Should you just leave well enough alone - mastermyr hammer part 2
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- The Viking hammer from the Mastermyr find was looking OK but not great. Sadly todays attempt to make it better made it so much worse its not worth the trouble. So join me on a learning experience.
My name is John Switzer, thank you for watching. Black Bear Forge is a small one person shop located in the Southern Colorado Mountains
Below you will find useful links that will help you in your journey as a blacksmith.
My blacksmiths apron
www.Forge-Aprons.com use code BBF
My favorite cordless angle grinder - www.anrdoezrs.net/links/885600...
My cordless die grinder - www.anrdoezrs.net/links/885600...
Links for some of my video and lighting equipment.
To take a more active role in the production of these videos. You may provide financial support through one of the two links below.
www.paypal.me/BlackBearForge
Or you may set up a monthly contribution through Patreon
/ blackbearforge
To request a custom order from Black Bear Forge. Please sign up on the wait list at
www.waitlistr.com/lists/dcc6d...
If you are curious about some of my other interests, you may like my second channel
Off Topic with John Switzer
/ @johnswitzer
I have set up a Facebook group just for you, the viewers of this TH-cam channel.
If you would like to share your work that was inspired by my videos
This is the place to do that
/ 101400907400310
Find my shop on line at:
www.blackbearforge.com
www.blackbearforge.etsy.com
/ blackbearforge
/ black-bear-forge-20986...
For custom order requests. Please sign up on the wait list at
www.waitlistr.com/lists/dcc6d...
Mailing address:
Black Bear Forge
P.O. Box 4
Beulah, CO 81023
To find more information in blacksmithing in the US or to search for your local ABANA affiliate group visit.
www.abana.org/
Blacksmithing tools and supplies
Self contained air hammers - www.saymakhammers.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.oleoacresfarriersupply.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.piehtoolco.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.centaurforge.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.blacksmithsdepot.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.blacksmithsupply.com/
Square head bolts and lags - www.blacksmithbolt.com/
New anvils - www.oldworldanvils.com/
New anvils - www.nimbaanvils.com/
New anvils -
Industrial supplier - www.mcmaster.com
Tong blanks and tools - kensironstore.com/
Fire brick and refractory - refwest.com
Blacksmithing and related activities can be hazardous. These videos are not a substitute for competent professional instruction. Your safety is your sole responsibility. Always use appropriate safety equipment including eye and ear protection when working in the shop. Follow manufactures safety guidelines for the use of all equipment. In the event something shown in one of these videos seems unsafe, it is up to you to make the appropriate changes to protect yourself.
Failures are great. Keep showing them. I am learning all the time. Thanks!
I agree with JD, John. Failure is (and always MUST be) an option... if someone with as much experience as you have can reach outside his comfort zone and make mistakes, it helps us newbies stay grounded and realize that its just part of the process.
Personally, I dont think you've shown too many failures.. and each time you DO have a failure its because you're trying something new. Its always pretty clear as well, because you explain yourself pretty well. Please keep doing what you're doing and dont be afraid to show the failures as well as the successes.
Yeah I like seeing failures, generally everyone learns more from failure than success, especially with someone like you that can explain the cause of the failure.
John -
Your failures put the craft of blacksmithing into a real world context. All too often what is presented on other TH-cam channels is a trap for the viewers to think "This is easy." Please keep the honesty in your videos we have come to appreciate.
@@KishoshimaDragonash
Indeed, those who never fail are those who never do anything.
Nothing is lost John, the project was meant to go into the "Hook of the Week" bucket. Eager to see what it will become.
A teacher once told me that failures are only learning opportunities, it is how you go forward from it that decides if you failed or not.
Seeing the fails is perhaps more beneficial. There are TONS of pitfalls with working outside our normal "zone". Especially with wrought iron and historical reproductions. Watching you struggle with a project allows me to improve and also I see a lot of the same frustrations I feel when I'm fighting with something. It keeps your channel "real", and it's one of the reasons why we all love you. You're genuine and approachable. Thanks John.
I tell both my customers and employees that we love compliments but we learn more from complaints. And, if we're not learning, we're going backwards. Be thankful for the lesson.
I learn from my mistakes thank you for sharing some of yours
You learn the most from failures, and so do we! Keep showing us the failures!
I think it is quite refreshing to see a TH-cam blacksmith showing errors they made, as opposed to "Look how good I always am!" I hope I continue to learn from my mistakes; I know I learn from yours!
Thanks
I find it refreshing to see a youtuber that is not afraid to show his learning curve. Notice how I did not call them mistakes? If a day goes by we do not learn anything new is a wasted. This is your channel. Make the decisions of your programming that YOU think are best. We will be here. Thank you!
I've learned more from your channel than I have from Alec Steele's. Keep up the good work!
Thanks
We know we are learning when we make new mistakes. We know we are growing when we are out of our comfort zone. Keep up the learning and growing!
It can be hard on the ego to feel like you are showing failure after failure. I'm not a smith but in my own area of expertise, I've learned a lot more by taking calculated chances, failing and figuring out how I could have gotten a better result. My students tend to think that I'm so smart I just knew not to do this or a better option for doing that but, as I tell them, it isn't that I'm so smart that I figured it all out in my head. I did it wrong at least once and usually way more than once before I got it all straight in my head.
So I appreciate you showing the whole learning process. I know most of my students are paralysed by fear of failure more than any other factor--somehow I have to teach them (usually by showing them) that failure is not a useless digression, it's a way to learn things you can't learn any other way.
Thanks John for taking risk and showing us that it's ok to try. You are the best!
You are an inspiration to not just Blacksmiths, but people in general. With all your experience, even when you screw up, you admit it and try to learn from it. Not enough people humble themselves. One of my old Captains at my firehouse said, "the day you don't need to practice and learn, is the day you need to retire." keep learning, and keep teaching rookie Smiths like myself. Thank you Sir!
Don't worry about the failures. We are learning much from you. Thank you! Great bleaksmith, great teacher!
Some days all I seem to make is Scrap. I learn by watching , & doing. When you show us what doesn't work as well as what does work we all learn. Please keep showing us this , Thank You !!
Lots of comments that already say what I was going to say. Don’t apologize for failures, as they are part of the learning process, and we all have them. Seeing you have projects that don’t go as planned helps all of us when we have projects that don’t go as planned. Nobody is perfect, and when you show your mistakes, it helps us to come to grips with our own. Too many people in this world are unwilling to try something, out of the fear that they will fail.
Maybe there is a life lesson there: if you try something once and fail, you’ve failed to succeed once. But if you fail to try something at all, you’ve succeeded at failing forever.
It's not a failure, John, it's a lesson. A lesson for us all.
John, please keep showing failures! We newbies learn from them as much as the rest of your stellar teachings. In my opinion the failure to success ratio on this channel is absolutely fine.
As a highly experienced blacksmith with nearly 4 whole hours of blacksmithing experience under my belt, I really appreciate seeing these learning process videos. Sure, it's great to see someone churn out another polished Damascus katana, but that is so far away from my skill level that it's nothing more than fantasy. Thank you for showing us that even the best craftsmen are still human!
I personally love to see the failures, otherwise I might think I am the only one making them. You should see my welding. Not really because I see more and more you-tubers including failures which shows we are always learning. Keep up the good work and keep the faith.
There are almost no blacksmiths on TH-cam teaching and relearning all intricacies of wrought iron...thank you for leading the way. More wrought iron videos please. Great tips on tools failing. Yet another reason to bring back wrought iron and traditional tool technique. If you do things off camera, remember all the wrought iron tips so we can learn the difficulties of wrought iron
My mentor always says, "Just before you ruin it, STOP" 😂
John!!!!!
I learn so much more from you talking through a problem than just watching you make things. We all have problems. Me more than not. And learning how to work through it is so much more than just seeing you hammer away and make a project. My thoughts and great video.
I like that you aren't afraid to show your failers it gives me hope and shows that it is a constant learning curve even the professionals can have a bad day
Thanks John for showing the issues you sometimes have when stepping out of your comfort zone. Us beginners are out of our comfort zones most of the time and this type of videos help people like myself to understand that every smith has "failures" to some degree and its part of the never ending learning process that we have undertaken. Keep the successes and failures coming John. Thanks mate. 🔨👍
This is just one of the many reasons I am such an avid watcher of your videos.
Absolute gold as a teaching/learning resource.
Thanks so much for sharing.
I learn more when you are challenge your self and sometimes failing than when you are doing something familiar to you.
This is the first time I've seen a failure been watching for 7years, still a great learning video
Its not really an uncommon thing in my shop
I am pretty sure we all know that the failure rate in your shop is lower than the videos might hint at. I find it comforting that even someone who has years and years more experience than I do can still learn, grow and master new stuff! Thanks for taking us along!
Lord knows I've messed up many many times in my shop too, it's always a learning curve for me.
I learn from every video and you’re so called failures are actually a positive to us less experienced Smith’s. Showing it’s a learning experience boost my confidence.
Great video John! This is a fantastic example of how we have to learn to crawl before we walk. While it looks like a failure, like you said, "sometimes you have to leave well enough alone". A great learning experience for you and your audience!
You know that you're trying new things, by the scrap on your floor. I'm learning a lot from you, thanks.
Failure is just another step on the road to perfection. I like it in your videos that you show everything and not only that everything always comes out great the first time, but also that sometimes something may not come out perfect. Keep up the good work and stay safe.
I am happy you are showing some of the failures as there are so many channels out there that don't show any and it makes some people think that there is no such thing as failure. Also with every mistake you learn something new, and hopefully find a better way to go around the problem
seeing the failures is actually cool, it shows beginners that even more experienced people fail and gives us a chance to see how you recovered from the mistake. keep up the good work!
I respect how humble you are, it's an admirable quality.
Highly skilled people are always critical of their own work, that's what makes them masters.
The mistakes and failures are incredibly useful to show. Please keep showing them. Not only do they teach us what to look for, and what to avoid, but it also acts as great motivation for those of us that are new to the trade. It is quite helpful to know that even the people who have been doing this for decades make mistakes, it keeps us new guys working at it despite any failures we have. Thank you for showing this to us, and keep up the great work. You're one of my favorite youtube channels out there.
I am use to failures on my end. I learn every time I watch you swing a hammer. Thank you
Darn! I was hopeful too. Good to learn new things, and try challenge ourselves.
I got to say I do enjoy the mishaps, because I think novices like me learn a lot from them. Thank you for the wonderful information.
In my humble opinion, your approach and delivery of your projects is brilliant; no egotism or braggadocio, just straight-up earnestness. What you call 'failures' couldn't be further from failure. You consistently demonstrate a depth of knowledge, understanding and skills of your craft, and you always have an objective debrief/analysis afterwards, without being negative towards your abilities or attempts. If you're familiar with the dunning kruger effect, I'd confidently place you on the slope of enlightenment.
Thanks
Dear John, to err is human, to achieve is the aim. Over 50% of my jobs don’t turn out as expected. Hopefully over time that proportion will improve. Keep smiling. Cheers.
I for one love the fact that you show your mistakes!
John, when you’re learning, we’re learning. If no mistakes we don’t learn how to correct mistakes.
It's good to see some of your failures, it helps the rest of us know it happens even with people as experienced as you. Keep up the great work
Failures are the key to success! so by showing us your failures allow us the people to learn from your mistakes so we don't fall in the same hole as you did. No teachers perfect and no one doesn't fail by showing failures it shows beginners not to give up after failing there first attempt.
If you learned from it it is not a failure. And it shows us new guys that mistakes are a part of the process. Thank you for sharing this!
Seeing the failures helps all of us learn. Great job non the less
Agreed! As a relative beginner I mess up lots of times. I love it when I see an experienced person make mistakes, drop hot pieces on the floor, etc. It reminds me that even the best are still human!
Wrought iron is tricky. My experience is limited, but I have had no success with it yet. But we'll keep pushing forward and learning.
Any mistakes you make help us learn, and it's still entertaining just to watch you work and teach how you do things.
If a person never fails at anything, they wouldn't learn a doggone thing.....as much as I have failed at stuff you would think I would be a genius by now.... I am a hands and eyes on learner....I have to watch it or try it before it sinks in my melon , so I appreciate everything you do on your videos....thank you very much for your hard work and experience!
I apprenticed as a machinist, but currently lack my own shop (one day I hope that changes).
I have enjoyed watching your videos and your efforts to teach people metal working.
Even in your failures you are accomplishing something that I cannot.
Thank you for taking the time to produce your videos and share with us.
Sorry to hear it went sideways on you, John. I've had that happen more than I care to admit.
Don't let it get you down, though. You're doing a great thing for the community and it's very much appreciated by the folks out here in youtubeland!
I've learned more on this channel than any other single one dealing with blacksmithing.
I certainly appreciate your effort. Thank you.
Glad the videos help, thanks for watching
The failures are your most important teaching tool!
Definitely appreciate learning as much from the mistakes as I do the successes. The discussion and analysis from either scenario is incredibly beneficial. Thanks as always for everything you share.
Good illustration on real life problems, analysis the options and maybe or maybe not, we all learned something. A failure is not defeat. :)
Thanks John for taking us on your learning journey with this stuff. It's great that you're never afraid to talk about where things haven't gone as planned so we can all learn something. Thank you
The failures are the best learning/teaching videos. I really appreciate that you share them. Please keep sharing them also!
Watch Joey van der Steeg making his wrought boat anchors. In at least one instance, he needs to make an additional weld but was short of material. He added a small diameter wrought iron rod to the weld to prevent precisely your situation. As soon as you said that you needed to reweld the crack on the side I thought of Joey's solution. It's good to show the failures since most of my adventures are just that. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your videos. My Dad told me when I was learning how to build things out of wood. If you mess up never quit. To keep trying and to never say i can’t do it. Thanks have a blessed day Sir Thanks again
Showing everything working without problems teachers us less than what to do with problems because that’s what we will mostly be dealing with if we didn’t we wouldn’t need to watch this kind of channel and be making them instead so keep the problem videos coming
Thank you for showing when things go wrong and for discussing what your options are .
Enjoy your builds they teachers are people too so keep them coming my friend. Thank you and God bless have a great day John 📖⛪
I vote for a wallhanger
🐾🔥⚒
I appreciate your humbleness in showing your failures. They are only a learning curve and make me feel better about my learning curve.
Thank you sir!
To fail is to learn, if you pay attention as to why the failure happened.
Thank you John for showing this hard time with the hammer it shows everyone has done bad times oh know please don't beat your self up like that we or I for sure rarely think it's good to see you masters have stuck times thank you buddy
Well John, one thing I've learned in all my years being on this old earth is that you don't learn a thing by doing things right every time. You learn by making mistakes. I would have loved to see that hammer get finished up like you wanted but when I see things like that then I chalk it up to a hard lesson. And I'm sure you're already adjusting your techniques to make sure you succeed next time. Either way sir, keep up the good work! I like your videos no matter how they end up.
Sometimes it's good to see failures it just shows that it isn't as easy as it looks thanks john
This comment has nothing to do with blacksmithig, but I’d just like to say that you sir, are an exemplary gentleman.
I like that you show your mistakes. I know you are getting frustrated that it's not going as planned but it helps us learn to. You learn the most when things dont work out. If you do your work off camera we cant figure out why it didnt work out. You're doing great work and I think I can see my axe on your work bench! I cant wait to get the second one from you
Trying different stuff is good! I enjoy watching your videos because you keep things real. I feel like I'm learning along side you. Don't be discouraged! Thanks for the great content.
Please keep sharing your failures! Its very helpfull to me to see how you try to deal with problems that occur. Thanks!
Appreciate seeing the failures. I/we don’t have the experience that you have so seeing what honestly we might expect is always a good thing. Great video!
Great video! The fail teaches us almost as mush it does you.
I’ve always hated wrought iron compared to mild steel and tool steel! Stainless is a pain to forge, but looks great if you know how.
Great demo, We learn also from mistakes.
Another great lesson
Thanks Mr. John Switzer
Thank you for sharing the learning experience!
I LOVE the failure videos! That’s how we learn the most.
Hey, you never know. A curved head hammer might be its what someone needs for whatever reason, process or disability. Most discoveries that help alot of people are accidental. Thank you John. ⚒on!!
Could be for forging around corners
@@BlackBearForge you're picking up what I'm putting down😎👍
Awesome video John. It is a great learning experience and that is how we learn is from mistakes. Thank you
I for one really appreciate seeing the learning experiences aka failures
Good Afternoon , John
It is a shame, with all of the Hard work you put into this Project ,
That things went bad ! Knowing how you do things , I expected you to try and fix the problems you were having ! But it didn't work out ! You will proceed with another project and complete it , without any problems at all !
Mark it for what it was and continue on as you always do !
Take Care and Be Safe !
KEEP HAMMERING !
Hi John. Just a note on wrought iron then and now. "In the day" when the Mastermyr pieces were made, the wrought iron started off as a bloom and was forged to shape by working the crude piece into its final shape at the forge. Your pieces of wrought iron have already been worked into bar shape as a final shape for the stated purpose for whatever the bars needed to be used. This left the silicate slag stringers in the bars aligned with the axis and therefore transparent to the application in contrast to the slag in the Mastermyr blooms which, while present, didn't affect the properties of the material so much as it was being forged to the final Mastermyr shapes. You might be better off if prior to using your raw stock, you take the time to forge the bars in three directions with a significant reduction in each direction to break up the grains and the slag stringers before going gangbusters to create your final shape. (If I recall correctly, commercial forge houses use a 3:1 ratio to break up cast structures for military grade forgings.) Sure it's a lot more work, but I think your chances of success will be higher by breaking up the existing grain structure which might be working against your intended purpose.
Sincerely.
John Gullotti.
Thats an interesting thought. I had wondered about reworking some of what I have, but hadn't thought of it from that perspective.
Hi John. This gives us a new idea for a video. Grain structure of wrought iron mild steel and tool steel.
That's too bad. It was a nice shape. I have watched Doc since day one. He does have a way with wrought iron. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to show us this video.
Yes he does
Wrought iron is the hardest to make anything from it is hard under a hammer, does not like to get hot, de-laminates, has no carbon. My hat is off to you brother and you make it look very easy to work, again I say, it is not easy to move!!!
Thanks for sharing John, learning is full of hiccups and I understand the distraction of you trying to get great footage for us, if it goes to the scrap bucket it could become hook of the week and then the iron will still have a helpful purpose :-)
An old post, so this might have been addressed, but I was taught to treat every piece of wrought iron as 'muck bar' there are (or were) 4 classes of WI, muckbar, first, 2nd, and 3rd fine (fine was short for refined) nothing official just the way I was taught by an old timer who started smithing at the end of the wrought iron era. I think, the smith who made the hammer orginaly might have started with merchant bar (which probably was muck or 1st) and refined it by billeting and welding it a couple more times. He also had the advantage I doubt he was working alone, chances are he had at least one person running the bellows, and handy to grab and hold things etc.
I think it’s great to see how the failures become failures. It’s just as much of a learning experience to us as seeing a near perfect completed project. Could that crack have been welded back together with a torch? I know that’s not a true blacksmithing solution, but...
It could have been. But the eye is so thin now it isn't really worth it. I do know a well known smith that regularly uses wrought iron and when a customer complains about the small splits that are common, he welds them with a torch.
Enjoyed watching your video win or fail !!!
Nice to watch. Thanks for sharing the process, even though it didn't work out. I think maybe cut out the eye, and then forge weld the two ends together and make a small stake anvil...
Again, thanks for sharing, time to go check out doc.
Something of the sort may be an option, just because it already has steel faces
Looks like there is more metal for a cool looking hook of the week. I would like to see failures as much as the correct. Best way to learn.
Oooh, keep playing with angles. I love it!!! It keeps it spicey and from feeling like you are looking at the same thing all the time.
Sucks about the issues with the workpiece. Sometimes learning when well enough is good is a tough one, I know I am terrible at it.
You are really getting quite good with your videography. Keep being awesome John!!!
Thanks, Glad you're enjoying the videos
@@BlackBearForge I seem to universally enjoy the videos you make. Your work is cool, you are willing to make mistakes with us. And that helps us because at least you try to fix it not just make completely a new one
Being real is super. Thanks !!
Sorry it didn’t work out as expected, but glad to see mistakes as it shows realistic events. Always a learning experience!