#markaspery

[javosironworks]

My first flower attempt from the book. It’s supposed to be a jack in the pulpit. Looking at it now I can see a few improvements I want to make. Gotta start somewhere! #javosironworks #markaspery #flower #forged #steel #workshop #handmade #hammer #anvil #madeinminnesota (at North Saint Paul, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuOnKGyj3kZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mhrcqsobb2f3

[jessesavageblacksmith]

Fun little Sunday project. I watched Mark Aspery’s Trace Hook video & decided to try one. Starting stock is 5/8 round by 12 inches long ish. #blacksmith #chainhook #markaspery #anvil #farmtools #vermont

[javosironworks]

Two more tools out of the Mark Aspery book. A spring fuller and a diverging V Fuller. First time making this style hardie tool by bending a 1/2” bar back on itself. Really quick and easy to do. I see more of this style in the future. #javosironworks #markaspery #hardie #hardietools #fuller #tool #tools #forged #hammer #anvil #blacksmith #blacksmithingtools #steel #workshop #handmade #madeinminnesota (at North Saint Paul, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtTXHHVgG3w/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=twgmnt34ymm1

[javosironworks]

A few more tools from the Mark Aspery book. A crimping stake and a scroll starter. The nice part of this style of hardie tool is it holds really nice in the hardie hole. I’m getting barely any wiggle when the tool is seated. I have two more of this style to make. #javosironworks #markaspery #hardie #tools #stakes #forged #blacksmith #fullered #blacksmithingtools #steel #handmade #madeinminnesota #anvil (at North Saint Paul, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtVx82vgpFu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xxhdpbp0444u

[325sqft]

#markaspery style tools, started with 3/4" round, 7 1/2" long, 4140 tool steel. 3/8" bob punch still needs the end shaped, 1/4" round punch, and a hot cut chisel. All still need heat treat. #blacksmithing #toolmaking #handmade #fundamentals #205collaborative #greensboronc (at 205 Collaborative)

[325sqft]

I believe in classroom instruction. But, finances often dictate otherwise, right? So I also advocate reading, picking a method that looks well thought out, and immersing yourself in that too. Of course, sometimes just doing the work is what's called for. Now, time for some book learnin'. #blacksmithing #forged #markaspery #knowyourfundamentals #205collaborative #greensboronc (at 205 Collaborative)

[haenschenklein]

Mark Aspery forging the struck end of a chisel or punch in one heat, including indexing and rasping of the domed end.

[haenschenklein]

CanIron X Day 1

Today was the official opening ceremony of the biennial Canadian blacksmiths conference CanIron, this year in its tenth anniversary. After a welcoming song by the local First Nations tribe and the major of town, who did not sing, but speak, we got to watch master blacksmiths Uri Hofi and Zeevik Gottlieb from Israel forge a bunch of decorative elements and bottle openers as well as a small female sculpture. Their precision and skill is tremendous and it was a joy to watch them work in tandem, striking for each other respectively.

At nearly 80 years old, Uri is a man of many professions who has gained international fame as a teacher of blacksmithing in the past thirty or so years. As always, the teachings are no less entertaining than the many stories he will tell you between heats.

The weather started off cool and foggy with misty rain in the morning, but it cleared up in the afternoon as predicted and actually got very hot and summerly again.

After lunch we watched master blacksmith Mark Aspery of British origin and now a resident of California forge a chisel and a slot punch in as little as two heats and then hardening and tempering it. He used 4140 cro-mo steel as he does normally, so will have to try to get my hands on some of that stuff too. You can watch him forge the struck end of the chisel in a single heat in the video I will be posting shortly. He then proceeded to start forging a miner’s candle holder out of a single piece of stock, but the day was over before he got to finish it. We’ll see more of that tomorrow.

Mark too is an internationally acclaimed blacksmithing instructor and has an uncanny skill of working to size, calculating his stock size in advance, accounting for loss in material and then forging it as if it were clay, manipulating the steel in any direction he pleases. A pleasure to watch, as you’ll see, even if those are just simple manipulations.

Bec too saw some of the action and used the rest of the time to study some German, for which she deserves a big applause.