Blacksmith's flatter from mystery steel - part 1

[@kimcurtis9366]

I REALLY wish you had been doing videos 25 years ago, before I became disabled and can only do small stuff! I have learned SO much from you! YOU are a great teacher and one who KNOWS his stuff! GREAT video! Thanks for your expertise and knowledge!

[@BlackBearForge]

I can't imagine how bad those videos might have been.

[@demastust.2277]

@@BlackBearForge They would have been horribly awesome.

[@tobyjo57]

Just goes to show how much some of us viewers appreciate your tutorials John. Good of that guy to sent you that hunk of stuff.

[@TheKrisg50]

“Is way more fun.....”. Words to live by.

[@grandadz_forge]

Now that's a big stash of tool steel!

[@Jason-jd1jv]

After watching your videos and taking your advice and hints, I have been able to successfully forge weld with no problem. I forged a very small spoon to scoop flux with and after taking your advice to use less flux, I find that forge welding is actually quite easy. So far I've only forged small pieces folding back on themselves but my confidence grows with each effort. My work has greatly improved with the information I've gained from your videos and for that, I am grateful. Thank you for taking the time to make these videos. You have no idea what a great teacher you are and what a huge inspiration you have been to me. Keep up the good work and I hope to learn many more things from you in the future.

[@zanejohnson8512]

I always like watching your videos. You are a very skilled and knowledgeable person. Your shop would be Disneyland for blacksmithing beginner.

[@johndilsaver8409]

It was really a pleasure to watch you forge that!

[@stephenheadings4789]

I've watched a ton of your videos. I try my best to incorporate your lessons into my forge work. And you know in a different life you would have made one Hell of a knife maker.. love your work keep them coming John!!!

[@kambranictay1]

Dang your a tough dude. After one swing with that sledge I would need oxygen and a coffee. Was great to see you using the press. As always 👍🏼. Thanks Steve for hooking John up 👍🏼

[@NeilGraham.I.M.F]

I will say it is kind of strange watching you use the Press. But I enjoy it. Just as good of a watch the second time around

[@BIGDOGFORGE]

Thanks John I really enjoyed this video. Keep up the good work. And congratulations on the channel growth, awesome job sir.

[@hannemannironworks1651]

Looks like the flatter is coming along very nicely John!

[@bennyhill3642]

Very cool. Thanks steve!!!

[@RayFromTheHayclan]

I'm enjoying the series on top work tools. As soon as I get done building enough tongs that's where I plan to start, next these videos will be very helpful.

[@danielcrawford7315]

Mr. John, the info I got is subjective to actual analysis of course. So that said it should be a high boron steel that oil quenchs. The 2 steels I was told that are in the common range are: SAE 15B35H OR 30Mn5B. Now that's at least a starting point. I am told the boron steels are shock resistant and highly wear resistant and deformation resistant. So I could see that from an industrial jack hammer bit with a carbide or tungsten tip fixed to it like rock teeth on a trencher or excavator. Hope that helps some boss. Super interesting video i really like where your going with this flatter hammer. Blessed days sirSir, Crawford out

[@Tiffany_Turbo]

Your video cuts/edits kill me but I wouldn't change it for the world. Love your videos! Thanks for the content and keep up the great work!

[@BlackBearForge]

You should see the uncut and un edited versions.

[@waltparkhurst2494]

Thanks John another inspirational video for us up coming Smith's. Your videos have help me alot. And thanks Steve for hooking John up. God bless

[@Zogg1281]

It looks like you're going to end up with a really good looking flatter at the end of this, the picture at the end is really flattering! .......... sorry, I couldn't resist 😊 Keep up the good work

[@SamTownsBladesmith]

This was a great little build, I look forward to seeing the end result! I have followed your channel for years and I really enjoy your approach to the craft and the community! Keep it up!

[@Jeremy-iv9bc]

Great channel! Thanks for not adding a bunch of obnoxious music to your videos. I just love hearing that power hammer eat!

[@krustysurfer]

Burly Billet! love seeing the magic happen! you can make so many things after figuring what kind of hardening to use, great to learn from you, thank you again B.B.F

[@jjppres]

Looks really good John! Anxious to see the final result.

[@TomokosEnterprize]

You sure do get some odd mail eh. Oh well it does keep you busy eh. LOL. It's going to be fun to see what comes out of this. You are going to need a Brinell tester one day fella ! Great post fella !

[@BlackBearForge]

just one more piece of equipment I don't have room for

[@TomokosEnterprize]

@@BlackBearForge LOL, I hear you my friend. I have never seen a shop that was big enough, EVER. You do a great job with the space you have good sir !

[@ronthacker211]

Always impressed with your experience and knowledge.

[@alwayslearningthankyou2708]

Great video! Like your straight forward style of instruction.

[@lenblacksmith8559]

I really enjoyed that John, going to be a lovely flatter I reckon.

[@danielcrawford7315]

Mr. John, I have a lead on the steel waiting on the info to come back. I think you'll find it interesting. Get it back to you as soon as I get it. 😁😁😁 Blessed days sirSir, Crawford out

[@levi743]

Amazing how much heat a press takes out.

[@peterelliott2232]

John, thanks for the video. We have one of those swages and I use it all the time, very handy.

[@steelpennyforge5152]

Wow! That is some serious mystery metal! Really looking forward to part two!

[@workwithnature]

Was about to say s7 John. Is what my ASO JCB jackhammer turned out to be. I think it was work hardening. Yeah one day I will have to get a power hammer & press like that. Just amazes me how fast the material moves. The flatter is looking good, will be interesting to see the oil quench if it turns out to work on the test piece.

[@reneemills-mistretta790]

That's a great gift. It's going to make great hammers!!

[@russelbutler6704]

Can't wait to see it finished. Looking great n can't believe you've never made 1 before. I just got a hammer bit from a scrap yard but it looks like it will be the anvil for my treadle hammer as it's 130mm round and 1060mm long. 5 n 1/4 inch n 42 inches long I think. But there was a second 1 so next time I'll see if it's still there.

[@mikemeinders6717]

Nice looking Apron John I like the design on it...

[@mattmiller7499]

Good to see you having fun in the forge!

[@chrisschroeder775]

That's a really good video. 👍👍

[@williamjacobs4274]

Great job as always. Thanks. And can't wait to see how it hardens.

[@robertlunsford1350]

I have a piece of industrial jackmhammer bit about 8 inches in diameter and weighs over 100 lbs. I use it for an anvil.

[@interlinkplus8236]

Man those power hammers (especially huge ones) always sort of creep me out! : ) The way they move is almost other worldly, like it has a mind of it's own.

[@jimhumphrey]

That is too funny. I should think industrial!

[@bunyanforgings7849]

I don't know .... I keep having flashbacks to the Terminator movie every time I see John using the hydraulic press.

[@IvyCreek-76]

Nice work John,Thanks for the demo.

[@3870TheDad]

Great video on how to make a tool!!!

[@OuroborosArmory]

Another great video! Thank you

[@prepertruckin8525]

⭕️ hey John, I jus found out that those jackhammer chisels are a 42cro steel...

[@honeycuttracing]

"I hope it's not fragile" LMFAO😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@reigninoel]

Never underestimate postal workers' ability to break... well, anything, really.

[@honeycuttracing]

@@reigninoel I agree fully on that lmao

[@TheWoodsman661]

@@reigninoel it was actually in one piece before it was shipped!

[@bryanrobinson1980]

"Mystery Steel Tool Making" series!!

[@sjsblacksmith1693]

I see I wasn't the only one screaming in my head, and yelling at my phone, "Why is he dinking with the new hammer, when he should break that round down to a rectangle with the press!" I kinda understand, I love power hammers too! But I recognize the utility of a press, and I suspect that the press is the better tool for turning a puck into a hammer/tool blank. Even with an extra reheat, unless you are using a Nazel or a larger mechanical? I find the Saymak chokes just a bit on bigger bites, it's great for sneaking up on a pieces, and fine for tooling, but for just chomping on thick sections with just the big flat dies, it can't compete with a decent sized mechanical, and it sure isn't a Nazel or a steam hammer...

[@thomasarussellsr]

Appears to hold the heat fairly well. And I think your press might be a little low on fluid, that's a fairly heavy lull before it starts squeezing. Looks pretty cool.

[@BlackBearForge]

Its a slow press to start with. But it could be low on oil plus its really cold.

[@lisacoppinger8448]

Hello John, great video as always. Did you make the knife you used to open the box?

[@BlackBearForge]

No, one of the viewers sent that to me

[@NeilGraham.I.M.F]

Looking good

[@ninelivesforge6432]

why is there such a delay with the press when it runs into resistance? it's quite significant, i'm looking to obtain a press in the near future, and that is something that i definitely want to avoid

[@BlackBearForge]

The big reason is that it uses a two stage pump, as most presses do. It moves fast a low pressure but then slows way down to develop the higher pressure. But it is also very cold and the fluid doesn't move as well in the cold plus I am probably in need of adding some more fluid

[@mrmedeval4]

What kinda gloves do you we’re thanks

[@BlackBearForge]

My most used style are hot mill gloves from Pieh Tool

[@jd70HJ19]

HOLE RAM BIT ... Hydraulically driven off a backhoe or excavator ... probably a 20 ton force HOLE RAM

[@thomasbaldwin1558]

Can I Make Damascus By Welding Hobart .030 Flux Core E71T-11 To Spring Steel? Poor Man's Damascus, Or Lazy Man's Damascus?.

[@craighall6468]

Do a part 2

[@BlackBearForge]

Shot today but may not upload until Sunday or Monday

[@stageforgejon905]

I was going to reface my anvil,I priced a piece of 01 3/8× 4× 15! They wanted $220 for it! That's more than what I paid for the Anvil!! Any other suggestions? If not I'm not sure what I'm going to do! It might not be worth fixing I don't know!! Can send pics of it,just don't know where to! Love the hammer video! I hope to get to something like that on my anvil some day

[@BlackBearForge]

Many people use hard facing rod meant for adding wear protection to plow blades. It is time consuming to weld up an anvil face, but it can be done.

[@stageforgejon905]

@@BlackBearForge thank you so much for getting back with me! Keep on ⚒️ ing my friend!!!

[@zetsevs]

I do love that in blacksmithing fixing something involves bashing the living daylights out of it

[@TheWoodsman661]

That's how I try to fix everything

[@TombstoneHeart]

Yep, there is nothing on Earth that can't be fixed by just using a bigger hammer.

[@callmenortnortin467]

Excavator hammer shaft?

[@goshnodo]

You ever look into the gun I commented about few videos back to test metal?

[@BlackBearForge]

I looked online to see what they were and nearly fell on the floor when I saw the price. That explains why I have never seen one in this area. Our scrap yards are more like junk yards selling random stuff by the pound.

[@goshnodo]

Black Bear Forge yes, that is the downside. really something only for say it Recycling Center..

[@ErokowXiyze]

Thunk! Hopefully it isn't fragile. Haha!

[@khalidalhadidi6402]

Thank you very much to share this knowledge, would like to get some courses related to metallurgist do you recomand institute for full course.

[@brianderby145]

John this may help with a bit of the mystery.....this is a repost of a repost that I found from a guy that made breaker bits. Found the following post on the iForgeIron website by a gentleman named Grant Sarver Posted 03 October 2010 - 05:35 PM "Having been a manufacturer of paving breaker steel for many years, over time, I had spectrographs done on every other manufacturers steel. To the best of my knowledge, the only time an "S" series steel has been used is for specific applications and usually that was only .680 chipper steel. These are a commodity product and the finished tool sells for less than the cost of "S" series steel. For most of the last century 1078 was manufactured specifically for this purpose. Essentially a high silicone 1080. Brunner & Lay (the largest bit manufacturer in the world) uses a modified 1045. Vulcan used 1078 for most of a century and more recently switched to 15B40, a boron steel much like 4340. This steel will spectrograph as 1040/1045 because the boron is minute and often overlooked. I made millions of bits from 8630 and 8640 steel. Many chipper steels are made from 9260, an AISI grade very close to S-5 in chemistry. Junkyard rules apply. OBTW: "Jackhammer" bits have a hole down the center. Paving breakers sound exactly like a percussion drill (jackhammer), hence the modern misnaming."

[@brianderby145]

At 3 inch dia I'm gonna guess it came from a skid loader or track hoe hammer

[@BlackBearForge]

Interesting data, which leaves the possibility wide open

[@billwoehl3051]

Do you have a stop or a mark in the drift so you know how deep to go?

[@BlackBearForge]

No, I just judge by eye and drift until the hole looks good. Then trim the handle to fit

[@stanervin6108]

My guess is S5. 🐾🔥⚒

[@larryking606]

Another great project , What would a flatter cost , out of that metal ?

[@BlackBearForge]

Hard to say until I get one completed and see if its a good tool

[@larryking606]

@@BlackBearForge I understand completely , Sorry to bother you , I know you are a busy Man ! I will gladly wait until you have had plenty of time to work on again ! Thank you for the quick reply ! Have a Blessed Day !

[@billwoehl3051]

Does the S in the S series steels stand for "Shock resistant"?

[@BlackBearForge]

Yes

[@texastaterbug5395]

The press is a little more neighbor friendly than a power hammer!

[@BlackBearForge]

That is very true

[@paulcorrigan649]

What does glass hard mean?

[@BlackBearForge]

It means it is nearly as hard as a piece of glass. To hard to be useful and very brittle.

[@roundman-1972]

new to blacksmith work. are you adding flux when driving the punch on the power hammer if not what is it and why?

[@escapehatch5998]

I believe he is adding coal dust as a punch lubricant so he can get the punch out easily.

[@reigninoel]

He's using plain old coal dust. It helps prevent the punch from sticking by forming a very fine layer between the punch and the workpiece.

[@BlackBearForge]

Just what has been said by the other comments. Coal dust helps keep the punch from getting stuck.

[@roundman-1972]

@@BlackBearForge ok that makes me wonder this then, if you are using propane instead of coal then what?

[@BlackBearForge]

There are commercial pinch lubes. But coal dust from anyone that uses coal would be pretty easy to get. A pound would last years.

[@garethbaus5471]

World's heaviest duct tape.

[@garethbaus5471]

The good part is you have plenty of material to figure out decent a heat treat for it

[@jonsey3645]

Very inexperienced and uninitiated question, is the comparitively low amount of scale during forging any indication of what metal you are dealing within? I could never say thank you enough for your guianance and demonstrations. Please take the question as it was meant, I'm not a smartarse, lounge chair Smith... just thankful for any feedback. May the power of Thor be with you... lol

[@BlackBearForge]

Interesting question and one I have never really thought about. I suppose it would require a metallurgist to say for certain.

[@jonsey3645]

@@BlackBearForge Thanks Man, really.

[@airgunsandsuch9139]

Still Dr. Phil

[@amgironworks9091]

If you want some pretty hard stainless to play around with let me know I'll send you some.

[@BlackBearForge]

Thanks for the offer, but I don't do anything with stainless

[@amgironworks9091]

@@BlackBearForge ok well if you change your mind and want to play around with it let me know. I have probably 15 1 1/4in by about 2.5 ft pieces. They come from an adjustable stem and seat used in the oil industry. I took the stuff to a local metal store and they x-rayed it and it came out as 431. I made my first Hardy cut tool out of it and it seems to be holding up pretty well.

[@billwoehl3051]

It's been a year since you made this video, but using alcohol or acetone to remove the duct tape residue would keep your forge from stinking 😜

[@sjsblacksmith1693]

About lubes other than green coal dust... Jock Dempsey over @ secure.anvilfire.com/forge-ease-3512.html sells Fuchs Forge Ease. It's manufactured for industrial applications, but it works great in the home shop too. It really is a great product, and you can use it easily on other tools, not just punching holes. You dip the hot tool in the lube, the water flashes off, and leaves an alkaline coating on the tool. The lube really improve penetration of the tool. You get more bang for your buck with the liquid forge lubes. You used to be able to get a product from Henkel that was really good too, but the Fuchs is available and actually a little better. The tool needs to be fairly hot, to make the water evaporate out of the solution and leave a nice coating on the tool, but not too hot. If it is too hot the lube won't actually stick to the tool. I do a lot of slitting and punching and love my forge lube. I always cool the tool in the lube before I put it away, then the next time I am punching or using my favorite running chisel, I use it long enough to get it fairly hot, then I dip it quickly it in the lube. You don't want it to come out cold and wet, you want it still hot enough to flash the water off. That way you get a good coating, and then just cool the tool every few hits like normal. The only time I bother with green coal dust is if I am punching a particularly deep hole in a piece of steel, like on a hammer eye, or punching a hardie hole in a sledging anvil, then I use coal dust in addition to the liquid forge lube. The out gassing of the coal as it is compressed and combusted in the hot hole helps jump the punch back out which is nice. I still get better penetration if I use the Fuchs forge ease in addition to the green coal dust. I have tried lots of the other lubes, like beeswax, and moly grease mixed with graphite, but I think the liquids like the the Fuchs and the Henkel work better.

[@BlackBearForge]

The only problem I have had with some of these lubes is that once the punch is hot they tend to burn off quickly. Otherwise I have found them quite useful

[@521cjb]

Fifty four pounds, eh ? Lol . You do know your postal carrier hates you, right ?

[@BigWillSD]

LMBO!!

[@BlackBearForge]

They might be getting used to it, I know the UPS guy is

[@newtsleatherandmetalsmithy1827]

Good day to you brother I have a couple of questions about your apron that would help me make one that I can donate to young aspiring smith. One, the badge over the pocket is it a thicker veg tanned piece? Two, do you know what type of leather is it made of? I recently made one for miss Penny Brown over at new penny forge out of a pig skin suade that works very well but I aspire to improve my skills with each and every project I do. I can be reached either by my you tube channel or face book under the name Randy Mills

[@BlackBearForge]

This one is a commercially made apron from Forge-Aprons.com made from coy hide, the logo pocket is vegetable tan

[@jackdawg4579]

real hodgepodge of tools that don't match? ha ha ha - take a spoonful of coal dust and harden up!

[@jackrussell2329]

Take it to a scrap yard and they can use their gun and tell you what it is

[@BlackBearForge]

I have never seen a scrap yard in our area with one of these guns. Most are more like junk yards that sell scrap by the pound

[@jackrussell2329]

most any one who buys stainless steel titainium or any high temp alloys or machine shop chips and drops@@BlackBearForge

[@BlackBearForge]

Nothing like that around here that I know of.