Old School Blacksmithing: Garden Fork

[@danieljewett-ef9kc]

Making practical tools for practical use. Respect from the USA. Keep the content coming.

[@MatthewRulla]

Very nice workmanship! That is a very complicated form for forge welding with coal and wrought iron that most people will never truly appreciate the technical skills involved.

[@lenblacksmith8559]

You really are a great and talented blacksmith, what a pleasure it was to see some real old school smithing going on. Loved it.

[@flatlander6734]

Dude, you have way more faith in your welding than I do in mine!! How about a video on that kool power hammer.

[@threecatforge]

Great video lad the spuds won’t know what hit ‘em. When you go digging with that fork.

[@stevenlisk2468]

Fantastic work 👏

[@paulfarley454]

Keep em coming . Great work !

[@waylandforge8704]

I enjoyed watching you work, well done.

[@Kristoferskogsberg]

Really nice!👏👏

[@antoniskavarntis]

Excellent work very nice

[@homemadetools]

Nice job; this is a rarely made tool. We shared this video on our homemade tool forum last week 😎

[@oconnorblacksmith]

Awesome 👌 thank you

[@ibpopp]

That's a fine bit of work, young fella, and an awesome fork--I've not seen anything so hefty before. Digging an acre or two would be truly 'character building', as the foreman used to say. Cheers and thank you from the Great Southern Land of Terror Australis, from Cootamundra Charlie.

[@carolynbatta9525]

Man…you are good……not a lot BS just good information and work!😊

[@MrFLUIZZLE]

Nice work! Great video, thank you.

[@michaeledwards5954]

That was really impressive on so many fronts. Great camera work and commentary, Bloody awesome welding skills and the finished tool is so cool. Love the power hammer, not seen one like that before. The tapping of the tines in the fire was something I've not seen but makes sense, well done and much respect to your skills!

[@thesixfootsixblacksmith4772]

Awesome!

[@jamiethacker675]

nice!

[@danielcomeau9880]

Old stock becomes new. Nice qnd easy.

[@richjmaynard]

Respect for the forge welds!

[@oconnorblacksmith]

Thank you!

[@derekk2708]

Really Top Notch Video James. Well done. The video Creation, Editing, Audio etc ... is nearly as impressive as the Traditional Blacksmithing Skills on display! (and nobody gets to see the effort it takes on the video creations side) - Keep em coming. ; )

[@venassis7749]

You make it look so easy to shape metal with just your bare hands. How do you know when the metal is hot enough?

[@josephdorey8458]

By the colour it's glowing - for wrought iron you usually want it fairly close to welding heat (at leat with the low quality stuff that I've been able to get my hands on) so that means a light yellow colour when it comes out of the forge. Pop it back in when it gets down to orange colour (it always looks different on camera)

[@Makaveli-Eire]

Fair good job looks hard to do as well all them welds 👍

[@thesixfootsixblacksmith4772]

A very stout and well built tool…also to be used as a weapon against the invading Viking hordes.

[@cokofleischer]

Gorgeous craftsmanship! How can you tell if the prices are actually getting welded together when it is so white hot?

[@oconnorblacksmith]

You can feel it gripping the other material and visibly see it meshing together 😊

[@TaTa-wv9kl]

I love the solid workmanship of it. Tell, how do you keep your arm bones intact for the long haul? It looks like a trade with wear and tear. And +1 about the hammer!

[@oconnorblacksmith]

There's nothing much you can do unfortunately, we can use powerhammers and hydraulic presses to help, but hammer work is hammer work and wear and tear will eventually get us all 😄

[@Bangalangs]

He’s got good hammer technique and it looks like he has his working surfaces set to the correct height. Good technique goes a long way to help prevent eventual wear and tear on the body. Power tools help as well.

[@misstweetypie1]

@@oconnorblacksmith Taking small breaks and, if you can, switching jobs to give muscles a chance to rest are some small things that you can do :) You don't have someone pushing you to get the work done fast, so take the extra time for those pauses, and it will help (although it won't prevent the wear and tear entirely!) I'm not a blacksmith, but i've been learning about body mechanics and stuff as an electrician apprentice. Also, James, I hope you wear proper ear protection! I'm sure that any old blacksmith would cuff you for not using hearing protection when you have access to it!

[@l.k.3966]

are you using a flux like borax for the wields?

[@oconnorblacksmith]

No flux at all, just the fire!

[@Blahblah-vc5zi]

Eion sent us. . .