I remember going on a school field trip to an 18th century army fort as a kid, they had there own blacksmith. He had a bucket under his anvil so when he was done hammering the head he'd just flip the header over and drop the nail through the hole in the anvil and it would fall into the bucket. He would heat up 4 or 5 sticks at a time too it was pretty slick
I watched a bunch of forging nails videos in preparation for forging my first nail (and first blacksmithing project ever!). I love how everyone does it just a little differently and there's no "right" way to do it. I learned from my dad who learned at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum in Massachusetts, almost 50 years ago. I'm documenting my journey learning blacksmithing on my channel.
Today I learned what a nail header is--no wonder people used to pull and reuse nails based on the amount of effort to create one by hand! The new shop looks amazing and so well thought out.
I was forging a delicate hook the other night, it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing. The anvil was pulling the heat out of the stock so fast, I got four or five hits in and it was back to the fire. I am really have fun watching you and your projects Josh ! Thank You
I guess that's why joinery used to be so important. We're used to just using glue, screws, and nails to hold wooden pieces together, but back when nails were such a commodity, being able to join pieces without them was important for more than just aesthetics
Ahhh people have been making cut nails (the most common type between 1800 and WWI) on machinery in a big way since the early 1800s, the first slitting machine dates back to the late 1500s... so... not as much as you might think.
Your box bellows is working so great! I love seeing how your work is developing and I think it’s absolutely amazing what you’re creating. Your page has been one of my absolute favorites for several years now and I don’t comment often but I wanted to let you know that I think what you’re doing is fantastic. Some of us are really really paying attention; even though we are sometimes quiet. Keep up the great work. Your format is not only inspiring and educational but also so relaxing which is amazingly beneficial across multiple borders. Thank you.
I'm continually impressed by how quickly and well you pick up different skills. Timber framing doesn't translate to cabinetry which doesn't translate to stone work or blacksmithing. Nicely done.
Wow in the old days it shows me how much work went into surviving and making everything from scratch as you do. Well done amazing. You are still the most talented man on TH-cam. Love from Australia ❤️
Suggestion: Try to get in the habit of always quickly sweeping the scale off the top of the anvil by keeping a brush next to the anvil and give the top a quick swipe. That scale will cause nasty pits on the anvil. It takes a while but it will become second nature. Appreciate you sharing your process.
I heard another blacksmithing youtuber ( blackbear forge I believe) talked about master smiths would make these nails all in one heat. Just imagine how many nails he had to make to get that proficient. It blows my mind. This was probably why timber framing was so popular back in the day. Nails must have been expensive. Isn’t that also why we still measure our nails in pennies? For example a 1 penny nail was the price for 50 1inch nails, 2 penny was 50 1 1/2inch, etc. keep up the good work Mr C.
My great uncle was a Farrier, he used to make and head nails on an anvil mounted on the rear bumper of his truck. That was 50 years ago or so as I remember...... Horses sure liked him!
very cool, it must be a lot of work to make several, especially since iron was used to be. that's why there are so many buildings that barely had nails. it's a lot of work to acquire and purify the metal, and forging also seems to take a long time, but especially mining and refining, it must be difficult to make small nails by forging
Great video Josh, you’ll be smithing as well as you are a carpenter before you know it. You did a good job starting out small and I think you picked up some things with the work you did. Thanks so much for sharing your videos with us, always a treat to watch.
Dear Mr. Chickadee, and Fans of Mr. Chickadee, did you know that our Third President, the Great Thomas Jefferson had a Foundry, and was famous for his Nail Making. Yes, this is true. He sold his Hand Made Foundry Nails, far and wide, and it was quite a profitable venture for him back there in Monticello Virginia. A True Jefferson Fan: Dr. George Whitehead . Just a side note, his famous "Secretary Lap Desk" that he wrote the Deceleration Of Independence on, is in the Smithsonian, and has "home made" Screws. Look up this piece of American History...it is a great story, and one that everyone should know.
What you practice as a working method requires time and patience in addition to imagination and science, so is no longer in line with our present times, but is great for self-worth, what the modernism to kill in the bud. Thank you for your fantastic tutorial !!!!
I should still have some square home made nails around somewhere, I hasten to add I didn't make them. They are hell on earth to get out once hammered into wood! I had a few that were almost a foot long. I would have got them by taking them out of something, my father was a "Use what you have or can fine and you will never stick" sort of a guy. So when we found an old rotten bit of wood as kids we would extract and good nails, screws and take them home. It kept us out of mischief and things we found always came in handy. Thanks for showing me how they put the heads on the screws. I have a mate that is a blacksmith and when I asked him the question years ago he didn't know, he thought they must have had a machine for it! Well, even I could work out if they had a machine for that they would get it to make the complete nail. lol
Found a book quite a few years ago. Modern blacksmithing; rational horse shoeing and wagon making, with rules, tables and receipts. By John Gustof Holmstrom. Really had a lot of good tips and tricks. Great video as usual!
That's an excellent book- but I highly recommend grabbing "American Blacksmithing" instead- it contains both a slightly expanded version of "Modern Blacksmithing" plus another EXCELLENT book called "The 20th Century Toolsmith's and Steelworker's Manual". There's even a 1980 hardback reprint that you can get- don't be put off by the horrible 80s dust jacket. it reflects none of the contents, haha.
If you dropped this man off in Alaska with 5 tool come back in 5 week he would have a house, bed, kitchen table, with matching chairs, stove, tool shop and bathroom that any man would call home.
When Kellysmith made the 30, some thousand nails for the Susan Constant replica at Jamestown, each nail took about 15 hammer hits, including making the head... Goals to work to!
Nails are a great way to practice. After awhile the hammering rhythm will get so good the metal will stay hot almost till completion of the nail. Another way to practice is to make small nails and shape cold metal until it becomes red hot. It's a good test to know if placement and hammering are becoming efficient.
You have a nicely equipped and set up blacksmith shop there. Bellows and forge seem to be Japanese style, anvil looks Austrian. Definitely a little more character than a propane forge and a London pattern anvil.
Enjoyed your video, I liked seeing your box blower in action. I have always associated them with Asian blacksmiths, did Europeans ever use them too? Having seen many antique nail headers as well as using them most looked a little different then the one you made. They usually had a bigger domed head and not so wide. This was so you could strike the side of the nail head downward blows enabling you to more easily make the rosehead nails they made back then. On the headers I made I just folded the end back on itself and forge welded to get the mass needed. Of course many old headers will have different size headers on either end. Most were made out of wrought iron, I have seen a couple that had steel face welded on. Unless you are going to be making lots of nails probably not needed I would never harden a tool like this in water, to much chance of cracks, didn’t even need to be hardened probably to work fine. I think back in the day most nails were not made by General “blacksmiths “ but by those that just made nails in a cottage industry. Have read that many women and children made them, they would be advanced the metal stock then merchants picked up the completed nails I have a couple nail making anvils which is probably what they would use.
Great to see the forge in action, anvil sounds great (looks like a Dwarven heirloom From LOTR).....must say I truely admire your nail-less joinery, love rivited iron work though, so twitched a little at the thought of nails (nessesary evil I suppose). One thing I noticed was you didn't appear to dip/quench the nail head after forging them, I was taught to peen the head when red and then quench in water to harden the head for a strong rigid nail with less chance of deforming when used. Cheers thanks for shareing
Popular legend has it that people would burn down their structures before moving so they could collect and take their nails with them. Once native Americans found out about this, they seized on the idea of burning down the structures for them, as a neighborly way of "helping them to move away". ☺
Sure does make one appreciate being able to buy nails by the pound these days. Imagine having to make enough of those to build a house! No wonder timber framing with integral joint and pegs was the preferred way to build in older times.
J.D. Leftwich had the misfortune recently to tear the flesh of one of his fingers on a rusty nail. The wound apparently healed, but last week blood poison symptoms were apparent and the services of Dr. Hamilton were required. At this writing the hand is much improved.
Charcoal works every bit as well - it can reach forge welding temperature. Coal can be almost prohibitively expensive, and the gases it gives off can be quite nasty - anthracite is the only coal worth using for forging, and anthracite coke which is the best, is ridiculously expensive. Coke can be made at home from coal, but for the ease of making charcoal, it's not really worth it. Plus, coking is a nasty process.
ROFLMAO! 🤣😂🤣😂! Sorry I can not resist...😇. It did result in my subscribing though. When you placed the blank between your legs and and started pounding on on the the tip, I blinked with EVERY hammer blow! Love your channel and I will be back!
What is the size limit of work piece that you can use that forge to work on? I like that size. In terms of the space I have available to put one together. Probably never going to need to forge a samurai sword but a couple foot piece would be nice to work up to in my forgery journey
I remember going on a school field trip to an 18th century army fort as a kid, they had there own blacksmith. He had a bucket under his anvil so when he was done hammering the head he'd just flip the header over and drop the nail through the hole in the anvil and it would fall into the bucket. He would heat up 4 or 5 sticks at a time too it was pretty slick
Mind me asking what fort that was? And about what year?
@@AxeAndAnvil 1817
I watched a bunch of forging nails videos in preparation for forging my first nail (and first blacksmithing project ever!). I love how everyone does it just a little differently and there's no "right" way to do it. I learned from my dad who learned at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum in Massachusetts, almost 50 years ago. I'm documenting my journey learning blacksmithing on my channel.
Today I learned what a nail header is--no wonder people used to pull and reuse nails based on the amount of effort to create one by hand! The new shop looks amazing and so well thought out.
A very simplistic header but makes a beautiful nail
I was forging a delicate hook the other night, it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing.
The anvil was pulling the heat out of the stock so fast, I got four or five hits in and it was back to the fire.
I am really have fun watching you and your projects Josh !
Thank You
I sure do spend more time heating the stock than forging these days...
Considering all the work a blacksmith had to do.. imagine how much a simple nail was worth 200 years ago.
Its said they would burn a house down when moving to get the nails back
They used to burn down old buildings to reclaim the nails.
I guess that's why joinery used to be so important. We're used to just using glue, screws, and nails to hold wooden pieces together, but back when nails were such a commodity, being able to join pieces without them was important for more than just aesthetics
That's what apprentices were for. The master would work on involved forgings and the apprentice would make nails and other simple items.
Ahhh people have been making cut nails (the most common type between 1800 and WWI) on machinery in a big way since the early 1800s, the first slitting machine dates back to the late 1500s... so... not as much as you might think.
Who'd have thought that a nail could be a work of art. Definitely something to hang your hat on.
You're living the dream man. I look forward to seeing you use nails you made yourself with you upcoming projects.
I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for making them family friendly.
The old timers were really made of different stuff. You amaze me.
Cleaner air for one
Im a traditional carpenter in Norway. Have to say im very impressed with your work skills. Very inspiring.
Your box bellows is working so great! I love seeing how your work is developing and I think it’s absolutely amazing what you’re creating. Your page has been one of my absolute favorites for several years now and I don’t comment often but I wanted to let you know that I think what you’re doing is fantastic. Some of us are really really paying attention; even though we are sometimes quiet. Keep up the great work. Your format is not only inspiring and educational but also so relaxing which is amazingly beneficial across multiple borders. Thank you.
Beautiful craftsmanship there. Awesome videos Forge On. God bless.
I'm continually impressed by how quickly and well you pick up different skills. Timber framing doesn't translate to cabinetry which doesn't translate to stone work or blacksmithing. Nicely done.
Wow in the old days it shows me how much work went into surviving and making everything from scratch as you do. Well done amazing. You are still the most talented man on TH-cam. Love from Australia ❤️
Suggestion: Try to get in the habit of always quickly sweeping the scale off the top of the anvil by keeping a brush next to the anvil and give the top a quick swipe. That scale will cause nasty pits on the anvil. It takes a while but it will become second nature.
Appreciate you sharing your process.
He has to make the brush first, and that would be interesting too
Also for longer crafts where the anvil is hot you can take a grinder to it and smooth it out
@@Thicbladi but then he'll have to make the grinder out of sandstone, treadle & pumice....
Only things that put pits on my anvils are missed hammer blows and getting too enthusiastic with the chisel lol, scale only marks your work.
I heard another blacksmithing youtuber ( blackbear forge I believe) talked about master smiths would make these nails all in one heat. Just imagine how many nails he had to make to get that proficient. It blows my mind. This was probably why timber framing was so popular back in the day. Nails must have been expensive. Isn’t that also why we still measure our nails in pennies? For example a 1 penny nail was the price for 50 1inch nails, 2 penny was 50 1 1/2inch, etc. keep up the good work Mr C.
i know a guy who worked on a project for a 13th century bridge, he and two other had to make 5000 nails, about 6" long. took them months.
My great uncle was a Farrier, he used to make and head nails on an anvil mounted on the rear bumper of his truck. That was 50 years ago or so as I remember...... Horses sure liked him!
very cool, it must be a lot of work to make several, especially since iron was used to be. that's why there are so many buildings that barely had nails. it's a lot of work to acquire and purify the metal, and forging also seems to take a long time, but especially mining and refining, it must be difficult to make small nails by forging
There should be a heart/love button at the next to the thumbs up button. Awesome work
That's a nice feeling. You hewed the wood, did the joinery and made the nails for your future products.
Those nails look sweet. Handmade is the best way.
Getting all modern on us with this new technology. Lol . Mr. Chickadee truly amazing craftworx.
..the demo was a true time worp...like stepping back in time to watch a Smith work...thank you....
Your header is very simplistic but it makes a beautiful nail
Beautiful nails. Now i see why they were so valuable back in the day.
Great video Josh, you’ll be smithing as well as you are a carpenter before you know it. You did a good job starting out small and I think you picked up some things with the work you did. Thanks so much for sharing your videos with us, always a treat to watch.
I have never seen that done before. thanks for sharing. it just shows how much effort went into everything in olden times.
Dear Mr. Chickadee, and Fans of Mr. Chickadee, did you know that our Third President, the Great Thomas Jefferson had a Foundry, and was famous for his Nail Making. Yes, this is true. He sold his Hand Made Foundry Nails, far and wide, and it was quite a profitable venture for him back there in Monticello Virginia. A True Jefferson Fan: Dr. George Whitehead . Just a side note, his famous "Secretary Lap Desk" that he wrote the Deceleration Of Independence on, is in the Smithsonian, and has "home made" Screws. Look up this piece of American History...it is a great story, and one that everyone should know.
Your work is beautifully recorded and done. What an asset to our community!
Your anvil sounds great, dry and sturdy !!!
Thanks for sharing !
What you practice as a working method requires time and patience in addition to imagination and science, so is no longer in line with our present times, but is great for self-worth, what the modernism to kill in the bud.
Thank you for your fantastic tutorial !!!!
Black bear forge would be proud of you. Great video.
I should still have some square home made nails around somewhere, I hasten to add I didn't make them. They are hell on earth to get out once hammered into wood! I had a few that were almost a foot long. I would have got them by taking them out of something, my father was a "Use what you have or can fine and you will never stick" sort of a guy. So when we found an old rotten bit of wood as kids we would extract and good nails, screws and take them home. It kept us out of mischief and things we found always came in handy. Thanks for showing me how they put the heads on the screws. I have a mate that is a blacksmith and when I asked him the question years ago he didn't know, he thought they must have had a machine for it! Well, even I could work out if they had a machine for that they would get it to make the complete nail. lol
Lovely deadened sound on that anvil 👍
respect to the guys that did this work all day
Eight down, eight thousand to go.
And in the end? A life worth living.
Thank you for sharing.
I like the simplicity of the header.
Nice learning experience! Love how the bellows turned out!
I love the ambience of your shop! Peaceful
I need to make a nail header for my own shop, nice work! First I need to finish the socket mandrel for the javelin heads I am going to make......
Found a book quite a few years ago.
Modern blacksmithing; rational horse shoeing and wagon making, with rules, tables and receipts. By John Gustof Holmstrom.
Really had a lot of good tips and tricks.
Great video as usual!
Modern means 1900 BTW.
That's an excellent book- but I highly recommend grabbing "American Blacksmithing" instead- it contains both a slightly expanded version of "Modern Blacksmithing" plus another EXCELLENT book called "The 20th Century Toolsmith's and Steelworker's Manual". There's even a 1980 hardback reprint that you can get- don't be put off by the horrible 80s dust jacket. it reflects none of the contents, haha.
Fascinating to watch. Comforting to know the old skills would be carried on in the apocalypse.
Rất hay ad , anh rèn sắt khá giỏi.👍👍👍
Those are fine nails; consistency in size. good job.
yay a reason to not go to sleep yet. just what i needed.
Sleeping is a waste of time. Now it's 3:18am here, in the north of Spain, and I have a lot of reasons to be awake!
I love your shop! I also use a Japanese box bellows.
Great technique. Thank you for sharing. Love how the workshop turned out.
The forge is working beautifully can't wait to see everything you can make with it now!
That beautiful anvil, and the stone footing is 10/10.
So calming to just watch. I imagine it is fulfilling to perform and create as well.
Looking forward to more blacksmith videos! You are awesome!
You are amazing at what you can learn and then do.
Now you never have to buy nails ever again.
If you dropped this man off in Alaska with 5 tool come back in 5 week he would have a house, bed, kitchen table, with matching chairs, stove, tool shop and bathroom that any man would call home.
And three cats :-)
Give him a good enough tool and he could build a city
Amazing! There is no limit to what we will see next, maybe a twisted steel wood auger?
That’s a good one.
Love to see the new forge up and running. Really enjoyed the video on the bellows.
Great video. I love seeing the blacksmith shop coming together
Amazing work, Sir! Always excited to see what your doing next.
You nailed it!
I see an apron crafting vid in our future,awesome job on everything,thanks again this series has been a blast,side blast ,see what I did there,he he.
Cold forging is good for the rot iron.
Wow! Maybe you should frame that first nail!
I thought the same thing .. but even if he nails him at the entrance on the jamb of the forge it will always be easy to see
He's going to frame it with a door!
Another excellent video! Semper Fi from an old Army guy!
Great video's love what you are doing, no place like home.
When Kellysmith made the 30, some thousand nails for the Susan Constant replica at Jamestown, each nail took about 15 hammer hits, including making the head... Goals to work to!
Strong nails!
Nails are a great way to practice. After awhile the hammering rhythm will get so good the metal will stay hot almost till completion of the nail. Another way to practice is to make small nails and shape cold metal until it becomes red hot. It's a good test to know if placement and hammering are becoming efficient.
Nice video sir. Always a pleasure to watch.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice job
so simple, so awesome. Great work!
You have a nicely equipped and set up blacksmith shop there. Bellows and forge seem to be Japanese style, anvil looks Austrian. Definitely a little more character than a propane forge and a London pattern anvil.
We call those CLOUT nails in England . Bravo .
So good thanks for sharing!
Amazing. Thanks mr chickadee
Put some felt tape on the air flaps in your bellows. It will quiet the clanking they make.
Enjoyed your video, I liked seeing your box blower in action. I have always associated them with Asian blacksmiths, did Europeans ever use them too?
Having seen many antique nail headers as well as using them most looked a little different then the one you made. They usually had a bigger domed head and not so wide. This was so you could strike the side of the nail head downward blows enabling you to more easily make the rosehead nails they made back then.
On the headers I made I just folded the end back on itself and forge welded to get the mass needed. Of course many old headers will have different size headers on either end.
Most were made out of wrought iron, I have seen a couple that had steel face welded on. Unless you are going to be making lots of nails probably not needed
I would never harden a tool like this in water, to much chance of cracks, didn’t even need to be hardened probably to work fine.
I think back in the day most nails were not made by General “blacksmiths “ but by those that just made nails in a cottage industry. Have read that many women and children made them, they would be advanced the metal stock then merchants picked up the completed nails
I have a couple nail making anvils which is probably what they would use.
Fantastic video. I'm excited to see the use of those nails.
I could also get a glance of proper g ears in the beginning of the video ;) Well done!
Great to see the forge in action, anvil sounds great (looks like a Dwarven heirloom From LOTR).....must say I truely admire your nail-less joinery, love rivited iron work though, so twitched a little at the thought of nails (nessesary evil I suppose). One thing I noticed was you didn't appear to dip/quench the nail head after forging them, I was taught to peen the head when red and then quench in water to harden the head for a strong rigid nail with less chance of deforming when used. Cheers thanks for shareing
If your making nails out of wrought iron or mild steel, quenching them does nothing to the nail. Only high carbon steel hardens when quenched.
Amazing! Thanks for the great video.
Absolutely awesome
Popular legend has it that people would burn down their structures before moving so they could collect and take their nails with them. Once native Americans found out about this, they seized on the idea of burning down the structures for them, as a neighborly way of "helping them to move away". ☺
Sure does make one appreciate being able to buy nails by the pound these days. Imagine having to make enough of those to build a house! No wonder timber framing with integral joint and pegs was the preferred way to build in older times.
Imagine have to make enough to build a large building! WOW
Awesome Thanks for posting. 🇦🇺
Fascinating. It's funny, cuz I was just thinking about making nails a couple days ago.
impressive work!
Amazing job!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember to turn on subtitles.
Didn’t know this was a thing thanks!
Your profile picture had me rubbing my screen for a solid 30 seconds asshole
плагиатор, это моя ава 😁
Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting....ti ti ti...Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting...ti ti ti
Better to watch first without, then turn them on for second view :)
not bad Jarhead, keep it up and you will master it.
semper fi.
Great project. A bit more practice and you'll get nails that are more matching. Nich job, Josh.
Sempre Fi.
love the camera work!
J.D. Leftwich had the misfortune recently to tear the flesh of one of his fingers on a rusty
nail. The wound apparently healed, but last week blood poison symptoms were apparent and the services of Dr. Hamilton were required. At this writing the hand is much improved.
Great , an other step in building your own things.
I so wish I could use coal to have your bi directional belows! SO effective. ANd I love how efficiently you work.
Charcoal works every bit as well - it can reach forge welding temperature.
Coal can be almost prohibitively expensive, and the gases it gives off can be quite nasty - anthracite is the only coal worth using for forging, and anthracite coke which is the best, is ridiculously expensive. Coke can be made at home from coal, but for the ease of making charcoal, it's not really worth it. Plus, coking is a nasty process.
ROFLMAO! 🤣😂🤣😂! Sorry I can not resist...😇. It did result in my subscribing though. When you placed the blank between your legs and and started pounding on on the the tip, I blinked with EVERY hammer blow! Love your channel and I will be back!
Interesting! Last time I hardend a nail header I had it snap in half on me on the second nail. Seems like yours works well though! Congrats!
That was awesome.
1:17 Nope! Not doing this maneuver.
Haha I did'nt see that the first time. It's risky business holding things with your jewels!
Sam Bar especially things your smacking with a hammer lol
I've done this a few times. Not too bad.
What is the size limit of work piece that you can use that forge to work on? I like that size. In terms of the space I have available to put one together. Probably never going to need to forge a samurai sword but a couple foot piece would be nice to work up to in my forgery journey
Very good!