Відео

Thanks Nils just subbed to this channel to get your numbers up . Really like your work and appreciate your thoughts on the art

Forging is never boring, sanding/finishing is another story.

I look at it this way. Different strokes for different folks. use what you want.

Cool video, years ago I watched a video. The guy flipped the head upside down. Put it on the handle, traced the inside of the head. And carved down the handle. Ever heard of people doing that?

Fantastic! Be a lifelong learner. Research and do. Thanks🎸🔪

How long did this take?

Thanks for showing a low tool.way of doing this

Well spoken.

Easy for you to say! :P Wish I could start in the rain with anything at all but can't do that from a flat in the city. So I'd have to find a suitable place without neighbors to complain about noise but I'd also need to pay rent and food somehow. Which means I would need a job in such a place. I've been looking for years...all I can do is continue to watch various smithing channels and despair....

This is the most profound 5 minute video I've seen. Thank you for posting this. I think it might have been a Jay Bates video some time ago, making a Roubo workbench from construction lumber for $100 (would be $300 with today's lumber pices though...). So many comments denigrating him, "$100 bench made wiht $60,000 worth of tools", etc... and it irritated me so much. I think that is the excuse of the lazy, zero imagination, zero drive person. I had just built my construction lumber Roubo at the time with a couple of hand planes, hand saw, circular saw, bit and brace set (my Makita cordless was not up to the task of drilling 3/4" holes in 3-1/2" thick wood), and a 4 pc set of Narex chisels. The thing is, it took me about 6 months to build, working as many evenings and weekends as I could pry away for the day to day family life. You can do things with meager tools. All it takes is drive and determination.

When I started forging 12 years ago, my teacher didn’t allow me to use the powerhammer at first (a Sahinler 40 or 50kg), I had to learn the technique by hand first. All good and fair. Soon after I met the then president of BABA for a chat and some advice on how to start out as a blacksmith. His advice was to get a powerhammer if I wanted to have any chance of working economically i.e. profitably. They both were absolutely right and I‘m thankful for their advice. After less than a year of forging, I built myself a threadle hammer and then motorized it. It’s a crappy piece of cobbled together leftovers, but it sped up my production process by a factor of 3, easily. Simple tasks like drawing out reins or damascus stock was now no longer an arduous task, but merely a heat or two. Eventually I got into my current workshop and now have a selfcontained powerhammer and a mechanical spring hammer. They allow me to finish a pair of tongs in 30 minutes or a geologists hammer in 90. The hammers make it possible to sell products at a price that some people may be willing to pay. Do they enable me to do things I couldn’t do without? Not really, unless we start talking about big stock above 1.5“, where manual work becomes prohibitively taxing (without a striker). Do they magically let me do things I didn’t know how to do by hand before? Neither. Powerhammers, like welders, have a place and an important role in a workshop, but it very much depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You want to forge a few whatsits in your garage and make a few Christmas presents along the way? You don’t need a 20‘000$ powerhammer. You want to make and sell series of tools at a marketable price? That backyard forge is not going to cut it in the long run. Different goals, different means to get there.

I am an amateur blacksmith. I got into it as an offshoot of welding and metal working activities. It is one of my many interests, and I will never do it as a professional. Like many of your viewers, I watch videos to learn technique. When I see a power hammer in use, I move to another video. Not having a power hammer, I prefer instruction that 100% applies to me. I have watched projects with enthusiasm, only to arrive at a point where I cannot accomplishing the task without power. I think well of power hammer users, but that is not my path. I am not a purist; I often combine arc welding with forged pieces. I just like to "get it done". For me, a power hammer os like a vintage Martin D28 guitar - something I'd love to play with, but beyond the money I will spend on that facet of my life. I don't know how many others feel as I do, but I suspect that as a UA-camr, using a power hammer will cost you viewers, which translates to money. Depending on the ratio of UA-cam income to product sales income, that may be a consideration. Or you could be in it just for the fun, in which case, d_mn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. I enjoy your videos, and wish you the best of good fortune.

So, let me see: something that was made at the beginning of previous century, and used 100+ years ago, is NOT A HISTORICALLY ACCURATE ITEM? LOL I don't know what else to say😂

I like your style and your videos. I watch you and black bear the most. Im a ranch cowboy/mechanic, im gonna be 62 next month and my grandpa started me blacksmithing when i was a kid. Im what i refer to as a "necessity" blacksmith. That is to say i do a lot more repairs than i do actually making new stuff. Sure ive made some knives, coat hooks, fire sets, etc. But ive fixed a lot more broken plows, discs, axes and chains. A power hammer would be awesome but for me it wouldnt be practical. I still dont own a real anvil, i still use the double wide railroad track anvil that i built 40 years ago. It works for me. BUT, if i was going to be a full time bladesmith, id want a power hammer and press for sure just for production sake. Keep tne videos coming!!!

When you get older and your joints start aching you'll appreciate your power hammer more. Ask me how I know 😂. I really enjoy your channel

This is the type of channel I like to watch, the type of channel that shows someone like me who wants to get into things like this in the future and basically saying look all these beautiful and amazing things can be made by someone who doesn’t have expensive tools and machines. It is still entertaining to watch people who build stuff with these machines but it just takes a little away too see them toss the project in a 30k USD machine which does half the work. Love your work and this was just some thoughts and opinions from one of your southern county/state neighbors

Let’s see some of those people try to forge down a 2 inch shaft 12 inches long with their hand hammer see how that works out!

This is the internet mate, you can find all kind of people here & lots of envy and even worse evils. Just keep doing what you do and don't pay attention to those negative comments. I am here because I am an axe nerd and because I like your art with metal, made both with elbow grease AND cool machines. Thanks for sharing!

Nillis eu sou o fc lucena aqui no BRASIL Ceará fortal 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 admiro Muito os seus machados mais pq Vc não coloca o nome desse pó Ou produto nas suas legendas q Vc usa para unir o aço 😢

Solid advice

Great video with a great message @nilsogren. I really liked the "Or Is It You"... Whiners will always find a way to make excuses, forget them. You weren't thrust into that position with all the equipment at the ready, you earned it and worked damn hard for it. Please use your power hammer...... at least occasionally. 💪⚒❤

👍

My drift always jump to the side and make a misalignment. What is the solution to this problem?

I totally agree!! I feel the same way. Still looking for a powerhamer and a place to put it.

You know I'm gonna JUMP at the chance to get one of your axes.

I always tell people that you only have to look at the artifacts from Sutton Hoo and similar archeological sites to see what's possible without a power hammer. The ancient blacksmiths were able to accomplish feats that boggle the mind, especially when you consider that they were working by the light of lamps and candles, using the most rudimentary tools. There's not a single "viking" smith who wouldn't have given their right arm, firstborn son, and three goats if it meant just a few hours shopping in the modern hardware store. When you compare what's available in the average home-supply store today with the tool kit of the Mastermyr Find, the difference is amazing, yet those smiths from Days Gone By were able to make truly magnificent works of beauty to the highest technical level. They worked to such a high level that expert today are baffled as to how it might have been done. And those Smiths of Old worked without any of the modern conveniences we take for granted. So, yes, you can do great things with few tools. All that is required is Patience and Perseverance.

I definitely agree with the idea of a power hammer as a similar thing to strikers, and strikers are very historical. The predecessor to power hammers, the trip hammer, was also historical, going way back to the medieval era. Power hammers themselves are pretty old. Steam hammers were from the mid 1800's.

Power hammer forging is a skill of its own, that adds another trick in the belt to help someone along the way. The more tricks youve got under your belt, the better maker you can and will be.

Excellent point. It's about the craft, it's about you challenging yourself. I don't forge often, as I have a regular dayjob and a houshold with kids; but I found myself using my way-overbuilt treadle hammer more because I built it to replace a striker and to avoid myself getting tennis-elbow and wrists. Also, if you can't forge it by hand, using a powerhammer will also fail; the machine doesn't add skill in the mix, just speed and power. The skill needs to be there already.

Oops sorry my reference is on UA-cam at thomasironworks

❤ Very good video. Who’s to say what is right or wrong concerning this topic? Enjoy the craft.

Well put Nils.

Well said.

The iron doesnt know or care if its a hand hammer or powerhammer hitting it… all that matters is the quality of the work.

People who think it’s cheating have clearly never used a power hammer. A big hammer can easily kill you and takes a lot of practice to get good at.

Nice video Nils. Its the same as a gas forge vs charcoal or coke. I myself love the charcoal forge as its quiet and I enjoy the theatre of the flame and sparks and the precision required to heat the steel without burning it. That said, forge welding a wrapped eye axe in gas forge is much easier than fire welding but the trade off is added noise and heat blasting you when forging. I would love a power hammer as it compliments forging by hand but I do not have the space for one nor and area where neighbours would not be annoyed by the noise.

Thank you very much Nils. You have confirmed what I have been thinking since I started smithing as a hobby. I would rather do without a power hammer.

Excellent video. Great message that tools don't create anything, they simply make creating more efficient. I don't have a power hammer but suspect that one could also mess up a project really quickly as well...😊

Power hammers require more control and finesse than anvil work and also requires the user and owner to be a good mechanic and savvy machine user. You do your blacksmith ancestors a major dishonor by shunning the privilege of technology. You may as well sell your camera and power hammer and go right back to 80mm film

Well put

Hey Buddy I love your videos, I could care less what tools you use or do not use. It is your teaching manner and the end result that I am interested in. Please don’t bother to give any more time to the detractors, just skip over their jealous comments and you should too. Please don’t change anything I enjoy your content just the way it is. A Canadian admirer.

If you could bring a top end hammer and a power hammer back in time and show them to ANY blacksmith back in the 13-15-1700’s . I would bet 10 grand in cash every one of those men would take the power hammer in a heartbeat !!! They might keep the hammer,,, 😂😂😂😂😂

I especially get why "eye candy Damascus" is done with a power hammer. But as a viewer I'm glad they use it, because I have no intend of watching 45 minutes of "flatten it, draw it out, fold it, repeat". But for your style of content and cinematography there's just something about the simplicity of letting hammer, anvil and furnace set the stage for the glowing center piece that is slowly going from a lump of whatever into gorgeous item. I get more time to absorb how each blow does its work, and the striking rhythm is more calming than the rapid fire of a power hammer.

I think this is why I find your channel to be one of the most inspiring and exciting to watch and learn from, it breaks the art form down to its essentials and shows how capable humans are with fairly basic tools. Keep up the amazing work!

Very well said sir.

Respect.

Hvis du skal selge maskinhammeren så er jeg interisert

Thanks for sharing this one ;)

What a lot of people told me often, oh yes if I had all you tools, I can also do your work… rubbish, passion skills ideas…cheers from Luxembourg 🇱🇺 you’re right

Well said!