Bladesmith & blacksmith????

steelshaper

steelshaper

Joined
Jun 14, 2007
Messages
835
I was wondering how many of you guys do other forge work. I know there are at least a couple guys on here that forge things other than blades. Where I live it is much easier to make money making things other than knives but I tend to not like to take big jobs that will conflict with the knife making.

Well I was just wondering. :D
Take care.
 
I wouldn't ever dare call myself a blacksmith, but I do forge other simple objects such as fire pokers, and s-hooks. I tried a plant hanger thingy once, but I messed that all up! :p I'd like to learn to do much more, but I'll have to wait until I get more time to forge consistently. Blacksmithing has always been fascinating to me though. -Matt-
 
I started blacksmithing as a horse shoer (farrier) back in 1980. Hot and cold shoes and corrective shoes. Got a job for the govt. and stopped for a long time.
Now I'm just starting to make knives.
 
Some how I've gotten into the making hay hooks and hoof picks using old horseshoes to help fund my knifemaking.

Tim
 
I consider myself a beginner blacksmith first and a beginner knife maker second =)

Seasoned beginner, but beginner none the less. I just happen to have a much better equiped shop than almost any beginner, but i guess investing probably 4000$ over 4 years into tools will do that. I could easily invest another 10000$ before I thought i had everything a shop /should/ have for smithing and knife making (power hammer, electric controlled heat treating oven, shop crane, 220v service to the shop, proper air filtration / dust collection, etc etc) Most of my tools are not of the greatest use in knife making, but are good general forging tools.
 
I consider myself just a bladesmith. Started forging just to do blades and thats it. I do have a friend that is an established artistic blacksmith that has been doing knives 2 or 3 years now. Dave Lisch is his name. He makes a pretty fine knife already but he has also got bit by the damascus bug and makes some of the best in the northwest. I was trying to find a link to his site and found this instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith
 
I'm a bladesmith, I do a little blacksmithing to give trinkets to the neighbors. My future father in law is a very good blacksmith and fair bladesmith. Most of the Alabama forge council group around here are blacksmiths, I'm the only bladesmith in the local group and they keep trying to convert me. ;)
 
I'm a Bladesmith by trade.....Blacksmithing is my therapy. I started out doing a little of both, and before I became known for making blades, I paid for my forging habit by making/selling blacksmith type items. The reason that I say blacksmithing is my therapy, is because Bladesmithing requires a great deal of concentration, and precision when your at the forge. With most blacksmith type items, the more "beat up" they are, the better people like them.
I once took on a consignment to create a scroll work sign post for a lady....when she came to inspect it, she told me that it did not look "Blacksmithy" enough. I pondered that for a day or two, then took it apart, reheated each piece and took the peen end of a large ball peen to them...marking them all up, reassembled it, and then doused it with flat black spray paint (I had previously put a hot wax finish on it). The lady was thrilled when she came back for it, and thats when I understood.
In my experience, working with a blacksmith will teach you a great deal about different techniques for manipulating steel, and tooling you can utilize. Where most Blacksmiths are lacking is the understanding of working carbon/alloy steels, and heat treating. Thats not dogging anyone, it just a fact, since most "Blacksmiths" tend to work with mild steel, where heating and cooling are not issues in the finished product.

Many people do not understand the term "Bladesmith", and will say something like "You mean your a Blacksmith?"........"Oh! You shoe horses!" :( Thats a whole other story.
 
Great POV Ed, I understand about the "hammered look" also:D. I was and am a blacksmith first, artistic ironwork, forging colonial, medieval, and modern hardware and items for the home and hearth, as well as repair and reconstruction of any old ironwork, and creation of original designs. I got into knifemaking, and as Ed said, could forge the heck out of a blade, but when it came to the heat treat I did not know too much. Overtime though through reading and researching I slowly learned up to the point I know now. Next step is upgrading the equipment to match the knowledge:D.

AND NO, I am a blacksmith which means I DON'T shoe horses, well, maybe I shoo them away:).
 
I am a smith
I smite metal and make it dance
each metal has it's own properties and it's own etre'
there's a certain satisfaction from making a good blade or tool that's unique
It's all metal, and when you play the tune well it dances
I am the primal man creating life from fire
I am a smith

-Page
 
In the area I live there are at least 4 full time blacksmith shops. Most of the work is in multi million dollar homes "country cottages". Also most of the work is a little more like decorative fabrication than it is smithing. Northern Michigan is fairly rural with lots of summer homes on all the shore line areas. The building industry is booming here, and has been for a few years now. It seems to me people are willing to pay more money for a "rustic fireplace set” than they are a fine hand made knife. There are plenty of galleries that want to sell my work but try talking a gallery into selling knives.:grumpy::grumpy: So far I have had allot of local work as a blacksmith but about 90 percent of my knife sales have been online.

Sure there is a big difference between a chandelier and a knife but the experience forging only increases my skills.

The main thing for me is it hard to turn down a good paying job even if I would rather be making knives. I have to make a living somehow. Still I guess it’s better than any other job I have had.

As for the farrier thing, I have horses but there is no way I would work as a farrier. My Grandpa was and my dad does some but it’s not for me. There is a call for it here especially because two of the better established farriers went out of business due to injuries.:eek: Then of course there is the fact that people can be a little anal and crazy about their horses.

Thanks for the replies.
I was guessing that most bladesmiths did not stray far from knives.
As it has been said above I find most blacksmiths don’t make knives.
It would seem at first to be natural to do both but I certainly can see why it is not so.
My personal affinity for both is simply a result of my background.
 
I consider myself a bladesmith, because 99% of what I have forged so far, are blades.
However, I just completed the first weekend of an 8 week renaissance fair, and all of the custom orders I took were for things other than knives.

I guess if the economy dictates that I make meat hooks and magician shackles instead of knives, I'll pay the bills either way. ;)
 
I do mostly knives, hawks and hatchets. Occasionally I like to forge traditional woodworking hand tools such as broad axes, drawknives, froes and wood carving chisels and gouges.

There is a good demand for quality woodworking tools as the market is much larger than for custom knives and the mass produced tools, even the ones made in Europe, in general is declining rapidly in quality.

But I enjoy making knives and hawks too much to become a full time tool maker.

Stephen
http://www.north-river-custom-knives.com
 
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