Great Hammer-In with my weirdo friends;-)

 Some good week ago we met at the smithy again for a hammer-In. Olaf had called, Burkhard, Tim and Peter, Kai and Nick came to the smithy to do some smithing and BBQing afterwards. Nick did his first knifemaking tutorial with a Scandinavian iron-age loop-handle design he had never forged himself... very ambitious and a bit over the top, if you ask me, but he did very well. And since Tim thoroughly enjoyed himself, no harm done really. I tutored a bit besides, but only homoeopathically, and we all left with smiles...

 Olaf, Kai and Burkhardt having a chat. I forged a warhammer together with Olaf, and he really seemed to like it. And, bro, you brought too much! For Olaf brought a right truckload of good ol´steel, including some damascus and would not hear me decline it... So, lot of thanks to you. Olaf is one of the nicest guy I have met in the last years, in spite of his somewhat rustic appearance and a lot of "Huscarl" talk.. just a friend you like to have around. It was a right pleasure to work together, have some nice chats and sip a coffee.

 Kai wasn´t too lazy, either. He forged this leaf - handle knife. Spring steel. He is absolutely into leaves to date and makes huge progress in the moment.

 Those are his most recent works, three tongs he forged... blimey!;-)

This was Nick´s and Tim´s achievement, and I really like the fact that it was a genuine team effort.

 We lit the fire for the BBQ quite soon.

 This, by the way, is Marie, Burkhardts doggie, real cute, if you ask me, in spite of her complete ignorance of sharp and hot metal. She even caught some sparks without so much of further notice....

"Marie, dein Liebster ist ein Tier...";-)

Some of the stuff Olaf brought... I love those ancient hatchets, the smaller one presumeably out of three layer laminate!

Then, all of a sudden, it was dark, and we were hungry. I had prepared my trademark champigNOMMs;-) with a guacamole / Obazda sour cream stuffing, two good beef entrecotes, four pork chops, Nick had four pork chops, bread, salad, and the others contributed their part until we had way too much food. But we were hungry, did I mention?

 We sat and ate and chatted the night away.

 At 12 pm we added the next layer, and ate and talked some more.

Then, well into the night, we packed up, and I rode home on the deserted bike lane all stuffed and with the warm feeling of a great day in great company. Life can be great.

Viktor Paukow tutoring on how to forge blacksmith´s tongs

 Viktor showed us how to forge some blacksmith´s tongs. He makes them as  a giveaway for tourists and visitors. He made six in 15 min! He started with 6 mm round mild steel stock and heated them.

 Here he manufactures a bend into the tongs with the help of a hardy device with a groove. Note that he does not add a bend yet nor forges a flat section up front. He forges both sides first.

 With a punch and a punching hardy anvil device he forges a flat section on both sides. Be careful to do it on each side differently!









Then he hot-punches the hole for the rivet into both flat sections.

 The hot chisel he made from ball bearing steel with a speciality: The point is flat, vonvex and angled. That way it is easier to find the centre. Viktor manages to forge the flat and do the punching in one heat.

 He uses a pre-manufactured rivet out of mild steel to act as a pivot. Here´s a detail of his punching hardy tool he made himself. Makes work a darn bit easier.;-)

Then he uses the hardy hot chisel to hand-form the bend on the tongs. On the anvil´s horn he reforges and adjusts the tongs´s mouth. Any flat-forging or rolling or tubing of the tong´s mouth can be done at that point. Et voilà, tongs are done. Viktor certainly makes it look so easy!

Other tongs, shears  and scissors can be forged in quite a similar way. If you want serviceable ones, I suggest you take spring steel stock instead of mild steel. For blacksmith´s tongs you can forsake the tempering and just do a bit of annealing after forging.  Shears and scissors will be tempered and ground before assembly.

I hope I can make a video of Viktor soon!