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Old 09-14-2020, 11:21 PM
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prizzim prizzim is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Washington D.C.
Posts: 1,165
Yep.

Modern shop (the 10x14 foot garden shed) has a propane forge using forced-air and house gas, but can be plumbed for a portable tank. Same old 2x42 Craftsman grinder. Got a Coal Iron 16 ton press, and a home-built tire hammer.

But, unplug it all, and what's left?

Coal or charcoal and a Champion 400 blower, Tim Lively's hammer he left me, and my choice of half a dozen anvils, including the first one I bought through the forum here as well as some nice colonials. If I'm really stuck on propane, I have a venturi forge or two lying around I can rig to a tank, or go back to the bean can forge with the hand torch of yesteryear... still my favorite tool for making Mokume Gane out of pocket change.

I took a break from knifemaking to get back into blacksmithing, and when we're not distancing, teach the beginner's class at Blacksmith's Guild of the Potomac. It's entirely hand tools... coal forges, hand blowers, hammers and anvils.

And as Tai once said, "Grinder is just an electric file."

Neo-Tribal skills are just that... skills. You have them, or you don't. Tooling matters less, when you know your fundamentals, and can practice the craft with whatever you happen to have. Get it hot and hit it. Do the best heat treat with what you have, selecting the right steel for the right quench, finish as close as you can for minimum filing, and do good work.


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