Growing up poor I was always finding ways to repurpose things. Now at almost 70 I'm no longer poor, but I still have a small "scrapyard" behind the shed that contains different kinds of metal objects that I use parts from. I've used pulleys from an old exercise machine to guide the steering cables on my homemade boat. I used sheet metal from an old BBQ grill to make fenders for my trailer tires. I used scrap wire and PVC conduit to make a digital TV antenna that works as good or better than store bought and is a LOT smaller! You just have to use your imagination!
That's really impressive how do you just know what parts fit for certain purposes? Are you a practioner of a trade or are you just remembering it from your younger years?
@@d.n5287 My main trade was carpentry, but I've owned a few remodeling companies and was involved in lots of different trades. I taught myself welding and metal work. I saw the antenna on a You Tube video and built it. The boat I built from just looking at a lot of pictures and using the parts that I liked about them. The boat is an all electric fishing skiff. You can see videos of me building it on my channel. Just click my name. Have a great day!
@@MichaelOfRohan I made 4 "X's" with heavy copper wire and attached them one above the other on the outside. Then I ran two parallel wires up the outside and connected each "X". At the end of the two wires I attached a 75 Ohm to 300 Ohm adapter - converter with a jack for coax antenna cable. All of the "X's" faced one direction, but I didn't use a shield behind it, so I have a dual direction antenna. I just rotated it until I got the strongest signal. It's mounted 10 feet high above the roof line on a 1 1/4 inch galvanized steel pipe that was previously used as the top rail for a chain link fence. I live a long way from the transmission towers, so it needs to be up high. My brother, next door, has a conventional antenna and I get just as many channels as he does and his cost over $100 dollars!
This channel needs to do a show on the parts of an anvil. That's really important if you want to understand how early metallurgy and metalworking was done.
Why though? Blacksmithing is a very small portion of the content. Anvils also haven't changed design since colonial era, considering they are still in use today, from that era. They're are multiple types of anvils as well. The type you're thinking of is the English Pattern. Hardy: square hole for hardy tools, drifting(punching holes and sizing) Pritchel: small round hole for hold tools, punching/drifting, bending etc. Horn: bending, making small holes into bigger holes, shaping etc Shelf: cutting, in order to not mar the strike face Strike face: sometimes called face plate is the primary forging surface. Heel: opposite end of the horn
@@TingTingalingy For educational purposes of course. This is after all a channel mainly for educating people on frontier life. I just think it's interesting. And i wasn't asking for myself, just throwing out ideas for the channel.
@@Dyanosis Yeah, but i want this one to do it. It's like sometimes you like the cover of a song more than the artist who created it. I mean i watch other youtube channels, and some do metallurgy and forging. But they may do it in a way that i don't find as enjoyable. I am a fickle beast! ^-^
@@Dyanosis some of us like the way someone presents, more than others. I happen to agree that to be shared on this channel, would truly be cool. Would add to so much of the idea behind the show and help fans better follow along.
My dad built a forge using an old wash bucket and a vacuum cleaner. He made some interesting pieces for a go kart. One day while he was working the the forge, a neighbor brought over his brother to watch. As luck would have it his brother was a working blacksmith in Germany. What a thrill, we kids and dad watched in awe. Dad learned quite a bit, unfortunately over the last 60+ years I’ve forgotten nearly everything. I do remember him saying every blacksmith would beat the steel to a different rhythm.
Its funny how Brandon was clean at the beginning and by the end his face was all dirty lol. Awesome video, cannot wait to see what projects come next for the homestead and Brandon. Keep up the amazing work everybody!
I work in tool and die industry. Today, a vast majority of our work is done on CNC mills, lathes, and cutters. Some work is done one the more-traditional drills and mills. However, machined tool has been around less than 200 years. Through most of the history of humanity, it was the skilled blacksmith who created the tools and hardware to help facilitate the process of living.
Love Brandon's instructional videos. Always find him affable and, as a crafter, his presentations pique my interest. Appreciate being reminded that for much of time, and still in many places, there is/was no option to run down to the likes of a Home Depot...or a local hardware store... for tools, etc.
When teaching blacksmithing to Scouts in the BSA, I have the youth make tools like chisels and punches. I teach a similar process but I usually use spring steel from old coil springs or leaf springs from the local scrapyard. A tip to save your hammer face is to temper the end you strike. For all those who want to try this, keep in mind that the color of the steel comes through several shades lighter than than you will find in real life. If you try to hammer high carbon steel when it has lost most of its glow in your shop, you will successfully crack or shatter your piece and have to start over. Also another tip is to make sure your anvil (or ASO, anvil shaped object) is in a dark place because the color will appear drastically different between being in sunlight or even just shaded sunlight as opposed to being in a truly dark shop. Most old time blacksmith shops were almost completely darked out and only had enough windows to let air flow through to keep life bearable. Good luck and get out forging.
Brandon always seems to bring some unique things to the homestead. Its been a fun process watching his skills improve. I always enjoyed watching his instructional videos.
This kind of video needs to be part of every school so that it can be shown how tools can be made. After these kinds of videos you can show how modern tools are made as a contrast to help teach children how progress has occurred but also how the old techniques still work but just take longer.
I feel so comfortable seeing people living like this. I don't know if it's really their lifestyle, but style is something I follow or at least try in mine.
I continue to admire those before us for having survived done well and given us so much. It is so sad that no one seems to appreciate that anymore. Then again I'm 72 years old and have a different perspective than many
Also just struck me watching this video was your cotton hat. I do some functional/ hobby welding and the beanies we wear under hoods and hard hats are exactly what you have on. I work with stone and tile in my actual business and when I think about how much has not changed in certain trades in hundreds ( sometimes thousands ) of years is truly amazing. Love the content guys! Thanks for sharing our common ancestry and how we all got here.
Great video, I always like the Blacksmith stuff. My dad was a fine cabinet maker and to test how sharp his chisels were he would shave a patch of hair on his arm. My mom hated this but as a kid I thought this was just so cool. Cheers and thanks for the videos.
Also, what is the music for this video? It just hits me at home every time. All the Townsends choice of music does honestly. Thank you for making this homestead and the videos! They have blessed me for years!
That's the right way to set a handle on a file too. You can predrill a starter hole, heat the tang with a propane torch until it makes the wood smoke, and tap it on.
This is fantastic. While all the woodworkers are arguing about the nuances of chisels, you just get in there and make one. For those without blacksmithing equipment, you can turn a file into a chisel using a bench grinder and/or belt sander. At an estate sale I saw a 1" spade/paddle bit that somebody ground the business end into a chisel and put a field expedient handle on it. Makes me wonder what the story was.
This is true sustainability: minimal electricity, minimal mining, minimal travel, maximum knowledge (preservation and innovation). The viewers of Townsends should be changing the worlds with this knowledge. We need cellular versions of Brandon reforging our damaged cells.
I once (with my two older brothers) made knife blades out of old files. Heat it up in a wood fire, and allow it to cool slowly, to anneal the steel. Then hacksaw it into a rough shape, file it into a knife, then heat treat the steel to put a hard edge on it. Honestly, mine sucked, but i wasn't even a teenager yet when we did this. I was to impatient, and didn't get the heat treat right, so mine never held an edge worth a darn. But we lived on a farm, and you never wasted anything, even an old worn out file.
Two things: His reason for hot rasping is incorrect. By heating it up enough to work it the file has effectively been annealed, and unless it is an air-hardening steel (not likely) it will be soft enough to file after it has cooled. It's just faster doing it hot. Secondly, unless he heated it up to critical temperature and re=quenched, it is still soft, and will never hold an edge. Other than that, good video.
yea exactly what I was thinking, would be a much better tool if he just packed the business end with the hammer, annealed, heated to just before yellow, quenched, and did a very slight gradual tempering to the edge watching for a straw color then dipped in oil, THEN give it the final edge
@@bjellison905 Ah, kind of? I can see why you could think that. There’s a grey area depending on types of steel (you can even find those which are still hard when glowing red, though that’s not typical), which is part of why the _most proper_ thing to do is completely anneal before working it hot or cold. However, annealing is when the steel is heated up enough for the electrochemical bonds to literally lengthen enough to allow free floating alloying elements like carbon to be released (being literally trapped inside of cubes of iron gripping each other tight via their own bonds, this tension forming the ‘hardness’ you’re familiar with). The steel needs to be properly hot for this to happen, and cool down slowly enough to avoid such entrapment to stay annealed in a cool state, which is usually what we actually refer to as annealing. In practice, this softening will also happen when the steel is hot enough to be plastic, ie malleable, though as temperature varies throughout the depth and length of steel it isn’t something very safe to rely on given that pounding on hardened steel may just fracture your work. This is all again different between different alloys, and high tech alloys may do weird things, but this is just simple carbon steel.
That upsetting thing is what caught my eye , I’ve often made chisels from old files and as you say the wooden handle soon split because I never had the skills of the blacksmith.
If you want to save some work there are two options, one is to make a ring for the end of the handle, the other is to throw a washer on first after grinding a flat spot.
Brandon should have his own channel. Build the homestead from the ground up. Take it from a worthless piece of ground, into a fully functional productive homestead. Love the show, keep it up Brandon!
Can we get a video about how metal items were repurposed or how iron at the time was collected and formed back into stock? I imagine there was a lot more recycling of available iron/steel back in the day.
Good call making another handle as the first project! Without a ring of metal where the handle meets the chisel, she won't last long, a cap would be nice too. I've seen were they would use a farthing or half penny for that... or even a bit of tin... great video!
If this is just regular carbon steel as it would have been back then it won't keep it's hardness after hearing it to cherry. So no need for hot filing and you would have to quench and temper it no?
I'd love if you include the total number of labor hours on these projects. There were only so many to go around. So knowing how many hours this would take gives an idea of the VALUE added of any manufacturing or labor.
While that makes sense modernly historically that’s not the economy tradesman dealt with, more often than not the material was more expensive than the labor put into it, so rather than it being on the shoulders of the customer to pay for a slow workman, it’s on the shoulders of the workman to work quickly. If he took 5 hours to make a chisel while the guy down the road took 1, his chisel isn’t more expensive, it contains the same amount of material, it’s the same product, he’ll just not eat as well. This also leads to a lot of the frugality we see in regards to saving and reusing material, it’s not that the chisel is expensive, it’s that the labor to fix it is cheaper than the material in a new one. *there are exceptions found in objects that are disproportionately labor intensive, like locks.
What a beautiful tool! I loved these profiles of the Townsends crafts persons. I am curious about the music in your videos. I'd love to know more about how that is created. 🤩
Great watch, would have liked seeing him doing a proper heat treat on the steel to make it an even better tool. It'll be a decent tool as is, but properly heat treated, it'd be considerably better. Longer holding edge and such. Nice job!
I wonder what that color looks like if you're red/green colorblind? Like, were their colorblind blacksmiths then or now, does it effect the ability to gauge heat by color, and how do they make that call either visually or through other means especially before modern thermal readers?
Very cool video. Since the metal was already quenched & hardened in making the file, would heating & quenching again to create the chisel weaken the metal? I assume you would want the chisel to be really hard to stand up to use as a chisel.
I would add that you'd want to heat the entire file by the end because he created 2 fracture points in upsetting the tip and base by only heating the front third and back third leaving a completely different grain of metal at the middle but that still was too hot to hold temper.
"Simple project that anyone can do given that you have a hot enough heat source, hammers, rocks/whetstones/sharpening stones, spare wood lying around, heat proof gloves, metal that isn't already hardened, an anvil"... the list goes on.
What stone did you use to sharpen it?? I am new to Timber Framing and woodworking and am recently looking at getting diamond stones and whetstones of differing grits, but it's such an expensive investment. I'm now looking at more natural ways to sharpen my tools. Does it work well? It looks like it cut like butter afterward.
Good point about the expense of the whetstones. Another point to consider in the expense is the skill level of the person doing the sharpening! I think whatever grade the tool is rated at, it's only as good as the amount of skill the workman has. In other words, you could buy the most expensive diamond grit stone, and ruin it if you lack the skill. As one workman once told me, "It's not the tool, it's the person."
@@kimfleury True. Takes practice. When I was a child I could dull a chisel by sharpening it. Now when the wife isn't looking and I am in a hurry (or too lazy to go to the basement for a proper stone), the bottom of the nearest plate or coffee mug works great on knives, chisles, plane steels, etc. But beware! About 2 months ago the wife wanted a service person to come to the house to look at the dishwasher to find out why it was leaving grey marks on the bottom of the plates. I thought quick & distracted her with some wine.
@@kimfleury I absolutely agree! I'm always interested in the natural myself if I can because not only is it easily accessible anytime, and most of the time free, it's most likely been used in the past by countless master craftsmen on the road or even at home before man-made whetstones were invented. What if you don't have a file or a grindstone nearby? I believe God has certainly provided certain materials that are available that make it possible for a simple, quiet, and honest life without needing machines or man-made sharpening stones. Hoping to get some sound answers soon!
I like to see the mindset of trying to avoid waste. Not just repurposing the steel of a tool, but trying to get as much out of it as you can. A blacksmith today would have probably used a bigger piece of steel and cut off the excess and not even bother hammering the bevel and just gone right to the belt grinder, putting that steel in powdered form on the floor. That's what I like about this. It's not beautiful, but it doesn't need to be. I'd say there is beauty in that either way.
Growing up poor I was always finding ways to repurpose things. Now at almost 70 I'm no longer poor, but I still have a small "scrapyard" behind the shed that contains different kinds of metal objects that I use parts from. I've used pulleys from an old exercise machine to guide the steering cables on my homemade boat. I used sheet metal from an old BBQ grill to make fenders for my trailer tires. I used scrap wire and PVC conduit to make a digital TV antenna that works as good or better than store bought and is a LOT smaller! You just have to use your imagination!
Im a radio nut: did you coil it up in the pvc or loop it up inside or what?
That's really impressive how do you just know what parts fit for certain purposes? Are you a practioner of a trade or are you just remembering it from your younger years?
@@d.n5287 My main trade was carpentry, but I've owned a few remodeling companies and was involved in lots of different trades. I taught myself welding and metal work. I saw the antenna on a You Tube video and built it. The boat I built from just looking at a lot of pictures and using the parts that I liked about them. The boat is an all electric fishing skiff. You can see videos of me building it on my channel. Just click my name. Have a great day!
@@MichaelOfRohan I made 4 "X's" with heavy copper wire and attached them one above the other on the outside. Then I ran two parallel wires up the outside and connected each "X". At the end of the two wires I attached a 75 Ohm to 300 Ohm adapter - converter with a jack for coax antenna cable. All of the "X's" faced one direction, but I didn't use a shield behind it, so I have a dual direction antenna. I just rotated it until I got the strongest signal. It's mounted 10 feet high above the roof line on a 1 1/4 inch galvanized steel pipe that was previously used as the top rail for a chain link fence. I live a long way from the transmission towers, so it needs to be up high. My brother, next door, has a conventional antenna and I get just as many channels as he does and his cost over $100 dollars!
I watched your boat built! Very cool Jim! I also have a scrap yard. It drives my Dad nuts haha!
The music gets prettier and nicer for these videos every time I swear, I’m relaxed just hearing the guitar
"Don't get upset with your upsetting"
That's every day on the job Brandon!
Great video👍
This channel needs to do a show on the parts of an anvil. That's really important if you want to understand how early metallurgy and metalworking was done.
Why though? Blacksmithing is a very small portion of the content. Anvils also haven't changed design since colonial era, considering they are still in use today, from that era. They're are multiple types of anvils as well. The type you're thinking of is the English Pattern.
Hardy: square hole for hardy tools, drifting(punching holes and sizing)
Pritchel: small round hole for hold tools, punching/drifting, bending etc.
Horn: bending, making small holes into bigger holes, shaping etc
Shelf: cutting, in order to not mar the strike face
Strike face: sometimes called face plate is the primary forging surface.
Heel: opposite end of the horn
@@TingTingalingy For educational purposes of course. This is after all a channel mainly for educating people on frontier life. I just think it's interesting.
And i wasn't asking for myself, just throwing out ideas for the channel.
There are tons of other channels that are literal blacksmiths who explain that already.
@@Dyanosis Yeah, but i want this one to do it. It's like sometimes you like the cover of a song more than the artist who created it.
I mean i watch other youtube channels, and some do metallurgy and forging. But they may do it in a way that i don't find as enjoyable.
I am a fickle beast! ^-^
@@Dyanosis some of us like the way someone presents, more than others. I happen to agree that to be shared on this channel, would truly be cool. Would add to so much of the idea behind the show and help fans better follow along.
I do love working with old files in blacksmithing. I always heat mine up all over to take the brittle out of them before I start working it.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again:
This is the best channel on youtube
My dad built a forge using an old wash bucket and a vacuum cleaner. He made some interesting pieces for a go kart. One day while he was working the the forge, a neighbor brought over his brother to watch. As luck would have it his brother was a working blacksmith in Germany. What a thrill, we kids and dad watched in awe. Dad learned quite a bit, unfortunately over the last 60+ years I’ve forgotten nearly everything. I do remember him saying every blacksmith would beat the steel to a different rhythm.
Its funny how Brandon was clean at the beginning and by the end his face was all dirty lol. Awesome video, cannot wait to see what projects come next for the homestead and Brandon. Keep up the amazing work everybody!
I work in tool and die industry. Today, a vast majority of our work is done on CNC mills, lathes, and cutters. Some work is done one the more-traditional drills and mills. However, machined tool has been around less than 200 years. Through most of the history of humanity, it was the skilled blacksmith who created the tools and hardware to help facilitate the process of living.
Love Brandon's instructional videos. Always find him affable and, as a crafter, his presentations pique my interest. Appreciate being reminded that for much of time, and still in many places, there is/was no option to run down to the likes of a Home Depot...or a local hardware store... for tools, etc.
When teaching blacksmithing to Scouts in the BSA, I have the youth make tools like chisels and punches. I teach a similar process but I usually use spring steel from old coil springs or leaf springs from the local scrapyard. A tip to save your hammer face is to temper the end you strike. For all those who want to try this, keep in mind that the color of the steel comes through several shades lighter than than you will find in real life. If you try to hammer high carbon steel when it has lost most of its glow in your shop, you will successfully crack or shatter your piece and have to start over. Also another tip is to make sure your anvil (or ASO, anvil shaped object) is in a dark place because the color will appear drastically different between being in sunlight or even just shaded sunlight as opposed to being in a truly dark shop. Most old time blacksmith shops were almost completely darked out and only had enough windows to let air flow through to keep life bearable. Good luck and get out forging.
I was taught how to make nails by someone like you when I was in scouts. Thanks a million.
Brandon always seems to bring some unique things to the homestead. Its been a fun process watching his skills improve. I always enjoyed watching his instructional videos.
This kind of video needs to be part of every school so that it can be shown how tools can be made. After these kinds of videos you can show how modern tools are made as a contrast to help teach children how progress has occurred but also how the old techniques still work but just take longer.
I feel so comfortable seeing people living like this. I don't know if it's really their lifestyle, but style is something I follow or at least try in mine.
Yes, I understand...
Yes I understand. still it is something that massages my mind a lot to see these videos. 🙂
Creating and crafting is surprisingly rewarding vs consuming. Crafts encourage community. Very good for society.
It's been a joy watching Brandon's skills develop over time. These videos are therapeutic. Looking forward to more.
I continue to admire those before us for having survived done well and given us so much. It is so sad that no one seems to appreciate that anymore. Then again I'm 72 years old and have a different perspective than many
Good evening from Syracuse NY everyone thank you for sharing your adventures in history
Brandon makes this look easy. That takes a lot of skill.
Also just struck me watching this video was your cotton hat. I do some functional/ hobby welding and the beanies we wear under hoods and hard hats are exactly what you have on. I work with stone and tile in my actual business and when I think about how much has not changed in certain trades in hundreds ( sometimes thousands ) of years is truly amazing. Love the content guys! Thanks for sharing our common ancestry and how we all got here.
I will probably never have to make a file into a chisel but I'm fascinated with blacksmithing and the History of it thanks!
Great video, I always like the Blacksmith stuff. My dad was a fine cabinet maker and to test how sharp his chisels were he would shave a patch of hair on his arm. My mom hated this but as a kid I thought this was just so cool. Cheers and thanks for the videos.
That's called "carpenter's spot baldness". A lot of handtool woodworkers suffer from it. Me included.
Even though I'll never have to do this myself, It's really fascinating to see how this is done. You guys have the best, most interesting content!
You may someday
Have to? Probably not. Want to is a completely different thing.
I would say "get" to 😊
Great job, Love the Brandon videos. Thanks to everyone at Townsends for all of their work in sharing these videos with us.
What a great demonstration and explanation. Clear, slow enough to understand. I think even I could do it!
One of my fav TH-cam channels! Thanks for all that y’all do here! 👍🏻
Also, what is the music for this video? It just hits me at home every time. All the Townsends choice of music does honestly. Thank you for making this homestead and the videos! They have blessed me for years!
What a beautiful and useful tool! I would never have thought to burn the handle on - I learn something every day.
That's the right way to set a handle on a file too. You can predrill a starter hole, heat the tang with a propane torch until it makes the wood smoke, and tap it on.
Beautiful craftsmanship in both the blacksmithing and filming 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It's nice to see videos like this. There are so many new things to learn. Cheers!
Excellent craftsmanship, Brandon 😎👏🏽
Looking forward to seeing a lot more blacksmithing and building/trades demonstrations.
This is fantastic. While all the woodworkers are arguing about the nuances of chisels, you just get in there and make one.
For those without blacksmithing equipment, you can turn a file into a chisel using a bench grinder and/or belt sander.
At an estate sale I saw a 1" spade/paddle bit that somebody ground the business end into a chisel and put a field expedient handle on it. Makes me wonder what the story was.
Probably the tip broke off so he made a chisel instead of throwing out.
This is true sustainability: minimal electricity, minimal mining, minimal travel, maximum knowledge (preservation and innovation). The viewers of Townsends should be changing the worlds with this knowledge. We need cellular versions of Brandon reforging our damaged cells.
I once (with my two older brothers) made knife blades out of old files. Heat it up in a wood fire, and allow it to cool slowly, to anneal the steel. Then hacksaw it into a rough shape, file it into a knife, then heat treat the steel to put a hard edge on it.
Honestly, mine sucked, but i wasn't even a teenager yet when we did this. I was to impatient, and didn't get the heat treat right, so mine never held an edge worth a darn.
But we lived on a farm, and you never wasted anything, even an old worn out file.
This the kind of videos I'm talking about! Can't wait to Iggy and Ryan in less then a month!!
Very nicely done. Looks really good too.👍🏻
Found some file-chisels in a toolbox of an old uncle. Love this video
Can you explain why you need to hot file it versus shaping when it's soft and then hardening?
FASCINATING VIDEO‼️You’re an excellent teacher.
Well done, Brandon. Always a joy to watch one of your videos.
Skills I don't have and will probably never need, but somehow imprinted into my brain.
It's a shame this series doesn't get as much attention as it's so good!
I could call it the Foxfire books series in video form.
@@marilynmitchell2712 This is an apt description! Love those books though they seem to be kinda hard to find. For me at least
Fantastic stuff Townsends. Great episode.
this guy has skills. Great video
Love those "trades" videos Brandon: metal, leather, etc... Great Work.
Well done , thank you for making this wonderful episode !
Two things: His reason for hot rasping is incorrect. By heating it up enough to work it the file has effectively been annealed, and unless it is an air-hardening steel (not likely) it will be soft enough to file after it has cooled. It's just faster doing it hot. Secondly, unless he heated it up to critical temperature and re=quenched, it is still soft, and will never hold an edge. Other than that, good video.
yea exactly what I was thinking, would be a much better tool if he just packed the business end with the hammer, annealed, heated to just before yellow, quenched, and did a very slight gradual tempering to the edge watching for a straw color then dipped in oil, THEN give it the final edge
I thought it annealed at a higher temp than working temp. Please correct me if im wrong as im only a novice. So of im wrong please tell me
@@bjellison905 The color he heated it to was plenty to anneal it
@@Vaz_DeFerenz Packing is a myth, it isn’t supported by modern metallurgical study.
@@bjellison905 Ah, kind of? I can see why you could think that. There’s a grey area depending on types of steel (you can even find those which are still hard when glowing red, though that’s not typical), which is part of why the _most proper_ thing to do is completely anneal before working it hot or cold.
However, annealing is when the steel is heated up enough for the electrochemical bonds to literally lengthen enough to allow free floating alloying elements like carbon to be released (being literally trapped inside of cubes of iron gripping each other tight via their own bonds, this tension forming the ‘hardness’ you’re familiar with). The steel needs to be properly hot for this to happen, and cool down slowly enough to avoid such entrapment to stay annealed in a cool state, which is usually what we actually refer to as annealing.
In practice, this softening will also happen when the steel is hot enough to be plastic, ie malleable, though as temperature varies throughout the depth and length of steel it isn’t something very safe to rely on given that pounding on hardened steel may just fracture your work. This is all again different between different alloys, and high tech alloys may do weird things, but this is just simple carbon steel.
I don't normally like music to play during these types of videos but the music you guys chose was nice
Excellent video and nothing is thrown away.
That upsetting thing is what caught my eye , I’ve often made chisels from old files and as you say the wooden handle soon split because I never had the skills of the blacksmith.
If you want to save some work there are two options, one is to make a ring for the end of the handle, the other is to throw a washer on first after grinding a flat spot.
Great teaching show on your Lovely Homestead! Many Blessings and Kind Thanks! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
Infinitely impressed by and grateful for this channel. Thank y'all.
Brandon should have his own channel. Build the homestead from the ground up. Take it from a worthless piece of ground, into a fully functional productive homestead. Love the show, keep it up Brandon!
Love watching Brandon. Learning a lot
Thank you for this. I’m hoping to do a black smithing course next year and your video is not only teaching techniques but terminology too
rainy Sunday drinking coffee watching you all a great day thanks my family these videos
Great job Brandon! You have many amazing skills.
Really enjoy the blacksmith videos. Thank you!
This channel releases my stress like no other ☺️❤️
Can we get a video about how metal items were repurposed or how iron at the time was collected and formed back into stock? I imagine there was a lot more recycling of available iron/steel back in the day.
Anecdotes from the time had people burning down their old house and sifting through the ashes for nails. Couldn't say how accurate the idea is.
Thank you for this video! Always love watching a smith at work.
Good call making another handle as the first project! Without a ring of metal where the handle meets the chisel, she won't last long, a cap would be nice too. I've seen were they would use a farthing or half penny for that... or even a bit of tin... great video!
I've seen that "burn through" technique on tv. They always snap it
Great job on that buddy!
This is being resourceful!
How about doing a video on making a wire brush? A very much overlooked little tool, but one that EVERYONE definitely needs!
Thanks for making a long held dream of mine (smithing lesson with David Foster Wallace) finally come true.
It's great to see Brandon again!
I was amazed by burning the wooden handle into place. I wouldn't have thought of that for a tighter fit.
Looking forwards to more forge and blacksmithing videos!
If this is just regular carbon steel as it would have been back then it won't keep it's hardness after hearing it to cherry. So no need for hot filing and you would have to quench and temper it no?
I'd love if you include the total number of labor hours on these projects. There were only so many to go around. So knowing how many hours this would take gives an idea of the VALUE added of any manufacturing or labor.
While that makes sense modernly historically that’s not the economy tradesman dealt with, more often than not the material was more expensive than the labor put into it, so rather than it being on the shoulders of the customer to pay for a slow workman, it’s on the shoulders of the workman to work quickly. If he took 5 hours to make a chisel while the guy down the road took 1, his chisel isn’t more expensive, it contains the same amount of material, it’s the same product, he’ll just not eat as well. This also leads to a lot of the frugality we see in regards to saving and reusing material, it’s not that the chisel is expensive, it’s that the labor to fix it is cheaper than the material in a new one.
*there are exceptions found in objects that are disproportionately labor intensive, like locks.
Is there anything Brandon can’t do? Love it!
What a beautiful tool! I loved these profiles of the Townsends crafts persons. I am curious about the music in your videos. I'd love to know more about how that is created. 🤩
Great content. I love this channel!
“Upset in your upsetting” 🥁💥 pa-rum-pa-ching
Very cool, Brandon.
love the blackmithing vids
Came right off of Friday's cooking marathon into a new Townsends video! Always love seeing how they made tools in the 18th century.
This channel is one of my favorites purely for the atmosphere each video creates.
Great idea,thanks for sharing
Great watch, would have liked seeing him doing a proper heat treat on the steel to make it an even better tool.
It'll be a decent tool as is, but properly heat treated, it'd be considerably better. Longer holding edge and such.
Nice job!
I wonder what that color looks like if you're red/green colorblind? Like, were their colorblind blacksmiths then or now, does it effect the ability to gauge heat by color, and how do they make that call either visually or through other means especially before modern thermal readers?
The birds were going crazy this day! Wow they're tweeting up a storm
Awesome video! Thank you!
7:45 - how is the file hard after removing all the original heat treatment in the forge?
Very cool video. Since the metal was already quenched & hardened in making the file, would heating & quenching again to create the chisel weaken the metal? I assume you would want the chisel to be really hard to stand up to use as a chisel.
For fine woodworking like he shows it wouldn't really matter. But he already broke the temper by heating it up to the temperatures he did.
I would add that you'd want to heat the entire file by the end because he created 2 fracture points in upsetting the tip and base by only heating the front third and back third leaving a completely different grain of metal at the middle but that still was too hot to hold temper.
Heat are all the flakes on the anvil while you are hammering? Is that a loss of material?
if im not wrong, the flakes are metal oxides from the hot metal reacting with oxygen. it is a loss of material but i dont think its that much
Adding small metal rings to both ends of the handle would help it to last longer. It will prevent the wood splitting from the repeated impacts.
Is there a video showing how the bellows was made?
Yes, there is th-cam.com/video/9wVNOEU_-Es/w-d-xo.html
Beautiful!!!
Your content always amazes me
You can harden metal in salt as the salt won’t get any hotter than 1500ish degrees and doesn’t boil when it gets that hot.
"Simple project that anyone can do given that you have a hot enough heat source, hammers, rocks/whetstones/sharpening stones, spare wood lying around, heat proof gloves, metal that isn't already hardened, an anvil"... the list goes on.
"Don't get too upset in your upsetting". That was deeper than I think Brandon thought. It was almost Buddhist!
By golly I was talking about this very thing just the other day!
Absolutely love it! Came out great! By the way try to forge period style hunting knife with antler handle and make video about.
Love what you did
Just wondering if they made anything out of Damascus steel in the 18th century? Or was it too expensive and time consuming to make?
What stone did you use to sharpen it?? I am new to Timber Framing and woodworking and am recently looking at getting diamond stones and whetstones of differing grits, but it's such an expensive investment. I'm now looking at more natural ways to sharpen my tools. Does it work well? It looks like it cut like butter afterward.
Good point about the expense of the whetstones. Another point to consider in the expense is the skill level of the person doing the sharpening! I think whatever grade the tool is rated at, it's only as good as the amount of skill the workman has. In other words, you could buy the most expensive diamond grit stone, and ruin it if you lack the skill. As one workman once told me, "It's not the tool, it's the person."
@@kimfleury True. Takes practice. When I was a child I could dull a chisel by sharpening it. Now when the wife isn't looking and I am in a hurry (or too lazy to go to the basement for a proper stone), the bottom of the nearest plate or coffee mug works great on knives, chisles, plane steels, etc. But beware! About 2 months ago the wife wanted a service person to come to the house to look at the dishwasher to find out why it was leaving grey marks on the bottom of the plates. I thought quick & distracted her with some wine.
@@kimfleury I absolutely agree! I'm always interested in the natural myself if I can because not only is it easily accessible anytime, and most of the time free, it's most likely been used in the past by countless master craftsmen on the road or even at home before man-made whetstones were invented. What if you don't have a file or a grindstone nearby? I believe God has certainly provided certain materials that are available that make it possible for a simple, quiet, and honest life without needing machines or man-made sharpening stones.
Hoping to get some sound answers soon!
@@charleshettrick2408 Would they work well with a Michigan style felling axe? ;) *looks in cabinets* *sees only possibilities*
I found this video. Getting closer!
th-cam.com/video/H1iOIMWYUMI/w-d-xo.html
If you get really bored this winter you could build yourself a matchlock Fowler or something
Yes!
I like to see the mindset of trying to avoid waste. Not just repurposing the steel of a tool, but trying to get as much out of it as you can. A blacksmith today would have probably used a bigger piece of steel and cut off the excess and not even bother hammering the bevel and just gone right to the belt grinder, putting that steel in powdered form on the floor.
That's what I like about this. It's not beautiful, but it doesn't need to be. I'd say there is beauty in that either way.