A Young Old School Blacksmith

buzz saw

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quMK_VAu1AE

Here is a link to a video from a friend, the commentator in the video, with his two sons, the older of which is a very good blacksmith. This young man is a very good artist who happens to have a love for metal work. He has built most of his own tools, forges, bellows, etc. Most everything he makes is done the old time way, he is a real craftsman. I did give him the Lincoln buzz box in the background, and a quick lesson with 6011 rod. It is very refreshing to be around these boys, as well as their sisters and mother. Could be the most respectful, polite youngsters I've been around. Kinda gives a man hope for the younger generation.
 
Very nice, Buzz Saw, and that video already gave me an idea--now I've got to hunt up some scrap for a small anvil like the one in the video. Nothing elaborate, but enough for a young gentleman of my acquaintance to have something to hammer on--if nothing else, it might save on his mother's truck bumper, his grandmother's front steps, and several other things he's used so far! A bit of knowledge in metal fabrication as a youngster can pay big dividends down the road, and point the way toward many different career paths or be a rewarding career in its own right. Seems that every generation since time began has been of the opinion that the younger one is headed for heck in a handbasket, and yet they always seem to not only turn out all right but generally outperform their parents!
 
My younger son has started playing with "blacksmithing" and we built a forge together from the wheel center from a D17, put legs on it plumbed a bellows through the center hub. He's still looking for a decent anvil - those things have taken off in price.
 
There is a state park north of where I live called the Hartwick Pines. During the summer
months they have logging demo using steam engines and a sawmill. They have a 2 or 3 day event
called Black Ion days. Many of the people working steel there are as young as 15 and most are
in there early 20's. Very interesting to go to
 
Agreed, and I've got a few of my own that I use, but I don't have a small chunk around at the moment, which is why I'll probably end up using scrap.
 
Northern NY. Thanks for the offer--I've got enough for present needs, I just don't feel like chunking them up for this particular project, as cleanly cutting rail isn't a quick or simple proposition, and what I have in mind will be easier to do with a hunk of scrap than it will with a chunk of rail anyway. At any rate, I'm mighty choosy about how and where I get my rail--a lot of people don't realize that "borrowing" chunks of rail can easily be a Federal offense, as many railroads are viewed as federal property, given their strategic importance and the fact they often use federal tax dollars to either build or maintain them. Had an enterprising gent locally a couple years back who wound up as a guest of the federal government for several years after finding out the the hard way that they take a mighty dim view of their repair rails turning up at a scrapyard to pay for a drug habit. For that reason, anything I have has a clear paper trail with it, and that's yet another reason why I prefer to use things other than rail when possible, and not go chopping up and handing out pieces I do have--it's just not worth the potential hassle when I have other options available.
 
This was picked up after railroad was removed and cleaned up. They don't look in the weeds very well.
 
Made mine from RR track.
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