Blacksmithing for Beginners: A Metallurgist Forges a Spoon with Collin Sage

Hey, everybody, Colin Sage.

Today here at First Build,
we're gonna make a couple spoons.

We got Andrea, she's a guest
at First Build,

And she's going to teach me:

What the heck's going on
inside that spoon.

-Hi, I'm Andrea,
and I'm a metallurgist by degree.

I'm here to learn blacksmithing
from Colin,

and maybe teach him
metallurgy on the way.

[flame burst] Wooh!

-There it goes.
I assume you're right handed.

Hammer hand, tong hand.
-Tong hand.

-You'll always want a glove,
because you'll be

reaching in towards the flames.

Today, at First Build--

[spoon hitting floor]

I got the old spoon fingers.

Today, at First Build,
we're making a spoon.

-A spoon. -Out of this. -Out of that.

It's just mild carbon steel.
Let's do it.

-Probably going to drop things...

-Right. Two equal pieces,
one's mine, one's yours.

Let's throw them in the forge.

Things to note, when you get in there,
and grab this steel:

When you're grabbing,
and especially when hammering,

keep a nice tight grip, not so much

that you're going to fatigue yourself.

Misconception is to swing the hammer

as hard as you possibly can,
that's gonna lead to mistakes.

You want to be accurate
and you want to be intentional

about each swing and each hit.

Ready? Go for it.

[metalic ringing]

Yep, you're watching
where each blow comes down.

You're seeing the deformation.

I make cool stuff all the time:
swords and shields and knives.

Now, Andrea is a metallurgist.

What makes metallurgy so cool?

-Metallurgy is pretty cool, because

what's going on at the atomic level

and at the microstructural level,
it's beautiful.

Take a microscope
and look at the different structures,

and manipulate that with,
what heat treatment

you're going to put it under,

or what quenching practice you'll use.

And you can really do a lot
to change what that looks like.

So the power is in your hands.

-You're going to cause deformation
in different areas

of where you're hitting,
and so to even it out,

usually the best way
is just to flip it over

and hit it again,
and you'll change your sides,

because right-handed,
coming at a bit of an angle,

it's not perfect every time.

You're not perfect, I'm not perfect.

We can get pretty close to it.

All right, Andrea, you're the expert.

Why is this glowing?

What magic is this,
that makes steel glow when it gets hot?

-Well, as the electrons,
the charged particle, move and shake,

they emit those electromagnetic waves

that you see in your eye as light.

Up over 800, 900 degrees,
that's when things start glowing.

-Our pieces in there
are getting super hot,

and the bright part of the steel
is getting brighter, brighter.

Is that going to cause any problems?

-We just need to make sure
that we're not going to melt our steel.

Your natural gas burners
can get well over 3000 degrees.

And so we just need to make sure when--

as the forge gets heated up,
we're not melting our steel.

-OK. You'll notice
the pieces of barstock we're using

aren't very thick,
they don't have a lot of mass.

So our spoon head here
is not going to get real big,

but we're going to try to
thin it down as best we can.

We're going to keep rotating
and flipping, and try to get it

evenly compressed,
and the size of the material will

just kinda dictate how much cereal
we actually get in our mouth.

You're up.

As you swing your hammer down
and as you hit the piece,

it's going to deform,
and the material is going to push out

in all directions
from where the hammer hits.

But, you can influence
where things are going

with a little bit of movement
in that direction.

So I can help the piece along;
if I want it to expand

more outward than inward, I

can give it a little bit
of a outward movement

as I'm coming down onto the piece.

So notice, especially
on small pieces like this,

you want more control;
you don't need to be out here,

bringing your fulcrum way back here,

as you're gonna want to
choke up on your hammer.

You don't need to pull from way up here.

You can just keep it down,
especially when your piece

gets really thin,
and you want to think about

where it's going
and what you're trying to create,

instead of how hard you can hit it;
don't let your piece melt.

-Nope, don't let it melt.

[metallic ringing]

Colin makes it look really easy.

It looks like it's a muscular activity,

but it's actually
way more precise than that.

-I'm kind of a large guy,
and yes, that's helpful,

but anybody can be a blacksmith,
because it's not about power.

It's really about muscular endurance,

fatigue, and dexterity.

It's not the spoon that bends,
it's me, alright?

I watch "The Matrix."

So, Andrea, as you can see
on my spoon here,

we got some black, crusty stuff

that keeps flaking off our material,
what the heck is that?

-Yeah, so that's iron oxide,
it's formed in the furnace

in an oxidizing environment.

It sticks to the surface, and then you

knock it off when you hit it.

-So as the material heats up, does that

help it react with oxygen more quickly?

-Yeah, it's more of a driving force
for that reaction.

(both speakers) Science!

(Colin)
As I'm hitting the steel here,
it's moving out of the way.

What exactly is happening, and why do we

have to heat it up, to do that?

-Steel is really nice to work with;
at high temperatures,

it takes on a crystal shape
that's really favorable

for that, applying that deformation.

We know that there's atoms in the steel;
to change the shape

of the metal, you have to get those
to move past each other.

It's not just moving one atom
a tenth of a millimeter.

You're moving a lot of atoms
in that direction.

At higher temperatures,
you know, the steel, it expands,

and that makes it a little bit easier

to put those deformations into it.

It almost looks like a spoon!

[metallic ringing]

This is very difficult.

It takes a lot of energy,
and a lot of technique,

that I do not possess,
but we're getting better.

-I think she's got it down,
she's a natural.

Woo!

What we're gonna do,
we're gonna put that in.

We're going to straighten out
the handle, some light taps.

And then, you'll put your little,

decorative bends in it, your ergonomics.

-My ergonomics?

-Yeah, your ergonomics.

Here try these,
squeeze as hard as you can.

Nope, if you pull back like this--

-Oh, it'll open?

-It opens up.

-Ahhh!

-See. Yeah, yeah.

-There we go.

Whoo, whoo, whoo.

-I wanna to move towards--

You want the sidewalls
to flare up, so...

Yeah, yeah!

[slight clinking]

Andrea, thank you for coming out.

Um, I had a lot of fun making spoons,
I hope you did too.

And I rather enjoyed this team up,
it was a good time.

I think we should, uh, do it more often.

Anyway. Let's eat!

You want to have 2% on the quench;
this is the real science.

Thanks for watching, everybody, this is

how you make a cereal spoon.

Only at First Build.

You're doing great.
-Yeah, you're doing great.

-Okay.