BLADESMITHING | Top 5 Things You Need To Start Bladesmithing! | Beginner Basics

a couple of things that you need to start making blaze one you need to have a gravity condenser and a quantum navigator and we're not talking about that we're talking about blades the way everybody else makes them not okay cool hey y'all in this video I'm gonna be talking about some of the things maybe five things maybe more than five things that you need to get started in blades [Music] so there are many things that you need to get started but simply the first thing is the want to do it you know we want all kind of stuff some people want a shiny car or to travel to Hawaii or wherever you want to go or whatever you want to do we have stuff itis I think as Americans and that's not necessarily a good thing so you have to have the mindset you have to want to do this and you have other things in your way what are the things that might be in your way well I want to be a bladesmith I want to learn how to forge knives and make knives and make tools and I want to enjoy this and get into this craft but I don't have any money well forget all that that doesn't matter people who want to get into fishing they they start to fish you know they get a fishing license they get a fishing rod they go out there and they're fish and they get involved in with other people who are into and then they get a boat and they get it you know it just it keeps moving forward from there people don't make money fishing for bass it's not it's not a money thing unless you're a professional bass fisherman which is like rare I'm sure there's less of those and there are professional basketball players my point is is you have to have the desire to do it you have to really want to do it you may have some other hobby right now you might have something else you're interested in or you collect or whatever you know I have a friend of mine I got in the knife making and he was really good at it and after a while he's like I need a grinder but it don't have any money I was like well what do you have you can you can exchange something that you're already doing you know do you have some like maybe you collected guns or you had something he goes oh I have a gold coin collection this is like a gold coin collection and then I was like if you don't sell them gold coins and buy you a grinder don't come back in my shop well he did he sold those gold coins he bought two grinders and within nine months every chef in Charleston knew this man because he was making chef's knives and they were getting them and using them and giving him feedback so that helped he engaged the thing he wanted to do he got deep into it and decided to like I'm going to trade these gold coins which I believe would be like a lineage or our heritage or something for my children to use these instead so he decided to exchange a thing for a skill and learn the skill I hope I'm expressing this correctly my point is the number one thing you have to have is the desire to do it and you also have to decide I want to do this so much that I'm a willing to get rid of another whatever it is you know this maybe it's fishing maybe it's some I don't know if you can I'm just saying an example is I'm gonna trade my gold coin collection I'm gonna sell my motorcycle and buy a power hammer or whatever it takes if you really want to do it you'll do it now that doesn't mean you're gonna make knives and make money because I don't want anybody to think about that I want you to think about it as I'm gonna do this and make art just like people who start painting you know people who go on painters you know just because you're painting a picture that didn't make you Picasso okay just because you're forging blades that don't make you Don's Fogg or Steve schwarzy right so take that and enjoy it and get into it so first thing of course there's attitude and desire to do it second thing you have to have I don't really like the number these things because I'm gonna probably get more than I need so let's just say another thing how about that another thing that you need to have have a place to do it in it could be your garage it could be the backyard you could set up a tent and forge under a tent you might need to find a one of these maker spaces where you can go in with other makers and work in that space you know that might be a place that you could do this in and you need a shop cat I forgot you need a shop cat which I have one he just comes and goes when he wants to most of the things that you need to really get into doing anything i watch comments that people send and sometimes a comment on the negative side well I'm not like you because I don't have all this fancy equipment and a fancy shop and all this I didn't either I have the desire to do it I had an anvil that I had bought in a I bought a bunch of tools from a guy it was like $200 that and will happen to be in there it's at around for a couple years until I decided I needed to use it and I learned how to forge and then I started using that very anvil which was not perfect it was banged up it was beat-up but I made it work someone had been using it to cut things on with a cutting torch so it was scarred up pretty bad but I fixed it I ground it down I used that anvil for years I made hundreds of knives on that anvil I did not have a power tool I did not have a press I mean I'm a power hammer and I didn't have a press I just made it work because I wanted to do it more than anything else but more importantly than that I got an education I learned from other makers actually we need to put this part in front of the second part the second thing let me get straight up second thing but not so much necessarily in order is you need information now when you look out there there's a lot of mythological information on blade smithing and making knives and especially swords source has the most mythological information that exists so that's going to be a hardware you have to navigate that day you have to use uncommon sense and navigate that minefield of knowledge and remember just because someone says it's a fact doesn't mean it's true okay so when you're learning how to forge blades find teachers that not only are the best but are the best at explaining to you directly don't learn with people who say well I used to do this but I'm going to show you this way that doesn't make a lot of sense that's saying here use this thing that I don't use anymore because I've found a better way go to the most direct route you can go so you want to learn how to forge learn how to hold that hammer learn how to heat the steel up learn how to hammer learn how to very simple things and build on that information don't worry about what kind of steel I need this I need this I'd it do deconstruct don't have an idealistic view of what your shop should look like just start with information and the more information you have that's solid information that's good information the better you're going to make that transition right into doing what you want which is plate smithing and forging knives so information is one of the keys one of the most important things the most valuable commodities that you have are time and then concerning bladesmithing is information so don't be afraid to pay for that information don't be afraid to ask a bladesmith to go and take a class take your classes great that way you can learn oh I need this I need this I don't need those things I just need some simple things and here's some simple techniques that I can take and improve on and practice and get better at and over the years I've watched mini bladesmiths come through my shop and their names get written up on that wall and behind it says master bladesmith now because I wrote it there but because they presented their work before their peers and they were judged to be a master of their craft by their peers so no one becomes a master bladesmith by just banging on stuff in their shop and saying oh master this it's kind of that's kind of you know that's I don't know video game stuff but the reality is you can do this you can do this you take one step at a time and you attain these goals you attain that level and always remember if you're a master Smith I'm Ben I've earned my master Smith rating by my peers not because I say so because they say so but that just means to me that I have the basics of information the basics of learning here I got all the basics down now I really get busy since 2007 that's when I earn the you know the rating of master bladesmith in the American bladesmith society I took that as here's the beginning of my learning and it really was because from then on I feel like I've gotten better and better every year so number three and I keep saying numbers but I keep also saying I'm not gonna use numbers let's let's abandon the number system the next thing is once you've decided you're going to do it and you've accepted that you need the M Meishan put that into practice what do you need you need a space in the space to do this and you need a hammer you need an anvil and you need fire whatever your source for fire is I always recommend propane because that's easy you need some basic tools basic tools is anvil hammer fire okay this is simple from this really you can do anything you want to if you a lot the time to do it do you need a grinder well if you want to get better you know grinding is like the quantum leap part of it so you could use a side grinder you know hand grinder files you can do all that and that's not a bad way to do it I have made knives that way I've made beautiful knives that way if you watch any tutorials on the way that the the art of the Japanese sword the samurai sword there's one by that's about you should know your shahara watch him Forge this blade I mean it is incredible it is it is a very emotional it's really cool to watch he's using hand tools to clean it up and finish it but yes you could do that now if you want to go a little more advanced like I was I was talking about taking some of your old crap and selling it whether it I be old coins or old guns or whatever you got exchanged those things sell your motorcycle I know that sounds really terrible but do that and buy some tools and get into it for real that doesn't mean don't don't in any way think I'm going to make knives too I mean it's really difficult to sell stuff it's really difficult to make stuff of a quality sell it make it to learn make it to get into it make it to get better make it to sharpen your skills and sharpen yourself but the tools you need are hammer anvil and fire I always recommend propane and I probably said that several times already so those are those are the three simple things but a space to put them in and those are things you have to figure out another thing that that you need of course is materials what are you gonna use we're gonna Forge steel so you can have fun with scrap and not knowing what that is and I've done that before too that's a lot of fun but you have to do some research it's not easy so you do research you find out what is this material how does it work there's a lot of there's a lot of variables within that but the truth is is that high quality carbon steel to forge blades out of is not very expensive you can buy a stick of ATC RV to quarter-inch stick inch and a half wide that makes a big knife for about 40 bucks so that's not very expensive if you think about it then you have something that it's good and consistent consistency is the key especially with this if you if you want to get better hold your hammer the same way hit that hit the steel the same way you know use the same steel don't use a bunch of different stuff if you want to go out there and play with all kind of stuff railroad spikes and cable and all that by all means do it and enjoy and have fun with it you will learn a lot and that's a fun thing to do it's messy and sometimes the results are disappointing but you will have fun and you will learn so you can do that and you can find that stuff anywhere the scrap yards all over you know we make more trash probably than boy I mean we have a lot of trash in our country so it's a lot of trash metal there's a lot of old cars there's a lot of old parts see if that works for you have fun I just recommend getting a high quality steel that is consistent and use that over and over and over again you will get better faster by doing that instead of grabbing every piece of rusty junk that you finally in on a Saturday and even worse is having your friends hey I've got to leave Springs I'm gonna bring you two of them and you make a knife for me and a knife for you see material is pretty cheap and tell friends like that to keep their own junk another thing probably overall once you begin moving in this direction you know it's like we're unfortunately we're a stuff culture and one of the things I'm trying to encourage here is changing the dynamic of a culture to be acres so take some of your stuff and sell it and buy some tools that you could make with and you can learn with and you can enjoy this craft you can enjoy this process I can't emphasize that you know too much I can keep saying over and over again also education find someone to learn with find someone to learn with take classes you can join the American bladesmith society you become an apprentice bladesmith there's a progression in that society where I went through it it's a it's a culture of makers and you level up you know three years you can test for your journeyman if you pass that two more years you can test for your masters if you pass that then share that information and get better and better and better you know keep doing it and moving forward and enjoy the process be a part of that maker movement be a maker I wanted to bring up two of the biggest sponsors that I've had since I started making knives here well maybe not since I started but in the last eight years so one is chili forge I get I use the chili forge it's chili forge calm and if you'd look into more what they're making chili forge calm they make a great atmospheric Forge it's my favorite right now it's the one I use every single day and I think you'd like it too also will want grinders Chris Williams is the founder proprietor and maker of what I think is probably the best built grinder that is built they are out of North Carolina and you can go Wilmot grinder com Wilmont grinder com so these are two of the people who have been sponsoring me Chris from Wilmont grinders and the family that is behind chili forge so check them out go check their website out and you know that's a great way to get started so subscribe leave a comment give us a thumbs up and have a great day you'd be smart unfortunately I'm not very smart even though I look smart another thing you need you probably need a shop cat shop cats good but they can't leave the doors closed otherwise the shop cat will go poo in the corner somewhere even though he has a litter box in the bathroom and we can't close that door because he'll show his displeasure with you [Laughter] [Music]

Channel: Jason Knight

Views: 429,599

Keywords: blacksmith, how to make knives, how to, blacksmithing, how to make a knife, top 5 favorite knives, bladesmith, top 5 best knives, learn to blacksmith, things to do, milwaukee blacksmith 01 episode 5, forging, stuff and things, milwaukee blacksmith season 1 episode 5, how to sharpen a kitchen knife, scary sharp, blade, knives, stuff & things, bladesmithing, steel, sharp, how to sharpen a knife, proper way to, knife making

Id: 2DEL-hq7F9A

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 02 2020