As a part time blacksmith I enjoy watching a fellow smith work. I learn something from nearly every video. That said, what I really appreciate is the production value and humor in your videos. They flow well and are easy to watch and you’re funny without being jokey. Thanks!
It did not go as planned, but that's ,I think, the best what John can do for us, begginers especially. I learn so much from you, John! Thank you very much for your videos.👍👍👍 you do great job!
This soap is fantastic. I was able to set my tent up next to these wonderful folks earlier this year. I use their soap often when cleaning up at the end of long forging day.
That was a great project John. Sure enjoyed watching and seeing you change things around here and there.👍 You recovered well and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing with us.
Awesome that modern blacksmith technology is around. It's not like there's a student pumping the bellows ! Welding to improve the end result is using what you have at hand. Like all skilled makers do. 👍 👌
The piece turned out great! As you were punching I was wondering if a square hole would be better (something I learned watching your videos). Thanks as always for taking us along and teaching!
Thank you for the video. Always interesting. I notice that when you go to flat by knocking down the diamonds in the beginning, that you get a wider spread and there is no way you could get a cold shut. Genius....
Another thoughtful video. Thanks very, very much for continuing to take the time to create these videos; you probably have no idea how many aspiring smiths you're helping.
@@BlackBearForge I tinks that it may be that you just have no idea how much we get, Mr. John. Thank you again for being so real and for making the effort. And let us all not forget that ALL prototypes develop changes in design and technique. Proof of concept.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class with Peter Ross, and he used a cheap hardware store tapered reamer on his holes before riveting. It worked great.
A beautiful piece, well done. Only thing I would have done (personal preference of course) would be to curl the very top end of the candle holder just a bit. Well done either way. Shalom
Awsome job Mr John. I'll be making one of these this week. Also I'm excited I just finished building my clay spencer tire hammer. I'm excited to see and learn what I can do with it
Hello John You are a Wizard with iron and a Hammer 👍👍 Out of nothing you build another hook of the week . Very inspiring and usefull to learn Go on with it Good bless you Yours Frank
I made a lot of this type however I did the opposite of yours. I left 2 -3 inch tangs on the open side and brought them together in the center with a similar arch as u did. Made for 4-5” candles. I stopped making them as the market is too slow.
Soldering with brass is another joinery method. Had a neighbor that owned a mom 'n' pop hardware store tha gave me well over a pound of brass shavings from under his key cutting machine. 🐾🔥⚒
"Yeah I could probably use some soap sometimes" Any good hard working person with hands deep in any form of grime or dirt needs a good soap. I prefer Lava Soap myself for I am fairly finding myself elbow deep in car grime in my metal workings. One time I found myself doing an unusual form of fixing of a bronco door. Get it past inspection she said, so we placed duct tape across the missing bottom section and slathered on Tiger Hair. Went right through and she got her final use out of it to get the money for another vehicle. Goes to show that one doesn't need to do the best work at times but the simple can be the best solution when in dire need. Be it what it is, always do your best no matter the requirement. If your work speaks for itself, one needs not to boast. Be humble in your work and aim for good work always. But always be ready for that one job from left field that puts you in the odd position as well. The odd jobs test you the most, overcome them with your humbleness and good works. Blessings to those that do so. Shalom
make a few light serrations with a hammer or hacksaw on the stem of the hold fast for a fix, its probably gone super smooth at the point where it grips the inner hardy hole.
Here in Sweden I estimate an average candle thickness to be about an inch. So when making candle holders with a conical shape from square stock, I usually start with 10 mm, upset one end to a final dimension of about an inch across the diagonal and that usually ends up perfect when peened. Saves a lot of time working on the diamond! Also, thank you for all of your inspiring videos!
Thanks John, I always prefer to learn from others mistakes and not my own. It was a little mistake though, not like mine which tend to be humdingers of mistakes. I tried to forage a horse shoe pumpkin for a college at work, at first I tried to forge weld the horseshoes together (way beyond my skill set) not even sure you can perform multiple forge weld over the same ares, it seems as if you should be able to, but beyond me. So in my frustration I just stick welded them together, and in my haste forgot to place the candle holder, which I spent way too much time on (using only the horn of my anvil), into the center of the pumpkin. Sometimes it seems as if the Anvil gods are trying to tell me something, and other times they smile.
I'm writing a story that takes place in the 1870s/1880s in the old west. One of the major supporting characters is the local apprentice smith. It takes place as a town is transforming from a gold-boomtown to a ranching/farming community as the _respectable_ families are establishing themselves. The Mastersmith is teaching the apprentice how one makes a living; these are what will make you money in a boomtown environment; gold pans, sluice boxes, rocker boxes, shovels, picks... and the like, to earn your livelihood, and these are the things you want to know when _civilization_ catches up to you. I know that when there are no other jobs waiting, there are always nails to make, horse shoes to make ready, but I was wondering~ I've seen you make cooking forks and knives, they would be a natural things for them to make. What else would have been found in the front of the blacksmith's shop, the 19th century version of impulse buying when someone brings their horse in to be shoed, then sees a ... potato masher, or something they hadn't thought of as being necessary before when they had to load and carry everything they owned across most of a continent, but now that they are settling in... and seeing a potato masher being made would be cool...
I like the look, I wonder what the bar for the candle holder would look like if it were shaped like the new World Trade Center building. The 2 ends square at 45 degrees to each other with 8 sides tapering to points depending on which square they start from.
Really like it when you show your hiccups John and not try to hide them ,it shows even the best are still learning. as for the candle holder it turned out grate. by the way my smell cam seems to be not working .ha ha .
It needed one more thing a candle pan for the wax runoff. If it was meant to be old fashioned it could also use a reflector to through the light out more,
Old ones would often be quite simple. It seems like when candle dripped, wax pans were less common. Now that candles are dripless, wax pans are very common
Nicely done John. Mate have you found that the hot metal gloves you wear are out of stock at piehtools. And have Carolina Company upgraded this model of glove, couldn't find it at their site.??
I do'nt know anything about blacksmithing, but why is there lot of flat metal parts coming off, like a metal skin, when you working hot piece, for example at 9:52 ? Are not you afraid of losing material ?
Thats called scale. Its a form of iron oxide that forms when hot iron is exposed to air. on small ornamental projects its not a real issue. On big industrial forgings they calculate the scale loss when choosing a starting material volume.
You definitely went about making the small diamond section the hardest way possible. You might want to plan your next project a bit more carefully. It looks nice in the end though.
I have actually found this to be a reliable and easy enough way to create that element. Upsetting generally takes about the same time once you clean it up and then reforge to square.
