Three years of forging and I finally see the difference in how my steel moves

I started blacksmithing back in 2021 as a hobbyist with a basic propane forge and a 2 pound hammer. For the first year and a half, my steel always seemed to fight me - it would scale up unevenly, move stiffly, and my upsetting attempts were a mess. I kept at it though, heating and hammering maybe 4 or 5 hours a week. Around the 2 year mark I noticed my hammer strikes were landing more consistently, and my steel was starting to flow instead of dent. Now at 3 years in, I can upset a 3/8 inch round bar into a 1/2 inch square in about 6 heats without splitting the edges. The big change came when I stopped rushing my heats and started reading the color better - waiting for an even orange instead of hitting it when it was still bright yellow in spots. Has anyone else had that moment where the steel just starts to move easier, or am I just getting used to bad habits?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavincampbell1mo ago

Reading the color is huge and it sounds like you really cracked that code. Getting steel to that even orange instead of hitting it hot and uneven changes everything about how it flows under the hammer. That moment when your strikes match the heat instead of fighting it is exactly the difference between two years and three.

abbyc331mo ago

Did you start timing your heats too? That was the thing that clicked for me - once I stopped guessing and started counting seconds, the color made way more sense and I wasn't chasing the heat anymore.