I can still smell the burnt ozone and singed hair from the afternoon I decided to skip the face shield because “it was just a quick grind.” I was twenty-two, cocky, and thought I knew better than the old-timers, but Continue reading Safety Rules for the Metal Workshop
I remember a Tuesday back in ’84, working a heavy industrial contract where the shop floor was thick with the smell of coal smoke and scorched scale. I was a young man then, eager to prove myself, and I’d gone Continue reading Selecting the Right Blacksmithing Tongs
I can still smell the heavy, biting scent of burnt sulfur and cheap mineral oil from my first year in the fabrication shop. I remember a young apprentice—well, I was that apprentice—trying to force a drill through a hardened steel Continue reading Using Lubricants in Metalworking
I can still smell the ozone and burnt steel from the time I nearly lost a finger back in the fabrication shop in ’84. It wasn’t some high-tech equipment failure that did it; it was a moment of pure, unadulterated Continue reading Safety Tips for Using an Angle Grinders
I remember sitting in my first fabrication shop back in the seventies, staring at a pile of scrap metal and feeling like a complete fraud because my beads looked more like a row of bird droppings than a professional weld. Continue reading Improving Tig Welding Skills
I remember sitting in my old mentor’s shop back in the seventies, the air thick with the smell of burnt oil and the rhythmic clack-clack of the heavy press. I was twenty years old and convinced I could force a Continue reading Techniques for Bending Metal Sheets
I remember standing over a piece of scrap mild steel back in ’84, thinking a little extra heat would solve everything. I was young, impatient, and frankly, a bit arrogant. I tried to weld a piece of high-carbon tool steel Continue reading Understanding Common Metal Alloys
I remember standing in my old shop back in ’94, staring at a rusted-out tractor part that looked more like a lump of coal than a piece of machinery. I’d spent three hours trying to blast it clean with a Continue reading Setting Up a Sandblasting Operation
I remember a Tuesday back in ’84, working a heavy fabrication job on a custom chassis. I was reaching for a pair of pliers I’d picked up from a big-box hardware store just because they looked shiny and cost next Continue reading Essential Pliers for Metalwork
I remember sitting in a cramped fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a kid try to quench a high-carbon blade in cold water just because he was in a hurry to get to lunch. The sound of that metal screaming Continue reading Importance of Heat Treating Metal