I like how you can take the simplest of projects and something that I have made and seen other smiths make many, many times and still make it interesting and informational, hallmark of a truly great smith!

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

aw, your making me blush.

Just letting know that your vidoes still help beginners in ther newly found passion, four years later. And I bet they will keep helping out for the coming decades.

Hi. I want to say: Thank you!!! Just forged my very first ugly far from elegant mild steel leaf keychain... and loved every second of it - I will make more and better ones - practice makes perfect. Thank you for lending a hand: teaching, showing, inspiring!

Sometimes words cannot describe the enjoyment I receive in watching your videos John...thank you for your time and awesome talents my friend

@BlackBearForge

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you are enjoying them

You could try a 4 leaf clover key fob for St Patrick’s Day! 👍 love this one! ❤️

I just started blacksmithing as a hobby two days ago. I've made two keychains so far, and I'm learning and loving it. The order in which you work is different from what I've learned from another video. I'm going to use your order of operations next: Leaf, then cut, then make stem. Thanks for this video. I'm super excited about his new hobby.

Finished my first set of tongs today (thank you for the tongs without tongs videos) and also a third steak flipper hook. Made this one as a gift. Tomorrow... leaves! And I have a bronze color brush so i'll give that a shot too. Thank you sir for the great and inspirational videos.

Very relaxing and pleasant to watch

So glad your archive of videos is available! Hadn't made a leaf in awhile and decided to end my shop time making one the other day because I was thinking about adding some leaf elements to a project in laying out - ended up screwing up like 5 in a row. Cold shut city, was so frustrated cause I've made so many and thought I knew what I was doing. Anyway, being stubborn, I spent 2 hours yesterday trying again and still ran into issues, having to file out cold shuts and still having them reform on me. Just rewatched this video and saw what I was doing wrong almost immediately, I was setting hard shoulders using half faced blows rather than soft ones by isolating my taper over the edge and hammering back towards myself keeping my blows more or less fully over the anvil. Especially with the really crisp corners on my new anvil it was pretty much inevitable that I was going to get a cold shut. Could seriously kick myself. Thanks again, maybe next time I'll admit I'm missing something earlier and save myself the frustration

I have been wondering about your handy blacksmithing ruler, and in this video I saw it was marked with a "Stanley 45-912" -- It is a 12" steel carpenter's square, with the short arm cut down to 1" long. That's a great idea!

I could see using these as a sort of decorative finial on pull chains for things like ceiling fans, or some kinds of plant hangers.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to share your knowledge and experience with us.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

you are welcome

These woud make cool cabinet handles

Just ordered my brass wire brush.... That looks AWESOME..🔨🔥

Another excellent tutorial video. the leaf might also work as a napkin holder with the stem made a bit longer and the loop a big larger as well. I have to find your chisel making video so I can give that a go. Thanks for taking the time to make and post the video. Your videos have peaked my interest in blacksmithng!

Thank you John

Excellent! Thank you

Very nice, you have a gift for teaching John. Thank you.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

You are welcome, I'm glad you liked it

Simple and nice 👍👍

Very nice project and great demo/explanation. I am definitely going to make some of those! Thanks for sharing your vast blacksmithing knowledge!

@BlackBearForge

3 жыл бұрын

You are so welcome!

Thanks, John. That was good fun... Take care....

Your Gifted John

Yea! I like that! Beautiful job!

As always, Great video! Thank you

I've seen a lot leafs made on different youtube channels , but yours is by far the best tutorial yet. Thanks for sharing.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I am glad to know people are getting some useful information.

Love it!

loving your work......

A another great video John! Keep up the good work sir

Good demonstration and results. Thank you.

Awesome sir !!!! Well done !

Very Good

Very nice

I just started forging and made leafs but not as easy as yours. Thanks for the tips!

Flat out keeping up with your video's John! Another excellent gift idea. I got my hook rack partially done at my blacksmiths club forge day, one hook fully complete and another 7 ready to put the curly Q on and bend to shape, which I will do at home this weekend. Thinking of using copper rivets to hold them on for the contrast.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

The copper would look very nice with the iron.

Make it a little smaller and use it as a zipper pull for your jacket/coat.

Nice skills practise exercise...like to he bronzing effect..👌

I need to get a brass brush that is cool touch.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

Just make sure it is a solid brass or bronze bristle, there are some cheap ones that are just plated

Can I use a hand hammer?

At about what temperature ate you getting the metal to prior to hammering ?

Yea, I think I can do this. This is exciting to think of making this. Where do you get a treadle hammer?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

Made from the plans sold by ABANA

..Besides the Brass brush, What are some other methods of adding some decorative color accents to your work?? Another Great Video sir...!!

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

filing or grinding to a bright finish and leaving that color or controlled heat to bring on oxide or tempering colors to the shiny surface. There are some colored wax finishes and of course there is always paint or powder coating, but that seems a bit extreme.

I really enjoyed this Video, just a quick Question; what do you use for the waxing and will this protect against corrosion?

@BlackBearForge

3 жыл бұрын

I use Johnson's Paste wax

Good morning, I had a question about your firebox and coal forging. I have watched so many of your videos, I am not sure which one had the references that spurred my questions. You mentioned putting pieces too low in the coal fire would overheat the piece, (been doing that since day one apparently), but also that it would be in an oxidizing environment. Is the oxidizing environment also what increases the amount of scale on the surface of the metal I am working? I am currently focused on successfully making tongs, punches, drifts, chisels so that I can do all the other projects that I am looking forward to! Plus building up the necessary muscles and endurance to finish the jobs all in one evening after work, etc. Anyway, the surface of many of my tongs is very rough textured, but not from the hammer blows. Is this likely oxidation or overheating the metal too quickly? Or something else I don't even have on my radar? I have really liked the change I just made from Anthracite coal to Bituminous coal! Now I know what coke looks like!😊 Thanks for any help you can provide!

@BlackBearForge

Жыл бұрын

Oxidation does produce scale, so the ideal area in any fire is the neutral zone

@alanbutler7712

Жыл бұрын

@@BlackBearForge Thank you for the quick reply! It is greatly appreciated!! If I am having a hard time finding the neutral zone as a beginner, is it likely that I am using too little coal or coke to fuel my forge? My new firepot is square, 4"x4" at the base, about 7"x7" at the top, and 2.5" deep. Then the coal often is only stacked high enough to cover the 3/8" square bar by about an inch or two. I get the feeling that I am being too stingy with my coal. Thanks again & happy forging!

Nice work! What is your camera set up? I see you are using your phone to control it.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

Its a Sony camera. I discuss the set up in this video kzread.info/dash/bejne/gKemtcujqLXbpc4.html

@GuyBrown

6 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge thank you. I'll check it out. I just found your channel a few weeks ago as I get closer to forging myself. You make great videos!

Can I make a leaf out of some copper pipe I have? It’s 1/2 or 3/4. I could split and then heat it up, or not. Just heat it and beat it into,shape. What do you say?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

Some forge copper, but I have never tried it

Love the bronze patina. Seems most bronze brushes these days are just bronze coated will this still work?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

I suspect not. I haven't bought a bronze brush in years, so if you can find one that is all bronze it will last a very long time.

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

McMaster Carr sells them as a non sparking brush

Why do i barely see any scale on your pieces? is this an inherent quality of the steel you use?

@BlackBearForge

3 жыл бұрын

A reducing or neutral fire helps. If there is to much oxygen in the fire it scales more. But nothing special about my material

really cool video, what kind of wax is this and why is applied on the surface ?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

I use Johnsons Paste Wax. It darkens the pale grey of forged iron giving it a blacker semi gloss finish. It also helps prevent rust.

@aslob9321

5 жыл бұрын

Nice, I use beeswax since it’s food grade and more in tune with the blacksmith heritage.

John, what kind of wax is that you used in video? Thanks in advance.

@BlackBearForge

5 жыл бұрын

I generally use Johnsons Paste Wax.

Random question: If you used a copper brush to add the color to the leaf, could you then patina the copper to give it that green color?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

It should work, although I don't think I have ever seen a copper brush

@Isheian

6 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge I’ve only seen them as a firearms cleaning brush. Copper being softer than the metal of the firearm but harder than the carbon build up makes it ideal for cleaning. Only down side is it’s the size of a toothbrush, might get your fingers a bit toasty.

tha t anvils rings loud.

Your base looks like you made it, Right?

@BlackBearForge

6 жыл бұрын

yes

Isn't a leaf one of the first things you learn as a black smith