I remember going on a school field trip to an 18th century army fort as a kid, they had there own blacksmith. He had a bucket under his anvil so when he was done hammering the head he'd just flip the header over and drop the nail through the hole in the anvil and it would fall into the bucket. He would heat up 4 or 5 sticks at a time too it was pretty slick
I watched a bunch of forging nails videos in preparation for forging my first nail (and first blacksmithing project ever!). I love how everyone does it just a little differently and there's no "right" way to do it. I learned from my dad who learned at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum in Massachusetts, almost 50 years ago. I'm documenting my journey learning blacksmithing on my channel.
Today I learned what a nail header is--no wonder people used to pull and reuse nails based on the amount of effort to create one by hand! The new shop looks amazing and so well thought out.
I was forging a delicate hook the other night, it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing. The anvil was pulling the heat out of the stock so fast, I got four or five hits in and it was back to the fire. I am really have fun watching you and your projects Josh ! Thank You
I'm continually impressed by how quickly and well you pick up different skills. Timber framing doesn't translate to cabinetry which doesn't translate to stone work or blacksmithing. Nicely done.
Your box bellows is working so great! I love seeing how your work is developing and I think it’s absolutely amazing what you’re creating. Your page has been one of my absolute favorites for several years now and I don’t comment often but I wanted to let you know that I think what you’re doing is fantastic. Some of us are really really paying attention; even though we are sometimes quiet. Keep up the great work. Your format is not only inspiring and educational but also so relaxing which is amazingly beneficial across multiple borders. Thank you.
Wow in the old days it shows me how much work went into surviving and making everything from scratch as you do. Well done amazing. You are still the most talented man on UA-cam. Love from Australia ❤️
I guess that's why joinery used to be so important. We're used to just using glue, screws, and nails to hold wooden pieces together, but back when nails were such a commodity, being able to join pieces without them was important for more than just aesthetics
Ahhh people have been making cut nails (the most common type between 1800 and WWI) on machinery in a big way since the early 1800s, the first slitting machine dates back to the late 1500s... so... not as much as you might think.
very cool, it must be a lot of work to make several, especially since iron was used to be. that's why there are so many buildings that barely had nails. it's a lot of work to acquire and purify the metal, and forging also seems to take a long time, but especially mining and refining, it must be difficult to make small nails by forging
I heard another blacksmithing youtuber ( blackbear forge I believe) talked about master smiths would make these nails all in one heat. Just imagine how many nails he had to make to get that proficient. It blows my mind. This was probably why timber framing was so popular back in the day. Nails must have been expensive. Isn’t that also why we still measure our nails in pennies? For example a 1 penny nail was the price for 50 1inch nails, 2 penny was 50 1 1/2inch, etc. keep up the good work Mr C.
Suggestion: Try to get in the habit of always quickly sweeping the scale off the top of the anvil by keeping a brush next to the anvil and give the top a quick swipe. That scale will cause nasty pits on the anvil. It takes a while but it will become second nature. Appreciate you sharing your process.
What you practice as a working method requires time and patience in addition to imagination and science, so is no longer in line with our present times, but is great for self-worth, what the modernism to kill in the bud. Thank you for your fantastic tutorial !!!!
Great video Josh, you’ll be smithing as well as you are a carpenter before you know it. You did a good job starting out small and I think you picked up some things with the work you did. Thanks so much for sharing your videos with us, always a treat to watch.
My great uncle was a Farrier, he used to make and head nails on an anvil mounted on the rear bumper of his truck. That was 50 years ago or so as I remember...... Horses sure liked him!
I should still have some square home made nails around somewhere, I hasten to add I didn't make them. They are hell on earth to get out once hammered into wood! I had a few that were almost a foot long. I would have got them by taking them out of something, my father was a "Use what you have or can fine and you will never stick" sort of a guy. So when we found an old rotten bit of wood as kids we would extract and good nails, screws and take them home. It kept us out of mischief and things we found always came in handy. Thanks for showing me how they put the heads on the screws. I have a mate that is a blacksmith and when I asked him the question years ago he didn't know, he thought they must have had a machine for it! Well, even I could work out if they had a machine for that they would get it to make the complete nail. lol
Dear Mr. Chickadee, and Fans of Mr. Chickadee, did you know that our Third President, the Great Thomas Jefferson had a Foundry, and was famous for his Nail Making. Yes, this is true. He sold his Hand Made Foundry Nails, far and wide, and it was quite a profitable venture for him back there in Monticello Virginia. A True Jefferson Fan: Dr. George Whitehead . Just a side note, his famous "Secretary Lap Desk" that he wrote the Deceleration Of Independence on, is in the Smithsonian, and has "home made" Screws. Look up this piece of American History...it is a great story, and one that everyone should know.
Found a book quite a few years ago. Modern blacksmithing; rational horse shoeing and wagon making, with rules, tables and receipts. By John Gustof Holmstrom. Really had a lot of good tips and tricks. Great video as usual!
That's an excellent book- but I highly recommend grabbing "American Blacksmithing" instead- it contains both a slightly expanded version of "Modern Blacksmithing" plus another EXCELLENT book called "The 20th Century Toolsmith's and Steelworker's Manual". There's even a 1980 hardback reprint that you can get- don't be put off by the horrible 80s dust jacket. it reflects none of the contents, haha.
If you dropped this man off in Alaska with 5 tool come back in 5 week he would have a house, bed, kitchen table, with matching chairs, stove, tool shop and bathroom that any man would call home.
ROFLMAO! 🤣😂🤣😂! Sorry I can not resist...😇. It did result in my subscribing though. When you placed the blank between your legs and and started pounding on on the the tip, I blinked with EVERY hammer blow! Love your channel and I will be back!
When Kellysmith made the 30, some thousand nails for the Susan Constant replica at Jamestown, each nail took about 15 hammer hits, including making the head... Goals to work to!
Great to see the forge in action, anvil sounds great (looks like a Dwarven heirloom From LOTR).....must say I truely admire your nail-less joinery, love rivited iron work though, so twitched a little at the thought of nails (nessesary evil I suppose). One thing I noticed was you didn't appear to dip/quench the nail head after forging them, I was taught to peen the head when red and then quench in water to harden the head for a strong rigid nail with less chance of deforming when used. Cheers thanks for shareing
Enjoyed your video, I liked seeing your box blower in action. I have always associated them with Asian blacksmiths, did Europeans ever use them too? Having seen many antique nail headers as well as using them most looked a little different then the one you made. They usually had a bigger domed head and not so wide. This was so you could strike the side of the nail head downward blows enabling you to more easily make the rosehead nails they made back then. On the headers I made I just folded the end back on itself and forge welded to get the mass needed. Of course many old headers will have different size headers on either end. Most were made out of wrought iron, I have seen a couple that had steel face welded on. Unless you are going to be making lots of nails probably not needed I would never harden a tool like this in water, to much chance of cracks, didn’t even need to be hardened probably to work fine. I think back in the day most nails were not made by General “blacksmiths “ but by those that just made nails in a cottage industry. Have read that many women and children made them, they would be advanced the metal stock then merchants picked up the completed nails I have a couple nail making anvils which is probably what they would use.
You have a nicely equipped and set up blacksmith shop there. Bellows and forge seem to be Japanese style, anvil looks Austrian. Definitely a little more character than a propane forge and a London pattern anvil.
Nails are a great way to practice. After awhile the hammering rhythm will get so good the metal will stay hot almost till completion of the nail. Another way to practice is to make small nails and shape cold metal until it becomes red hot. It's a good test to know if placement and hammering are becoming efficient.
I remember going on a school field trip to an 18th century army fort as a kid, they had there own blacksmith. He had a bucket under his anvil so when he was done hammering the head he'd just flip the header over and drop the nail through the hole in the anvil and it would fall into the bucket. He would heat up 4 or 5 sticks at a time too it was pretty slick
Mind me asking what fort that was? And about what year?
@@AxeAndAnvil 1817
I watched a bunch of forging nails videos in preparation for forging my first nail (and first blacksmithing project ever!). I love how everyone does it just a little differently and there's no "right" way to do it. I learned from my dad who learned at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum in Massachusetts, almost 50 years ago. I'm documenting my journey learning blacksmithing on my channel.
Today I learned what a nail header is--no wonder people used to pull and reuse nails based on the amount of effort to create one by hand! The new shop looks amazing and so well thought out.
I was forging a delicate hook the other night, it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing.
The anvil was pulling the heat out of the stock so fast, I got four or five hits in and it was back to the fire.
I am really have fun watching you and your projects Josh !
Thank You
I sure do spend more time heating the stock than forging these days...
You're living the dream man. I look forward to seeing you use nails you made yourself with you upcoming projects.
Im a traditional carpenter in Norway. Have to say im very impressed with your work skills. Very inspiring.
I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for making them family friendly.
Who'd have thought that a nail could be a work of art. Definitely something to hang your hat on.
A very simplistic header but makes a beautiful nail
I'm continually impressed by how quickly and well you pick up different skills. Timber framing doesn't translate to cabinetry which doesn't translate to stone work or blacksmithing. Nicely done.
Your box bellows is working so great! I love seeing how your work is developing and I think it’s absolutely amazing what you’re creating. Your page has been one of my absolute favorites for several years now and I don’t comment often but I wanted to let you know that I think what you’re doing is fantastic. Some of us are really really paying attention; even though we are sometimes quiet. Keep up the great work. Your format is not only inspiring and educational but also so relaxing which is amazingly beneficial across multiple borders. Thank you.
Beautiful craftsmanship there. Awesome videos Forge On. God bless.
Wow in the old days it shows me how much work went into surviving and making everything from scratch as you do. Well done amazing. You are still the most talented man on UA-cam. Love from Australia ❤️
Getting all modern on us with this new technology. Lol . Mr. Chickadee truly amazing craftworx.
Considering all the work a blacksmith had to do.. imagine how much a simple nail was worth 200 years ago.
Its said they would burn a house down when moving to get the nails back
They used to burn down old buildings to reclaim the nails.
I guess that's why joinery used to be so important. We're used to just using glue, screws, and nails to hold wooden pieces together, but back when nails were such a commodity, being able to join pieces without them was important for more than just aesthetics
That's what apprentices were for. The master would work on involved forgings and the apprentice would make nails and other simple items.
Ahhh people have been making cut nails (the most common type between 1800 and WWI) on machinery in a big way since the early 1800s, the first slitting machine dates back to the late 1500s... so... not as much as you might think.
The old timers were really made of different stuff. You amaze me.
Cleaner air for one
There should be a heart/love button at the next to the thumbs up button. Awesome work
Black bear forge would be proud of you. Great video.
I have never seen that done before. thanks for sharing. it just shows how much effort went into everything in olden times.
very cool, it must be a lot of work to make several, especially since iron was used to be. that's why there are so many buildings that barely had nails. it's a lot of work to acquire and purify the metal, and forging also seems to take a long time, but especially mining and refining, it must be difficult to make small nails by forging
Nice learning experience! Love how the bellows turned out!
I heard another blacksmithing youtuber ( blackbear forge I believe) talked about master smiths would make these nails all in one heat. Just imagine how many nails he had to make to get that proficient. It blows my mind. This was probably why timber framing was so popular back in the day. Nails must have been expensive. Isn’t that also why we still measure our nails in pennies? For example a 1 penny nail was the price for 50 1inch nails, 2 penny was 50 1 1/2inch, etc. keep up the good work Mr C.
i know a guy who worked on a project for a 13th century bridge, he and two other had to make 5000 nails, about 6" long. took them months.
Suggestion: Try to get in the habit of always quickly sweeping the scale off the top of the anvil by keeping a brush next to the anvil and give the top a quick swipe. That scale will cause nasty pits on the anvil. It takes a while but it will become second nature.
Appreciate you sharing your process.
He has to make the brush first, and that would be interesting too
Also for longer crafts where the anvil is hot you can take a grinder to it and smooth it out
@@Thicbladi but then he'll have to make the grinder out of sandstone, treadle & pumice....
Only things that put pits on my anvils are missed hammer blows and getting too enthusiastic with the chisel lol, scale only marks your work.
Lovely deadened sound on that anvil 👍
What you practice as a working method requires time and patience in addition to imagination and science, so is no longer in line with our present times, but is great for self-worth, what the modernism to kill in the bud.
Thank you for your fantastic tutorial !!!!
That's a nice feeling. You hewed the wood, did the joinery and made the nails for your future products.
Your anvil sounds great, dry and sturdy !!!
Thanks for sharing !
Those nails look sweet. Handmade is the best way.
..the demo was a true time worp...like stepping back in time to watch a Smith work...thank you....
Great video Josh, you’ll be smithing as well as you are a carpenter before you know it. You did a good job starting out small and I think you picked up some things with the work you did. Thanks so much for sharing your videos with us, always a treat to watch.
My great uncle was a Farrier, he used to make and head nails on an anvil mounted on the rear bumper of his truck. That was 50 years ago or so as I remember...... Horses sure liked him!
Your work is beautifully recorded and done. What an asset to our community!
I should still have some square home made nails around somewhere, I hasten to add I didn't make them. They are hell on earth to get out once hammered into wood! I had a few that were almost a foot long. I would have got them by taking them out of something, my father was a "Use what you have or can fine and you will never stick" sort of a guy. So when we found an old rotten bit of wood as kids we would extract and good nails, screws and take them home. It kept us out of mischief and things we found always came in handy. Thanks for showing me how they put the heads on the screws. I have a mate that is a blacksmith and when I asked him the question years ago he didn't know, he thought they must have had a machine for it! Well, even I could work out if they had a machine for that they would get it to make the complete nail. lol
respect to the guys that did this work all day
yay a reason to not go to sleep yet. just what i needed.
Sleeping is a waste of time. Now it's 3:18am here, in the north of Spain, and I have a lot of reasons to be awake!
I need to make a nail header for my own shop, nice work! First I need to finish the socket mandrel for the javelin heads I am going to make......
Your header is very simplistic but it makes a beautiful nail
Beautiful nails. Now i see why they were so valuable back in the day.
I love your shop! I also use a Japanese box bellows.
I love the ambience of your shop! Peaceful
I like the simplicity of the header.
So calming to just watch. I imagine it is fulfilling to perform and create as well.
Great technique. Thank you for sharing. Love how the workshop turned out.
Great video. I love seeing the blacksmith shop coming together
Nice job
Those are fine nails; consistency in size. good job.
Dear Mr. Chickadee, and Fans of Mr. Chickadee, did you know that our Third President, the Great Thomas Jefferson had a Foundry, and was famous for his Nail Making. Yes, this is true. He sold his Hand Made Foundry Nails, far and wide, and it was quite a profitable venture for him back there in Monticello Virginia. A True Jefferson Fan: Dr. George Whitehead . Just a side note, his famous "Secretary Lap Desk" that he wrote the Deceleration Of Independence on, is in the Smithsonian, and has "home made" Screws. Look up this piece of American History...it is a great story, and one that everyone should know.
That beautiful anvil, and the stone footing is 10/10.
Eight down, eight thousand to go.
And in the end? A life worth living.
Thank you for sharing.
The forge is working beautifully can't wait to see everything you can make with it now!
You nailed it!
Strong nails!
Nice video sir. Always a pleasure to watch.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love to see the new forge up and running. Really enjoyed the video on the bellows.
Looking forward to more blacksmith videos! You are awesome!
Rất hay ad , anh rèn sắt khá giỏi.👍👍👍
Amazing job!!!!!!!!!!!
So good thanks for sharing!
Another excellent video! Semper Fi from an old Army guy!
Found a book quite a few years ago.
Modern blacksmithing; rational horse shoeing and wagon making, with rules, tables and receipts. By John Gustof Holmstrom.
Really had a lot of good tips and tricks.
Great video as usual!
Modern means 1900 BTW.
That's an excellent book- but I highly recommend grabbing "American Blacksmithing" instead- it contains both a slightly expanded version of "Modern Blacksmithing" plus another EXCELLENT book called "The 20th Century Toolsmith's and Steelworker's Manual". There's even a 1980 hardback reprint that you can get- don't be put off by the horrible 80s dust jacket. it reflects none of the contents, haha.
so simple, so awesome. Great work!
Amazing work, Sir! Always excited to see what your doing next.
Amazing. Thanks mr chickadee
Great video's love what you are doing, no place like home.
Fascinating to watch. Comforting to know the old skills would be carried on in the apocalypse.
If you dropped this man off in Alaska with 5 tool come back in 5 week he would have a house, bed, kitchen table, with matching chairs, stove, tool shop and bathroom that any man would call home.
And three cats :-)
Give him a good enough tool and he could build a city
Amazing! There is no limit to what we will see next, maybe a twisted steel wood auger?
That’s a good one.
ROFLMAO! 🤣😂🤣😂! Sorry I can not resist...😇. It did result in my subscribing though. When you placed the blank between your legs and and started pounding on on the the tip, I blinked with EVERY hammer blow! Love your channel and I will be back!
You are amazing at what you can learn and then do.
Now you never have to buy nails ever again.
I see an apron crafting vid in our future,awesome job on everything,thanks again this series has been a blast,side blast ,see what I did there,he he.
impressive work!
Fantastic video. I'm excited to see the use of those nails.
I could also get a glance of proper g ears in the beginning of the video ;) Well done!
Wow! Maybe you should frame that first nail!
I thought the same thing .. but even if he nails him at the entrance on the jamb of the forge it will always be easy to see
He's going to frame it with a door!
Absolutely awesome
love the camera work!
Very good!
Cold forging is good for the rot iron.
Awesome Thanks for posting. 🇦🇺
Amazing! Thanks for the great video.
Fascinating. It's funny, cuz I was just thinking about making nails a couple days ago.
When Kellysmith made the 30, some thousand nails for the Susan Constant replica at Jamestown, each nail took about 15 hammer hits, including making the head... Goals to work to!
We call those CLOUT nails in England . Bravo .
Much respect. Thank you.
Great to see the forge in action, anvil sounds great (looks like a Dwarven heirloom From LOTR).....must say I truely admire your nail-less joinery, love rivited iron work though, so twitched a little at the thought of nails (nessesary evil I suppose). One thing I noticed was you didn't appear to dip/quench the nail head after forging them, I was taught to peen the head when red and then quench in water to harden the head for a strong rigid nail with less chance of deforming when used. Cheers thanks for shareing
If your making nails out of wrought iron or mild steel, quenching them does nothing to the nail. Only high carbon steel hardens when quenched.
Enjoyed your video, I liked seeing your box blower in action. I have always associated them with Asian blacksmiths, did Europeans ever use them too?
Having seen many antique nail headers as well as using them most looked a little different then the one you made. They usually had a bigger domed head and not so wide. This was so you could strike the side of the nail head downward blows enabling you to more easily make the rosehead nails they made back then.
On the headers I made I just folded the end back on itself and forge welded to get the mass needed. Of course many old headers will have different size headers on either end.
Most were made out of wrought iron, I have seen a couple that had steel face welded on. Unless you are going to be making lots of nails probably not needed
I would never harden a tool like this in water, to much chance of cracks, didn’t even need to be hardened probably to work fine.
I think back in the day most nails were not made by General “blacksmiths “ but by those that just made nails in a cottage industry. Have read that many women and children made them, they would be advanced the metal stock then merchants picked up the completed nails
I have a couple nail making anvils which is probably what they would use.
Brilliant!!
not bad Jarhead, keep it up and you will master it.
semper fi.
That was awesome.
Good stuff.
You have a nicely equipped and set up blacksmith shop there. Bellows and forge seem to be Japanese style, anvil looks Austrian. Definitely a little more character than a propane forge and a London pattern anvil.
Awesome!
Magnifique !!!!! J'adore
good teacher , ty
Thank you
Fun stuff!
Very cool
Nails are a great way to practice. After awhile the hammering rhythm will get so good the metal will stay hot almost till completion of the nail. Another way to practice is to make small nails and shape cold metal until it becomes red hot. It's a good test to know if placement and hammering are becoming efficient.
Put some felt tape on the air flaps in your bellows. It will quiet the clanking they make.
EXCELLENT!
Outstanding ! Simplify !! Peace