Forging a J hook

Welcome to the first lesson in my series on basic blacksmithing. Forging a simple J hook.

This is one of the easiest things for a beginning blacksmith to make. Very simple, and good for learning hammer control. It's also a very useful thing around the house, once they start looking good you can hang them anywhere.


Visit my blog - eagleeyeforge.com to see more of my projects (mainly knives).



 P.S. The image notes still aren't working, If they start working soon I might remember to add them in.

Step 1: Tools

Basic blacksmith setup you need for this.
 

•  forge
• anvil
• hammer
• tongs
• steel -  1/4" diam round rod (you can use other sizes for different sized hooks)

There are some other tools that would help but aren't neccesary

• drill (or drill press) and drill bit (I use 7/32")
• pliers

Comments

[ginger20037]

Question, what kind of fuel do you use for your forge? I'm looking to get into blacksmithing and noticed we were in similar locations through your facebook page.

[oldanvilyoungsmith]

I use Bituminous coal in my forge. I get it from a place near me in Shelby NC.

[ginger20037]

Okay, thank you so much! :)

[nowuknowjack]

This will be my first learning project. I built a brake drum forge and built an anvil from railroad rail and a nice piece of 3/8 hardened steel. I bought 11 pairs of blacksmith's tongs at a barn sale ($50 for the lot) and got farrier's coal at the feed store. I just picked up mt metal at the local steel supply yesterday, it's Saturday so now I have all day to teach myself a new skill. This is perfect, Thank you very much.
BTW to make a hardy hole in my smallish anvil, I drilled a 7/8 hole into the top, found a surplus 1/2 drive socket that fit the hole (actually I had the socket first then determined the size hole needed), and welded it in upside down so the 1/2 square hole is facing up.
The blower for my forge is a 12 volt air mattress inflater hooked to a car battery! I really need to post my instructables but I have dial-up so it is almost useless to try.

[nowuknowjack]

Up date! A few hours after posting the above I stopped at a yard sale near me and found a 90 pound anvil - a dollar a pound! WOW!

[RangerJ]

Cool instructable.

[obax17]

Hey man, awesome Instructable. Forging is something I'd like to do one day, I feel like this would be a great starting project.

[SasquatchKid]

Hey I'm a twelve yo in Trenton and I would like to Lear blacksmithing I live in Trenton nj any tips and thanks

[oldanvilyoungsmith]

If you want to get started in blacksmithing, first make sure you have permission from your parents, very important.

Next, try to find a blacksmith in your area, if you can, talk to him (or her) about help getting started. Look around online for blacksmithing tutorials, forums, groups, and anything else. Iforgeiron.com is a good online forum to start at. As is purgatoryironworks.com. When I started out, I found a great deal of good tutorials on anvilfire.com.


Hope this helps, Stephen.

[CadaverIncc]

Home made hardy tool? Cool!

[oldanvilyoungsmith]

yup, I forged it out of some leaf spring, my tiny anvil's small hardy hole was just the right size for the thick leafspring I had.

[Phil B]

Thank you for a very practical, helpful Instructable. I look forward to other Instructables in your planned series. While these hooks have a decorative as well as a practical purpose, anyone who can work metal has many, many more options available for all sorts of things. In your planned series of Instructables I hope you might include one on forge welding.

We were in Germany about four years ago and attended a medieval fair. A woman had a booth there in which she demonstrated medieval blacksmithing. She was making a "J" hook like yours. The techniques were exactly what you demonstrated and what I observed at the local blacksmith shop when I was growing up in rural Iowa several decades ago. About the only thing that seems to have changed is how the iron or steel is acquired.

[oldanvilyoungsmith]

I might get to the point of forge welding, I'm still learning myself, and I'm not an accomplished forgewelder yet. Right now I'm just doing some basic stuff I wished I'd had when I first started out teaching myself.

Oldanvil