Learning to Blacksmith #9 - Learn by Doing | Learn by Showing

This week I have been learning how to make hinges, and intellectually speaking it is an easy process. Actually doing it at the anvil with glowing hot metal is not so easy. But, I do it, and I put it out there for the world to see. Not only with blacksmithing but with this blog as well.

I do my best by doing, and then show it to the world and learn some more.

Surprisingly, no one ever asks me, “Why are you putting it out there?”. They never say, “That’s not your best work,” or “Aren’t you afraid of people seeing you fail?”.

Well, I put my creations out there, on this blog and my YouTube channel so that I can get better. So that I can learn. And, I enjoy the doing, especially when I overcome a weakness and get stronger.

In truth, what I put out there will never be my best work, (hopefully) because I am always getting better, but realistically because I can always do better. And I tell myself that.

Keep at it, keep trying, don’t give up. Next time you will do better.

Am I afraid of people seeing me fail? Sure, a little bit. I suppose it wouldn’t mean anything if there were no stakes on the line. You see, putting my work out there for all of you to see and read and judge and rank puts the onus on me, and gives me some motivation to keep at it.

So, Making Hinges

Making hinges (at least the kind I’m trying to make) requires a flat bar of metal and a round piece of steel for the pin. Some blacksmiths forge their own pins using round stock and a rivet set and others buy preformed rivets.

As I am learning, I’m doing it the hard way. I’m doing everything by hand and making the tools I need in the process.

The first step is to forge a barrel at the end of the flat bar. On modern hinges, this is called the knuckle. It’s the round part that the pin slides through to secure the two hinge leafs.

Here are four examples of barrels that I forged. From top to bottom you can see changes in my results.