beginning bladesmithing/ forging a machete 2 of 2

[graphixkillzzz]

to get techniques down you should start small: 50 lb anvil, paint can propane forge (very easy to make, YouTube it), 2 lb hammer, and make a knife first before you make anything else. doesn't really matter, you two looked like you were having fun so fuggit ^_^v but still for learning, start small. there are tons of info on blacksmithing all over YouTube ;)

[Cjrm3gtr]

I've learned a lot.

[CrotchGromin]

holy FUCK im a blacksmith and you guys piss me the fuck off. I hope noone watches this and think they learned anything, im so sick of these fucking posers putting this shit on youtube. 1. you know nothing about coal, that one peice is to big to heat a house.2. you swing that hammer like a bitch, get a cross-peen faggot.3. you dont know dick about forges or fires for that matter.4.you dont heat your steel enough.

If you seriously wanna learn something about blacksmithing, dont watch these fucks.

[suribache2]

dont start the fire with a large piece of coal... it just doesnt work... use small / med sizes and it will work much better. nice set up though

[TheSilverwolf19]

practice makes perfect, keep trying the more u fail the more ull learn.

[spicecrop]

we call it nigger rigged in Arizona, who the hell is Jerry?

[spicecrop]

no back seat camera man talking please.

[ARTCARNAVLE]

nice magnum kukri look. for small knife projects u could practice with soft eleuminum and tin.

[offenwrong]

from 0:00 to 1:11....would that be the same concept as filling a styrophom cup half full of water and placing it in a fire...the cup wont burn while there is water inside..it just burns down to water level

[Kapitannuss]

i dont think this is a bad try of forging but you realy need the right tecnique

like how to handle a hammer and so on

[gedkidd17]

your sledgehammer head is the same size as my shophammer's

[Vikingman889]

if you just watched these two rich kids who bought all these tools and stuff then think they know what there doing (you can trust me they dont) youve wasted 20 minutes of your life. ill admit that the forge they made is good but they hardly know what there doing.....

[CalvinJGreen]

@Vikingman889 Well if you think you have some information we are missing I would love to hear some detailed feedback. I'll admit I'm no master smith or even much of a journeyman. We did this a while ago we've learned since then and it's always a continuing process. As for us being rich, I certainly wish that were true lol! Then we could have just bought a propane forge, all the necessary tongs, hammers and a decent anvil. I would also be greatful if you took a look at the finished product.

[liveecarbme]

@Vikingman889 Make your own vid and show the right way...sure beats knocking folks on the web.

[Mr420rush]

@Vikingman889 lmfao!!! Why do you asume they are rich? I am poor as shit and have WAY better tools then them

[redman101y]

you say in this video, you should not just go out there and expect to know everything. you sir, think that you know everything just because you know bladesmithing terms and vocabulary, but in reality this is your first project and you honestly know nothing because you have never had any experience, I agree that you should research it beforehand, but actually doing it will give you the best learning experience.

[CalvinJGreen]

@redman101y Well let me just say that this was NOT our first project. This was our first sucessful project; predated by a dozen or so rather laughable attempts at making knives out of welding stock bought from home depot. Also this video is at least three years old, since then there have been many more failures and sucesses. I urge people to do reasearch so they won't find to their discoragement that they dont know everything, but instead approach with a respect for the difficulty of the artform

[m23cbs]

sorry to say but you guys arent getting your steel nearly not enough, if you get it a dull yellow colour the sledge hammer wont be necessary. other than that i think its a great set up for the beginning blacksmith

[CalvinJGreen]

@m23cbs Lol Yea I know this whole setup is old news; I actually just finished the blade you see being forged here using a much better assortment of tools. Check it out on my channel.

[bielfm]

how long can that forge burn?

[CalvinJGreen]

@bielfm Depends on the amount of fuel; I ran it for around 5 hours before wih a couple of re-fuelings.

[TheBodhi859]

Great video. I'd really like to make blacksmithing a hobby aswell. I would assume it could take some time to make a great piece of work.

[CalvinJGreen]

@TheBodhi859 Heck yea! We had alot of projects tossed aside before we even made a functional blade! Do as much research as you can stomach before you fire up and start hammering!

[garrett2119]

if you break up the large peice of coal into smaller peices it will burn down faster and you wont lose as much coal while waiting for it to burn down

[Sion428]

how do you get your clinker out and can you do it while forging???

[perculti]

you also might want to put in some kind of air regulator in your supply system... because that steel shouldn't probably be warmer than a light cherry to just past deep red to get the best hardness from your temper...

[StoopidProductions10]

dis wuz extremely gay

[30Fathom]

see when your coal catches if you spray it with a little water it'll burn the carbon off much quicker and means a hella lot less smoke, i use an empty flash bottle but just any "scooshy" bottle will do lol

[blargypie]

+ i live in a junk yard so man i got all the shit u just said i got old fashion car springs and files would u sugest useing a small one first

[603881]

@blargypie

Cal and I (being the other guy in the video) would recommend that you take whatever time you feel is necessary to practice making blows on a "scrap piece" first. After that, you can make judgments about your comfort zone better than anyone online can do for you.

Good luck.

[blargypie]

i made a machete once but it wasnt forged it was aluminum that i harerd down and used a knive shapener and a grinder ill have to show u

[CalvinJGreen]

Aluminum is an interesting metal to work with, its very malleable to bending even at low temps but when you use abrasion (bench grinders sanders etc.) it can become stubborn. That being said aluminum is still not a resilient metal so in terms of use as a blade its not effective. If your still interested in making a blade I would suggest finding some high carbon steel (lawnmower blades, files, car springs,) and use the same stock removal techniques you used on your machete.

[vince38curious2]

EVER thought about breaking that huge ass chunk of coal with your hammer ??

[CalvinJGreen]

Would you mind being more specific please? Im open to constructive criticism.

[CalvinJGreen]

Good question. Other usable bits of scrap steel include old metal files, rasps, coil springs and railroad spikes marked HC. If you dont mind spending money bar-stock is purchasable at knife makers supply sites like Texas knife. Acquiring an anvil is a bit tricky if you know someone who may have one theres a good chance you could get it for cheap because of its use is so specific. Other places include flea markets garage sales, etcetera. Check out pugatory ironworks channel on youtube for more.

[askAlanNow]

what steel can you use besides leaf springs thats easily accesible. And were can you find an anvail or that otherthing you guys were useing.

[PuYanHui]

I was wondering if you were going to talk me to death. One of the biggest problems with videos is that people think that everything they say is important. Edit. Edit Edit.

[CalvinJGreen]

Yea I know most people just want to see us hit some metal and I agree that we talk a bit much, but the fact is the details are everything in this craft. Its not that we think we know everything or that everything we say is important; its just that I wanted to provide all the info that we had to find ourselves to the folks wanting to learn.

[603881]

Also, there is this wonderful thing called a volume control and the amazing ability to skip ahead in videos. I love how someone expects we owe them something because we post information on a public forum.

[acidorian]

"the smoke created by the sulfur can cause huge amounts of damage to your lungs"

It Seems that there is a LOT of confusion and misinformation about the sulfur in coal and potential threats to your lungs or your metal. First of all - the sulfur in coal smoke is sulfur dioxide which DOES NOT redily become sulfuric acid when encountering moisture. Coal smoke WILL NOT turn to sulfuric acid in your lungs. The health hazards of the other components in smoke are minimal; stop with the misinformation.

[DevDeathRay]

i appreciate your desire to educate people; misinformation is a terrible thing. As such, I would really urge you to do some actual research on the respiratory damage caused by coal soot and smoke. You are right about the sulfur, but you are wrong about the hazards of coal smoke in general.

[perculti]

@DevDeathRay actually in a well ventilated environment it's not that big a deal... most of blacksmiths work in a small shop INDOORS and that's what causes the respiratory problems...

[drahcirdier]

Nice vid. I am reminded of my first forging experiences....ahhh..... One thing i quickly discovered, was how totally un-complicated a forge can be...My first one was free-standing, like yours, but i quickly found that a hole in the ground and a metal pipe make an equally, if not more effective forge! simplicity is great eh?

If you have a spare patch of ground somewhere you might like to try it, as the ground provides fantastic insulation, and you can get a mighty hot fire going.

Keep it up. :)

[CalvinJGreen]

Funny you should bring that up , because our first "forge" was exactly as you mentioned, a hole in the ground covered by a wok with the air duct pipe you saw in the vid. It was ok but I consider a forge thats at least waist level to be an upgrade, just recently we have both upgraded to purpose built coal forges with hand crank fans. You could really compare our acquirement of more professional tools as somewhat of an evolutionary process. ;)

[rendiss214]

sweet deal, yall make use of the limited resources you have and turn it into something awesome

[TechnicusJoe]

Great video guys! a tip for making the coal turn in to coke faster: make small nuggets and make'em wet so that the steam will turn them faster in to coke, really works!

[Locker344]

u guys make this look so easy

[flipendaniel]

how did you buy the leaf spring was it sold one slat?

[CalvinJGreen]

:) buy? Who said anything about buy? In this hobby its all about scraps and what you can get for free. We went down to an abandoned scrap yard by my house with a Radio Flyer wagon (we werent driving at the time) and haled back a whole 1/4 of a suspension system wheel tire and all. I had to hack the whole thing apart with an angle grinder to get to the springs since all the bolts were rusted on tight.

[vince38curious2]

@CalvinJGreen CHEAPER IS BETTER IN THIS GAME LOL I just managed to get a fork off a forklift to make my anvil for 36 bucks now that is cheap when you think it should have cost 500 bucks

[CalvinJGreen]

Absolutely, i'd like to know how well that forklift fork works for you, dose in clang or dose it have a more pleasant ring? And how are you planning to secure it?

[vince38curious2]

@CalvinJGreen It rings like a bell and works pretty dam well. I still have to get it cut into pieces the right size so I can make an anvil like shape BUT so far the work I have done has been no different from working on a normal anvil. It is made of EN45 tool steel.

[vince38curious2]

@CalvinJGreen When I am finished welding the 3 pieces together I will be welding 2 X 1 foot long 4 inch wide 2 inch high sections of C channel to the base for a foot and then bolt it to the top of a nice log of red gum.

[flipendaniel]

what is coak?

[CalvinJGreen]

I thought we covered it in the first video, but in case we did not coke is simply raw, fresh coal that has been burnt long enough to remove any undesirable impurities such as sulfur. Youll know you have coke when those big heavy lumps of coal break apart into small light pieces that feel almost like packing peanuts. Also the smoke from the fire will have lessened from pitch black to white.

Hope this helps.

[trannus]

good work guys,i like the enthusiasm,for me blacksmithing is a spiritual thing,keep pounding,and i hope to see final product soon

[username2274317]

you talk so much lol

[CalvinJGreen]

There is alot to say on the subject. Lol, we spent the better part of a year or so trying to figure out all this stuff for ourselves!

[username2274317]

i know i've spent months looking up resurch about this to lol

great vids

[lizardinc]

that looks pretty good guys.

i like the set up.

might be worth investing in another hammer or two though.

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks, allready taken care of.

[boredism07]

this is a great quick setup,but one thing you guys forgot to mention is that, the smoke created by the sulfur can cause huge amounts of damage to your lungs, the sulfur from fresh coal being burned hits the moister in your lungs and turned into sulfuric acid which obviously damages the lungs. i myself am a blacksmith and have learned that if you keep finding that you have black "snot" your breathing in to much smoke. i suggest getting a fan to blow the smoke away the opposite of the anvil

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks for your comment and your concern. We are both well aware of the hazards of inhaling the smoke that comes from the coal but we have not had any problems with black snot keeping in mind that we always work out in the open air and are on our feet at all times.

[Bertziethegreat]

I would highly suggest building a more permanent, enclosed forge, as it will allow you heat the metal more quickly and a bigger chunk of it at a time as opposed to small part you're doing.

[CalvinJGreen]

We actually just obtained a professionally used forge from a friend of ours whose Grandfather was a blacksmith. It has a hand- crank blower like we mentioned in the video; works really great! But still the old one worked just fine.

[Aqualiteking]

I recommend that you use charcoal because you can make it your self, it's cleaner and it goes hotter

[CalvinJGreen]

You can make charcoal yourself it is clearner and it may burn hotter (not really Shure). But you need alot of wood because charcaol burns at least three times faster than coal.

Thanks for the advice but we like coal, it's not that exepnsive anyway.

[CalvinJGreen]

New video comming soon!

[knifeaddict]

I would suggest that you get an assortment of hammers and possibly some more manageable ones

[CalvinJGreen]

Already done! A friend of ours actually had an old relative who was a professional blacksmith during the great depression. His family gave us all of the old equipment including tongs, hammers a forge with crank fan and even a 175lb English anvil.

[captaincake5]

all the advice you give is great and your forge system looks excelent! i love the coal idea, but i use wood, since i have some =\

you guys look very effecient and u definately know what you are talking about! 5/5 great job =]

[Heavymetalfreak81]

Hey Calvin, it's me Jordan. That's some solid work there... And yes, I rated this video five stars. So please don't kill me with the machete when it's finished!

[JVic1992]

Learn something new everyday! great video, quite informative. can't wait to see more.

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks!

[NaturalBushcraft]

Look forward to seeing the finished product. Great work guys! I'll be subscribing. :)

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks! It could be some time before we actually finish the machete. But In the mean-time I was thinking of doing a video on some of the knives I have finished recently.

[NaturalBushcraft]

Yeah that would be great! Btw I documented making my first knife out of an old metal-file at my site NaturalBushcraft CO UK

You might wana check it out.

[CalvinJGreen]

I did check it out and it looks great! I was really impressed that you did all that on an angle grinder! If you want to fix your bevel look in to getting a belt grinder, there is no better tool for putting on a good edge. Ryobi makes a decent one for about eighty dollars U.S.

[JaKeth3snake]

I know what you meen by being able to watch a video made by a pro that has very good information, but alot is left out. The problem is there is no "one" video that tells you everything. Such a thing would give away the whole point of learning and trial and error. I really like your work and am going ot subscribe. I'm not forging my own steel yet, just making kinves from boughten steel but I wil get to forging one day. Thanks for the vid. :)

[CalvinJGreen]

Thats a good point, but what I was talking about was videos done on specific parts/concepts of blacksmithing, forging knife making etcetera. If youre going to do a video on heat treating knives for example, you better make sure to bring up that not all steel is heat treated the same way.I dont know how you could cover afore mentioned subjects in anything less than a encyclopedia. But I digress, its great to hear that youre into this stuff and thanks for the subscription!

[a10centsuperhero]

Awesome job, dude. On the video and the machete. While I haven't actually started forging yet (waiting to get all my gear together) I have read and researched quite a bit but seeing your video explaining coal and coke, clinkers, etc. was really educational. I appreciate your making the effort and can't wait to see more videos from you!

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks! I am really glad the video was helpful to you. I hope to do some more videos in the future but I cant say whether that will be sooner or later. Until then allow me to point you out to another channel purgatoryironworks. The guy who makes the videos is a bona-fide pro. I learned allot from his advice.

[KidSmith10]

for a forge you need coal that is walnut size not a lump a big as your head!!

try smaller coal pieces, it will work ALOT better

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks, but I am well aware that using coke to forge works better than large pieces of coal. Perhaps you missed part 1 of the video where I explain this fact. In this video we waited about 20 minutes until that large piece of coal you saw, had been burnt into coke before we began forging. It was of Corse edited out to shorten the video.

[KidSmith10]

i know but you dont need to start off with such a big piece of coal, it only help to make alot of smoke, if you forge with coal it burns into coke as th fire goes on, the middle of the fire is awlys coke wile the small pieces of coal are on the outside slowly burning into coke, tht way you dont need to wait 20 minutes for start forging and only need to wait about 5 minutes.

[banjodan99]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I would recommend that you go to a flea market and get yourself a ball pein or cross pein hammer of 2-4 pounds. You can get them for a dollar or two, so you might as well get several and find out which works the best for you. You'll be surprised what a difference using a good hammer makes. Also, get some old files and try forging a moderate sized knife. You'll find that its a lot easier than hammering on that giant spring.

Best of luck to you.

[CalvinJGreen]

Thanks! I am always interested in suggestions for improvement. I actually just bought a 2 lb hammer from a garage sale and I Have forged with it and it works great. My friend and I have also made several file knives and yes they are MUCH easier.

[TechnicusJoe]

very nice movie! but isnt it an idea to buy some blcksmithing/forge coal because its special coal with minimum of sulver and other in it?

[CalvinJGreen]

Hi Joe

Coal comes in many gradients of purity, some more pure than others. In other words, you may pick a piece of coal from a certain spot in the ground that has a fairly low sulfur content, and from the same spot pick up a piece that is completely corrupt with sulfur veins. It varies from rock to rock, not brand to brand. However, there are some places that sell a less impure version of the black lump. In Tacoma, I stop in at StarFuels and get my coal (Found by word of mouth).

[CalvinJGreen]

I am eager for your comments folks! Keep em coming!

[jaiszos]

nice job, keep it up

[webbcityglassman]

i got some more coal the other day im just waiting for the weather to cooperate so i can light it up ,cool video

[CalvinJGreen]

Great! keep forging along!

[strantor]

Cool video. Videos come out alot better when there are 2 people involved. I just recently got a tripod, before my camera was sitting on rocks and such. are you guys brothers?

[CalvinJGreen]

No, were just good friends. But as for filming, is there anything that needs improvement? Any Ideas for future videos?

[strantor]

Well, IMO the video is as much an art as the forging so its all up to you as to how you present it. In my videos I put everything out there, even stuff that didn't work for me. That way the viewer gets to learn from my mistakes and see my failures as well as accomplishments, rather than promote the idea that "hey i just threw this crap together and it worked right off the bat". This however makes my vids long and the impatient viewer might skip them, but thats just my style. Do what you want man

[CalvinJGreen]

I completely agree and I think showing the veiwers your mistakes makes them all the wiser. Thats how we learned! Its really frustrating watching all these other videos. Some are even done by pros and I can sit there and write a list of things they forgot to mention. Ranging from small details, to possible problems the beginner might encounter.

[strantor]

be sure to throw a vid up of the finished product tho. I would love to see it.