r/Blacksmith • • 9h ago

Spark test thoughts.

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134 Upvotes

Coworker handed me a giant piece of all thread. What do yall think?


r/Blacksmith • • 6h ago

WIP three spike pendent

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116 Upvotes

Working on this chonky pendent commission. Yes, it is heavy for a necklace lol.


r/Blacksmith • • 14h ago

File blacksmith knife. First ever try at one.

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47 Upvotes

Thought I'd post it here aswell since it is a blacksmiths knife, you guys like the furleather or nah? The knife was made from a old nicholson bastard file, using about 80%of the file to make the tang and blade. Quenched in water and tempered at 450 for an hour and half.


r/Blacksmith • • 7h ago

Progress on 6 splitting axes

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37 Upvotes

hand forging all of these axes takes so fricking long. The lugs get cut off and the bevels shall be forged soon. The customer wants 6 tassie splitting heads


r/Blacksmith • • 4h ago

Leaf hook

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24 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith • • 5h ago

Hammer Tongs for Ball-Peen Hammers

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21 Upvotes

I got started in April this year (2026) and I bought myself a cross peen hammer, a two-burner propane forge, and a 66lb (30kg) anvil. I’ve been determined to make as many of my other tools as I possibly can.

I picked up a couple Harbor Freight ball-peen hammers the other day, with the goal of turning them into handled tools, like punches, chisels, drifts, etc.

But, before I could start those projects, I needed a pair of tongs that could hold onto those hammer heads more securely.

Started with about a foot of 5/8” round bar, and ended up with these! This is my third successful pair of tongs, out of five attempts. Definitely getting more familiar and comfortable with the process, but I also have a long way to go before I can make a professional-looking set. These look functional, though! And that’s what matters, to me.


r/Blacksmith • • 5h ago

First time forging

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21 Upvotes

Just got my Chinese 132# anvil mounted and after waiting for my forge walls to dry I couldn't wait any more and needed to forge something. So I slapped on a bbq propane tank and found some scrap metal and tryed to make a leaf. I think i did pretty well but its obvious I need to reshape the faces on the cheap hammers I got from harbor freight. Nest step is to shape the hammers I bought and start building the set of rapid tongs I got from Kens after I make a couple more leaves for good measure for practice 😅


r/Blacksmith • • 8h ago

I ordered my first forge

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13 Upvotes

I built one that didnt go very well. I ordered one and I think its nice. It has very good reviews. Im also ordering some other stuff. Any tips for beginners?


r/Blacksmith • • 12h ago

Railing finishing

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11 Upvotes

I made a railing for my parents its located outdoors so the finish applied is important to preventing rust.

I like a lot as forged with old cooking oil burnt to it but I'm not sure if it would suffice to protect it over the years. Painting it black is another option but I feel like the hammer and chiseled marks would fade a bit with a painted finish. Is applying just varnish an option? Do you have any suggestions?


r/Blacksmith • • 17h ago

Would anybody actually buy flint and steel strikers?

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11 Upvotes

I’d love to know if they would be profitable enough to continue to make.


r/Blacksmith • • 9h ago

How to clean these and make them useful

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10 Upvotes

I recently bought these and there bit useless as they don’t grab much how would I go about cleaning the jaw up and making it so it’s a tighter fit I’m practising using tongues as I don’t use them much when forging as I forge pretty big things most of the time but I can’t seem to get a handle of it TIA.


r/Blacksmith • • 9h ago

My 900-pound Christmas tree

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6 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith • • 11h ago

Plant Hangers to attach to posts

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8 Upvotes

I started building some inventory today for a craft show in December at the local library. I still need to drill some holes in the "tangs" and coat them but so far so good. Basically, you attach these to a post or porch column then your hanging basket or whatever will be about 30° - 40° out from there.

Made with basic 1018 steel.


r/Blacksmith • • 15h ago

Good quench medium for 4140 / 42crmo4 steel any tips ?

2 Upvotes

I’ve recently come across some 4140 on the welding job for half price and want to make weapons for HEMA and warhammers even a dussac for training yall got any tips ?


r/Blacksmith • • 8h ago

Ribbon burner questions

1 Upvotes

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Hey gang!

Put my old venturi burner powered forge up into storage in the back forty, and lost the burners in the process. Completely forgot where I put them after seven years I guess.

I want to go ahead and change up to a ribbon burner. I got geared up to do it and just never pulled the trigger back in the day. I've got most of the figuring done but I have had a hard time finding any kind of consensus with regard to the thickness of the refractory portion of the burner.

How thick does the refractory portion of a ribbon burner need to be?

Im currently set on 3", the thinner dimension of a refractory brick.


r/Blacksmith • • 19h ago

Case hardening?

1 Upvotes

is casehardening a viable method to use for smithing tools? e.g. a chisel or a drift?