I recently attended a Greenwood working event and saw Peter Ross’s shop. He was the master blacksmith at Colonial Williamsburg for 25 years. He showed us his his technique for an English style holdfast.

I chose to use the same techniques to forge a French style holdfast. Hope you enjoy my video! It was a fun project. -Chris

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on my diploma thesis, which focuses on the determination and simulation of the forging process for a specific component (shown in the attached images). The task also specifies minimization of forging steps and also some temperature limitations are presented.

I've already run about 100 simulations, but I am completely stuck trying to find the right preform geometry. I have tried multiple approaches and optimization algorithms, including the electrostatic field method and simple moving averages, but nothing seems to give a successful result.

I keep running into two major issues:

1. Material Flow Defects: I am experiencing severe issues with Gartfield field parameter.
2. Extreme Forming Forces: The required tonnage/force is incredibly high, which ultimately results in the plastic deformation of the tooling/die—which is, of course, unacceptable.

Also literature specifically dedicated to forging preform determination and optimization methods seems to be very limited.

I would deeply appreciate any advice or insight:

• Has anyone encountered a similar issue where the preform design causes either severe defects or tool-deforming forces?
• Can anyone recommend good literature, textbooks, or research papers focusing on preform design which will literarly guide me through the whole process of designing it (I just can´t find any)?
• Are there alternative simulation strategies or geometric approach rules I might have overlooked?

I am using QForm UK software.

Please help me I am completely lost and I have already lost 1 month with preform design, it seems like nothing works for me. I am seeking for any kind of advice and I truly need help. Thanks in advance.

If anyone would like to see more content about the problem I will kindly send it.

I been having some extra strange time dealing with some health issues last several years and been getting into reading about Murder Mysteries - Fiction and Non Fiction. One real life case of William Murfitt 1938 England.

The redditor here helped me figure out about how much control over heat could a person have in a wood burning stove.

The chat with the Reddit Redditor also provided insight into the chemistry behind the Auqa Tofina poison.

In the 1938 case the Redditor's knowledge helped prove that "Real" ( see below) killer was his wife. Her alibi of attempting to dry out the salt - which made the police believe she was innocent because would risk gassing themselves by burning it in a stove.

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While the real killer was caught, I can now prove that the wife knew the salt was poisoned. She knew the heat in her stove was way too cold to cause the cyanide grains to turn to gas by 200 degrees. She was specifically trained to recognized the signs of cyanide burns and discoloration as it was a serious issue for farmers back then with no regulation on what chemical used for pesticides.

As for Aqua Tofina poison, it was just Soda Bicarbonate overdose combined with Oodles of parasites.

They helped me figure out about problems with burning tainted wood. This led to discovering that the wood specifically growing in the area of the poisonings was saturated in salt.

( comon practice to season good with hearth ash as it tasted salty) the wood burning turns the salted wood unto baking soda / Soda Bicarbonate. The population at that time period most certainly had parasites a s sudden ingestion of baking soda can cause a toxic overdose.

I had a very similar experience with this but in my case it was a tumor.

I just wanted to say thank you guys and hopefully the person sees this

There are rods from crates I got them at work and want to know what I can possibly make with them

After making some alterations from advice in the comments and a few additional ones to try balancing it better this is what I've made for the 3rd rouph model desing.

Sword is supposed to be a one handed slashing/chopping focused sword.

22 inch long blade

2 inch wide blade

Total length 32 inches

Hammer pommel [switched from wheel]

Curved quillon

D guard - wide guard for more protection

After getting some feedback & tips I edited a pic of the model I made to see if ive gotten it correct. Not the best but hopefully it was done well enouoh that you can tell me if its better then the original.

Also quillon should be on the one but I still havent added it back on yet.

For starters I am not in anyway a Smith, sword expert or anything like that. This is made purely on basic research ive done on my own without feedback from an expert.

I wanted to try designing my own fantasy sword, but one that would actually be functional if it was real.

The result being a sword with: Foward curve 2 inch wide blade 22 inch blade length 31 inch total length 4 inch handle Curved quillon [temporarily removed] Straight spine Wheel/rounded pommel Half basket guard

Note: I did desing it to be used in unison with a shield

Above is a rouph cardboard model I made so I could have a better visual idea of what it would look like if it was actually made.

My main concern is that it may be to heavy for a short sword or the hilt area will be overweight compared to the blade.

Would appreciate any feedback or tips you may have.

Hi not too sure if this is the right subreddit for this but I’m trying my hand at making a bracelet using copper pipe, ive flatten it and used a ball peen hammer to get a round ish edge and all around a round shape on the bracelet but with how the bracket is rounding it’s blocking me from hitting parts of the bracelet, I was wondering if anyone knows a way to help me, I was thinking of finding something to reverse the peen per say hit from the outside and still keep the rounded edge on the inside. Sorry if any of this sounds dumb ive never done anything like this before and wanted to try it out

Can anyone guide me at how to go about melting steel, I WANT to do an electric furnace for $300 though don't reach proper temps it seems unless anyone knows of one or if a combination of materials will allow it to work out and such.

Warning very janky

Hello there, started smithing this year, so total beginner, but trying to swing that hammer as mutch as I can :) not mutch swinging on railroad spikes, but still smithing, here is my experiment result!

So me and my girlfriend want to start and business, on jewerly, we already know how to do basic designs and to mold wax, but have no idea about how to start making stainless steel pieces. ¿Wich tools and materials should we get to start?

So my brother in law is a huge viking nerd, and he really wants an "authentic" viking spear head. We figured we'd give it to him for Christmas, and since I travel to Norway a fair bit, well, where better to get the authenticity than the land of the horned helmed weirdos? (i know, I know)

I tried looking up some local blacksmiths on the norwegian west coast, but didn't really have much luck. Honestly, anywhere in the Scandis would do though, I'm sure something could be arranged.

So, anyone know of a reputable guy or gal who does medium to good and slightly artistic work and would be able to fit this in before Christmas?

Over the course of a few years I have acquired a fair amount of sterling silver silverware and I use it daily. My issue is, because it has all been randomly acquired, none of it matches. I’m looking for someone I can send the silver have it melted down and formed into a matching set. Any help/guidance is appreciated.

the rose is the first thing im honestly proud of, joined a smithy few months ago just to have some fun and im honestly having a blast with it, if anyone lives in northern ireland i would hight recommend moneypenny blacksmiths,

Made a sauna thingy but I have a question, it started foaming and I believe there's some rust on it after I used it in the sauna what could've coused it? (Sorry for bad English not my first language)