Note for 13:30 - this clip shows the 1500 ton Davy Press at Eveleigh and not one of their steam hammers. Sorry guys! Please be sure to check out our sponsor: Dare to take this survival challenge? Come and find me in Whiteout Survival ☞ click.fan/WhiteoutSurvival_Alec
If you don't mind traviling for your huge chain experience you have Ramnäs Bruk in sweden, about 1,5h from our largest airport. They make chain primarily for the offshore industry.
I also recommend Ramnas bruk as a visit. And ones you are in Sweden you must try to visit Björneborg Steel. It's not to far from Ramnas and it has among other things a huge hydraulik press that they use to make products up to 25meters and 45 tonnes. From their website: • Forging manipulator: Max. 80 tonnes and 200 tonne-metres • Forging press: Pull-down type, 3600/4500-tonne forging/upsetting • Ingot heating: Heating at 50°C/h from 700°C to 1150-1250°C
That would be a fun trip. All the chain, shackles, and wire for the offshore tug I work on comes from China. If I remember I’ll find the factory names from our certificates.
My dad owned a scrapyard for about 45 years. And we met a lot of old tradesmen through buying up and scraping their old pre WW1 engineering shops. And a lot of them had been labourers at various extinct trades in their lifetimes, the world would change, they had to learn a new trade. Very frequently my dad would ask them about that sort of thing, he liked to talk. We met an old guy who had sailed around Cape Horn in 1890 on a Tea schooner, his finger-tips were all like clubs, from dragging day after day at the wet canvas. We met an old guy who was from Cornwall originally, and had been a fishing net-maker, and dad got him to make a flounder net for us. Truly astonishing to see the speed he could sew a net up. The more things change, the more they change.
I read a story about a guy way back (ca 1400) that was out felling trees and lost the head of his axe into a frozen pond and decided it was better to risk death diving into the pond to get the axe head back than to return to the village without it. Just to give you an idea of how valuable these hand-made steel tools were to the people of the day.
I've heard that story as well! I don't think it was a matter of how valuable they were (certainly of more value than today), but more like the disparity in how much a tool like that costs vs. how much a woodcutter would make during that time, and how much the village relied upon that axe and the wood gathered to survive the winter. His livelihood, and possibly his family and village, hinged upon that axe, and it was likely a considerable amount of investment for a poor villager at the time. Or maybe he wasn't even a woodcutter, perhaps he was just trying to pay off a debt or something and the axe was loaned to him. Had he been more of what we'd consider middle-class, it wouldn't be such a life altering disaster to lose it. Like a hunter losing his bow, or an explorer losing his map, it was more important to that particular person. Iron and steel tools weren't terribly uncommon, even the lower castes of society had iron or steel tools, though the goods produced weren't exactly throwaway common as they are today. If you're hammering in a nail on project and it bends on a bad strike, you'll likely pull it and try with a new nail, tossing the old one in the junk bin or the trash...but back then you'd straighten it out and use it no question. If your house or barn burned down, you'd collect all the nails and rebuild. A nail might go through several burned houses in its lifetime until it finally became too damaged or corroded, at which point it was used to make outer door paneling and clinched...permanently damaging the nail and rendering it unusable again. That's where the term "dead as a door nail" came from!
@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper "permanently damaging the nail" How does one do that? Do you just mean that it needed reforging and a heat-treatment before it could be used again? It used to be iron ore and then it became a bloom, pig iron and wrought iron that was hammered into the shape of a nail. And why would you use a damaged/corroded nail, that wasn't useful anywhere else, to secure the outer door. Seems a too important spot for a sub-standard nail. If you only straighten the nails, that have been in a fire, you will find out that the nails are now annealed and rather soft. They would bend if struck by a hammer. When you use a nail the normal way, it can move a bit when the wood swells/shrinks as it takes up/loses moisture. When you fold over the pointy end, the nail can't move when the wood swells. Their relation is fixed. Think "dead" means that it doesn't move, not that it is the last ever use of that bit of iron.....
@@DreadX10 There were plenty of reasons why they'd use certain nails for cinching, but the primary reason would be that they've become too thin in some spot or another, or damaged. Their use in a door means they were likely up to one final task, perhaps even more, so they started using the worst nails and progress up through the better nails until the door was constructed. These weren't castle doors, nor were they necessarily fortified, they were just doors on your average home or business that aren't expected with withstand marauders or a siege. Not even if you used freshly forged nails would that be the case. They were cinched more as a security measure to prevent someone from simply pulling a few nails out to gain access to the latch or lock on the other side of the door. Or, well, to steal your nails. I mean, a little street urchin back then could probably have made enough money just by walking around at night pulling a few easy to access nails out here and there to keep himself fed and clothed, maybe even enough for room and board. The act of cinching the nail bends it far enough around that you introduce tiny stress fractures in the iron, meaning if you tried to straighten it out or use it for anything else, its strength would be permanently compromised. The more you bend iron, the more work-hardened it becomes, and the harder it becomes, the easier it is for cracks to develop. Of course, you could add them to iron bloom and work the iron back to a usable material again, but at that point it's no longer a nail and all you're really accomplishing is reducing the iron ore necessary to make a bloom. The nails may not have been dead when they went into the door, but they're dead as far as nails are concerned after that point.
my father used to say that relining a blast furnace was the hottest job going. they would shut it down then go in wearing thermal suits and wooden clogs and jack hammer the lining off the walls and reline it and have it back up and running within 3 days.
@@EricDMMiller I lived though a good portion of the cold war. Back then it was all about to come apart on a monthly basis. Just shut off the news and disable your social media accounts, and the crippling fear goes away.
Acquired a 2nd hand copy of James Burke’s Connections some 3 decades back. The progression of metallurgy and machining was eye opening: how steam engines became practical because of progressively better materials and boring and measuring processes prompted by the production of cannons. Making the tools to make the tools. I started exploring our mechanical world with the Foxfire books in the 70s. Now I can watch videos like Alex’s, The Secret Life of Machines, and the Connections TV shows on yt. Pretty cool
7:27 This Hammer is called an Ajax here in Austria. I am also using one of these, you can find videos on my channel of me using it. In my opinion these are some of the best hammers from the time and they still do a phenomenal job! Love from Austria 🇦🇹
This was super interesting to see! One note (from someone who has *some* experience with ceramics, but not a lot): unless that clay for the crucibles is *very* different from other ceramics, there would be days if not weeks in between the crucible being shaped and anything being melted in it, as the clay needs to dry out completely before being fired (or it'll explode when fired, from the water in the clay boiling inside the hardening clay). Depending on the specifics of the clay and the desired outcome it might go through one or several firing cycles, each of which takes at least a day, though likely more like two to three (as the kiln takes hours to get to temperature, then spends a bit there, before taking probably a day if not more to cool down, especially if it's a large kiln. My guess is that they were mass producing these crucibles so that they always had plentiful stock at hand. Oh, and the stomping is likely a form of wedging of clay, which serves to mix it to a homogeneous consistency and get rid of air bubbles in the clay, both of which help avoid cracking during drying and firing.
How many times have you already commented this ? I think I have seen one of your comments bevore, but yea that would be a great video. I hope Alec sees this comment and acutally does it.
Highly recommend 'welding the big ring' a video from the Westinghouse works in the 1910s. A team of strikers are closing up the enormous weld with sledges then it goes under a steam hammer at welding heat. It has a whole army of dudes just to move the ring. Impressive to see!
This was a great video! Awesome to get your perspective on these old videos. I especially liked hearing you rattling off the names of the tools and sharing details of their uses as they came up.
This is why I watch TH-cam to see other people who are knowledgeable, eager to learn and extremely into their craft make videos that the rest of us can learn and enjoy by proxy
I saw a water-poewered forge at a historical/experimental archeology location in Austria some m years ago. Bellows and hammer were water-driven. Fascinating!
My dad apprenticed in the steel industry in the Midlands in the late 1940s. Eventually becoming an industrial metallurgist, which took his young family (me and my siblings) to Plymouth. Then a move to Canada in 1967. He would have very much enjoyed your videos, Alec.
During the video you mention, I believe Baker Street, which reminded me of your old a video per day at the Barker Street forge. It’s great to see you come so far along since then!
The Hagley museum in Wilmington, Delaware has an entire machinist shop circa the mid 1800s which runs off a water turbine, rope pulleys and belts and line shafts. Its also got the biggest lathe I've ever seen. We just went yesterday and it was awesome.
I watched woodworking videos from archives and these people were insane. In a good way. They worked at the same speed as a modern power tool. Only, that it was pure muscle power and re-sharpening their tools every few working operations.
Hey, thanks for narrating those old videos. I love watching stuff like that to remind me that life isn't _that_ different today, but it's really nice to know what is actually going on in those.
I worked forging front axles for large trucks at Rockwell Int. in New Castle, PA on 16,000# steam hammers converted to air pressure. At Park Drop in Cleveland, OH we used what you're referring to as power hammers that we called open frame hammers. We used mostly Erie and Chambersburg closed frame hammers for closed die forging. We used the small open frame hammers for preforming or roughing into shape before reheating and sending the material into the large hammers. Park Drop had 20K, 35K, and a 50K pound hammers running on steam. Some of the things we produced were large crankshafts for locomotives and the Electric Boat Company. We forged those cranks in closed dies that were nearly 14' long. There was a lot of additional forging equipment on site at the time but it's all gone now. I worked my entire career in mostly closed die forging. Surprising (to me) most large shops spent a lot of time correcting "symptoms" of problems as opposed to the actual problem. The main thing I brought to the table was turning that around and correcting the mindset to arrive at proper solutions.
My dad grew up in a small town/village in rural Iowa ca. 1920. When our family visited some decades later, Dad was interested to notice that the old blacksmith's shop (which did shoe horses back in the day) had become an auto service garage. There were still some bits in there that he remembered from his youth, though. I suspect that the transition from horse repair (so to speak) to auto repair was very common indeed.
I really enjoyed this video, it was a nice change of pace, and I also found it very interesting to see the machines (and how they powered them) back in the day. I'd be interested to see a reaction video of traditional Japanese forging from you. Since you have done countless Damascus videos (I can only assume you have a love for the craft) and it would also be intriguing to see how they did it back in the day. If there is video evidence that is. Anyway, love all the videos you make, keep up the great work!
2:22 let's talk about how every single spark is hitting him square in the face too... like just imagine the amount of people who lost their eyes this way... even with today's modern eye protection gear i have had 3 steel shards removed from my eyeball throughout the last 8 years or so
I know virtually nothing about smithing or metallurgy (aside from what I've picked up over the years piecemeal or as part of roleplaying games lol) but I've been watching a lot of your videos recently; it's great to see someone who's passionate and curious about their craft and can explain it in a way that's understandable for us filthy casuals. Really enjoying your content!
Hey Alec I'm glad to see you have another video out so soon. I personally would watch a new one every day if you put it out. Been watching from the beginning. Daily vlog style is a lot of work but. Off topic videos are still entertaining to me.
I just got a job trial as a welder fabricator with a very famous ironworks that did work on the casket for the unknown soldier among many other cool things. Im learning fast and it's by far the best job Ive ever had, In a few short weeks Ive made railings that will go on a castle, steel safety fences built for a archaeological monument and lots of other cool stuff. Steel and iron working in the UK is still alive and isnt going anywhere.
Watching enthusiastically from Sweden here. As you probably know we have a very long history of efficient smithing and iron/steel industry. In our local community house the old triphammers are laid out for admiration. Whereever you go in Dalarna you will often find beautiful slag. There are old, and some very old, smelters and hammer mills all around along the streams. There are also chain factories, both active ones and museums. And the old "modern" steel factory here in Avesta is an amazing place of history to visit.
African-American inventor P. Johnson received an “eye protector” patent in 1880. The safety glasses we know today were created in 1914 by Garrett Morgan after he received a patent for his safety glasses he used in a gas mask he invented. Finally, in the 1940s, companies made eye protection for woodworking and machining workers mandatory.
A, love the flashbacks this episode brought. Work experience in a foundry and the fabrication block was just brill but I was placed in the mould making block. B, I never knew Geena Davis was a blacksmith....so talented..
My grandparents used to take me to a preserved blacksmithing workshop when I was young that looked a lot like this. They had a water wheel that powered all the hammers too. They do demonstrations. I believe its still open here in Devon. One of my favourite places to visit as a kid.
For us humans, ingenuity is our biggest strength and we should do our best to keep it alive lest we forget how to use it. Thank you, as a maker, "tourist" blacksmith, and all around "handyman", thank you for showing what we try to keep alive in this wonderful world of automation.
@@skahnk6550 I'm not sure what you are calling rubbish or what you are proposing as an alternative. Obviously, concepts are crucial to progress, but it still takes people & machines doing real work making real stuff for those ideas to be manifest.
I know this is not a react channel, but I think you should start a series of it. With all your knowledge and the way that you approach with respect and reverence every work you do... maybe this would work! Keep up the amazing work sir!
6:00 it was apoparently common enough that both are just referred to as a "Schmied", or smith, in colloquial german. There is technically a slight specialization for the farrier because the full word is "Hufschmied" (literally just "hoof smith"), but the more generalized term is still widely used for both.
I like almost all your videos but somehow this seemed extra great. I love the insight and excitement about the old tech. Not huge on the "react" format generally speaking but would love to see more examination of ye olde industry.
I live in semi-rural Oregon, and our local Ferrier just died last week. I never met the man, but apparently he was a blacksmith as well, and his skills were quite sought after in this area.
There's a "Triphammer Road" in Ithaca, NY, USA, where I grew up. It's named after the water powered triphammers that were used by the Ithaca Gun Company in the manufacture of their shotguns and other guns. I've explored the water tunnel on Fall Creek, that carried the water to the triphammer, and I own one of their 12 gauge Deer Slayer Shotguns, a factory second, double stamped on the receiver. Still a beautiful piece. Thank you for the history lesson. Fascinating!
I worked at a car factory. They had Massive presses of over 100meters long. The floor was shaking when they were in operation. You should go and check that out how they build a floor like that. It's amazing
That’s awesome: the amount of knowledge you’ll be getting thrown at you will be tremendous at first-like drinking from a firehose-but the possibilities are endless. Changed careers late in life, and quickly learned to keep my opinions to myself and follow the gruff old farts around. They know so much that has become background-it’s just landscape, so no one thinks to tell you-that just watching them teaches a lot of basic processes. Best of luck!
If you want to visit a factory that makes giant chain links for anchors, you sould visit Lister Chain & Forge in Washinton USA. I'm sure you'd be able to get a tour.
Didn’t Alec used to work with a ferier back in the old shop before he moved into this one the first time? Would be fun to have him back on just to talk shop with Alec again.
I LOVE these old videos!!! Watch them quite often honestly Lol I see there's not many viewers that appreciate how special this is and the fact that we can actually watch this men/woman work from a 100 years ago!! Just sad, really! My shop is basically an antique shop with a little electric Lol gotta cheat alittle when ya can, makes for a better product/finish too.
My grandad was an old style farmer so he owned as small amount of land and did both cows and his own hay, growing to feed them etc. He was totally on his own, other than his dog and got up at 5am every day no matter what. He used to take me to the local blacksmith used to love the smithy and watching him work.
I remember seeing huge red hot shackles through the open door of a workshop, when I was a teenager playing in the commercial port of Lorient (France). This was so fascinating. Its not too far from you, but there are pearhaps large forges closer in the UK. After some reasearch I found out that the company is Le Beon Manufacturing and seems to still be active in Lorient.
There's so much prerequisite knowledge and skill that just doesn't get the attention and dissemination it needs until it's too late. Not unlike how the lack of modern stone carvers caused a crisis in rebuilding Notre Dame. Keeping that history alive is so important.
I've always liked your videos but I gotta say this one definitely displayed your knowledge of the craft as a whole very well and while I already had a lot of respect for you before it's probably about doubled now lol
All I can hear is that clip from Ironman where Obediah Stane yells about building in a cave with a box of scraps. Yes, our ancestral artisans did amazing things with such simple tools and a massive amount of physical labor.
What’s impressive is how they forge enormous parts for ships and their engines, some engines being the size of a building, the crank shaft, monstrous pistons, the propellers, it’s mind boggling how they make such gigantic pieces.
My grand uncle was a black smith. This was way back then. I remember, even when he was 75, waving to say hello was the preferred way and giving him a hand no option.
Alec, a challenge. Using fridge magnets sift iron fillings from the dirt in your backyard. Fold and refold until purified. Then make a combat billhook out of it.
So awesome!!! I would love to see huge chain making as well. I do not know too many places here in the states making huge chains like the ones they used in the old ships. Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston I believe may still be making chains. Looking up big chains goes right to Game of thrones. I have never watched Game of thrones so I do not know why....
I was just looking up "forging using old blacksmithing methods" and coincidentally Alec posted a video about it 5 minutes before! I even thought "Wow the TH-cam algorithm is on point today" before I realized it was a brand new video. Lol!
Alec needs to take a trip out to the Center for Metal Arts in Johnstown, PA, the next time he comes to the US. They have several restored large steam hammers from the old Cambria company. They have a 2,000lb, and a 3,000lb functioning, but they also have a 2 ton H frame, and a 1 ton self contained
A lot of people don't get why everyone doesn't go for the latest and greatest tech. True that electrical powered devices are convenient, but the old stuff *exists*, and still does the job it was meant for, and it takes capital to replace it that could likely be spent better elsewhere at any given time. Not to mention these water or steam powered places were reliable at times like The Blitz, when lots of larger shops were busy with war effort and didn't have time to cater to "small stuff" like making the odd replacement parts for the tractors that are still supplying food, and they still ran when the power was out. Reminds me of when I was a teenager in our tool and die shop when I asked my stepfather why the US doesn't convert to metric, and he replied, "well, I could spend a hundred thousand dollars replacing all the screws and gears in the milling machines and grinders, or I could just multiply by 39.37"
Alec I really enjoyed your jewelry segments could you possibly make a Damascus wrist watch!! Damascus gears and internals!! I've been with you from the very beginning with the dirt floor workshop!! I think it would be your masterpiece and the Pinnacle of your skills!! I think you could do it!!
The fact that during all the years of my US public education that I was never taught that there were water driven power hammers in the 12th century is a tragedy. That puts so much more perspective at what items could be manufactured centuries ago and that they weren't much different than just a couple hundred years ago. It was always made to feel like everything made was with a hand hammer and anvil. These types of videos are fantastic.
There are many failures in the American education system, but I don't think that's one of them. What class would medieval manufacturing technology be taught in, anyway? (I learned about early use of trip hammers from reading Don Quixote, but that was as an adult and the story is based in the early 17th century.) Edit: typo
Totally different area, but same principle: my wife got me into medieval reenactment, and making your own clothes really does give you massive respect for how spoiled we are today. Even if you just buy modern industry-produced wool fabric and sow it by hand. Then try sourcing hand-woven fabric, made from hand-spun wool thread, hand-spun linen thread by people who grew their own flax, coated in beeswax from nearby bee hives, and all colored by dies grown and sourced yourself... The amount of time, effort and *value* in a single piece of clothing back them was absolutely insane. Contrast that to just sending for a new t-shirt by mail because your old one got a tiny bit worn.
Horace Lansford and Jonathan Tomilson screened Ruts & Pouring Steel at Sundance back in 2007. If you can find a copy, it is worth a look as they spent over 1000 hrs combing archives.
M.K blades are a global figure skate blade manufacturer headquartered in Sheffield. As a skater myself I think it would be incredibly interesting if you were able to visit them and dive into the details of figure skate blades!
This is why I can't stand people who crap on those who came before them, just dismissing prior generations wholesale through a modern day lens. The labor that built the world that we were allowed to springboard off of can not be overstated.
I'm pretty sure the guy at 11:30 is "wedging" the clay in order to mold that crucible. Wedging is the process of kneading and folding the clay multiple times in order to remove air bubbles and give it a more consistent internal structure.
Do you have footage of those other shops you mentioned? I love seeing the old shops and how they operate, if you have footage then please do a few episodes of those places if possible.
Note for 13:30 - this clip shows the 1500 ton Davy Press at Eveleigh and not one of their steam hammers. Sorry guys!
Please be sure to check out our sponsor: Dare to take this survival challenge? Come and find me in Whiteout Survival ☞ click.fan/WhiteoutSurvival_Alec
You can find the video that shows the steam hammers at Eveleigh in Australia here: th-cam.com/video/asi5Yh4t9VM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ZnoJnbKvg-EwDwF9
first
@@AlecSteele I think I see Mr. Pilkington!
Fart.
Fart.
If you don't mind traviling for your huge chain experience you have Ramnäs Bruk in sweden, about 1,5h from our largest airport. They make chain primarily for the offshore industry.
Uh hello Alec!!!
We have one here in Finland as well in Turku I think.
I also recommend Ramnas bruk as a visit. And ones you are in Sweden you must try to visit Björneborg Steel. It's not to far from Ramnas and it has among other things a huge hydraulik press that they use to make products up to 25meters and 45 tonnes.
From their website:
• Forging manipulator: Max. 80 tonnes and 200 tonne-metres
• Forging press: Pull-down type, 3600/4500-tonne forging/upsetting
• Ingot heating: Heating at 50°C/h from 700°C to 1150-1250°C
A Sweden trip would be awesome. There's some historic axe makers like Gransfors and Hultafors that would make a good visit for a video.
That would be a fun trip. All the chain, shackles, and wire for the offshore tug I work on comes from China. If I remember I’ll find the factory names from our certificates.
My dad owned a scrapyard for about 45 years. And we met a lot of old tradesmen through buying up and scraping their old pre WW1 engineering shops. And a lot of them had been labourers at various extinct trades in their lifetimes, the world would change, they had to learn a new trade. Very frequently my dad would ask them about that sort of thing, he liked to talk.
We met an old guy who had sailed around Cape Horn in 1890 on a Tea schooner, his finger-tips were all like clubs, from dragging day after day at the wet canvas. We met an old guy who was from Cornwall originally, and had been a fishing net-maker, and dad got him to make a flounder net for us. Truly astonishing to see the speed he could sew a net up.
The more things change, the more they change.
I read a story about a guy way back (ca 1400) that was out felling trees and lost the head of his axe into a frozen pond and decided it was better to risk death diving into the pond to get the axe head back than to return to the village without it. Just to give you an idea of how valuable these hand-made steel tools were to the people of the day.
I've heard that story as well! I don't think it was a matter of how valuable they were (certainly of more value than today), but more like the disparity in how much a tool like that costs vs. how much a woodcutter would make during that time, and how much the village relied upon that axe and the wood gathered to survive the winter. His livelihood, and possibly his family and village, hinged upon that axe, and it was likely a considerable amount of investment for a poor villager at the time. Or maybe he wasn't even a woodcutter, perhaps he was just trying to pay off a debt or something and the axe was loaned to him. Had he been more of what we'd consider middle-class, it wouldn't be such a life altering disaster to lose it. Like a hunter losing his bow, or an explorer losing his map, it was more important to that particular person. Iron and steel tools weren't terribly uncommon, even the lower castes of society had iron or steel tools, though the goods produced weren't exactly throwaway common as they are today. If you're hammering in a nail on project and it bends on a bad strike, you'll likely pull it and try with a new nail, tossing the old one in the junk bin or the trash...but back then you'd straighten it out and use it no question. If your house or barn burned down, you'd collect all the nails and rebuild. A nail might go through several burned houses in its lifetime until it finally became too damaged or corroded, at which point it was used to make outer door paneling and clinched...permanently damaging the nail and rendering it unusable again. That's where the term "dead as a door nail" came from!
@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper "permanently damaging the nail"
How does one do that? Do you just mean that it needed reforging and a heat-treatment before it could be used again?
It used to be iron ore and then it became a bloom, pig iron and wrought iron that was hammered into the shape of a nail.
And why would you use a damaged/corroded nail, that wasn't useful anywhere else, to secure the outer door. Seems a too important spot for a sub-standard nail.
If you only straighten the nails, that have been in a fire, you will find out that the nails are now annealed and rather soft. They would bend if struck by a hammer.
When you use a nail the normal way, it can move a bit when the wood swells/shrinks as it takes up/loses moisture.
When you fold over the pointy end, the nail can't move when the wood swells. Their relation is fixed.
Think "dead" means that it doesn't move, not that it is the last ever use of that bit of iron.....
@@DreadX10 There were plenty of reasons why they'd use certain nails for cinching, but the primary reason would be that they've become too thin in some spot or another, or damaged. Their use in a door means they were likely up to one final task, perhaps even more, so they started using the worst nails and progress up through the better nails until the door was constructed. These weren't castle doors, nor were they necessarily fortified, they were just doors on your average home or business that aren't expected with withstand marauders or a siege. Not even if you used freshly forged nails would that be the case. They were cinched more as a security measure to prevent someone from simply pulling a few nails out to gain access to the latch or lock on the other side of the door. Or, well, to steal your nails. I mean, a little street urchin back then could probably have made enough money just by walking around at night pulling a few easy to access nails out here and there to keep himself fed and clothed, maybe even enough for room and board.
The act of cinching the nail bends it far enough around that you introduce tiny stress fractures in the iron, meaning if you tried to straighten it out or use it for anything else, its strength would be permanently compromised. The more you bend iron, the more work-hardened it becomes, and the harder it becomes, the easier it is for cracks to develop. Of course, you could add them to iron bloom and work the iron back to a usable material again, but at that point it's no longer a nail and all you're really accomplishing is reducing the iron ore necessary to make a bloom. The nails may not have been dead when they went into the door, but they're dead as far as nails are concerned after that point.
5:30 You should ask the company Thiele GmbH in Germany! They make chains for industrial purposes, mining and bulk material moving.
my father used to say that relining a blast furnace was the hottest job going. they would shut it down then go in wearing thermal suits and wooden clogs and jack hammer the lining off the walls and reline it and have it back up and running within 3 days.
16:38 Its actually crazy how much we all take it for granted. We are living on the backs of titans.
Don't worry.
It will all come apart soon.
@@EricDMMiller I lived though a good portion of the cold war. Back then it was all about to come apart on a monthly basis. Just shut off the news and disable your social media accounts, and the crippling fear goes away.
Acquired a 2nd hand copy of James Burke’s Connections some 3 decades back. The progression of metallurgy and machining was eye opening: how steam engines became practical because of progressively better materials and boring and measuring processes prompted by the production of cannons. Making the tools to make the tools.
I started exploring our mechanical world with the Foxfire books in the 70s. Now I can watch videos like Alex’s, The Secret Life of Machines, and the Connections TV shows on yt. Pretty cool
7:27 This Hammer is called an Ajax here in Austria. I am also using one of these, you can find videos on my channel of me using it. In my opinion these are some of the best hammers from the time and they still do a phenomenal job!
Love from Austria 🇦🇹
This was super interesting to see! One note (from someone who has *some* experience with ceramics, but not a lot): unless that clay for the crucibles is *very* different from other ceramics, there would be days if not weeks in between the crucible being shaped and anything being melted in it, as the clay needs to dry out completely before being fired (or it'll explode when fired, from the water in the clay boiling inside the hardening clay). Depending on the specifics of the clay and the desired outcome it might go through one or several firing cycles, each of which takes at least a day, though likely more like two to three (as the kiln takes hours to get to temperature, then spends a bit there, before taking probably a day if not more to cool down, especially if it's a large kiln. My guess is that they were mass producing these crucibles so that they always had plentiful stock at hand. Oh, and the stomping is likely a form of wedging of clay, which serves to mix it to a homogeneous consistency and get rid of air bubbles in the clay, both of which help avoid cracking during drying and firing.
Alec I dare you to make a sword without any power tools
That would be great
Didn't he already do that? Or was it just a knife
Maybe something u havent tried
@@bramweinreder2346 I think it was just a knife.
How many times have you already commented this ? I think I have seen one of your comments bevore, but yea that would be a great video. I hope Alec sees this comment and acutally does it.
Nothing like Alec revisiting his past lives as a blacksmith!
Highly recommend 'welding the big ring' a video from the Westinghouse works in the 1910s. A team of strikers are closing up the enormous weld with sledges then it goes under a steam hammer at welding heat. It has a whole army of dudes just to move the ring. Impressive to see!
Wow, now THAT was work. Maybe making 25 cents an hour back then.
This was a great video! Awesome to get your perspective on these old videos. I especially liked hearing you rattling off the names of the tools and sharing details of their uses as they came up.
This is why I watch TH-cam to see other people who are knowledgeable, eager to learn and extremely into their craft make videos that the rest of us can learn and enjoy by proxy
I saw a water-poewered forge at a historical/experimental archeology location in Austria some m years ago. Bellows and hammer were water-driven. Fascinating!
"I've got multiple irons in the fire" nice bit of etymological preservation there.
My dad apprenticed in the steel industry in the Midlands in the late 1940s. Eventually becoming an industrial metallurgist, which took his young family (me and my siblings) to Plymouth. Then a move to Canada in 1967. He would have very much enjoyed your videos, Alec.
During the video you mention, I believe Baker Street, which reminded me of your old a video per day at the Barker Street forge. It’s great to see you come so far along since then!
The Hagley museum in Wilmington, Delaware has an entire machinist shop circa the mid 1800s which runs off a water turbine, rope pulleys and belts and line shafts. Its also got the biggest lathe I've ever seen. We just went yesterday and it was awesome.
2:00 hence the "too many irons in the fire"
I watched woodworking videos from archives and these people were insane. In a good way. They worked at the same speed as a modern power tool. Only, that it was pure muscle power and re-sharpening their tools every few working operations.
Hey, thanks for narrating those old videos. I love watching stuff like that to remind me that life isn't _that_ different today, but it's really nice to know what is actually going on in those.
Alec, you're an inspiration to all mech engineers out there. Your competence and knowledge is incredible. Your content makes my days better!
I worked forging front axles for large trucks at Rockwell Int. in New Castle, PA on 16,000# steam hammers converted to air pressure. At Park Drop in Cleveland, OH we used what you're referring to as power hammers that we called open frame hammers. We used mostly Erie and Chambersburg closed frame hammers for closed die forging. We used the small open frame hammers for preforming or roughing into shape before reheating and sending the material into the large hammers. Park Drop had 20K, 35K, and a 50K pound hammers running on steam. Some of the things we produced were large crankshafts for locomotives and the Electric Boat Company. We forged those cranks in closed dies that were nearly 14' long. There was a lot of additional forging equipment on site at the time but it's all gone now. I worked my entire career in mostly closed die forging.
Surprising (to me) most large shops spent a lot of time correcting "symptoms" of problems as opposed to the actual problem. The main thing I brought to the table was turning that around and correcting the mindset to arrive at proper solutions.
The way the anvil dipped a little on each strike has me nervous.
This video was great. I wish more creators would look at historical footage like this. Awesome stuff Alec! Thank you.
My dad grew up in a small town/village in rural Iowa ca. 1920. When our family visited some decades later, Dad was interested to notice that the old blacksmith's shop (which did shoe horses back in the day) had become an auto service garage. There were still some bits in there that he remembered from his youth, though. I suspect that the transition from horse repair (so to speak) to auto repair was very common indeed.
I really enjoyed this video, it was a nice change of pace, and I also found it very interesting to see the machines (and how they powered them) back in the day. I'd be interested to see a reaction video of traditional Japanese forging from you. Since you have done countless Damascus videos (I can only assume you have a love for the craft) and it would also be intriguing to see how they did it back in the day. If there is video evidence that is. Anyway, love all the videos you make, keep up the great work!
I absolutely love massive metalwork machines from the last century! This video is so great! Thank you! 🧡
This was really cool to see, the combination of the old video's and your expert commentary.
2:22 let's talk about how every single spark is hitting him square in the face too... like just imagine the amount of people who lost their eyes this way... even with today's modern eye protection gear i have had 3 steel shards removed from my eyeball throughout the last 8 years or so
I know virtually nothing about smithing or metallurgy (aside from what I've picked up over the years piecemeal or as part of roleplaying games lol) but I've been watching a lot of your videos recently; it's great to see someone who's passionate and curious about their craft and can explain it in a way that's understandable for us filthy casuals. Really enjoying your content!
That was absolutely fascinating! Great stuff!
Massively massively interesting!! And well researched and edited, of course!
Great narration of old smithing Alec. Looking forward to the chain factory tour, you shoeing a horse, and centering a tug of war.
Hey Alec I'm glad to see you have another video out so soon. I personally would watch a new one every day if you put it out. Been watching from the beginning. Daily vlog style is a lot of work but. Off topic videos are still entertaining to me.
Lister Chain & Forge is a leading US manufacturer of large diameter anchor chains for the US Navy, Coast Guard, and commercial customers.
I just got a job trial as a welder fabricator with a very famous ironworks that did work on the casket for the unknown soldier among many other cool things. Im learning fast and it's by far the best job Ive ever had, In a few short weeks Ive made railings that will go on a castle, steel safety fences built for a archaeological monument and lots of other cool stuff. Steel and iron working in the UK is still alive and isnt going anywhere.
Watching enthusiastically from Sweden here. As you probably know we have a very long history of efficient smithing and iron/steel industry. In our local community house the old triphammers are laid out for admiration. Whereever you go in Dalarna you will often find beautiful slag. There are old, and some very old, smelters and hammer mills all around along the streams. There are also chain factories, both active ones and museums. And the old "modern" steel factory here in Avesta is an amazing place of history to visit.
African-American inventor P. Johnson received an “eye protector” patent in 1880. The safety glasses we know today were created in 1914 by Garrett Morgan after he received a patent for his safety glasses he used in a gas mask he invented. Finally, in the 1940s, companies made eye protection for woodworking and machining workers mandatory.
I used to work in Digbeth in Birmingham UK, and there's a working blacksmith's shop next to The Old Crown pub. It always amazed me to see it there.
6:33 Dude is JACKED! I'm been doing forgework for 12+ years and in good shape, but holy smokes, man!
A, love the flashbacks this episode brought. Work experience in a foundry and the fabrication block was just brill but I was placed in the mould making block.
B, I never knew Geena Davis was a blacksmith....so talented..
ESCO makes really big chain for their dragline buckets. It's usually a day or more for us to weld a single crack.
I'd have been even more thrilled if you'd found footage of the Creusot steam hammer in action. Nice change of pace this episode. Thanks guys.
My grandparents used to take me to a preserved blacksmithing workshop when I was young that looked a lot like this. They had a water wheel that powered all the hammers too. They do demonstrations. I believe its still open here in Devon. One of my favourite places to visit as a kid.
Nice to see Alec geeking over old time machinery.
For us humans, ingenuity is our biggest strength and we should do our best to keep it alive lest we forget how to use it. Thank you, as a maker, "tourist" blacksmith, and all around "handyman", thank you for showing what we try to keep alive in this wonderful world of automation.
Thank you for being my new favorite channel!
THIS is how you build a civilization! Not by clever words in curtained rooms, but by sweat and sound and long days in the heat and cold.
Rubbish... for every wright brother there's a hunter brother... for every tesla there's a william Beveridge
@@skahnk6550 I'm not sure what you are calling rubbish or what you are proposing as an alternative. Obviously, concepts are crucial to progress, but it still takes people & machines doing real work making real stuff for those ideas to be manifest.
Very cool insight! Thanks, Alec!
I know this is not a react channel, but I think you should start a series of it. With all your knowledge and the way that you approach with respect and reverence every work you do... maybe this would work!
Keep up the amazing work sir!
6:00 it was apoparently common enough that both are just referred to as a "Schmied", or smith, in colloquial german. There is technically a slight specialization for the farrier because the full word is "Hufschmied" (literally just "hoof smith"), but the more generalized term is still widely used for both.
"We made this big ass chain, to move your big ass mother" - 1940s chain makers, moments before certain death
This was like 100x time more informative then I thought it was gonna be 🤯 and an excellent trip through history as well.
I like almost all your videos but somehow this seemed extra great. I love the insight and excitement about the old tech. Not huge on the "react" format generally speaking but would love to see more examination of ye olde industry.
Enjoyed that. More in the future please.
I live in semi-rural Oregon, and our local Ferrier just died last week. I never met the man, but apparently he was a blacksmith as well, and his skills were quite sought after in this area.
There's a "Triphammer Road" in Ithaca, NY, USA, where I grew up. It's named after the water powered triphammers that were used by the Ithaca Gun Company in the manufacture of their shotguns and other guns. I've explored the water tunnel on Fall Creek, that carried the water to the triphammer, and I own one of their 12 gauge Deer Slayer Shotguns, a factory second, double stamped on the receiver. Still a beautiful piece. Thank you for the history lesson. Fascinating!
Alex...... thank you for showing us this piece of history!.... absolutely fascinating!
That's a man that knows what he's talking about. So much passion
A Shears restoration would make a great video. Loving the work Alec.
I worked at a car factory. They had Massive presses of over 100meters long. The floor was shaking when they were in operation. You should go and check that out how they build a floor like that. It's amazing
That’s awesome: the amount of knowledge you’ll be getting thrown at you will be tremendous at first-like drinking from a firehose-but the possibilities are endless. Changed careers late in life, and quickly learned to keep my opinions to myself and follow the gruff old farts around. They know so much that has become background-it’s just landscape, so no one thinks to tell you-that just watching them teaches a lot of basic processes. Best of luck!
Crud: meant as reply to RigmodsModding below and won’t allow edit or delete
Ahhhh the Tarantino name drop was perfect Jamie 😂😂
If you want to visit a factory that makes giant chain links for anchors, you sould visit Lister Chain & Forge in Washinton USA. I'm sure you'd be able to get a tour.
When ships were made of wood and the men were made of steel...
These men built the foundations of modern civilization.
Didn’t Alec used to work with a ferier back in the old shop before he moved into this one the first time? Would be fun to have him back on just to talk shop with Alec again.
I LOVE these old videos!!! Watch them quite often honestly Lol I see there's not many viewers that appreciate how special this is and the fact that we can actually watch this men/woman work from a 100 years ago!! Just sad, really! My shop is basically an antique shop with a little electric Lol gotta cheat alittle when ya can, makes for a better product/finish too.
loved the presentation, Alec
Nice to see you giving the excellent Forncett steam museum a mention! I was a volunteer there for a few years. 👍
My grandfather was 8 when he began working in his town's (Xenia Ohio) blacksmith shop. His 'internship' started with working the bellows.
My grandad was an old style farmer so he owned as small amount of land and did both cows and his own hay, growing to feed them etc. He was totally on his own, other than his dog and got up at 5am every day no matter what. He used to take me to the local blacksmith used to love the smithy and watching him work.
I remember seeing huge red hot shackles through the open door of a workshop, when I was a teenager playing in the commercial port of Lorient (France). This was so fascinating. Its not too far from you, but there are pearhaps large forges closer in the UK. After some reasearch I found out that the company is Le Beon Manufacturing and seems to still be active in Lorient.
There's so much prerequisite knowledge and skill that just doesn't get the attention and dissemination it needs until it's too late. Not unlike how the lack of modern stone carvers caused a crisis in rebuilding Notre Dame. Keeping that history alive is so important.
I've always liked your videos but I gotta say this one definitely displayed your knowledge of the craft as a whole very well and while I already had a lot of respect for you before it's probably about doubled now lol
All I can hear is that clip from Ironman where Obediah Stane yells about building in a cave with a box of scraps. Yes, our ancestral artisans did amazing things with such simple tools and a massive amount of physical labor.
What’s impressive is how they forge enormous parts for ships and their engines, some engines being the size of a building, the crank shaft, monstrous pistons, the propellers, it’s mind boggling how they make such gigantic pieces.
Fun fact 40 below zero C and 40 below zero “Freedomheight “ are the same temperature
Freedom meets science.
I learned that one from the Puzzler on a Car Talk episode a few decades back. I miss Saturdays in the garage with those boys and their crazy laughter
@@Scot-p1v I learned that watching an episode of Garage54
My grand uncle was a black smith. This was way back then. I remember, even when he was 75, waving to say hello was the preferred way and giving him a hand no option.
Been watching your videos for a while as they're so entertaining and would love to learn some blacksmithing someday as it really peaks my interest.
Alec, a challenge. Using fridge magnets sift iron fillings from the dirt in your backyard. Fold and refold until purified. Then make a combat billhook out of it.
So awesome!!! I would love to see huge chain making as well. I do not know too many places here in the states making huge chains like the ones they used in the old ships. Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston I believe may still be making chains. Looking up big chains goes right to Game of thrones. I have never watched Game of thrones so I do not know why....
a large chain factory tour would be absolutely sick! crazy to see how they used to do it
I was just looking up "forging using old blacksmithing methods" and coincidentally Alec posted a video about it 5 minutes before!
I even thought "Wow the TH-cam algorithm is on point today" before I realized it was a brand new video. Lol!
It’s always so cool to see the fore-bearers of the trade and how different things are now.
Alec needs to take a trip out to the Center for Metal Arts in Johnstown, PA, the next time he comes to the US. They have several restored large steam hammers from the old Cambria company. They have a 2,000lb, and a 3,000lb functioning, but they also have a 2 ton H frame, and a 1 ton self contained
A lot of people don't get why everyone doesn't go for the latest and greatest tech. True that electrical powered devices are convenient, but the old stuff *exists*, and still does the job it was meant for, and it takes capital to replace it that could likely be spent better elsewhere at any given time. Not to mention these water or steam powered places were reliable at times like The Blitz, when lots of larger shops were busy with war effort and didn't have time to cater to "small stuff" like making the odd replacement parts for the tractors that are still supplying food, and they still ran when the power was out. Reminds me of when I was a teenager in our tool and die shop when I asked my stepfather why the US doesn't convert to metric, and he replied, "well, I could spend a hundred thousand dollars replacing all the screws and gears in the milling machines and grinders, or I could just multiply by 39.37"
Alec I really enjoyed your jewelry segments could you possibly make a Damascus wrist watch!! Damascus gears and internals!! I've been with you from the very beginning with the dirt floor workshop!! I think it would be your masterpiece and the Pinnacle of your skills!! I think you could do it!!
The fact that during all the years of my US public education that I was never taught that there were water driven power hammers in the 12th century is a tragedy. That puts so much more perspective at what items could be manufactured centuries ago and that they weren't much different than just a couple hundred years ago. It was always made to feel like everything made was with a hand hammer and anvil.
These types of videos are fantastic.
There are many failures in the American education system, but I don't think that's one of them. What class would medieval manufacturing technology be taught in, anyway?
(I learned about early use of trip hammers from reading Don Quixote, but that was as an adult and the story is based in the early 17th century.)
Edit: typo
If my calculations are correct, the giant chain link they are hammering on @4:25 is 200+ lbs of steel! That's a lot of weight to try to hold still..😵
Those guy are straight gangster!
Nice reminder we stand on the shoulders of giants! Thanks Alec
Totally different area, but same principle: my wife got me into medieval reenactment, and making your own clothes really does give you massive respect for how spoiled we are today. Even if you just buy modern industry-produced wool fabric and sow it by hand. Then try sourcing hand-woven fabric, made from hand-spun wool thread, hand-spun linen thread by people who grew their own flax, coated in beeswax from nearby bee hives, and all colored by dies grown and sourced yourself...
The amount of time, effort and *value* in a single piece of clothing back them was absolutely insane. Contrast that to just sending for a new t-shirt by mail because your old one got a tiny bit worn.
Alec... I think you want a shear! Maybe you can build one... cool project and you have all the necessary tools!
Wonderfull video!
The Tarantino joke at 11:40 🤣
The man liked his feet
Can't wait to show this to my 84yr old dad tomorrow. Born and bred in Sheffield and worked in forges as a lad.
Horace Lansford and Jonathan Tomilson screened Ruts & Pouring Steel at Sundance back in 2007. If you can find a copy, it is worth a look as they spent over 1000 hrs combing archives.
M.K blades are a global figure skate blade manufacturer headquartered in Sheffield. As a skater myself I think it would be incredibly interesting if you were able to visit them and dive into the details of figure skate blades!
This is why I can't stand people who crap on those who came before them, just dismissing prior generations wholesale through a modern day lens. The labor that built the world that we were allowed to springboard off of can not be overstated.
I'm pretty sure the guy at 11:30 is "wedging" the clay in order to mold that crucible. Wedging is the process of kneading and folding the clay multiple times in order to remove air bubbles and give it a more consistent internal structure.
Do you have footage of those other shops you mentioned? I love seeing the old shops and how they operate, if you have footage then please do a few episodes of those places if possible.