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Updated 2023-08-26 (this is a work in progress..) Note: The website is under active development and you may notice some colors and layout are not quite right, it is fine to use. About Smithlist Smithlist was started by myself and Lando Novak in January 2021. It was created in the hopes that we could make finding smiths, suppliers, schools, and related services in different areas easier. It also gives smiths and related services an opportunity to have new eyes on them, and hopefully help their shops or business in that way. It was up until a few days ago only for Canada, but I have now opened it up to North America (USA and Mexico to start). With that also came the move from the .ca domain to the .net which I completed a couple of days ago. I originally had planned to add more features as well as a marketplace, but alas Murphy had other plans, so for the last two years I have only had to time to maintain what was already built...... until now. I finally have the time to take Smithlist where I has always envisioned it being, lots to come! What is Smithlist? Smithlist is a searchable online directory where blacksmiths, bladesmiths, farriers, schools, and related suppliers can list themselves free of charge and those interested in their services can search and find them easily. A integrated marketplace that will allow people with listings (called "places" on the site) to add and sell their items is currently in development and will be ready in the next 1-2 weeks. Also planned are live streamed video interviews for those with listings and stores on the site, as well as live streams of smith and farriers doing their work. Why Use it? The more people that add listings and stores, and talk about it the more use and traffic it will get which is good for everybody involved. I have been getting some feedback from people that have listings currently and the directory is working. They are getting new eyes on them and sales that have come from Smithlist, and it should only increase from this point forward. Here are some of the things you can currently do on Smithlist Add your shop or business (called a "place") which will then be searchable based on location or map. Some people do not want to add an address, that is fine, it is not a requirement. You can add links to your social media, website, email, phone number, as many pictures as you like, and videos. Your customers can drop reviews on your listing, these reviews will show up on the front page. Post events on your listing, these are displayed on a calendar visible on your listing page. Submit blog posts and guides related to smithing or farrier work. Tickets - Sell tickets from your listing, could be handy for classes and the like. Marketplace - Full fledged marketplace (opened on 2023-09-15) More cool stuff coming to Smithlist in the next couple of weeks Facebook connect - You can connect with Facebook as a login to Smithlist. Once the marketplace is live you can also import any items from Facebook by simply inputting the URL. Full fledged marketplace which is integrated into your listing. Sell any smithing related items, chat with customers, configure shipping as you want, allow customers to follow your store, and much more. Auctions - Full auction system. Something I have seen work well in the past is live stream the forging of an item, it can be a series of stream if needed. You then auction off that item. Custom Orders - For the marketplace, will allow sellers to allow customer to build custom items based on materials and other conditions. Customer should be able to build a custom knife, receive a price instantly and order. https://smithlist.net

Hi Everybody, Great to be here on the forum, this is my first post. I’m a blacksmith and blacksmith from the Netherlands and I have a few questions about my power hammer you might be able to help me with. This is my 1900 spring hammer I found in a barn somewhere. I think the drop weight is about 65 lbs. As you can see on the photo, the base is a few wooden planks and my neighbors are saying that their pictures are dropping of the wall when I work. So what could be a solution for this? I can’t break into the ground and pour a separate foundation for the hammer. Is it maybe helpful to poor a big block of concrete, for instance 10 inches thick. And put the hammer on that block. Maybe it would disperse the impact? I could also put a big rubber mat underneath it? Second question is about the anvil. I now use a box filled with sand where the anvil stands on. This is a very unstable solution. The anvil tends to slant a bit under the blows. What would be your advice for an anvil. Poor some concert base for the anvil to stand on? Or would the crack the concrete? Maybe some solid iron block to mount the anvil on? Thanks for your advice! All te best, Matthias

Heya gang, Check out this amazing article The New Yorker did about bladesmiths in NYC. It features fellow Forged in Fire contestant Frankie Sausto, several of my students, and my ugly mug. It's all about passing it on, Theo

"broke bladesmith" is working title. It's only in the last six months-year that I finished getting the basic tools necessary to begin bladesmithing, so as it's fresh in my mind I began writing this, to help out beginning bladesmiths to get the tools they need to start making knives, as well as a chapter on basic heat treating. The closest thing to this, I suppose would be "The Fifty Dollar Knife Shop". I still need to add photos and diagrams, and this is the rough second draft, but I've finished the largest stretch of it. Any newbies are welcome to use this as you may, just don't distribute it off of this forum please. For the pros and other bladesmiths, would you mind reading through small parts of this and giving me correction or better tips or what I should have said instead? I'm not looking for grammar or spelling mistakes here, just correcting of any mistakes or misleading things I may have said. Thank you all very much, Caleb.Brokebladesmith.pdf

Hey all, This is a long shot I know, I'm looking to learn blacksmithing/bladesmithing and if anyone based in the UK wants a volunteer who'll work damn hard in exchange for a place to sleep at night; I'd be interested in that arrangement. I'm a beginner but a lifetime's fascination has to count for something right? I'm in Warwickshire at the moment but as long as I have somewhere to stay I'm not to bothered about moving around the country, or even Western Europe although my vast array of 1 languages could be a issue. I'm not even sure this kind of thing still happens but you don't ask you don't get, as they say. Cheers

Hey everyone, It's been a while since I posted some finished work and for those of you who remember my post about tempering with an oxy torch and how I ended up snapping the blade while trying to straiten it I thought I should show what I was able to make from the broken blade. I am very happy with this knife and I will be making a kydex sheath to go with it so it can be my EDC from now on. The blade is very sharp and holds an edge very well. It was forged from file steel and has a mild steel guard. The wood is curly maple and cocobolo with a white spacer. The pins are mild steel welding rod. Let me know what you think.

In 2005 I was lucky enough to visit Don when he lived in Alabama. He had a shop behind his house that was small and very well organized. He did his forging, grinding and heat treating outside. Leaning against the tool box behind Don are two shivs and a larger blade. Bill