Small basic arc welder $50-$100 used about anywhere. Scrap material to practice on and some welding rods $25. A valuable skill you can use for life, priceless.
Wow I been watching your vids for 3 years now and needed to make a spring tool. I look this up and it helped a lot. But seriously you play a bango? This was a big plus. THANK YOU
Your banjo playing really lifted my spirit. I was kind of down , it's just too hot in my shop to forge and I have a desire to manufacture some tongs and tooling. I came across you playing with confidence and control. Causing me to stop and really hear the melody. It's a very joyful sound. Thank you John S. You probably heard many times that your a very good man. I pray you never get tired of hearing accolades. But at that risk John S. Your a very good man to me and my sons. I often watched and tried to forge things you have shown. Now my oldest son will sit down as ask Dad are we going to watch Black Beat Forge. It most often a joyful yes.
John, I do like the banjo pickin. Have an idea for attaching the tool steel dies to the mild steel springs. Punch a hole down in the end of the dies so the mild steel will slip in, punch a cross hole thru both and rivet. Just a thought.
Thanks as usual John! I always like your videos. Thanks for being so informative with your demonstrations. I thought it was great that you played for us!❤️👍🏼👏🏼
Liked the banjo section and and can't wait for the giveaway, usually your videos pop out about 4 -6 am in Poland but as soon as I wake up i watch it, so i can't wait until the random hour giveaway video is up. Keep up the good work.
Another video to add to the much enjoyed list. Then you did some banjo playing! I heard that learning to play the banjo really good is hard to do, but luckily no one knows what good banjo playing sounds like. Fantastic job on on accounts!
Master Craftsman, Master Video maker. So few would recognize WE can't see the job. I was thankful you moved 90° out of your way to show US The work on the pipe bender. Bravo sir. 👏 and Thank You!
Banjo playing blacksmith here. Thanks for the video. Have a need for a spring butcher and was thinking of forging one out in this style. I think you've convinced me not to waste the time for now and just to weld up a shank, a spring, and the dies until I can make the investment in a good guillotine.
Loved hearing you play the banjo! Love your talent !! In all you do sir! So talented in so many things! I’m jelly! Keep it up and appreciate all your videos
My musical skills go no further than hammering so to me the banjo is great! Keep producing your videos, you are a very talented tradesman and i learn a lot from you!
Thank you for this video/tutorial/inspiration, and gratitude to "one of you troublemakers..." Two heads are better than one, and It's neat how the community helps each other with ideas. :)
When you said I'm not going to boar you watch me draw this out, I thought I bet he's going to use the power hammer. Made me respect you more that you fessed up, good man!! Billy
Good Banjo, I have been a blacksmith for years and have only in the last year gotten serious about this craft. I play the Violin, actually Viola. Strung as a Viola C G D A. I cannot sing and accompany myself with a Violin. I have a Mandolin...maybe that is the answer. But yesterday I was looking at the old fashioned 1800's Banjos, five string Banjos...the model you have. And you also play it without a pick... I Am into this . Wonderful how it just happens to come up in a video by a Blacksmith I am watching today. Thanks for sharing
I think you sell yourself short, you're pritty good with that banjo! The anvil tools without modern welding would also be a good thing to look into for future videos 👍
Hey John, for those who don’t have an arc welder yet I picked up a DC inverter stick welder on Amazon for just under $300. Best part is it’s a 120volt machine (can also run on 240v) that strikes an arc very nicely with 6013 rod. Great tool for the beginner that is very small and weighs less than 15 pounds! FYI..
Sir, please let me make this clear. You speak my language. You approach projects from an angle that demystifies some of the tricks and techniques that many (most) experienced Smiths can not or will not explain in digestible and useful nuggets. You are instrumental in helping me learn a skill that I have ZERO background history to draw from... and you are just so good lookin' that it is a pleasure to attend your classes. Yep, I'm here five to seven days a week studying. I'm sorry that I don't have the money that I truly feel that I owe you for lessons. Thanks Man!
Awesome video as usual and thanks for sharing them. On another note, maybe you could do your banjo picking for video intro/outro. Yeah that would be pretty cool.
Hey, guess what. I kinda play the banjo a little, just when no one is around to listen. I wish I could play good, fooling around with it is somewhat relaxing. You did a really good job. Thanks for sharing with us. Terry from South Georgia.
That was a good and straightforward demonstration of simple tooling that will do the job. Very well done! Looking forward to the "tool to be especially proud of" edition!
I'm making everything from nothing to pursue my passion for smithing. I built my own forge and anvil, still have a long way to go. I'm working on my first hammer. My current hammer is a small claw hammer lol. You should add the banjo music to all your episodes!
Hah brilliant, needed a spring top/bottom fuller today. Will go ask and make this now. Not afraid to break out the welder, but having only learnt last year I appreciate those that can't. Do need to get a stock of 1 1/2" mild for tool stems. Also, from someone with zero musical talent but a good ear for tune, you play brilliantly. Tom foolery always very welcome in this channel, especially when it sounds that good.
Just watched this video. Great! Even though I do have an arc welder, it is profitable to know how without. BTW, thought it ironic that you play “clawHAMMER” style banjo. Been learning it myself, but have played guitar for 50 years, mandolin and fiddle for 10 or 12. Just seems that Bluegrass or Folk music goes so well with Blacksmithing! Thank you for the hard work you put into your videos. Been a pastor for 31 years and teach Blacksmithing every Monday night, for free, to any willing to learn. Many of your tricks have been taught to my young folks, gals included! Thanks again and God Bless.
little late any you might have seen this suggestion but make a slightly triangular piece that can fit through the gap in the hardy hole section and that should help with the bounce.
I think for these tools just having a longer better fitting hardy shank would help tremendously. But I have made tools that use a wedge to lock them in solidly.
I like that you use simpler tools. Going from no tools to a set of usable tools, most of us can use a friends welder, and are more intent on having usable tools than on purity of technique. The purity can come later, when I have a real , usable hardy to use in the process, whether arc welded, hammer welded, or even super glued - if that will hold. When I see a power hammer, or any of the huge tools most smiths do not have, the video goes from being an instruction video to information only status, and I usually move on.
Thanks for the comment. I'm afraid you will see power hammers and presses in some of my videos. They are a reality in many modern shops and folks new to them or thinking of buying their first big machine like to see how they might use those as well as hand tools. Most things done under the average power hammer can be done by hand, so its worth looking at the general procedure not jut the tools used. Most things can be adapted to hand work even if shown under a power hammer.
probably the high twang of the banjo is attractive to blacksmiths because that part of their hearing range is still intact and they can hear it! Love the tool, spent a couple of hours today having a play around working out how I was going to make my butcher, wishing I had a butcher to help me make the butcher...... then I ended up using a bit of 1/2" bar stock as a psuedo butcher to get myself started on the taper for the hardy post without stuffing up the shoulder!
I reckon riveting a small piece of steel in instead of the area you had to work down might be an option I might experiment with! I have a length of thin section stuff lying around.
Liked the banjo, I am a musician, been playing bass guitar for 55 years. I've been in traveling bands house bands and weekend bands. I build instruments and repair them. I also play piano , fiddle but sometimes I think I'm the only one that knows what song I;m playing. I also play rhythm guitar. I am a master carpenter, graduated a welding course at our local community college. I am presently going to college as a music education major. hope to teach beginer thru high school band. I'm 65 and have been blacksmithing for 4 years. I love steel and making things. Plans are in the works for a gas forge I will build so I can do some demos at some fall festivals this winter. I love your vids, very informative.
I just re-watched this video, and enjoyed it again. I had a thought which might make this type of hardie tool more useful. On the loop that goes into the hardie hole, if you make it long enough, it'll sick out the bottom of the anvil, and you can drive a wedge into it to lock it onto the anvil. It wouldn't flop around so much then.
When you said another 10 to 15 inches my right arm and shoulder went on strike! After the power hammer news I relaxed, not that I have one but hope that maybe one day.
Suggestion: use square stock to fit into the hardy hole, and punch or drill a horizontal hole through which a round bar is inserted and secured with either a screw or rivet offset to hold the bar in place. The spring is formed as usual and there you have a top and bottom fuller spring loaded that fits the hardy hole without any weld and can be done completely on the forge.
@@Grauenwolf It might, but if the screw/pin/rivet was offset above or below, just using a fraction of the radius to interact with the bar going through, I expect it will hold nicely. But I think I will employ it first to verify that it would withstand the riggers of forging. Thanks for your feedback. I enjoy your channel.
Hey, you are fantastic brother, I saw that comment and was contemplating trying it and darned if you didn't put up a video right away, way to be. Banjo sounds pretty good as well!
Thanks Much! I am learning tons from your videos and I greatly appreciate it! I am a guitar player and also dabble on the banjo as well. You do just fine. The important thing is to have fun in doing so. If your having fun then your a banjo player for ser! Thanks Again! DaveyJO in Pa.
I have been watching your videos a lot and of all the you tubers I watch I learn the most from you, thank you and keep it up. Like the other comments, I think you should use some of your banjo music for your intro, which leads to the question, why do us hobby musicians tend to choose an occupation that can be so hard on our fingers? I play the mandolin and used to play fiddle competitively. An idea I have for short videos is tool maintenance, you could probably get several out of that
I have heard it said that the claw hammer style suits the working class because it allows for the stiff tiered hands to stay in a comfortable position, not sure if there is any truth in that or not.
John, a great butcher tool, I made a smaller one, overall 13inches finished, it still bounced around a fair bit, to overcome the bounce I drilled a hole through a brick and hung it down off a wire at the hardy hole end, a bit primitive but it took the bounce out of the butcher
You are a great teacher. Enjoyed the video and the hat. Take care👩🏻🌾
I really dug the banjo at the end. You should have it as your outtrow
We need to hear you and Annie playing a duet......your banjo and her mandolin. 😊
That would be fun, butI have real trouble staying with someone else
Thanks for the tune. 😄
I didn't see that coming.....That was AWESOME John ...🔥🔨
Small basic arc welder $50-$100 used about anywhere. Scrap material to practice on and some welding rods $25. A valuable skill you can use for life, priceless.
John your rocking that banjo awesome
Rhythm with a hammer and a bango !!!!!
Banjo was pretty good.
Upvoted for the banjo!
Mate that was great; definitely including the banjo.
Thanks
Excellent video always easy to understand and I must say the Banjo sounded great
Hi John
I just ❤your banjo. Thanks for the video.
Like the Banjo always wanted one perhaps one day
Nice banjo playing !
Great video love the banjo
Wow I been watching your vids for 3 years now and needed to make a spring tool. I look this up and it helped a lot. But seriously you play a bango? This was a big plus. THANK YOU
I think you are a good man and I really believe the world needs more people like you..
...big hug from Brazil 💪🔥
Your banjo playing really lifted my spirit. I was kind of down , it's just too hot in my shop to forge and I have a desire to manufacture some tongs and tooling. I came across you playing with confidence and control. Causing me to stop and really hear the melody. It's a very joyful sound. Thank you John S.
You probably heard many times that your a very good man. I pray you never get tired of hearing accolades. But at that risk John S. Your a very good man to me and my sons. I often watched and tried to forge things you have shown. Now my oldest son will sit down as ask Dad are we going to watch Black Beat Forge. It most often a joyful yes.
John, I do like the banjo pickin. Have an idea for attaching the tool steel dies to the mild steel springs.
Punch a hole down in the end of the dies so the mild steel will slip in, punch a cross hole thru both and rivet.
Just a thought.
Thanks as usual John! I always like your videos. Thanks for being so informative with your demonstrations. I thought it was great that you played for us!❤️👍🏼👏🏼
My pleasure!
Liked the banjo section and and can't wait for the giveaway, usually your videos pop out about 4 -6 am in Poland but as soon as I wake up i watch it, so i can't wait until the random hour giveaway video is up. Keep up the good work.
I enjoy your banjo as much as your blacksmithing. You are my #1 favorite blacksmith btw
Another video to add to the much enjoyed list. Then you did some banjo playing! I heard that learning to play the banjo really good is hard to do, but luckily no one knows what good banjo playing sounds like. Fantastic job on on accounts!
😂😜
Master Craftsman, Master Video maker.
So few would recognize WE can't see the job. I was thankful you moved 90° out of your way to show US The work on the pipe bender.
Bravo sir. 👏 and Thank You!
Whole lotta respect, i can't play any instrument.. nicely done much appreciated for sharing.
I could listen to you play the banjo all day. I've always loved the sound of the banjo since I was little. ❤
Banjo playing blacksmith here. Thanks for the video. Have a need for a spring butcher and was thinking of forging one out in this style. I think you've convinced me not to waste the time for now and just to weld up a shank, a spring, and the dies until I can make the investment in a good guillotine.
I think a welded version does make life easier.
Loved hearing you play the banjo! Love your talent !! In all you do sir! So talented in so many things! I’m jelly! Keep it up and appreciate all your videos
John, love your inventiveness with the tools and you didn't do a bad job with the banjo either. Keep up the good work sir!
Spring budger making, Music is superb of favourite Artisan in Black smiths. Thank you
My musical skills go no further than hammering so to me the banjo is great! Keep producing your videos, you are a very talented tradesman and i learn a lot from you!
Banjo’s rule.... your right, banjo & blacksmith’s just go together, keep plucking and hammering.
Thank you for this video/tutorial/inspiration, and gratitude to "one of you troublemakers..." Two heads are better than one, and It's neat how the community helps each other with ideas. :)
Loved the banjo pickin.
When you said I'm not going to boar you watch me draw this out, I thought I bet he's going to use the power hammer. Made me respect you more that you fessed up, good man!! Billy
I try not to BS anyone to badly. Although there are quite often things that happen off camera just to keep the videos from running way to long.
Grand Ole Opry here comes John picking and forging! Good Job sir.
Banjoooo is amazing good job!
Loved the banjo playing - as always most interesting content. 👍👏🇬🇧
Good Banjo, I have been a blacksmith for years and have only in the last year gotten serious about this craft. I play the Violin, actually Viola. Strung as a Viola C G D A. I cannot sing and accompany myself with a Violin. I have a Mandolin...maybe that is the answer. But yesterday I was looking at the old fashioned 1800's Banjos, five string Banjos...the model you have. And you also play it without a pick... I Am into this . Wonderful how it just happens to come up in a video by a Blacksmith I am watching today. Thanks for sharing
Love the banjo music!!!!!
I think you sell yourself short, you're pritty good with that banjo! The anvil tools without modern welding would also be a good thing to look into for future videos 👍
Dog-gone-it John quit making things look so easy I love your videos that was a special treat at the end there awesome
Hey John, for those who don’t have an arc welder yet I picked up a DC inverter stick welder on Amazon for just under $300. Best part is it’s a 120volt machine (can also run on 240v) that strikes an arc very nicely with 6013 rod. Great tool for the beginner that is very small and weighs less than 15 pounds! FYI..
Sir, please let me make this clear. You speak my language. You approach projects from an angle that demystifies some of the tricks and techniques that many (most) experienced Smiths can not or will not explain in digestible and useful nuggets. You are instrumental in helping me learn a skill that I have ZERO background history to draw from... and you are just so good lookin' that it is a pleasure to attend your classes. Yep, I'm here five to seven days a week studying. I'm sorry that I don't have the money that I truly feel that I owe you for lessons. Thanks Man!
Glad to hear you are enjoying the videos
Your sincerity far surpasses whatever minor faults that may befall you. Keep doing good work my friend! 🤠
Thanks 👍
Awesome video as usual and thanks for sharing them. On another note, maybe you could do your banjo picking for video intro/outro. Yeah that would be pretty cool.
Great work John, and great picking.
Hey, guess what. I kinda play the banjo a little, just when no one is around to listen. I wish I could play good, fooling around with it is somewhat relaxing. You did a really good job. Thanks for sharing with us.
Terry from South Georgia.
What a pleasure to watch a master Craftsman teaching less than 400 to go for your 10000 congrats
Goin up cripple Creek, going in a run, love it, love claw hammer banjo
That was a good and straightforward demonstration of simple tooling that will do the job. Very well done!
Looking forward to the "tool to be especially proud of" edition!
You sound better on your banjo than I ever have on my guitar.
Man you make some of the best videos on you tube. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Love the banjo 🪕 would make great intro and exit music for your channel! Thank you for the great video
I'm making everything from nothing to pursue my passion for smithing. I built my own forge and anvil, still have a long way to go. I'm working on my first hammer. My current hammer is a small claw hammer lol. You should add the banjo music to all your episodes!
Hah brilliant, needed a spring top/bottom fuller today. Will go ask and make this now. Not afraid to break out the welder, but having only learnt last year I appreciate those that can't. Do need to get a stock of 1 1/2" mild for tool stems.
Also, from someone with zero musical talent but a good ear for tune, you play brilliantly. Tom foolery always very welcome in this channel, especially when it sounds that good.
Thanks, I sometimes use square tubing or a "U" shaped piece of flat bar for hardy shanks.
Happy Thanksgiving many thanks to the Lord who provides and our home in heaven that he is made when we get there
Great video John! I liked your banjo playing also. I myself play the trumpet and bugle for veteran's funerals. Keep up the good work!
John loved the banjo was stomping my foot and clapping.
I enjoyed your banjo music!
Just watched this video. Great! Even though I do have an arc welder, it is profitable to know how without. BTW, thought it ironic that you play “clawHAMMER” style banjo. Been learning it myself, but have played guitar for 50 years, mandolin and fiddle for 10 or 12. Just seems that Bluegrass or Folk music goes so well with Blacksmithing! Thank you for the hard work you put into your videos. Been a pastor for 31 years and teach Blacksmithing every Monday night, for free, to any willing to learn. Many of your tricks have been taught to my young folks, gals included! Thanks again and God Bless.
Thanks for the tune.
Great video. Don't sell yourself short, Your pretty good at that banjo!!!!!!!
little late any you might have seen this suggestion but make a slightly triangular piece that can fit through the gap in the hardy hole section and that should help with the bounce.
I think for these tools just having a longer better fitting hardy shank would help tremendously. But I have made tools that use a wedge to lock them in solidly.
Fantastic! Banjo and all. Learned a ton, and was entertained. Thank you!
Love that banjo music John. One of these days maybe I can learn to do smithing.
I like that you use simpler tools. Going from no tools to a set of usable tools, most of us can use a friends welder, and are more intent on having usable tools than on purity of technique. The purity can come later, when I have a real , usable hardy to use in the process, whether arc welded, hammer welded, or even super glued - if that will hold.
When I see a power hammer, or any of the huge tools most smiths do not have, the video goes from being an instruction video to information only status, and I usually move on.
Thanks for the comment. I'm afraid you will see power hammers and presses in some of my videos. They are a reality in many modern shops and folks new to them or thinking of buying their first big machine like to see how they might use those as well as hand tools. Most things done under the average power hammer can be done by hand, so its worth looking at the general procedure not jut the tools used. Most things can be adapted to hand work even if shown under a power hammer.
probably the high twang of the banjo is attractive to blacksmiths because that part of their hearing range is still intact and they can hear it!
Love the tool, spent a couple of hours today having a play around working out how I was going to make my butcher, wishing I had a butcher to help me make the butcher...... then I ended up using a bit of 1/2" bar stock as a psuedo butcher to get myself started on the taper for the hardy post without stuffing up the shoulder!
Great progress.
I reckon riveting a small piece of steel in instead of the area you had to work down might be an option I might experiment with! I have a length of thin section stuff lying around.
Paddle,errr hammer faster I hear banjo music! LOL! Great video.
awesome vid , the banjo playing was good to hear,as a younger guy i do listen to bluegrass when in my shop its calming
Liked the banjo, I am a musician, been playing bass guitar for 55 years. I've been in traveling bands house bands and weekend bands. I build instruments and repair them. I also play piano , fiddle but sometimes I think I'm the only one that knows what song I;m playing. I also play rhythm guitar. I am a master carpenter, graduated a welding course at our local community college. I am presently going to college as a music education major. hope to teach beginer thru high school band. I'm 65 and have been blacksmithing for 4 years. I love steel and making things. Plans are in the works for a gas forge I will build so I can do some demos at some fall festivals this winter. I love your vids, very informative.
The best! I’m a Russian beginner (I’m 69). A lot of thanks!
absolutly loved the banjo!!
Another great video John. Thank you for sharing. Love the banjo!
Always enjoy your videos, great tips and practical application of your knowledge. Thank you!
Great tutorial. Love the banjo!
Mate, great tutorial, as per usual. The banjo was top shelf. Good on ya and cheers for that.
Black Bear Forge, ты делаешь очень полезное и благородное дело! Бог тебя не забудет!
Спасибо!
I just re-watched this video, and enjoyed it again. I had a thought which might make this type of hardie tool more useful. On the loop that goes into the hardie hole, if you make it long enough, it'll sick out the bottom of the anvil, and you can drive a wedge into it to lock it onto the anvil. It wouldn't flop around so much then.
When you said another 10 to 15 inches my right arm and shoulder went on strike! After the power hammer news I relaxed, not that I have one but hope that maybe one day.
Awesome John! Great video. Love the banjo.
You are a very talented and knowledgeable smith. So will to share your experience and knowledge with us. Just want to say thank you.
You're welcome
I love that anvil! And you really know how to utilize it.
You know we've been working with metals for ten thousand years before we invented arc welding. There's always a way!
Great video John. I also really liked the banjo at the end. I love the sound of them for some reason. Have a great day.
Nice picking. Thanks for the information and techniques.
Man great video, great idea. I love the no weld
Awsome video and I’ll for sure make one of those! Thank you 🙏
I know anything about vielding before this, and I got some banjo too! I subscribed, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Love from Norway
Suggestion: use square stock to fit into the hardy hole, and punch or drill a horizontal hole through which a round bar is inserted and secured with either a screw or rivet offset to hold the bar in place. The spring is formed as usual and there you have a top and bottom fuller spring loaded that fits the hardy hole without any weld and can be done completely on the forge.
@@Grauenwolf It might, but if the screw/pin/rivet was offset above or below, just using a fraction of the radius to interact with the bar going through, I expect it will hold nicely. But I think I will employ it first to verify that it would withstand the riggers of forging. Thanks for your feedback. I enjoy your channel.
Hey, you are fantastic brother, I saw that comment and was contemplating trying it and darned if you didn't put up a video right away, way to be. Banjo sounds pretty good as well!
I think it could be better, but it is certainly a valid idea
Thanks Much! I am learning tons from your videos and I greatly appreciate it! I am a guitar player and also dabble on the banjo as well. You do just fine. The important thing is to have fun in doing so. If your having fun then your a banjo player for ser! Thanks Again! DaveyJO in Pa.
I really appreciate and enjoyed the banjo. Include it more often, maybe with recordings , just a thought. Great tutorial video too
Thanks, will do!
I have been watching your videos a lot and of all the you tubers I watch I learn the most from you, thank you and keep it up. Like the other comments, I think you should use some of your banjo music for your intro, which leads to the question, why do us hobby musicians tend to choose an occupation that can be so hard on our fingers? I play the mandolin and used to play fiddle competitively. An idea I have for short videos is tool maintenance, you could probably get several out of that
I have heard it said that the claw hammer style suits the working class because it allows for the stiff tiered hands to stay in a comfortable position, not sure if there is any truth in that or not.
John, a great butcher tool, I made a smaller one, overall 13inches finished, it still bounced around a fair bit, to overcome the bounce I drilled a hole through a brick and hung it down off a wire at the hardy hole end, a bit primitive but it took the bounce out of the butcher
I sometimes like longer heavy hardy shanks just to add more ballast to the tools.
I’m a less than ideal blacksmith but play banjo guitar and mandolin and I love some cripple creek claw hammer!
I'd be happy to play the banjo that well :-)
I really appreciate your approach and teaching method. Thanks for showing us how to do this simply and without welding tools.
All kinds of talent!