I have been a blacksmith/ fabricator/ machinist for 50 + years and i never tire of watching other craftsmen share their knowledge. And i still learn stuff!
Hi friend I just figured I'd ask you but im getting into blacksmithing and I've mainly been using a friends forge but I was wondering if you know where I'd go about getting my own.
@@BigVince80bce i just saw this two months later. Try Pie tool company. Its a blacksmiths tool seller online. You’ll also find forges and what not on ebay.
This comment had me dying and I had to watch it!!! Anyway I love this fella, as a beginning bladesmith I love this channel. Very informative and love how you show all the work and explain things. Will be an avid watcher of your videos as long as you make content sir.
I have been watching craftsman like you for several years now. It has been educational of course but also therapeutic in some ways. I cant remember the last time I gave any attention to television. Thankyou.
Thank you for doing the hardness test. I’m not the guy who picks a fight over that, but I am the guy who always asks about it! I’ve heard several times that those are mild steel, but I’ve watched plenty of guys make knives out of them. Yes, I understand they are novelty items, but they always imply that they are hardenable.
Well, the last two years I've been secretly learning about forging and Smelting. I wish I knew your channel existed. I've recently turned to TH-cam for a few educational purposes. With the right research one can learn quite a bit from people just like you. Thank you. Thank you for being.
thank you Sir, I particularly like the miss hits at the end, adds to the realism of the video, and as always thank you for the wonderful lesson. take care and Happy Holidays!
Going to have to make a set of those spike tongs. The moment that convinced me was when you used them like flat jaw tongs to pick up the spike by the upset end. Way more versatile than the other spike tongs.
I think that railroad spike hawks look awesome enough to initiate a piece of high carbon steel Forge welded into it. I think they look I think that particular hawk there is awesome looking and I think it would be worth putting a high carbon bit. Will be a little extra work, but I think you would really have a really serviceable little mouse. Most of the people that tomahawks use like a 1040 a real low carbon steel with a welded bit and those as well so just an idea.
Been told by 2 good BlackSmith to quench mild steel in water and still not tool steel but improve the hardness. I'm surprised that RR spike has enough steel Seems you drew it out well. Thanks Mr Switzer for the teaching Sir
I was thinking the same thing! It's been of interest to me for a long time. I'm a flint knapper and make flint knives and I wanna get into steel blades as well. Maybe this is the year we'll both start our journey into forging. Best of luck to ya and some day maybe we'll get to the level we wish to achieve. Y'all stay safe and God bless
Thanks John! Great video. Definitely fills in the gaps where a couple others left a few details out. Guess what I’m about to go do? Make one of these little guys.
Loved watching you make this. You do an excellent job teaching the process. The bonus was the final scene with you throwing it along with the failed hits and total misses. That cracked me up.
I don't know how TH-cam has never suggested one of your videos to me before, but Facebook did some time ago, and I finally made my way here. Great stuff! Subbed!
Hello John Niche little tomehawk good for bushcraft and when needed for defence . Thank you for the idea and the sharing of your skills Take care Yours Frank Galetzka
Great video John. Loved that you used your recent gifts and also the end was quite fun. I also agree with the direction of the spike point/blade. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Great video, again, Switzer. I have a huge bucket of spikes in my shop that I never touch. Maybe its about time I start making things out of them. I particularly like the hook spike ideas, but the Hawk is really cool too.
I think you are hands down the best teaching Blacksmith on TH-cam. Thank you for all of the effort you put into helping others. I love this project and am going to try it. My question is on the drift. I am cheap, so have bought very few items, and prefer to try and make them. But is making a drift feasible? How do you know what size? Or do you just make it the size you want and make the handle to match?
Making a drift is certainly feasible. If you are buying ready made handle, make the drift to match the handle. Otherwise make the drift what you want and then fit the handle as needed. Eventually you'll end up with a fairly good assortment of drifts.
I was splitting some kindling wood other night with a hatchet .. the handle is too smooth ,,, plus I had gloves on ,, well 5 stiches in my leg above me knee .. watching you split that board I was getting flash backs ,, works nice , only problem if you were splitting with it all the time would be the spike head catching on the firewood ,, thumbs up on the video
I would have never thought that there was enough material on a spike to make a tomahawk. It looks awesome. And Merry Christmas and a great new year. 😁👍
It's been a while since I've made one of these. I think I'll try another. I'm going to try using a short, wide handled chisel under the inline treadle hammer to open the eye this time. Last ones I made, I used too narrow and small of a chisel and ended up stretching the sides of the eye a bit too much. Nice video, Merry Christmas John, thanks for all the content!
That does look like a fun project. You could make a bunch for friends then meet up and play with them. That amount of temper seems a good compromise as you would not want them too hard anyway for when they hit the ground or rocks or whatever. If you really wanted I'm assuming one could forge weld in a hard piece for the edge. I hope you had a relaxing Christmas and took a break from all your video production.
Maybe to further harden the steel abit more. Get the head of the axe to a high heat and plung the head in a bucket of charcoal powder. See if the steel absorbs some of the carbon. In history blacksmith discover steel when forging there iron in charcoal fires they discovered the charcoal made the iron harder. they learned melting iron and charcoal together in a controlled environment such as a Crucible, made a better and more consistent steel. Ive tried it a few times seamed to work alittile, even heard you can do the same with backing soda. Might be a fun experiment for you. Happy forging sir, good luck to you! 👍👍
It looks like you may have made your own Christmas present. Thanks for the explanation about the letters on the back of the spike and what it means. I had heard that they weren't good for much more than paperweights after they had been used.
Here in France there is no rail spike, there are lag bolts ( translate???). A few weeks ago I made a video where I forged a tomahawk in an SNCF lag screw (SNCF, French train network). Which is not very easy
This is the first video of yours that I've watched and you get an automatic sub! Fantastic work on the axe, AND the video work! Your presentation is perfect for educating someone like me who's just thinking about getting into smithing. Thank you! You've sold me on it.
I liked the cuts you made at the end of the video. :) I think if anyone was going to make a serious blade they would consider forge welding in a piece of quality blade material like maybe some good spring steel so you have a blade edge that will last.
While I agree, I also wouldn't put that kind of time into a spike hawk and would be making something completely different if I really wanted a serious blade.
Very good job 👌👍 on the video ! In the black smithing books they talk about steel you can find , and about what hardness they are . I think at one time railroad spikes my have been harder than what they are now . A lot of the older books mentioned that spikes are harder . Now they know they don't need to be that hard so it's cheap & good enough so that's what they are . I think there neat + if you know people that like trains then you really want to leave that nail head on it . Again good job
I've been wanting to make something similar for ages after buying a couple of nice forged axes. My main issue is the drift. I guess I need to find some material to make a drift first, figure out how to make one, and then learn to make the axes. Great video- I have a sack of railroad spikes that are looking for a use.
That was a clean job! I especially like the file testing. I hear a lot of traffic about hc spikes so that's good data. Gotta admit I smiled seeing those tongs in action😁. They aren't the end all beat all of grabbers but they cut down on dropped spikes a bit.
@@BlackBearForge I hope they serve you well for a long time. You deserve plenty of thanks for all the time and effort you put into making these videos. I always enjoy watching and learning new things
Have you seen Michael Pearl "Tommie Hawk" throwing champion? He makes his own throwing knives and tomahawks. Not to mention his extraordinary talent in painting. He is most well known as a pastor from Tennessee. He is about 85 and is unbelievable what he does for his age.
Me and my wife just took a blacksmithing class a few days ago and I also made RR spike tomahawk. The gentleman that instructed us made it a very enjoyable experience, never took over, only pointed out where and why we running into any problems and told us how to correct it. When I expressed my long time interest in the craft he gave me a sizeable piece of railway track to use as a beginner anvil, and I just ordered my propane forge last night. I look forward to being able to use this video as a refresher when I finally get all of the equipment set up.
That was interesting and makes sense. Why bother forge welding high carbon steel onto the blade when it's still mostly a novelty tool, like I have watched other blacksmiths do, when if you want a really nice axe it would be practical to use all high carbon steel. Forge welding a better steel for the edge is a nice way to showcase your skill but at the end it's not going to be heavy enough to do much work. Still a fun project either way you want to do it. I liked the whooshing sound as it flew past the target too.😁👍
I have been a blacksmith/ fabricator/ machinist for 50 + years and i never tire of watching other craftsmen share their knowledge. And i still learn stuff!
Hi friend I just figured I'd ask you but im getting into blacksmithing and I've mainly been using a friends forge but I was wondering if you know where I'd go about getting my own.
@@BigVince80bce i just saw this two months later. Try Pie tool company. Its a blacksmiths tool seller online. You’ll also find forges and what not on ebay.
@@beshkodiak thanks mate, I'll give the websites a look
U know Right!!🖒
What kind of charcoal you used sir?
I love the montage at the end; where the throws start good, and quickly go badly. Very funny.
Yeah same here!! That *woosh* cracked me up!! 😂
This comment had me dying and I had to watch it!!!
Anyway I love this fella, as a beginning bladesmith I love this channel. Very informative and love how you show all the work and explain things. Will be an avid watcher of your videos as long as you make content sir.
Yeah, especially that in TH-cam videos, they usually cut the bad ones so that it looks like a perfect hit first time.
@@J1I9M7M4Y I died at the pause and then the whoosh as well!
Blacksmithing has always fascinated me. Love watching these and glad you talk through what you're doing.
Very nice video John. Your instructional videos are always worth watching. This rendition of a tomahawk from RR spike is pretty sweet.
Glad you enjoyed it
I'm a wood guy but I have always admired black smithing 😊
I have been watching craftsman like you for several years now. It has been educational of course but also therapeutic in some ways. I cant remember the last time I gave any attention to television. Thankyou.
Absolutely fantastic video
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for doing the hardness test. I’m not the guy who picks a fight over that, but I am the guy who always asks about it! I’ve heard several times that those are mild steel, but I’ve watched plenty of guys make knives out of them. Yes, I understand they are novelty items, but they always imply that they are hardenable.
Thanks for showing us that last throw! Gave me a good laugh and shows how genuine you are-no one is going to throw perfectly every time :P
My pleasure!!
Well, the last two years I've been secretly learning about forging and Smelting.
I wish I knew your channel existed.
I've recently turned to TH-cam for a few educational purposes. With the right research one can learn quite a bit from people just like you.
Thank you.
Thank you for being.
thank you Sir, I particularly like the miss hits at the end, adds to the realism of the video, and as always thank you for the wonderful lesson. take care and Happy Holidays!
Going to have to make a set of those spike tongs. The moment that convinced me was when you used them like flat jaw tongs to pick up the spike by the upset end. Way more versatile than the other spike tongs.
I had the same thought process.
great video! that cartoon sounding whoosh at 16:59 had me dying
I'm making this for sure! Plus it's a good excuse to add a new drift to the collection 😉
I think that railroad spike hawks look awesome enough to initiate a piece of high carbon steel Forge welded into it. I think they look I think that particular hawk there is awesome looking and I think it would be worth putting a high carbon bit. Will be a little extra work, but I think you would really have a really serviceable little mouse. Most of the people that tomahawks use like a 1040 a real low carbon steel with a welded bit and those as well so just an idea.
Turned out great. Think I'll give this a shot. Looks like those new spike tongs are working great.
Been told by 2 good BlackSmith to quench mild steel in water and still not tool steel but improve the hardness.
I'm surprised that RR spike has enough steel Seems you drew it out well.
Thanks Mr Switzer for the teaching Sir
Nicely done. One day I will start forging. Love the channel
I was thinking the same thing! It's been of interest to me for a long time. I'm a flint knapper and make flint knives and I wanna get into steel blades as well. Maybe this is the year we'll both start our journey into forging. Best of luck to ya and some day maybe we'll get to the level we wish to achieve. Y'all stay safe and God bless
@@BM205 God bless
Good video, those spikes have so many uses, very cool. Thanks, Clinton
Laughed out loud when that one throw completely missed
Agree John, using a rail spike it needs to look like it was once a spike otherwise it was just scrap!
Thanks John! Great video. Definitely fills in the gaps where a couple others left a few details out. Guess what I’m about to go do? Make one of these little guys.
You are exactly right how to measure the length of a hawk handle
Very interesting, thank you for sharing.
Wow! Turned out nice! Looks like it throws good too!
Loved watching you make this. You do an excellent job teaching the process. The bonus was the final scene with you throwing it along with the failed hits and total misses. That cracked me up.
Great vid! My next project. Thank you!!
Newbie here, I really appreciate you explaining the steps is basic terms ! Bless you for sharing your knowledge! Can’t wait to make my own someday
Glad it was helpful!
I don't know how TH-cam has never suggested one of your videos to me before, but Facebook did some time ago, and I finally made my way here. Great stuff! Subbed!
Welcome aboard!
Hello John
Niche little tomehawk good for bushcraft and when needed for defence .
Thank you for the idea and the sharing of your skills
Take care
Yours Frank Galetzka
Love this man’s shop and his work!
Woweewow! Super project. I definitly want one of these. Thanks for sharing.
Can't watch till later,John but I just got it recently
Thanks
I definitely want one of those axes. Super cool.
Nice closing shot there!
a sense of humor is a good thing!
One of the best videos I’ve seen in a while, John. Thanks for the gut rolling laugh you caused at the end. Love it!
-
Awesome video and a great little tomahawk
Thanks 👍
Great video John. Loved that you used your recent gifts and also the end was quite fun. I also agree with the direction of the spike point/blade. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Great video, again, Switzer. I have a huge bucket of spikes in my shop that I never touch. Maybe its about time I start making things out of them. I particularly like the hook spike ideas, but the Hawk is really cool too.
love loggin onto youtube and seeing that you uploaded, great videos. always helps me relax
LOL when it completely missed the target was hilarious. Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
amazing gifts!! i love to forge them, you're the grandfather/father i always wish i had.
Really nice hawk. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Turned out great John...i do at some point need to make more of these.
Great editing choices on the missed throws!
Glad you enjoyed it
I'm a native American and I would be honored to carry this
Bit of gold right at the end.... finish on a good laugh.
Liked the keeping real with showing the miss throws.
Made me lol.
I think you are hands down the best teaching Blacksmith on TH-cam. Thank you for all of the effort you put into helping others. I love this project and am going to try it. My question is on the drift. I am cheap, so have bought very few items, and prefer to try and make them. But is making a drift feasible? How do you know what size? Or do you just make it the size you want and make the handle to match?
Making a drift is certainly feasible. If you are buying ready made handle, make the drift to match the handle. Otherwise make the drift what you want and then fit the handle as needed. Eventually you'll end up with a fairly good assortment of drifts.
Great work John, that's a nice tomahawk!
I was splitting some kindling wood other night with a hatchet .. the handle is too smooth ,,, plus I had gloves on ,, well 5 stiches in my leg above me knee .. watching you split that board I was getting flash backs ,, works nice , only problem if you were splitting with it all the time would be the spike head catching on the firewood ,, thumbs up on the video
Great work. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎
Awesome! Thank you! That may be one reason its performing so well
A very well done video. Your ending was perfect.
I would have never thought that there was enough material on a spike to make a tomahawk. It looks awesome. And Merry Christmas and a great new year. 😁👍
Good Job nice looking Mini Hawk Thanks
Glad you like it
It's been a while since I've made one of these. I think I'll try another. I'm going to try using a short, wide handled chisel under the inline treadle hammer to open the eye this time. Last ones I made, I used too narrow and small of a chisel and ended up stretching the sides of the eye a bit too much. Nice video, Merry Christmas John, thanks for all the content!
That does look like a fun project. You could make a bunch for friends then meet up and play with them. That amount of temper seems a good compromise as you would not want them too hard anyway for when they hit the ground or rocks or whatever. If you really wanted I'm assuming one could forge weld in a hard piece for the edge. I hope you had a relaxing Christmas and took a break from all your video production.
Maybe to further harden the steel abit more. Get the head of the axe to a high heat and plung the head in a bucket of charcoal powder. See if the steel absorbs some of the carbon. In history blacksmith discover steel when forging there iron in charcoal fires they discovered the charcoal made the iron harder. they learned melting iron and charcoal together in a controlled environment such as a Crucible, made a better and more consistent steel. Ive tried it a few times seamed to work alittile, even heard you can do the same with backing soda. Might be a fun experiment for you. Happy forging sir, good luck to you! 👍👍
It looks like you may have made your own Christmas present.
Thanks for the explanation about the letters on the back of the spike and what it means. I had heard that they weren't good for much more than paperweights after they had been used.
I took on doing one of these it was really fun and it was my first time doing the slot punch and drifting the hole.
By the way i started my forging journey 1 & 1/2 years ago. ( 2 weeks before my 50th birthday)
Splendid work 👍
Love your vidoes,videos, haven't ever forged anything, I have watched you for a few a few yrs now,I love what you do
That's really cool. I'd be interested in buying one of those
Thanks John, very nice once again. Joe from Wisconsin
This is actually a great idea, thank you for the inspiration
I know this is really hard because he made it look so easy! Beautiful tomahawk
Here in France there is no rail spike, there are lag bolts ( translate???).
A few weeks ago I made a video where I forged a tomahawk in an SNCF lag screw (SNCF, French train network). Which is not very easy
Looks great, I like how you spread the cutting edge out, thanks for posting 👍
This is the first video of yours that I've watched and you get an automatic sub! Fantastic work on the axe, AND the video work! Your presentation is perfect for educating someone like me who's just thinking about getting into smithing. Thank you! You've sold me on it.
Welcome to the family
@@BlackBearForge thanks for having me. Ummm. When do we eat? :D
cool project
Great job
I liked the cuts you made at the end of the video. :) I think if anyone was going to make a serious blade they would consider forge welding in a piece of quality blade material like maybe some good spring steel so you have a blade edge that will last.
While I agree, I also wouldn't put that kind of time into a spike hawk and would be making something completely different if I really wanted a serious blade.
Fascinating to watch you work, truly art.
GOOD LORD, I love the TRUE outtakes at the end!! HAHAHAHA
Wow, impressive!
Thats super awesome! 😁👍
I want one
After watching this video I had to subscribe. This was a great tutorial!
Very good job 👌👍 on the video ! In the black smithing books they talk about steel you can find , and about what hardness they are . I think at one time railroad spikes my have been harder than what they are now . A lot of the older books mentioned that spikes are harder . Now they know they don't need to be that hard so it's cheap & good enough so that's what they are . I think there neat + if you know people that like trains then you really want to leave that nail head on it . Again good job
I've been wanting to make something similar for ages after buying a couple of nice forged axes. My main issue is the drift. I guess I need to find some material to make a drift first, figure out how to make one, and then learn to make the axes. Great video- I have a sack of railroad spikes that are looking for a use.
The drift I'm using is available through Pieh Tool
That was a clean job! I especially like the file testing. I hear a lot of traffic about hc spikes so that's good data.
Gotta admit I smiled seeing those tongs in action😁. They aren't the end all beat all of grabbers but they cut down on dropped spikes a bit.
Thanks again for the tongs
@@BlackBearForge I hope they serve you well for a long time. You deserve plenty of thanks for all the time and effort you put into making these videos. I always enjoy watching and learning new things
I like it, your aim is better than mine.
When throwing the hawk, my favorite part was the misses. That's how I throw.
Nice hatchet.
I love your great work and fun projects! I hope to do this myself soon!
Have you seen Michael Pearl "Tommie Hawk" throwing champion? He makes his own throwing knives and tomahawks. Not to mention his extraordinary talent in painting. He is most well known as a pastor from Tennessee. He is about 85 and is unbelievable what he does for his age.
Awesome piece of work sir...I enjoy hawk throwing but enjoy watching them being made more. If u make another one I'd be interested in buying one.
papa bear never disappoints
Amazing Job John great work with a railroad Spike thanks for sharing hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year
Thanks, you too!
Watched the whole way through great watching the process and funny ending! Great job and thanks for making this video
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good and informative video. Thank you!
Great job John, turned out to be a great throwing hawk. Stay safe, fred 🙏🏻🙏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻✋🏻✋🏻
Hey you're really informative now it's my time to make one or a dozen it's my hobby and I love it so thank you for sharing this
Well I have a few rr spikes around. I think I'll try this out. Thanks always for the wonderful content
Me and my wife just took a blacksmithing class a few days ago and I also made RR spike tomahawk. The gentleman that instructed us made it a very enjoyable experience, never took over, only pointed out where and why we running into any problems and told us how to correct it. When I expressed my long time interest in the craft he gave me a sizeable piece of railway track to use as a beginner anvil, and I just ordered my propane forge last night. I look forward to being able to use this video as a refresher when I finally get all of the equipment set up.
How's your journey going two years later?:)
I always love your videos. You've got such a practical approach to all of your projects. Nice work 👍
Thank you very much!
Very nice 👍🏽Thanks for the education
That was interesting and makes sense. Why bother forge welding high carbon steel onto the blade when it's still mostly a novelty tool, like I have watched other blacksmiths do, when if you want a really nice axe it would be practical to use all high carbon steel.
Forge welding a better steel for the edge is a nice way to showcase your skill but at the end it's not going to be heavy enough to do much work. Still a fun project either way you want to do it.
I liked the whooshing sound as it flew past the target too.😁👍
Merry Christmas ...
Awesome video! I'm thinking about giving this a try soon. My question is, how did it hold up with the throws? Is the edge still ok?
So far just fine. Throwing axes don't need to be very sharp. But it wouldn't hold an edge very well as a carving axe.
Very nice vid.