Forge a Spatula using copper 

Alright Rory you asked for it. Grandpa Story time! While my grandpa passed away this spring just after I took a blacksmithing course here in Cranbrook, British Columbia Canada, he mentioned owning an anvil he owned being around somewhere. We talked about working together in his shop (he just owned a lot of tools, wasnt a blacksmith) when he got out of the hospital but he never got better. After the funeral I went digging around his property and found his anvil buried under a fallen beam and garbage. Moving it all I revealed a beautiful tool of iron with bullet holes after someone used it for target practice and covered in a thick blanket of rust. With 7 aunts 2 uncles and 28 cousins nobody wanted it and most wanted to throw it away so I jumped for joy and took it home to clean up. Building my very own forge in my shop I like to think I am now on my way into the greatest hobby every and love everything you do so please keep making videos and thank you so much for the extra inspiration!!! If you or anyone would like to see a gold anvil or the process coming along my instagram is @Murraydesigns.

I do revolutionary war reenacting and was at my portable forge doing a small demo making nails. A good pack was watching me and the usual banter ensued. But there is always one in the crowd that is “smarter” than the rest and is not shy about showing it. Just As I finished a small pile of nails and started to hand out a few, a woman in a self-righteous tone proclaimed that it was a non-period demo as they didn’t have nails back then. I guess I was a bit tired or maybe I’m just a wise ass but without hesitation I said “You are so right ma’am… They tied Christ to the cross”. Her look was priceless!! As was the snickers from those watching the demo!

Here is my wife's anvil story. Her grandfather was the blacksmith in Potlatch, Idaho from the 1920s until his death in 1969. When her father past away in May of 2017, my wife inherited the anvil and a 2lb. ballpeen hammer her grandfather forged from his smithy. I am a retired diesel mechanic from the Army and after I retired, I went to school to become and welder like my father after he retired from the Army. Fast forward to today, my wife and I are building a 24x24 pole barn to start our own smithy. I have taken some black smith classes from a blacksmith in town and shared what I have learned with my wife. Once the shop in done, in about two weeks, and everything is set up, she will use the anvil and hammer before me. It's a family thing. That's our anvil story. So, thank you for your videos, we watch them over and over and have learned a great deal from them. Thanks Greg and Darcie P.S. There is a family story that says her grandfather could lift the anvil by the horn with one hand and bring up and touch his nose with it and set it back down. The anvil weighs about 120 pounds. It's a family story is all I will say about that.

Your videos are great. Your tone and demeanor are very professional and entertaining. Thanks a ton for taking the time to share your knowledge.

My grandpa was a carpenter, when I was a kid he would build stuff with me in his shop. Thanks for your videos, I am a beginner and you are giving me great ideas to try.

gorgeous. You are the most ACTUALLY helpful blacksmith channel.

My Grandpa was a Quarry man started building the first paved roads in the midwest. Retirement years he sawed lumber with his portable woodmizer sawmill for people around Lexington Tennessee he would go on to build 3 sailboats all from his own trees only thing he bought was fiberglass and the sails. He sailed it down the rivers and on to Florida hung out a while and sold the Beautiful 40 ft boats to come back home for the next project. An Role model for any man.

My grandpa mowed the golf course. The other grandpa was an electrician. My dad is a retired welder. He always said for me to pick another career.

Very nice job, both on the work spatula and in explaining how to forge. I realy like the way you give detailed information, its helping me out very much. I just started Blacksmithing, keep up good work!

my favorite is "oh you have such beautiful work!" as they're walking away...

Great as always. Many thanks for spending time to do these.

Great project! Really enjoyed the combination of techniques and materials...

Granddad - Mac - was a tuff SOB. Texas Cattleman - as am I - horse and mule trader. He kept a dog trained to pull a man off a horse. Dad had a smith shop on his South Texas ranch that ran 6 days a week. I tended my first coal fire there over 50 years back. But you asked about Mac....

my grandpa was a machinist and yes he was a jerk but I loved him for teaching me about metal and farm life

Still got his stuff ??? Always my question!! Hahah

my grandpa was a carpenter, lumberjack and steel worker back in the 40's

my grandfather was a blacksmith in jamestown n.dak his shop was a few blocks from the grade school. after school i would stop by find a chunk of scrap heat it and stick in the power hammer, imagine that in todays world. the mostly did plow work. no idont have his tools, but i do have my own blacksmith out back the house now that iam retired and when i get stumped i sit and he helps me figure it out

You make me laugh! (your banter, that is.) I like to watch you forge too. Good combo - interesting and humorous.

My first visit to your channel and I see what all the hype is about. Looking forward to watching the archives and maybe getting into some of this one day. Looks like fun.

great video and work. I like your warning in the beginning

Roy great project that would be awesome for grilling. Maybe a meat fork and sell them as a set. If all else fails say its a tactical fork people love tactical shit.

Yo Rory I met you at Craig's class a few weekends ago. I was the one with the grey grand cherokee. What an awesome spatula this was!! Btw my grandpa was spy. We didn't know it until after he died. I guess that means he was a good spy? Anyways, cool shit you make, pleasure to meet you and say hi to Craig for me.

Wicked project! Definitely going to give this a shot

One of my grandfathers was a lineman for Illinois Bell. My other was was a mechanic for a Cadillac dealership. I'm a carpenter/trucker and I wanna learn smithing. My Daddy dug ditches (started his own excavating company)

Great Video Brother Keep Them Up! You are a Very Skilled Blacksmith : )

Great tutorial, and an awesome spatula!

So did you make burgers on the forge?? Lol my girl likes how you demo and talk and explain what you're doing and why.. Keep up the AWESOME WORK!!!!!

My grandpa was a welder... His claim to fame is the VLA in New Mexico. He led the team to build all the satellite disks

My Gramp was a Miner and a awesome Fire-Eater 👍

Grandpa was an electrician. But great Grandfather was a blacksmith and Yes I have some of his tools still. Though I did Loose his anvil that almost totally melted down in a fire.

Well, my Grandfather owned a grocery store in Brooklyn. Probably had more experience with black beans than blacksmithing. Awesome video BTW!

beautiful work

I've done a lot of demos and gotten the same comment every time - 'My grandpa was a blacksmith. He fixed ploughshears', and 'I had to turn the thing!' (blower, gesturing wildly). Lately I've just taken to asking if they still have his anvil. I they don't, I go right back to ignoring them.

Awesome tutorial! keep it up!

Looks awesome ⚒👍🏽

The grandpa thing is hilarious. :)

just as you asked my gandad was an officer in the british navy im in the army and my dad was marines also i would like to know if you will ever be sending things to the uk like shirts and stickers? love this channal love you work too

Phenomenal tutorial as always. Good use of materials and great camera work. I like it. But what could I use it for anyway?

My grandpa used to run moonshine.

You have become my favorite youtube channel! huge inspiration! did you do an episode on rivets?

you're like the bob ross of blacksmithing lol

My grandpa was an astronaut. Well he would have been said my great grandpa, if he had of pulled out sooner !

you rock dude!!!

My Grandfather was a Rice Farmer in Louisiana, he was a Deputy Sharriff, an Army guy in WWII and sadly a member of KKK. He fixed all of his own equipment and did Blacksmithing for the farm. He was 80 when I met him and he lived until I was 16. When he died he had a refrigerator box in the barn labeled "String to short to use" He had all the tools his Great Grandfather brought from Scotland and he had repaired them all, packed them in Oil Cloth and built a crate to hold them. He also had some Model T trucks that looked new in 1965. He was the most prejudiced person I have ever met and on more than a few occasions I have heard him make racial slurs and turn around and buy that same person a car or give them a house. He was a strange guy,

Finally getting a chance to catch up on your vids. Great stuff here-as always! Thanks for putting them out there. Q: starting dimensions on the copper?

Feeling guilty, feeling bad for being a jerk, have a beer, no better reason to open a nice cold Stout, or Porter, and wash the guilt away. Got my love of all things beer from my grandfather, no he was not a blacksmith, just good blue collar hard worker.

Snub and Scrolls are cool...BUT CAN YER GRANDPA DO EM!?! lol

My grandpa was a farmer and didn't have horses. He was nice.

It's nice, but what would I do with it?⚒

This is great, but what would I do with it?

You talked about using the step block so you wouldn't mar your anvil are you talking about the copper marring your anvil? Or a missed hit from the hammer?

Well since you asked, my grandpa worked on icebreaker engines.

My Gandfather was a Carpenter, my father was a carpenter, I am a carpenter. I watch Blacksmithing video's. Maybe I should try the left hand on ear right hand on ear and yank thing...

the makers mark on the hammer you were using looks really familiar

Nah my grandads a master machinist

My grandpa was a book keeper. (But, his father was a blacksmith).

built an old fashioned shop last weekend, next step win the lottery so I can get a bigger anvil

My grandpa was an auto body man all his life.

my grandpa used to weld horseshoes on blacksmiths

Hey Rory, could you tell me what kind of copper alloy you are using here? Thanks!

Shouldn't forge and feel bad... LOL... Doesn't forging kinda reverse the "feel bad"?

why not show some finish techniques like rubbing with wax or brass

What did you use for copper? Are those rivets also copper?

what's ur take on coal vs charcoal?

Whereabouts in Colorado?

One day your grand kids will say "My Grandpa was a blacksmith" and you will try to get out of your rocking chair to give him or her a high five.

How thick was the copper?

I'm not an awesome blacksmith, but I done demonstration blacksmithing for over 10 years. Lately my biggest goal is too remove the misconception that blacksmithing is sorcery. I want people to understand that it is something that is the result of a few of the right tools and time behind the hammer. All these reality shows just perpetuate the concept that it is something not tried by mortal men/women, and that really bugs me. It puts these men and women on such unattainable pedestals that it is doing more harm than good to make sure that we get more blacksmiths rather than fewer. As for Grandpa and/or his blacksmithing and/or his anvil, it is often the only way people feel they can try and connect with the blacksmith. They want to share with the smith their respect for an individual they likely hold in very high esteem and hopefully interact with someone who is doing something that seems like wizardry. I wasn't lucky enough to have any know blacksmiths in my family tree, but I wish I had. And to the "what is it/what are you making" comment, it's likely one of 2 things. Either they are once again trying to start a conversation or what ever you are making is not doing a very good job of displaying it's purpose on it's own. In fact, "obvious purpose" was a conversation I was having with another smith this last weekend during a demo. My thought is that if you want to try and sell something it should very obviously have a purpose, bottle opener, key chain, candle holder, etc, or it should very obviously be art. It makes it easier for the unconscious mind to have a positive impression about an object rather than confusion. We want to keep this craft alive. We want as many people as possible to want to take an interest in either carrying on and sharing the knowledge or supporting those that do. don't be bitter at the "Do you ever get burned?""Can you make me a sword?""Do you shoe horses?""Is that fire actually hot?"...etc Look at it as an opportunity to make more people love this great thing.

Best part of video missing where is the star Axel

Well, you asked ... One of my Grandpas was a blacksmith too! He worked at Forneth, a small village about 5 miles outside of Blairgowrie in Perthshire, Scotland (goo.gl/maps/zEj6CRRDNy92). He had retired before I was born and I was only 3 when he died, so I never really knew him which is a pity as I'm sure he would have had lots of good stories. I do know he fought at Gallipoli in WW1 as a farrier having lied about his age to join up and having met lots of Aussies there he briefly emigrated to Australia but returned to Scotland a few years later.

Must be hard on the arms

nope my grandpa ran barges up and down the hudson river. Wasnt any blacksmith but he may have hauled coal up river who knows.....lol

I didn't know my grandpa, I hear he was a jerk though! I however can shoe your horse and blacksmith... so one day my grandkids will have that going for them, win win haha

My grandpa wasn't a blacksmith, but my god father was. So am I.

My Grandfather's claim to fame was the ability to eat an Apple with no teeth. He was "bald-headed in the mouth" ever since i can remember.

as you said before Rory never showed a horse told one to F off once though

my grandpa was an ice cream man

😎❤👍 what more can you say?

hmmmmmm

My Grandpa is a jerk. I love the sh*t outa him. He was a cop, a firefighter, home builder, logger, heavy equipment operator and a Koran war vet. He wont let me have any of his stuff. He is a very smart man :)

"Well bud, what do you want to do with your life?" In response to my grandfather I said, "I don't know... I was hoping somebody could help me find a career." A long silence fills the void of disapproval on the full dinner table before his next words: "Take your right hand and grab your left ear tightly. Next, take your left hand and grab your right ear. Then, once you have a good grip on each --yank firmly-- to remove your head from your ass." That is the story of how I became a blacksmith.

My Grandpa was a drunk. He didn't have any stuff.

bahahahhaah marijuana bowls

My grandfather is still alive! 97 years old. He likes to pee outside on the old ladys window sill next door when she stands at her sink doing the dishes. I kid you not! The old fart is starting to lose it upstairs.

My grandpa was a jerk assassin.

The sounds of smithing always makes me sleepy.

Just one note, Copper is highly toxic to fish, alive fish, that is so don't use this to clean fish aquariums. Copper is also toxic to the human body over trace amounts. Copper is dissolved by tomatoes, lemons, anything acidic and the copper will afix to food. So don't use this on anything acidic or you may have a seven day paid vacation to bathroom or worser.

My grandpa was a welder. Biggest asshole you've ever met

My grandpa was a porn star he did a bit of hammerin on aunt vill!! yeah that's terrible sorry.

my grandpa was just a dick head