Hot take: I stopped trying to forge perfect bevels after a guy told me to relax

I was at a hammer-in up near Portland last fall and a older smith watched me struggle with a knife bevel for like 20 minutes. He just said 'you're fighting the steel instead of helping it.' I was so focused on getting the angle exact every pass that I was actually chilling the metal too fast. After that I started letting the heat do more work and just guiding the hammer instead of forcing it. Anybody else had someone call them out on overworking a piece?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat7811mo ago

My first utility knife from a railroad spike I spent like 3 hours trying to get a straight bevel. Kept reheating, kept messing it up. A old timer finally grabbed my wrist and said "stop. Let it cool. You're hammering anger into it." He was right. I was so mad at the steel for not doing what I wanted, I was just making it worse. Now I walk away for a minute if I feel that tension coming back.

valc911mo ago

Damn, that hit hard. I used to think that kinda advice was just old-timer mysticism, you know? Like, just push through the frustration, that's what makes you tough. But reading this, I gotta admit, I see it different now. You're not failing when you step back, you're probably saving the whole project from getting wrecked by your own mood. That's actually smart, not soft.

kaigibson1mo ago

Not quite "hammering anger into it" though. You weren't hammering anger. You were hammering steel while angry. Small difference but it matters. The anger was in your head and arms, not the hammer. The steel doesn't care how you feel. It just bends or chips based on what you actually do to it. That's the whole point of stepping back. You stop letting your mood mess with your hands.