I don't think I just forged with my right :) Bot hands are natural to me, I am ambidextrous. Forging left or right doesn't make a difference for me, nor do I feel a difference in it. It's all the same to me. Switching helps ease strains on the body. If one arm feels a bit tired, I just switch. And by time the other arm is tired, the other one is rested enough to switch again.
I have a question. I've watched at least two videos of you forging the heads of railroad spikes back into themselves. I've done this a few times and quite often I get inclusions. Do you prep them at all? Have you ever gotten inclusions? Is it just practice and getting the angles right? Is that what you mean by "forge welding the overlaps shut"?
+Toby Stout I can type a few pages worth of what one does in fire welding. But that takes long for us both. I'd suggest that you look up my forge welding = fire welding videos on my channel. Preferably the most recent ones. You then should be able to understand how I fire weld the ends shut. If you got more questions after that, let me know.
You have to hit hard enough. If you hit too soft, you will only move the outer layer of the material, and not the core - resulting in fish lipping. If you hit hard enough, you will move the core too, resulting in no fish lips.
@@TechnicusJoe Oh ok so not so heavy... It looked bigger. I have a 3 lb cross-peen I prefer for general use, so I'll give it a try with that. Thank you for the awesome tutorial! I have kept a bucket full of these spikes around for years intending to do knives with them, but a set of tongs made from (roughly) 1045 steel would be nice, as they'd be a bit stronger than mild steel.
damn. i forge for 20 years now; the regular i use is 1.7kg. after 5 minutes, i cant feel my shoulder with my 2.5kg. and of course i need way more time to do the same job than yours.
I'm downloading these video before you take them down again. And in the event that you do I will repost them as the unofficial unlicensed unauthorized copyright infringement pirated official Blacksmith Joey's bad ass blacksmithing channel. Please help us by donating to our Patreon under Jay Muzquiz! Don't think I won't Joey! Going to need you to re-post the rest of them,
