Forging an Axe

Smithing is one of those things I wish I had taken up when I was younger. There may someday yet be time, and money, for such things.

12 comments:

Russ said...

Two words that never seem to go together, time and money.

E Hines said...

One of the reasons I pretend to work with wood is that it's a whole lot easier, and I don't need nearly as much fire or oil.

This guy does some good work, though.

Eric Hines

raven said...

Next best thing to magic, eh? no wonder they were held in high esteem. And the making of the sword, that was an art for the truly skilled smith.
In the British Museum, there is a nice display of artifacts from Sutton Hoo, among them the sword, never able to be extricated from its sheath- but they could X ray it, to discover the structure of the metal, and had a smith in the US make an exact ,pattern welded replica. What a feat of smithing!

raven said...

Some industrial scale forging, from the early 1900's- chain for ships, followed by an anchor- the anchor segment starts at 3 min., and amazing synchronized hammering at around the 4:30 mark- !

raven said...

Guess I better post the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LA_R4ifYk&mode=related&search=

DL Sly said...

The vid isn't working for me right now, so I'm not sure if you're linking to one from these guys, but what they do is right up yer alley.
To go along with this thread in particular, is this vid.
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Grim said...

Nifty, Raven. I hear the links of the new Gerald Ford are going to weigh about 360 pounds each.

Eric Blair said...

Heh. There is a quote attributed to Heinlein about "Specialization is for insects" which I always thought was absurd, given his background, but this is just another example of the hard fact that some things take time, effort and experience. Possibly talent, too.

Dubbahdee said...

A work of astounding beauty and power. Thank you for posting that.

mtwzzyzx said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
douglas said...

I hear the place to pick up smithing gear is around old family farms- they all used to have to be able to make or adjust horseshoes, and do maintenance on plows and such. The blacksmithing stuff is all out in some outbuilding just waiting to be used again.

Piercello said...

Great video, Grim, thanks for sharing. As an unintentional bonus, the "related items" at the end are a hoot.