Hall Ironworks: December 2014

It's been a little over a month since my last blog update. I haven't forgotten about you all, I promise.

There's a lot going on a Hall Ironworks right now, between my commissions and the projects Wayne has had rolling... where to begin?

First off, this is my first holiday season in the blacksmithing/bladesmithing world and so far I like it. It's nice knowing that people are considering my work as gifts for someone they care for. It really is a good feeling, and I'm blessed to know the wide range of good, earnest people that I do.

But enough with that mushy mushy stuff, on to some hammerin'.

Standard hawk on the bottom.
Lawnmower on the top.

There are some things that I can't quite show until after Christmas, but Wayne has just completed a suuuuper cool project that's different than he's ever done. I'll post pictures after the holidays, but for now, he's a few axes and hawks I've forged. Some have become gifts, some were before the holiday season and were just commissions. The ax forged from 5160 leaf spring and a lawnmower blade came out far better than expected, but it was really tough to get it stick while using the coal forge. When tried in the gas forge, it stuck right away. Evidently, a lot of these mower blades have a high amount of chromium in them, which makes them a pain to forgeweld to themselves or carbon steel. Needless to say, it was an excellent lesson in forge welding for myself. I would list the demensions of the steel I started with, but I couldn't tell you due to how long this was a WIP (work in progress).

Freshly forged standard hawk.

I've also forged my first mouse hawk, and I really like forging these. They're nifty little bastards, a lot of folks un-mount them and use them for skinning, evidently! I'd like to make more of these. For my full size hawks, I start with 10 inches of 1/4 inch thick by 1 1/4 wide flat bar mild steel, but the mouse hawks I only start with 8 inches. It makes a big difference in size, despite only losing two inches of material. I do find it easier to shape the eye with the full size mandrel rather than the small mandrel.

My little mouse hawk!

I'm currently working a knife for a Christmas gift for someone in my family (not going to say who, they may be reading this!) but it's a clip-point hunter made from an old bastard mill file with a walnut handle. I've really enjoyed this one, too. There's a lot of passion going into this. It was a drop off from my previous file knife made for my friend Nick. I forged the rough shape, forged the bevel, and started clean up. The more and more I carve and work with wood, the more it grows on me, especially walnut. The wood has so much character, it is dense enough to make a solid handle, yet isn't a nightmare to carve. Douse it in a few coats of Tru-Oil and you've got a deep, beautiful finish. I have yet to finish polishing and forge the bolster, but I'm going to whip up some mokume-gane this weekend (redneck style) that will become the bolster for this knife and maybe some Christmas gifts.

One of the cool things Wayne and I did back in the beginning of November was head up to Odon, Indiana for an Indiana Blacksmith Association hammer in. Holy COW it was cool. Lots of awesome people, and it was like a bottomless well of knowledge. Everyone was so welcoming and pretty damn funny, too. The coolest part was a 200lb Bradley hammer than ran from the drive of a tractor. There's a video below.

They IBA guys hanging around the fire, forging damascus.

And finally, here's an image dump of some works in progress, some cool stuff Wayne made, and other goodies. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays, folks... whatever your beliefs are!