Hammer-In with the Adirondack Blacksmiths: February workshop on making a forge welded heart hook.

The Adirondack Chapter of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths meets about 10 times a year.  It is a great group dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional blacksmithing skills.  We met Feb. at Marty Snye's shop near Ogdensburg, NY.  Snow, cold, and difficult travel probably limited attendance a little, but we had a lot of fun!

Marty Snye has a beautiful and very nice coal forge in his shop with a side draft hood.  His forging station is well organized with only a step taking you from forge to anvil to vice.

It really takes away the smoke!  The Side Draft hood leaves a lot of space to work, and uses natural draft to create a high velocity draft to carry away the smoke.

This is the template for our project.  It is made of one piece forge welded and shaped.

Figuring things out takes some time and effort!

To quote Dr. Suess, "And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore."  It was a fun day of forging, food, and camaraderie!  Thanks to Marty and Micky for hosting the hammer-in.

Blacksmiths' Hammer-in with the Adirondack Blacksmiths - NYSDB

The first Blacksmith's Hammer-In meeting for the Adirondack Chapter of the NYSDB was at The River Forge, and was hosted by Marty Snye.  It was a good get together.  Marty has a great shop.

A Hammer-In is a teaching meeting for Blacksmiths.  You bring your own hammer and come on in!  The Adirondack Chapter is a part of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths.  Both are educational organizations that seek to preserve and teach the skills of Blacksmithing.  A number of demonstrations and projects were done throughout the day.  I demonstrated some traditional forge welded items made with the coal forge, hammer, and anvil.

Work was done on the old South Bend Lathe.  A repair gear blank for a hand crank forge blower was turned from copper bar stock.  Old tools are still good tools if you can make the replacement parts yourself!

A young member finished a project started at a previous meeting.  He had forged and filed a knife blade blank from an old file.  At this meeting he hardened it in oil and then drew the temper with a torch.  Look at the range of temper colors in the iridescent sheen on the steel.

A meeting is also a social event that not only gives people a chance to teach and learn, but also a chance to catch up.

Marty's English Mouse hole Forge Anvil is probably around 160 years old.  It looks ready for a lot more work!

It was a fun meeting.  If you are interested in learning more about Blacksmithing look for the ABANA chapter organization near you!