วีดีโอ

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, it was plasma cut from a steel plate first, then dressed and forged. If I recall it's about 3 or 4 mm plate or thereabouts. Glad you liked it.

Cheers Grandadz, the leg brace has been one of the best things I've knocked together in a while, current work notwithstanding of course. That bending fork has raised a few eyebrows LOL. It was made to bend inch plus bar stock cold. You should see the jig it pairs with.... :D

The bending fork was made to bend some inch or so round bar cold. For a large set of arches on a garden arbour. It'd have to be a BIG book of stamps to get me to part with any of my anvils ;)

Sadly that, along with a LOT of other stuff was nicked from our last work space Andy. Also lost a diagonal pein hammer I made with Moony and my Brent Bailey centre punch as well. B****rds >:( Need to replace both at some point.

I'll let Tim know you think so, thanks for the kind words

Thank you very much drasons forge, Tim's coming along well.

Now that is something I'd love to see Y-Not Forge, :D Between my spinal damage and the neuropathy I almost quit entirely, just don't have the stability anymore but as a last ditch I ended up making a leg brace. Might show it in a later video, nothing fancy but it's been a game changer, bought me some more time at the anvil at least.

@@ianlowe4666 ..i would like to see that!! those stilts were in my younger and dumber years. not any more...

@@y-notforge8913 I'll try and include it in the next video. It doesn't help with any of my other issues but it does at least stop me from falling over whilst freeing up both hands again. I'll take the win :) lol

You and me both mate, he looks like Hawkeye and I look more like Brother Cadfael :( LOL

Ian Lowe lol. I know that feeling. Shaved it all off now. Much easier. 👍

Indeed, not so stupid that he didn't keep his hands in front of them when the scale went flying though :D

He loves it, doubtless will till he can make his own Dan, but that one'll always be his first... LOL

No worries James, hopefully they're available in the States at an equally good price as over here in the UK. If they have a negative it's that they do shed a bit of orange fluff on the inside for the first couple of wears so If that sort of thing bothers you I'd give the inside face of the apron a good brush and vac before first use Otherwise I genuinely think they're a bargain for what they are.

Cheers Andy, you'll have to say hello to Doug (Strine on the forums) for me if he's still active. I met a few of you lads when I was down there, visited with the late great Alan Ball and apprenticed with Glenn Moon when he was still in Moss Vale (he's up in Braidwood, near Captain Flats now, I've been back to work with him a few times, great bloke). Love the Lucky Country :)

@@ianlowe4666 Will do mate. Yes, met you for the second time at Moony's out of Braidwood. Keep it up and merry Christmas.

Cheers Andy, were you the Blacksmith I met at Timbertown? If so good to hear from you Bloke! Hope you're keeping well yourself :)

@@ianlowe4666 Not from Timbertown mate, met you first in London at the city farm then again at Braidwood when you were on your world trip with your mate from West London (forgotten his name) ex teacher. You were unwell at the time. I turned up with Dale Russell to help Glenn out a bit. Managed to help with those sheep heads under challenging circumstances :). What are you doing currently? I'll be over there again in a couple of years.

@@andyjagger4364 Dale (aka Uncle Chopper) is a legend, really great bloke. He saved my first trip out there. Yeah, the illness thing didn't get any better Andy sadly and I'm permanently disabled now. So I started a Community Interest Company as a hobby with a couple of folks to keep myself sane, and put all the tools to use. The company teaches Blacksmithing and works with special interest/needs groups from our own forge. We even do the odd commission and such but we're basically a not for profit. It's a small crew but they're all top notch and love the craft.

@@ianlowe4666 Sorry to hear it mate, glad you haven't given up. If its ok I'd like to visit next time I'm over there if you are willing to give me contact details. It will probably be in the next two years. meanwhile be as well as possible. My email is: andyjagger1@hotmail.com

@@andyjagger4364 Email sent Andy, got all my contact details etc in it. I'll make sure there's a brew on whenever you land mate, no worries.

me too :D

Thank you Logan. I'm hoping to do a few more video's soon. In the meantime I can highly recommend this channel: th-cam.com/channels/SFaYYQzNMLo2U6rSNLpghg.html or check out this one: th-cam.com/channels/Z3rO8Nb9I1p9Wh_lQ6ebew.html both excellent sources of good information and ideas

Thanks Brian, glad you liked it

LOL, G'day mate! How much heat you reckon I'm loosing covering the two or so extra feet then ;)

Ian , more then if you where rolling them up on block set into cnr of your forge . Saying that good vid of your style of roses mate ( thou i'm gonna ave ta send you a box of " Bic lighters " just incase you feel the need to " add " some extra heat while hammering at the anvil ) .. :-)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know mate and the lesson was learned, honest. Filming 'glowing' hot steel never clearly shows what the hammers actually doing to it though (without some pretty expensive filters). The result of each strike gets whited out so I usually shoot stuff at lower temps than otherwise, it's all done on my phone :D

No worries carr, glad you enjoyed it.

LOL! Fair play Grandadz, mia culpa. I'm actually disabled (got the bus pass, probable future in a wheelchair, the whole nine yards) but as I don't consider that fact relevant to the actual content of the channel (or to any of my pieces) you wouldn't know it. Editing does wonders, especially knitting time together. Unfortunately, it does effect how often I can create content vs getting the actual 'thing' done in the first place though. I have to prioritise sometimes. Luckily it wasn't a factor here because of the Christmas break. Speaking of... hope the video was worth the wait and Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year to you and yours.

Thanks Y-Not Forge. Same to you :)

Will hopefully get in a few more video's in the new year as I've a couple of commissions in the pipeline.

Cheers Dan, Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. They're not the easiest thing to do from scratch as the initial shape of the plate is a bit of a weird one to figure out considering the end product. One of the kids who visited that day thought I was making a 'ninja death star' and for some strange reason didn't seem nearly as impressed by the idea of a sleigh bell. Kids eh? lol

I'll have you know I had to beat Simon Cowell off with a stick bloke. Record contract my a*se, told him I'm a Blacksmith. Doesn't everyone sing when they're happy though? :D

My pleasure Shadeskast, it might still help your elbow and shoulder from getting any worse. I've always admired your lads willingness to stick the business ends of several hundredweight of hair triggered lunacy between your legs and smack nails in them. I tried it once early doors, helping an old boy with a set of dray horses when I was still learning what the hot end was. Being nailed by a Clydesdale once was more than enough for me to stop bothering horses. Kudos to you sir ;D

Thank you very much Wayne. The 'Hofi' style of swing is a perfectly good one, it's not hard on the body and once you build up the flexibility and strength in the wrist to make the most of it can really give you a lot of bang for your buck. The whip style does the same thing just in a different way. As long as the heavy bit meets the hot bit without causing you any damage it's all good.

No worries, glad you found some use from it.

Great stuff, ideas are good. :)

Ian Lowe well my idea is just to have a beer. 😁

See? That was a good idea :)

Cheers Mathew. Have a look on a few of the Smithing sites, there are some even slicker bolster plate designs out there, but that does well enough for me.

Thank you James. For the folks that don't like the time jump formal complaints can be submitted to Dr E. Brown, 1640 Riverside Drive, Hill Valley, California ;)

Cheers Grandadz, glad you found some use in it. If you do have a try at any of the different styles let me know which you prefer.

Ian Lowe The Uri style felt awkward but I tried this whip while watching this video and it was so natural. My swing transformed instantly. Now I realize that my handles need re-shaped for this relaxed grip of two fingers. Thanks

No worries, glad it's helped. They can all take a bit of practice to become natural, even Uri himself admits that his style can feel awkward to begin with and that it takes time to stretch out the tendons in the wrist to get the full motion, but it is an effective swing. I just have old boxers wrists so it tweaks after a while for me :)

Thank you James. I'm glad if it proved helpful, it's really just meant to be a starting point to go forwards from. Considering we are essentially throwing a weight on a stick about it's surprising how many different ways Smiths do it, and poke fun at each other regarding it (I worked with Uri when he was at Ironbridge, he's hilarious btw) If you think it would help folks feel free to share a link to it on Facebook, I'll brace myself. Some of the groups there are just overly toxic tbh, barring the current notable exception of the 'Forge it Forward' page. I like what they're doing.

Thanks Daniel, glad you like it and I hope it gives you a few pointers on making one yourself.

I'm glad you like it James, I did consider that the design would lend itself well to a bookend use, and also as a centre piece (in a pair) for a table setting but I'm afraid no smarty pants award for you. That reverse/reverse was a genuine cock up on my part I had to fix. Keep looking! :)

Was it using the hammer over the cut off hardy tool? bout 2:30 - 2:50

Thanks S & S Smithing, appreciate the kind words

Thank you Ol James, glad to have you aboard.