Forging Spearhead from Rebar

My first video ever! Filming myself and learning how to use youtube edit took more time than the actual project. Enjoy.
I created this video with the KZbin Video Editor
( / editor )

[@JohnDoeRando]

Nice video, gave me some ideas. One suggestion if I may: wrap some chain around your anvil. It'll knock that ringing down quite a bit.

[@jonmoore4587]

wrap some old chain around the base of the anvil... reduce the ring!!!

[@ethanvandersloot8033]

no. record the ringing and put it into a mixtape and then wrap some chain.

[@BrethrenForge117]

An anvil's ring symbolizes it's quality. Mine gives me hearing problems but I wear it like a badge of honor

[@granthankinson7061]

I would suggest buying something like a 4 pound blacksmiths rounding hammer the extra leverage from holding the 4 pounders actual grip would probably make up for switching from the sledge, I think the extra handle length of the sledge gets awkward for forging some more delicate parts. But if this works for you just keep doing it👍

[@martysmith1626]

Tony Walker: There are two steps to heat treatment. The first is hardening, then tempering. When hardening, the steel is brought up to critical temp. and quenched in either oil or water. I prefer to use oil because it cools it down slower and reduces the risk of a crack forming. After hardening, the steel is like glass and will break easily under impact. Therefore, it needs to be softened, but only a little to give it some flexibility. The steel is heated only until the surface turns blue or brown. Since this is such a short blade in this case, I tempered only the tip because that is usually where it breaks off. Preferably the whole blade is tempered on longer blades.

[@stoneryoda9377]

Marty Smith hey dude I've just found your channel , and I saw your anvil , has it been resurfaced , because I have really old anvil & its bowed in the middle , I wonder if you know of any ways to resurface other than welding because I don't have a welder Keep forging dude its a dying art Also i love the sound of your singing Anvil lol

[@legmaballshityourchin]

Hi Marty! Im pretty young (15) and am interested in making metal stuff. I dont have a forging getup or anything but im used to working with my hands as I'm learning to weld and i either know or can figure out the basics. I have a few questions. First, would making an enclosed furnace work fine for heating the metal? (I have some bricks that i can encase a good fire with, and I can figure out how to get good oxygen flow into the furnace, so i assume that those will be the only hurdles), second, i dont have an anvil, so would finding a thick sheet of metal and placing it on to of a solid concrete slab work good enough for a project like this? Finally, do I need to heat up the oil/water before i harden it? (also what kind of oil should I use?)Thank you so much for your time, and could you point out any other crucial details that I need to be aware of? Thanks again!

[@martysmith1626]

@@legmaballshityourchin A semi enclosed furnace is normally used in propane forges, but you might find that for a coal forge it is perfectly okay to have just a few bricks around your fire to to focus your heat, if you choose to use bricks at all. I've used regular bricks before and they normally break apart from the intense heat. Firebricks are your best bet. The real key is to figure out how big of pipe you need to use for a given amount of airflow. If the pipe is too big, you'll end up with a very inefficient forge that burns a lot of fuel. Too narrow, and you won't have enough air to heat up your piece. As for your anvil idea, I'd just try it and see if it works. It might work, I don't know really. To answer the oil question, i hear that heating your oil can reduce the possibility of cracking your metal. I don't normally heat the oil, but it might not be a bad idea. I use motor oil, but it stinks like hell. Canola oil also works, I think. That's about all I know.

[@legmaballshityourchin]

@@martysmith1626 Thank you so so much. I really hope that your advice helps. We have plenty of bricks so we can replace them as we go. I appreciate your devotion to the craft, and I hope to advance to your level and appreciation towards it as well.

[@Aaron_Barrett]

Mid carbon steel like a rebar can be quenched in water, or even brine, to get enough hardness❤

[@mountainholler290]

Well done ! It seems the rebar had enough carbon to harden to take an edge . Rebar in my experience can be a hit or miss proposition when it comes to that , great video !

[@markospaic314]

Its high carbon steel.

[@borealis9842]

It looks like it'd go straight through some maille!

[@blackmapleblades]

dude hammering with the hot cut in position is a very quick way to loose some fingers!

[@FSAM2132]

Beautifully simple spear...need to give it a try. Good work bud..!

[@buck19delta]

It turned out awesome ! Great Job ! Im just getting started forging myself, and thought a spear / spear head would be a good first project to do, and this one in particular looks especially doable. Obviously the socket is a little challenging, but i think i can do it. I enjoyed the video.

[@martysmith1626]

Good luck on your project, and don't be afraid to make mistakes! Also, the socket is easier than you think. You can do it. If you keep making them, they'll look better every time.

[@utardaheidinn9048]

How is your journey with blacksmithing going?

[@nightrunner3701]

0:48 is dat yur daughter?

[@marcoa.hernandezb.9649]

Execelente 👍👍👍

[@Aaron_Barrett]

Greetings from Ukraine! Excellent work, I need to forge such a spear, but for digging Donbas's hard clay soil! ❤🇺🇦

[@markospaic314]

At some point i thought you know nothing about forging, but with next move you showed me how much i dont know. Great techniques, great final product. Masterpiece.

[@martysmith1626]

Thank you. I read a fat book cover to cover about the old techniques that blacksmiths have used for centuries. It's called "The Art of Blacksmithing" and I would recommend it to anyone starting out in this craft or anyone who's just plain interested.

[@therustedshank9995]

@@martysmith1626 I've read that book too! Very informative

[@mikeemmons1079]

This is a bit advanced for me, mostly cuz I know I will gas out halfway through, optimistically. But I understand what you did, and rebar is cheap.

[@kissgabor6488]

Your anvil has a beautiful sound. Greetings from Hungary and keep smithing.

[@ReynardFuchsmann]

Please tell me you deadened your anvil after this video.. By god, the sound...

[@Aaron_Barrett]

3:35 завжди виймайте підсічку з ковадла, бо пальці аж бігом літають по кузні! ❤

[@rickrodriguez3351]

Live the spear buddy also if you wanted to know you can get rid of a lot of that ringing by attaching cains to the bottom and getting them tightened down and bolted in place

[@ozlozano9470]

Nice spear. Those would work good on pike heads. We use them on 16 foot ash poles for 16century re-enactments. (Keep ours non sharp. I love he bodkin arrows too. Backyard Boyer has some rebar videos arrow heads he makes. Do you sell yours? Put a price on em and a place to buy them I would be interested. I also shoot 65lb English Lingbow and nice to have some nice looking bodkins.

[@ElliotBethellSams]

wrap chain around the anvil the reduce the ringing

[@Bloodletter8]

That sound the oil quench made was just so lovely.

[@williamrhinehardtsr.4507]

Lot of ring in that anvil...couple of magnets work great to dull it a bit

[@anttilahtinen4583]

Magnets? I have not tried that. I just wrapped a few meters of heavy chain around the foot of my anvil to quiet it down, but magnets might do the same trick. I have to try it.

[@williamrhinehardtsr.4507]

Antti Lahtinen Mine is a piece of railroad tracks and it had a painful ring...2 magnets dulled it down quite a bit

[@shawnyfin]

Explain the magnets. How big, where to attach them.. 😀

[@ianfinrir8724]

Or you could just wear hearing protection

[@Turin-Fett]

The best way to reduce anvil ring is to devise a way to clamp it down securely to its stand.

[@jasondurham3581]

Great job, you swing a mighty big hammer friend

[@jonathanguay8471]

Really simple, and effective! Thank you

[@konstantinzhdanov5461]

nice job! 👍

[@tonatonatonatona9328]

Noice

[@jimbojet8728]

Great vid. Some mean looking points there. Nice to watch thanks

[@fernandopiazentin3350]

Thanks man, awsome work!!!! Best regards from Brazil.

[@buffordevans6942]

How long did the forging process take on this example

[@hellochunn]

Love the end "credits"

[@chamaramendis7505]

nice job learn too much from that video thanks

[@chrisselander2387]

You are holding the hammer wrong

[@therainenetwork3510]

What is the diameter of the rebar?

[@thornwarbler]

Grand job mate......................Cheers

[@marty01957]

Good Job, Marty! From one Marty to another, I subscribed.

[@roadhandviking2741]

Great video, and excellent work.

[@frommypointofview7173]

Looks good but a little small

[@rancidragee]

Love the video! You should make a throwing knife tutorial as well!

[@thesixfootsixblacksmith4772]

Why harden a mild steel spear head? Or am I missing something? Sincere question...I’ve been messing around building mild steel folded eye axes with high carbon blades and thought rebar is mild steel.

[@martysmith1626]

Rebar, to my knowledge, is a mystery steel. That means that the carbon content varies from piece to piece. I just test a bunch of rods by heating and quenching the ends of each. Then I bend each one in a vice to see if it is brittle. If it breaks then I know that it has a fair amount of carbon in it. When testing thicker rebar, I have to hammer the end of it flat before bending it in a vice, otherwise it will never break. To be honest, though, rebar is not an ideal steel for a serious blacksmith who wants a consistent result. Also it is time consuming to test a bunch of rebar for hardness, and you might not even find any that will harden. Hope this answers your question, and good luck!

[@MedievalGenie]

So is rebar made of high carbon steel? I thought the stuff was only made of mild steel.

[@martysmith1626]

To be perfectly honest, rebar is a mystery steel made from melted cars and refrigerators. Sometimes it'll have enough carbon in it to make a good enough blade, but every piece is a little different. The rod I used was okayish, but if you want to be safe, you're better off using something like coil spring. Happy forging!

[@ianfinrir8724]

Most rebar has markings on it that tell you what kinda steel is in it

[@thisolddog2259]

Nice job!

[@siuealangi9624]

A+ great work

[@redshift1223]

Nice work.

[@natelarsen6545]

Upload more

[@barrylongermaname398]

Nice work

[@joejoyce9519]

I like that spearhead. Would you consider making one for sale?

[@martysmith1626]

Certainly! You can contact me at [e-mail] to discuss the details.

[@williamritchie5462]

Good job

[@fambuild]

Good stuff!

[@lucasmyrna3054]

Impressive ass hammer work dude. I strive to be that good some day

[@martysmith1626]

I'm sure that you could easily surpass my skill, and I hope you do! Have fun banging hot metal.

[@michaeleerdmans3500]

What type of oil do you use for quenching?

[@martysmith1626]

I use motor oil. I always stand upwind from the smoke to avoid inhaling the cancerous fumes.

[@TheOriginalKidCoyote]

Beautiful

[@thomasrobson6370]

Actually the size of the blade is about the size of arrow heads I'd like to eventually forge (one of these days) :-)

[@martysmith1626]

You must be getting ready to hunt mammoths if you're needing arrows that big! The best of luck to you!

[@thomasrobson6370]

I just like the look of long broad heads, and been thinking of doing Damascus to enhance the wicked look (if I ever get around to it) :-)

[@TomStedham]

great work!

[@TwentythreePER]

Nice video and spear head. I am curious about your heat treatment of the rebar afterward. I have attempted to make a knife from rebar but my heat treat didn't take and I'm not sure if that's because I did it wrong (likely) or if it is not hardenable. What's been your experience? I want to try to make spear heads too.

[@martysmith1626]

Rebar is a mystery steel, so that means that some rods have enough carbon to hold an edge and others do not. One way you can find out which pieces will react to heat treatment is to flatten out a rod to about 1/8 inch thick, harden it, then bend it in a vice to see if it breaks immediately or bends a lot before fracturing. If it breaks immediately like glass, then you can probably get away with making a knife out of it, but the best thing to use is spring steel.

[@Aaron_Barrett]

​@@martysmith1626and some of them have even wutz pattern!

[@tonywalker8030]

So can you explain why you quench in oil then water?

[@ArthurHerbst]

Tony Walker quenching in water is pretty harsh, youd risk frakturing the blade because of the swift cooling rate...

[@frank_from_franconia8751]

But when you use water, try it with some soap in it. That reduces the harshness of the cooling process a bit. Then it is somewhere between pure water and oil. Also try to use old rainwater, because there is nearly no chalk in it and it has bound less oxigen (both not good for hardening)

[@Spry]

who else is watchjing this in 2017???? 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎

[@crazyredneck9709]

Abe hello from the future its 2018

[@rachelskousen1927]

Dad why (this is Soren)

[@stephenh7336]

I'm not a blacksmith, but I am a carpenter and I've never seen someone hold a hammer so close to the head like that. Is there a reason behind it? Personal preference? Look for a better workout?

[@martysmith1626]

I hold it so close to the head mainly because I can control it better, but also because it's very heavy, eight pounds about. A bigger guy could probably hold it further back, but I handle it much better closer to the head.

[@stephenh7336]

I hear ya. And thanks for answering.

[@stienvalintine4290]

Stephen H a bit late but I am a blacksmith. The reason for grabbing higher is a for control and b because when smithing you are using a heavy hammer with the Anvil which bounces it off when you strike. So you're less swinging more of dropping it. Wood doesn't kick back like steel does

[@nickulvatten1039]

You swing a huge sledge like me :P what is the diameter of the rebar?