This is the dynamic that existed between master and apprentice historically, the answering of questions. I know you care about expanding the knowledge of your viewers and this is a great way to do that. You have my vote to do this type of video!
I'll add to this, others may disagree. Some of the most wonderful information transfers I've had from masters has been watching them doing their own work, not just tutorials. In particular, the master simply talking through what he's doing, why he's doing it, things he did wrong when he was younger, etc. Nuances and tidbits, preferences and habits, that might seem like nothing to them, but are often invaluable to a student. One of my favourites is Tim Hunkin, who will often point out something purely because 40 years ago, he thought it was neat.
I would love Q&A videos also John is my favourite he’s the only one who don’t just hit the hammer once and edits till it’s done leaving us missing half the stuff they do he actually takes his time to show us everything and explains it so well.. forever in thanks to him wouldn’t have opened my blacksmith shop if it wasn’t for him, I’m only 21 but now my son will learn the trade also when he gets a bit older
I enjoy the Q and A sessions. You are taking the time to pass on your wisdom and your opinions to help others. I have been watching your channel since 2017 and have learned much from you.
Your videos are great because you actually verbally explain everything you do. So many blacksmiths on RUclips post videos of them making things, but with no explanation which is vital for a green novice such as myself.
I am not a blacksmith but I do find it interesting to hear the questions and your responses. It is not a substitute for watching you make thing though. Keep making things and the Q&A is fine now and again. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Recommendation if you do a lot of Q&A’s - keep a public list of the questions asked and a link to the videos you answered them in, and post it under every QA video. The Chieftain does it as a google sheet and it is *incredibly* useful in seeing if your questions have already been answered.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge as always John I’m a 21 year old blacksmith and try to fallow in your steps.. thanks to you I’ve got my first proper forge weld in my gas forge and I opened up a blacksmith shop in my town!
I - for one - do enjoy these question and answer videos John. You’ve spent the last several years getting comfortable in front of the camera, and your camera work/editing is very good. I feel like these videos are more of a “let’s have a cup of coffee (or beer) John, and and you can tell me all about what others are wondering and once in a while we’ll find ourselves discussing things that I find challenging as well. Great job.
Good stuff! I'm like you when it comes to demonstrations and such. Not only is it very expensive and inconvenient to travel somewhere, but I'm old and like working at my own pace. I can talk your ear off while swinging the hammer all day long, but boy and I gonna pay for that for the next week or more!
Hey John, The Q&A videos are enjoyable and informative. Today's video pre-answered a question for me. Specifically the question about you doing demonstrations. I had been meaning to ask if you did demonstrations or demo/workshops. We , the Central States Metal Artisans, located in Haysville Kansas, are trying gather a listing of available demonstrators to contact and hopefully schedule for our group. I fully understand where you are coming from as far as limiting when/where you will make yourself available for demonstrations.
By the way, I lined the bottom of my forge with a tray I made from 16ga inconel sheet. It hasn't got much thermal mass, and flux takes years to eat it.
I’m glad you mentioned SuperQuench, I was going to ask about it. I’ve used it some and it definitely works. Will make a railroad spike knife much harder than water. I’ve got a set of those Rockwell files now so maybe next time I’ll try to figure out how much harder. I’d be very interested in seeing you do pewter bolsters, that’s something I’ve wanted to try. Thanks for all the things I’ve learned from your channel.
Hey John, the q&a videos are a pleasure to watch , & I would definitely like to see more. They're more than just interesting, but informative as well. 👍
I am about 2/3 through this video and I can say I am learning stuff through these questions. I think I like your "projects" better, for watching. But this format is interesting. It may be because I have never thought to ask some of these. Maybe I just need to get out and do instead of watch. Thanks for this one at least.
As someone who is just getting started in blacksmithing, I really enjoy the Q and A format now and then. You normally explain things pretty well, but this format seems to allow a little further explanations on things, and some of the questions may be ones you wouldn't have thought to talk about. At any rate, thank you for sharing your knowledge, thoughts and experience. It has been a great help and big motivator to keep learning more about the craft.
Hey John, really like the Q and A's. Really like all your content, but it is interesting to hear other people's concerns or /and questions and definitely your answers. Really excellent to get answers from such an experienced blacksmith and business owner, Thank you.
John, I'm really liking the q & a series, I think this is a great way to help people that are anywhere from novices to experienced smiths get better, there's been some good questions and I like hearing your thoughts and answers, keep up the good work!
Thank you for the Q&A, l have always enjoyed the knowledge you impart to the beginning smith like myself, I always reference your videos before I do a project.
I love the q&a in between projects. It helps give me ideas and new ways to look at things. I may not have asked some of the questions here, but the answers you gave still made me think a little differently about the subjects. Love the videos, keep up the good work! If we ask questions here, will they get lumped with the others or do we need to ask them on the original post to get them in the q&a videos?
Indeed john I appreciate the time you are taking for q and a it is a great help to others I think. I do hope you continue and as always thank you for sharing your wisdom with us all godbless and be well.
I'm enjoying this series John, great way to start my day while having coffee. Only question I have for you is, What's your favourite beer? (besides one someone else has bought)
Thanks for answering my question John! That’s exactly the answer I needed! I appreciate it! That being said, I absolutely love these Q&As! Keep them coming!
I do like it it is informative+ the brine thing is neet ( I have an old blacksmithing book first written in 1906 & mentioned brine was used as an in-between water & oil quenching. Something about boiling point . There was a part about amputation and making the new leg or hand for the person . Don't want to do that but it was a hard life back then
I have a copy (re-publication)of a very old blacksmithing handbook that never once mentions using flux, it always just says ‘Take a welding heat, and weld the joint’ 😂
My grandad often used salt & PotClhoride as flux instead of borax. He said good clean sand worked also. Have never tried any. As borax is cheap at the moment.
São realmente questões muito interessantes e comuns entre ferreiros e as respostas foram muito satisfatórias, pois representam muito tempo de trabalho e dedicação. Muito obrigado!
Would you explain the difference between the single burner vevor forge and the double burner vevor forge and why you would purchase one over the other?
Can you forge weld without flux? YES! I've actually welded a 70+ layer damascus without cleaning OR flux. We only had half of the top layer that didn't take.
I buy all my hammers from another smith (Seth Woods). He knows what he's doing and can crank them out, so that let's me focus on what I'm interested in. So specialising in hammers seems like a reasonable thing to me, if you're interested in it
Question to add to the list: I made a rack to hold the fire in my pizza oven recently. Is there any sort of finish I should put on it, or will anything just burn away and/or poison my food?
John, thank you for all your help! I hope I can make the May conference, what day will you be there? Question about quenching. I was shown to always quench to magnetic North. He showed me two pieces of scrap mild steel. The one pointed north was an arrow the one he did East pointing was a banana. Your thoughts?
Hi John, I am enjoying the Q & A videos please keep them up. Also I have question what is your opinion of the Samc power hammer you have and have you ever used the MZ75 from Ken's Custom iron? I live MN so Kens would be a local supplier.
Hello, love your channel man, learned so much from you sir. My question involves heat treating s5 for punches, chisels, possibly drifts in a gas forge, not sure if you covered it before but I can't find much info on it online. any tips would be awesome thanks, so the question is How do I heat treat s5 as well as possible using a gas forge, oil? Water? Air? Tempering Tempsetc.?
For the viewer who asked about when to upgrade to a heavier Anvil ...According to my own experience over the last decade as well as testimony from a professional industrial blacksmith/Metallurgist friend of mine (his employer forges steel on the order of 20,000-30,000 pounds!!!), the ratio of 10 or 12:1 of anvil : hammer applies just fine for power hammers but with hand hammers it does not - this friend will tell you the same as I do based on my personal experience, you really need more along the lines of 30:1 or 40:1 (240 pound anvil for 8 pound hammer). I've hammered on my 85# Peter Wright with an 8# hammer (shortened handle) and it was positively useless - anvil was dancing all over God's creation even strapped down with cables and turnbuckles to a 2ft cube of lag screwed 2x6. My 3.5# hammer against my 85# PW is really a stretch. John obviously nailed the answer... When to upgrade really depends on your work. What I teach folks is that the cross section of your chosen material informs the ideal mass of your hammer, the ideal mass of your hammer times 30-40 equals your ideal anvil mass. To clarify the point, take my 85# PW for example, it's got all the mass in the world to support a little 1# hammer - but I will not make efficient progress forging hammers (even with mild steel) at a 4 sq-inch cross-sectional area (2" square bar or 2-1/4" round)...you need more hammer (like 4#)...which means you need more anvil (about 120-160#). This of course needs to be factored differently if you're primarily forging tool steels as 1" diameter 5160 is gonna need much more hammer than 1" diameter mild steel. So your personal experience will tell you when you need more hammer to efficiently move the metal you need. Long story short, figure out what you want your focus to be in the craft. If you're steering towards hardware like coat hooks, nails, or small tools like chisels and punches, or tongs, you'll be plenty satisfied with your 88# anvil forging material like 1" x 1/4" (my personal favorite) or 5/8" sq. If you want to forge larger / tougher steels, you're gonna need to upgrade. Best of luck! - JD
Thanks for all the info John! Quick question: what is your recommendation for a steel to make tools, punches, etc out of for a beginner to novice smith? Preferably something that provides a quality tool, without needing specialized infrastructure to properly harden/temper. Currently I'm using S7, which is tricky to heat properly and is pricey. unfortunately I don't have access to a proper salvage yard, and my local steel supplier doesn't stock spring/tool steels, so I'm stuck with online purchases, and pointers would be appreciated!
What would be a good way to skill-build while adding some variety? The last thing I want to do is let myself get bored, but after a hook or two, that's where I'm at. Then again, I've mainly done S-hooks, so I recently tried making hooks from flat bar instead, but I want to look a bit farther down the road. With my ADHD brain, boredom is the absolute bane of my existence, and novelty helps to stave that off.
1/10th the weight of the anvil? That seems way off IMHO. Maybe 1/50th, I like 1/100th. I would NEVER swing a 14lb hammer on some of my 140lbers, I wouldnt use a 4lb!😳
Thanks John these are very helpful. I happen to have a question. What tool steel would you suggest for learning to forge weld tool steel, are some more forgiving then others or should i just pick one i have a supply of and practice?
This is the dynamic that existed between master and apprentice historically, the answering of questions. I know you care about expanding the knowledge of your viewers and this is a great way to do that. You have my vote to do this type of video!
I'll add to this, others may disagree. Some of the most wonderful information transfers I've had from masters has been watching them doing their own work, not just tutorials.
In particular, the master simply talking through what he's doing, why he's doing it, things he did wrong when he was younger, etc. Nuances and tidbits, preferences and habits, that might seem like nothing to them, but are often invaluable to a student.
One of my favourites is Tim Hunkin, who will often point out something purely because 40 years ago, he thought it was neat.
I would love Q&A videos also John is my favourite he’s the only one who don’t just hit the hammer once and edits till it’s done leaving us missing half the stuff they do he actually takes his time to show us everything and explains it so well.. forever in thanks to him wouldn’t have opened my blacksmith shop if it wasn’t for him, I’m only 21 but now my son will learn the trade also when he gets a bit older
Amen.
I totally agree! 🤠❤🔥⚒
I enjoy the Q and A sessions. You are taking the time to pass on your wisdom and your opinions to help others. I have been watching your channel since 2017 and have learned much from you.
Your videos are great because you actually verbally explain everything you do. So many blacksmiths on RUclips post videos of them making things, but with no explanation which is vital for a green novice such as myself.
I am not a blacksmith but I do find it interesting to hear the questions and your responses. It is not a substitute for watching you make thing though. Keep making things and the Q&A is fine now and again. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Recommendation if you do a lot of Q&A’s - keep a public list of the questions asked and a link to the videos you answered them in, and post it under every QA video. The Chieftain does it as a google sheet and it is *incredibly* useful in seeing if your questions have already been answered.
Interesting to learn what other folk are interested in & the answers often touch on things that have not come to mind. Thank you for sharing!
I appreciate hearing your work habits! I too am at an age where I work, take a break and work again more often!
Always enjoy a good q and a, can never have enough knowledge
I like the Q&A it helps out for new blacksmiths like myself that does it as a hobby on his day off
Thank you for sharing your knowledge as always John I’m a 21 year old blacksmith and try to fallow in your steps.. thanks to you I’ve got my first proper forge weld in my gas forge and I opened up a blacksmith shop in my town!
Also I love the questions and answers episodes
Thank you for answering my question john! You're the reason i wanted to necome a blacksmith!
I - for one - do enjoy these question and answer videos John. You’ve spent the last several years getting comfortable in front of the camera, and your camera work/editing is very good. I feel like these videos are more of a “let’s have a cup of coffee (or beer) John, and and you can tell me all about what others are wondering and once in a while we’ll find ourselves discussing things that I find challenging as well. Great job.
Thanks for taking the time to do these videos, they are great.
Please keep this going as long as you are interested in doing so. Hopefully I’ll have a question worthy of an answer before you are done.
Thanks!
Good stuff! I'm like you when it comes to demonstrations and such. Not only is it very expensive and inconvenient to travel somewhere, but I'm old and like working at my own pace. I can talk your ear off while swinging the hammer all day long, but boy and I gonna pay for that for the next week or more!
Hey John, The Q&A videos are enjoyable and informative. Today's video pre-answered a question for me. Specifically the question about you doing demonstrations. I had been meaning to ask if you did demonstrations or demo/workshops. We , the Central States Metal Artisans, located in Haysville Kansas, are trying gather a listing of available demonstrators to contact and hopefully schedule for our group.
I fully understand where you are coming from as far as limiting when/where you will make yourself available for demonstrations.
By the way, I lined the bottom of my forge with a tray I made from 16ga inconel sheet. It hasn't got much thermal mass, and flux takes years to eat it.
I’m glad you mentioned SuperQuench, I was going to ask about it. I’ve used it some and it definitely works. Will make a railroad spike knife much harder than water. I’ve got a set of those Rockwell files now so maybe next time I’ll try to figure out how much harder. I’d be very interested in seeing you do pewter bolsters, that’s something I’ve wanted to try. Thanks for all the things I’ve learned from your channel.
saludos desde argentina ,sigue con las consultas que a traves de ellas aprendemos
im 17 and been slowing setting up for a couple of years but with little experience, ill always be here to watch these
Hey John, the q&a videos are a pleasure to watch , & I would definitely like to see more. They're more than just interesting, but informative as well. 👍
I am about 2/3 through this video and I can say I am learning stuff through these questions. I think I like your "projects" better, for watching. But this format is interesting. It may be because I have never thought to ask some of these. Maybe I just need to get out and do instead of watch. Thanks for this one at least.
Even though I am not interested in some of the questions, I still always learn something. Please keep doing it
I do enjoy this q and a section. Like a smith and coffee type of feel to it.
As someone who is just getting started in blacksmithing, I really enjoy the Q and A format now and then. You normally explain things pretty well, but this format seems to allow a little further explanations on things, and some of the questions may be ones you wouldn't have thought to talk about. At any rate, thank you for sharing your knowledge, thoughts and experience. It has been a great help and big motivator to keep learning more about the craft.
Definitely keep making these, I'm enjoying the Q&A. Also looking forward to seeing your demo at the NWBA spring conference in May!
I really liked your heat treating topic. Agree 100% on the W1 strikers.
Love your input I would like to see more hooks I know you don’t have time for hook of the week however can you try by the month
Hey John, really like the Q and A's. Really like all your content, but it is interesting to hear other people's concerns or /and questions and definitely your answers. Really excellent to get answers from such an experienced blacksmith and business owner, Thank you.
I enjoy Q and A. Thanks John!
I like the question and answers, you always learn something from someone else's questions.👍
I enjoy listening and find it very helpful as I progress in my playground of blacksmithing and other ideas. thank you very much for these Q & A's.
John, I'm really liking the q & a series, I think this is a great way to help people that are anywhere from novices to experienced smiths get better, there's been some good questions and I like hearing your thoughts and answers, keep up the good work!
like the Q&A, hear questions and answers that either ourselves hadn't thought of or don't come up in the vids you do.
I really like the Q&A sessions. Keep doing them.
Thank you for the Q&A, l have always enjoyed the knowledge you impart to the beginning smith like myself, I always reference your videos before I do a project.
Thanks John...
I love the q&a in between projects. It helps give me ideas and new ways to look at things. I may not have asked some of the questions here, but the answers you gave still made me think a little differently about the subjects. Love the videos, keep up the good work! If we ask questions here, will they get lumped with the others or do we need to ask them on the original post to get them in the q&a videos?
Thats hard to say. It depends largely on how long I continue these using that first bunch of questions
Indeed john I appreciate the time you are taking for q and a it is a great help to others I think. I do hope you continue and as always thank you for sharing your wisdom with us all godbless and be well.
I'm enjoying this series John, great way to start my day while having coffee. Only question I have for you is, What's your favourite beer? (besides one someone else has bought)
It varies. 1554, Negro Modelo, generally dark beer
Great information given John. Honest opinions and excellent advice is what you give to your Q&A sessions. Keep up the great work and videos. Fred.
I like the q and a videos i learn alot from them. Somethings i already know and somethings i thought i knew. Good videos all the way around
Q&A is interesting and I appreciate your complete answers. Good videos
Thanks John. I enjoy these Q &A videos.
I enjoy the Q & A, please continue and thanks for sharing your knowledge
Thanks for answering my question John! That’s exactly the answer I needed! I appreciate it! That being said, I absolutely love these Q&As! Keep them coming!
Thank you for taking your time to answer these!!!
I love the question and answer format!
I do like it it is informative+ the brine thing is neet ( I have an old blacksmithing book first written in 1906 & mentioned brine was used as an in-between water & oil quenching. Something about boiling point . There was a part about amputation and making the new leg or hand for the person . Don't want to do that but it was a hard life back then
John, I have been following your channel for a while and I enjoy the Q & A. Thank you for what you do.
Hey John your videos have helped me so much over the years. I look forward to finally meeting you. See you at NWBA
love the Q&A
I have a copy (re-publication)of a very old blacksmithing handbook that never once mentions using flux, it always just says ‘Take a welding heat, and weld the joint’ 😂
liking these videos. See you in May NWBA
Please keep doing the questions.
Really like the Q&A. Thanks John!!
Q&A is Great, Keep em coming.
Keep em comin John!! Love looking forward to Wed videos again, if its not too much on you!!
I like the question and answer videos.
I like this content aswell, hopefully the performance is worth continuing for you
Love the Q and A hope you can keep it going
Yes q and a are a good and needed thing. The wise don't become wise with out questions getting answered
My grandad often used salt & PotClhoride as flux instead of borax. He said good clean sand worked also. Have never tried any. As borax is cheap at the moment.
Thank you 😊
São realmente questões muito interessantes e comuns entre ferreiros e as respostas foram muito satisfatórias, pois representam muito tempo de trabalho e dedicação. Muito obrigado!
Would you explain the difference between the single burner vevor forge and the double burner vevor forge and why you would purchase one over the other?
Keep them coming
Can you forge weld without flux? YES! I've actually welded a 70+ layer damascus without cleaning OR flux. We only had half of the top layer that didn't take.
these work for me John, go for it.
I buy all my hammers from another smith (Seth Woods). He knows what he's doing and can crank them out, so that let's me focus on what I'm interested in. So specialising in hammers seems like a reasonable thing to me, if you're interested in it
Hey John how do you decide what to make a touch mark.
Question to add to the list: I made a rack to hold the fire in my pizza oven recently. Is there any sort of finish I should put on it, or will anything just burn away and/or poison my food?
John, thank you for all your help! I hope I can make the May conference, what day will you be there? Question about quenching. I was shown to always quench to magnetic North. He showed me two pieces of scrap mild steel. The one pointed north was an arrow the one he did East pointing was a banana. Your thoughts?
Hi John, I am enjoying the Q & A videos please keep them up. Also I have question what is your opinion of the Samc power hammer you have and have you ever used the MZ75 from Ken's Custom iron? I live MN so Kens would be a local supplier.
These are great!
Hello, love your channel man, learned so much from you sir. My question involves heat treating s5 for punches, chisels, possibly drifts in a gas forge, not sure if you covered it before but I can't find much info on it online. any tips would be awesome thanks, so the question is How do I heat treat s5 as well as possible using a gas forge, oil? Water? Air? Tempering Tempsetc.?
I know rebar hardens with oil I tested it I got it hard enough then test it till it snaps
what would be some food grade finishes for carbon steel knifes ?
Clean and dry is all I really do, but any cooking oil should help.
Hey John! Whats your favorite thing to forge?
Boy, that changes regularly. A few years ago I would have said axes. Now I think I am on a quest for a new favorite.
For the viewer who asked about when to upgrade to a heavier Anvil ...According to my own experience over the last decade as well as testimony from a professional industrial blacksmith/Metallurgist friend of mine (his employer forges steel on the order of 20,000-30,000 pounds!!!), the ratio of 10 or 12:1 of anvil : hammer applies just fine for power hammers but with hand hammers it does not - this friend will tell you the same as I do based on my personal experience, you really need more along the lines of 30:1 or 40:1 (240 pound anvil for 8 pound hammer).
I've hammered on my 85# Peter Wright with an 8# hammer (shortened handle) and it was positively useless - anvil was dancing all over God's creation even strapped down with cables and turnbuckles to a 2ft cube of lag screwed 2x6. My 3.5# hammer against my 85# PW is really a stretch.
John obviously nailed the answer... When to upgrade really depends on your work. What I teach folks is that the cross section of your chosen material informs the ideal mass of your hammer, the ideal mass of your hammer times 30-40 equals your ideal anvil mass. To clarify the point, take my 85# PW for example, it's got all the mass in the world to support a little 1# hammer - but I will not make efficient progress forging hammers (even with mild steel) at a 4 sq-inch cross-sectional area (2" square bar or 2-1/4" round)...you need more hammer (like 4#)...which means you need more anvil (about 120-160#). This of course needs to be factored differently if you're primarily forging tool steels as 1" diameter 5160 is gonna need much more hammer than 1" diameter mild steel. So your personal experience will tell you when you need more hammer to efficiently move the metal you need.
Long story short, figure out what you want your focus to be in the craft. If you're steering towards hardware like coat hooks, nails, or small tools like chisels and punches, or tongs, you'll be plenty satisfied with your 88# anvil forging material like 1" x 1/4" (my personal favorite) or 5/8" sq. If you want to forge larger / tougher steels, you're gonna need to upgrade.
Best of luck!
- JD
Thanks for your videos sir. Have you ever considered a humorous “bloopers” video?
Thanks for all the info John!
Quick question: what is your recommendation for a steel to make tools, punches, etc out of for a beginner to novice smith? Preferably something that provides a quality tool, without needing specialized infrastructure to properly harden/temper.
Currently I'm using S7, which is tricky to heat properly and is pricey.
unfortunately I don't have access to a proper salvage yard, and my local steel supplier doesn't stock spring/tool steels, so I'm stuck with online purchases, and pointers would be appreciated!
S7 is one of my favorites. Coil spring is popular as a budget steel and makes good tools.
I enjoy them
What would be a good way to skill-build while adding some variety? The last thing I want to do is let myself get bored, but after a hook or two, that's where I'm at. Then again, I've mainly done S-hooks, so I recently tried making hooks from flat bar instead, but I want to look a bit farther down the road. With my ADHD brain, boredom is the absolute bane of my existence, and novelty helps to stave that off.
Я из Калининграда кузнец
многое узнал полезного.
Пролетарии всех стран объединяйтесь.
Always a school day
Are you abana certified? And if so to what level?
As flux U can use even sand. Borax is good, but not only one.
And in charcoal is no so hard to forge weld whitout flux at all
Diesel fuel is a good flux (for real) 👍
Лучше показывать чем объяснять Я так думаю
Have you looked into DDP Yoga? Might help with your endurance you've referenced the last couple of videos.
1/10th the weight of the anvil? That seems way off IMHO. Maybe 1/50th, I like 1/100th. I would NEVER swing a 14lb hammer on some of my 140lbers, I wouldnt use a 4lb!😳
I like how articulate you are when speaking. You have piqued my interest here.
This commentary is fluxing amazing.
Thanks John these are very helpful. I happen to have a question. What tool steel would you suggest for learning to forge weld tool steel, are some more forgiving then others or should i just pick one i have a supply of and practice?