Rugged As Iron Works

Closing up shop and saying goodbye to Little Thumper.

We had a nice going away party on Saturday, with three smiths working hot metal and a few smiths, woodworkers and friends stopping by to chat and say goodbye. Part way thru my 100lb tank ran out of propane, but we kept forging on a borrowed 20lb tank until tired out.

At the end of the party, we disassembled the pride and joy of my shop, "Little Thumper" the 35lb power hammer I built in 2021. Between three burly smiths, we managed to load it into a trailer and sent it on to it's new home with Ken Wentz at Got your Six Ironworks in Kingston. (https://gotyour6ironworks.ca/). There's now a moderately-sized empty space in my shop and a sad feeling in my heart. But, power hammers, however light are pretty heavy to ship so it had to go :(

And so, having run out of fuel and tools to forge with, it's time to close up the shop and disassemble the shop. It'll be at least two months before I'll get back to forging or posts on forging, but I've still got one axe that's going to be engraved that I'll post about at a later point.

Making a pair of mismatched throwing axes.

This weekend past I forged out, finished and crossed off the list two hatchet sized axes that are meant to be throwable…but surprisingly neither were bearded axes!

The bottom axe is mostly a camp axe or belt axe, having a squared hammer-end on the back side and a blade that will chop or split as needed. But it also has a false edge on the bottom by request which should allow it to pe*****te a bit deeper; and the hammer end is necked significantly which reduces weight. In other words, its light and sharp enough to throw. Like most of my one-piece axes, it's made from recycled train rail.

The top axe is to a customers preference and works on the principle of more points means something is bound to stick in when it hits. The notched blade means it will also cut ropes, string and small branches without slipping, or as I found out, grinder sharpening belts. The full-tang construction and 1/4" thickness means it's 2.5 lbs. vs 2 lbs., so the heavier of the two. But it is well balanced, the handle will never break, and the wood scales are epoxied, pinned and rivetted on, so will stay put. it's also made from 80CRV-2 so will stay sharp a long time.

Crossing some giant and not-so-giant knives off the queue.

This weekend's main effort was finishing off a 14" and a 16" kukri, both with built in bottle-openers (quite functional and well-tested I will add) shaped cocobolo handles over curved through-tangs, milled guards which the blade is recessed into, blades of 80 CRV-2 steel with a slot milled in to to reduce weight, peened-on butt caps and thick leather sheaths. These blades were made using the stock-removal (i.e. cut to shape and grind the bevel) method for the blades and forging for the tangs. This method reduces warps during quench, but for Kukri's you need to start with 4" wide steel, which conveniently, Maritime Knife Supply stocks:)

Some lessons learned was that using a peen-block, or plate as seen on the 16" and peening while the exoxy was still sticky made the clean-up to peening easier as there was less dents eliminated any warpage of the butt cap and reduced the chance of the peening wrecking the adhesion.

Aside from testing the openers on ginger beer bottles, each blade was also tested by chopping through a spruce 2x4" and a few 3/4-1" dead tree branches that needed trimming.

Along with the kukri's, I also finished a mushroom knife also from 80CRV-2 steel for a client. This is a small curved knife that has a soft brush built into the butt cap, and is meant to be carried and used when foraging mushrooms. The curved blade is used to cut the mushroom stems, while the brush removes any dirt or debris. By request it had a small maple bolster and antler handle.

Making the brush was a new thing for me. After peening on the butt cap, I drilled 20ish 3/32 holes through it. Then I cut 1" tufts of bristle from a badger-hair shaving brush, wetted the cut-end (adheres faster this way) and applied a drop of crazy glue.. Next I put a drop of crazy glue in the hole, inserted the tuft and added more glue as needed.

And with that, three knives finished and three items off my forging queue!😏

Working thru the forging queue.

I happily spent some hours in the shop this week, and profiled, rough-ground, heat treated and finally finish-ground some knives. The two kukris are 14 and 16” long and made from 1/4” 80CRV-2.

I also experimented by milling in a 3/8x 1/16” groove on the spine to decrease weight, and in retrospect I’ll probably do that before rough grinding next time as clamping a semi-triangular cross-section was a pain.

The little knife is meant for harvesting mushrooms, and is also from 80CRV-2, but 3/16 thick.

Next step will be handling and sheaths:)

Forging shield fittings for a shield fit for a 6' 4" giant...or a wagon rim.

By request, I forged out a shield rim to match the shield boss I finished a few weeks ago. and a few bars for cross-pieces.

The rims are U-shaped in cross-section, and are made from 1/8" thick mild steel to fit a 2" thick shield, 25" in diameter with a 1" overlap on either side. In order to fit the wooden section between, they are made in two pieces and will be riveted together. By request a spare section was included, and a textured bar to form the cross pieces.

Looking at the pieces a few days later made me realize that I have pretty much recreated an extra-sturdy wagon rim! with a central hub cover to boot.

Moving the shop to Barrie and a last Hurrah in Kingston!

It's been a bit quiet in the shop and also on this page for the last month, and that is because I was horribly sick and then horribly surprised and swamped!

I was swamped because in early April I was notified by my employer that my role was no longer needed in Kingston, but was needed in the Barrie area! Suddenly I was swamped with last-minute renovations and had to prioritize selling and then finding a house over shop time or posts. But that ordeal is over for the moment and I am pleased to be moving to a house in the end of June with an even bigger shop space and less neighbors to the West of Barrie.

Moving a shop is not easy, and I'll need to divest myself of some tools that are too heavy to easily move like the power hammer. So in early June I'll be ceasing most blacksmithing until I move to the new shop and get things setup around the end of July. I intend to build another power hammer, so some axe or large orders may have to wait until after that happens.

For those with orders still in, I will be working on time sensitive orders (like those pictured here) until its time to pack, and resume once at the new location. I will also offer free shipping to the Kingston area for those who have already placed orders. If you'd like to cancel your order I understand and will happily direct you to other local blacksmiths in the Kingston area.

Before I pack up, I'll have a last hurrah on June 1st from 1-4Pm at my shop in Kingston. Customers, friends and fellow blacksmiths are welcome to come see the shop, pound out a few tools, chat and have a few snacks. If you have forgotten my address, send me a message:)

Don't take the Ash bucket challenge!

I naively took on a request to make a fireplace set for a customer including an ash bucket. At the time, the bucket sounded interesting and how hard could it be?

Well I started on the fireplace tools, made from 3/8 square bar and upset 5" of the poker end into 2.5" in about 45 minutes so I'd have enough mass to split the end. I also upset the brush end 3/4" to give enough mass to split it to accommodate a bolt to hold the brush on. Next I forged, twisted and shaped the bar stock. By request, two marshmallow forks were included.

Then I moved onto sheet metal, 1/16" for sturdiness, for the ash scoop and brush cover. un-flaring and shrinking a flat plate into a rounded box shape was an experience and took an hour each. This was necessary as my swage block doesn't have the right indents. A bit of riveting and food-safe waxing and the fireplace tools were done.

And then the bucket. Turning two 16x10" ovals into a pan shape for the top lid and bottom was both exhausting and time consuming. Shrinking edges to form a 3/4" lip took two hours each and sore wrists. An oval shape is also not easy to match a side to, and forming the side to match took another two hours. I broke down and cheated a little, using a spot welder to attach the side to the bottom while forming it, which saved some time.

Riveting was the only part that went smoothly, and this is because I had an epiphany and turned a concave end on an air-hammer chisel and used it in the air hammer to mushroomed out the rivets in about 30 seconds each with no heat required. This saved hours of work and I highly recommend this technique to any other smith!!! Finally I finished the bucket fittings, and hot-waxed the bucket as well.

So my advice for others smiths is to say not to the ash-bucket challenge, because it'll take 7-8 hours for a large bucket. And, using the same shaping techniques, you could probably make a breastplate in less time!

When your forehead’s hotter than the forge, it’s best it put down the hammer.

No forging this week, due to illness. But I’ll be back at it in a few days.

Making a shield boss.

I finished a one-off part a few days ago for a customer’s project and forged out a shield boss from mild steel plate to fit a round Viking shield.

This one is a bit wider at 7 3/4 “and far more robust than traditional as it was made from 1/4” plate at the customers request. Plus, being so thick it has a 1/2” less internal diameter.

I still have some holes to make and a handle to attach, but at that point it’s already a shield (even without the wood) as it meets the definition of a buckler. A buckler being a round shield, usually of metal between 6-16” in size and held in one hand).

I suppose it’s also technically cookware, as it is food safe and robust enough to roast meat or veggies in while seated on a bed of coals. 🤔

Catching up on machining,

I took a weekend break from smithing to machine some adapters for some local smiths that turn a 2x72" belt grinder into a nigh unstoppable buffer or bench grinder. It consists of a 2" aluminum wheel with an threaded extension and one or more easily swapped internally-threaded cup-ends.

The cup ends bolts onto and (once threaded on), allows a 2x72" to run a buffing wheel, wire wheel, grinding wheel, or as Mathieu of Toasted Metal Forge has creatively rigged up, a rock tumbler!

Oh, and I also made lots and lots of aluminum chips, string, thread, wire, etc. quite the bird's nest.

Making an axe for a carpenter.

One of this week's projects was making a right-handed carpenter's axe from railway track. I say right handed, as the bevel was requested to be chisel-ground, instead of the usual well, regular grind. This means the user can cut closer to straight and any shavings or wood will deflect only to the right.

I said shavings, because the edge was finished to 8000 grit, will slice paper cleanly and will shave wood just like a chisel. It might be a tad sharper than most axes 😆

Seeing that it is going to a woodworker, it was shipped without the handle as they fit it with their desired style and size. Final weight was approximately 850 grams on the head, or just under 2 lbs.

Leather straps, studs, lasers and axes.

This weekend I finished up the giant axe, mounting the 10” bladed head on the 44” handle and finishing the leather work.

As this was a commission for a retirement gift -so much better than an engraved mug!- I worked with a local colleague who has a laser engraver to etch the persons name (covered for privacy) and dates into the ash handle. It turns out it’s better to leave the wood raw and finish it after engraving.

On the plus side, I can now offer to have an axe or knife handle customized with a customer’s name, logo or script for a modest additional fee! For the best results this should be requested in advance.

By request, I also wove leather straps around the handle. The straps are wood-glued and studded and so are fixed quite well.

I also had time to finish up some smaller axes and hatchets (any regular axe is smaller!) including a Hudson’s Bay camp axe. Some of these smaller ones may be available, so if you are interested in one, please send me a message.

Finished a smoking hot tomahawk! AKA a pipe hawk.

One of my interesting projects this week was a traditional pipe tomahawk. These are named such because instead of a hammer, they have a pipe bowl and the handle is drilled to act as a pipe stem.

I forged out the hawk head as normal, but drilled a hole in the back…using cobalt bits as the metal was too tough for regular bits or to thread. I then turned the pipe bowl on my metal lathe, leaving a stud that fit into the head and silver soldered it together. Just in case, I took several full force chops at an ash plank without issue. Drilling the handle was a challenge, but extra long bits, a wood lathe and a DIY steady rest made it happen. Lastly I turned a little ni**le and threaded it into the handle. I suppose one could draw thru the handle but that wouldn’t be too sanitary (sweaty hands etc), and look a bit undignified.

I don’t imbibe myself, so I’ll wait for the client to try it out and ask for a few photos of a smoking tomahawk :)

A day for shipping.

Today was a rare day when I head off to Canada post with three packages! Two hatchets heading out to Ottawa and Tiny, while the third was getting quoted to ship an axe and tomahawk to Deep River.

For those curious, in province, hatchets with full insurance ship for around 20+ tax while axes are around 30+ tax for 24" handled ones, with an easily obtained small business discount card of course! Large axes can be iffy because your paying for the length, so an axe with a 36"+ handle gets pricy.

Pounding out some axes and tomahawks, and digressing on power hammers.

With my power hammer back up and thumping again, it was time to finish up some orders. Freshly finished and ready for sheath making are two short-handled bearded axes with ~24" handles, a 18th century belt axe, a poll-hawk and a partially complete pipe-hawk (which still needs the pipe bowl installed before being handled).

There's nothing quite like a power hammer for forging railway track into axes. One can punch the socket holes using a chisel and lots of careful blows in six heats or so (a heat is cycle of heating something in the forge and working till its too cold to forge), but a power hammer can punch the socket in two heats, and less propane. One can draw out the blade of an axe using half-round fullers and a cross pean hammer and many, many heats, but a power hammer with rounding dies does it in three. One could forge the hammer end of a tomahawk carefully over time, but a power hammer with a spring swage does it in one heat.

So, all this to say that a power hammer is a great efficiency multiplier for a smith, and makes forging axes from railway track economical. In my case I built my own after collecting parts for a year and raiding my father-in-laws scrap pile. Getting the wifely approval to buy the specialized parts and start construction was more problematic, and took a careful campaign of suggestion, economy of scale discussions, some chocolate bribery, enlisting the children by building prototypes out of Lego, etc., etc. Lots of work, lots of welding, and yes, ongoing maintenance, but so well worth it.

Now, onto leather sheaths, before starting the next set of orders.

Little Thumper no thump-thump, or “Unscheduled power hammer maintenance” time.

My power hammer, names “little thumper” after the sound audible several rooms away, wasn’t hitting quite as snappy as usual this weekend past. After some investigating it came down to a wobbly tire. The captive bolts holding the tire on had loosened off…despite torque, locknuts and tack welded heads. (You can see the tack in the third photo). There’s a lot of force and vibrations in a power hammer, with a 35lb head striking at 200RPM, so things do tend to loosen over time…but breaking welds was unexpected.

Concurrently, we had some pretty chilly days in Kingston, dipping down to -20 with wind chill on Saturday. And in an unheated garaged that’s a bit too chilly to turn a wrench for long.

So, instead of industrious “thump-thump” noises emanating from the shop while forging tomahawks, I did some disassembly and some repair work until chilled and then did some badly needed page updating.

More projects and pictures to come once little thumper is thumping once more.

Forging a matched set of axe and fire strikers.

This week's production was a matched set of bearded axes with 7 1/4" blades on 31" ash handles. Not only do they have the same profile, weight, handle length, etc., but the handles are from the same ash tree, the cutting edges are from the same leaf spring and the bodies are from the same piece of mild steel. I believe the leather sheath stock came from different cows, but oh well. Naturally, these are going as a pair to a customer and his friend.

Separately, I also forged out two matched fire strikers for a different customer, from the same piece of 80CRV-2 steel. Fire strikers are best when heat treated to a high hardness and tempered just a little (200F in this case) or not at all. After heat treat the strikers are ground to remove any de-carbonized (soft) steel on the striking surface. To produce a spark, the strikers are scraped against a piece of flint or chert which is even harder, and will scrape off a very thin and very hot chip of steel - the spark - which is used to start fires. Unfortunately, i didn't capture a picture of them in action, but they sparked quite nicely and the customer was pleased.

Next week is going to be smaller axes and tomahawks.

Twelve days of...Axes!

Since my last post 12 days ago, I’ve been furiously forging a small anti-tree armory worth of axes in various styles to meet orders: 5 bearded axes, 3 bearded hatchets, 2 trade axes, 1 tomahawk and 1 wooden toy axe...my 7-year old felt left out and wanted one:) These were on top of the previous batch of 7 hatchets, although I did make the 12 in three batches, working around family holiday obligations and physical exhaustion.

I've got two more bearded axes to make which are forge-welded, and then I'll be switching to one-piece axes such as splitting axes, tomahawks, adzes, etc. and eventually, on to knives.

7 hatchets in 6 days.

I naively posted a few axes and hatchets in marketplace during Christmas time to clear out some inventory…and when the post hit 2000 clicks and many, many messages, I realized I was woefully unprepared for the interest.

I put my side project on pause, and spent over 25 hrs in the garage forging, grinding and fitting 7 hatchets over 6 days, working full-time and meeting family obligations as well. Whew, next year I’m planning ahead!

And now back to orders and the original side project.

Forging blacksmith candy canes in lieu of Christmas cards.

‘It’s the season when your coworkers send Christmas cards and a few of my colleagues upped the ante by including Ferrero Roche and baked treats! Well I was not to be outdone so I did some Christmas baking, blacksmith fashion and forged a batch of blacksmith candy canes! Take that chocolate!

If anyone needs a last minute coworker gift, I have a few extras, available at $8 each.

Starting a side project: machining a magnetic vice Chuck.

I’ve got a small project in my forging queue that would benefit from having closely parallel sides: a Damascus pocket knife blade.

A surface grinder attachment for a 2x72 belt grinder is the common answer for small-shops like mine as a true surface grinder is several thousand dollars and around a thousand pounds as well.

Well, I’ve had the rough parts for about a year so Its about time I fabricate the attachment. One of those parts is the magnetic vice that holds the workpiece so the grinder doesn’t send it flying. The vice consists of an aluminum block with grooves milled in (tonight’s activity) which neodymium magnets get epoxied into (the next step).

I finished the axe and adze I was working one this Saturday past, and promptly left them at w the Eastern Ontario Woodworkers get together, so pictures will be forthcoming in a few days.

Forging out the queue in a snow Wednesday eve.

I’ve been checking projects off my forging queue for the last little bit in preparation for winter (the shop is not too well insulated), and to clear the backlog so I can focus on a big upcoming Damascus blade. It’s.a tad chilly this evening and the snow is falling, so I was happy to have the forge going tonight! It’s warm…as long as you stay within 3’ of the forge at least.

This weeks progress was forging out a splitting axe head from railway track, and experimenting in making an adze from the same. Well, it turns out my square drift just wasn’t big enough for the adze socket, so I took a pause to forge out a short square drift. The next step will be fixing the drift to a handle, and then driving it into the adze.

Forging fire tools on a cold Wednesday night.

This evening I finished up an ash scoop and a fire blow pipe to match the set I make a few months back.

After spending an hour hammering the shovel end of the scoop using various parts of my swage block, I see why you can buy a swage block that comes made for that very purpose with a negative shovel built in. Keeping the thin metal straight was troublesome.

The blow pipe was an interesting project, and I started with 30” of 3/4 black iron gas pipe - forging the pipe from scratch would have greatly increased the time and costs. Then I forged one end down to a near-point, flared the other and put a neck in to hold the hook as well. The last step was riveting on a poker hook so it’ll do double duty.

And to cap of the evening I made a hatchet handle from scratch.

The forge is lit and the fire is especially welcome on a chill November weekend!

I’ve been catching up on my forging backlog, and started by making another 80CRV2 skinning knife with coco bolo scales and chevron filework on the spine, this time in 3/16 thickness.

Next was a custom 5 hook, 15” long measuring cup holder, all forged to shape and riveted. The bar was forged from 5/8 round at, and the hooks from 1/4 square stock. The hooks were interesting to make as I had to use my swage block to forge the ends with a triangular cross-section to fit a specific set of measuring cups..

Next in my list is an ash scoop, which is another project made possible (or at least practical) using a swage block, and rivet set.

The iron is not working, ruggedly or otherwise for a few weeks.

I am out of town and won’t be fabricating steel or posts until after Halloween. There are also sadly, no photos of last weeks projects as I spent it getting ready to be away: rigidizing ceramic wool, cleaning the floors aren’t emptying the scrap wood and metal bins.

More to come in a few weeks

A little swage block, all dressed up and ready to go.

I took a little time last week to dress the edges - grind until rounded over and sanded smooth - of my swage block last week. Now that it nice and smooth It wont mar the surface of any metal hammered on it.

Next step was then building a framework to support the swage block, in a laying down and upright position. This ensures it doesn’t fall off and land on my toes! And to limit the number of workstations in my shop, I welded it all onto my mobile vice stand. And because Its meant to be mobile, I added some wheels too.

Now to forge out some campfire tools on it!

Fun and fire at the open shop.

The open house at the shop today was a great time to socialize and a better time to try out a power hammer and see blacksmiths in action. I even cleaned up the shop for the occasion!

Mathieu Larocque of , Patrick Vanvolkingburg of PCV, Jason Krahl and myself took their hands at the forge and made a blacksmith knife & heart-shaped artpiece, a new hardy cut-off tool, tightened some 150-year old wrought-iron tongs and rough-forged out a tomahawk respectively. Mark Vass (another smith), several other friends, some spouses and children also came by to hang out, chat and shoot nerf guns of course.

Now to finish up that tomahawk...

Five tomahawks in hands and on their way to the woods.

This batch of poll-hawks was custom made for a client, and intended for heavy use as camping tomahawks. By request and befitting this purpose, they have none of the ornate cut outs or file-work and were left with the forge scale and burnt oil finish. They are fitted with ~20" fire blackened, pressure-fit handles of ironwood for exceptional durability.