Reddit reviews The Art of Blacksmithing

This is my absolute favorite blacksmithing book. Highly recommended and very cheap.

Your best resource is the resident blacksmith. But here are the books I've taught myself with:
* The Backyard Blacksmith by Lorelei Sims

• The Art of Blacksmithing by Alex Bealer
  
• The Blacksmith's Craft by Charles McRaven
  
• Practical Blacksmithing by M.T. Richardson
  
• Practical Blacksmithing & Metalworking by Percy W. Blandford
  
• A Blacksmithing Primer by Randy McDaniel
  
  I am incredibly jealous of your opportunity, that living history stuff always seems like a blast.

Also Known as Pack Hardening, Blister Steel, Shear Steel

From what I understand from reading old texts, traditionally, case hardening was a technique were a blacksmith would infuse a piece of wrought iron, which is low in carbon, with additional carbon in the outer layers of the metal. This would allow the smith to harden those layers infused with carbon, while the core of the metal remained ductile. This was typically done by packing the wrought iron in a mixture of ground bone and charcoal (or some other strange recipe) in a tightly sealed box. This box was then heated until the metal was near welding temperature, at which point the outer layers would be near melting, and the added carbon would be able to mix in. One this process was completed, the smith could then reheat and quench the metal, hardening the layers with increased carbon content. This process formed what has been called blister steel or shear steel. It was used mainly before the the ability to produce steel, when wrought iron was still too soft for the application.

In later times, a piece of steel might be case hardened by a process of carefully heating the outer layers of a thicker piece of steel and quenching it. This again leaves the inner portion ductile, reducing the brittleness of the steel. The carbon content of the steel was not affected by this process.


Edit: Sources: http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/11996-case-hardening/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case-hardening
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Blacksmithing-Alex-W-Bealer/dp/0785803955 (the modern blacksmith's bible)
Hardening and Tempering 4th edition Machinists reference book

Off the top of my head? Two reasons:

1. The lack of materials: You need a lot of relatively high-quality iron and/or steel to make a gun barrel that won't split apart or bend when you subject it to the heat and pressure associated with firearms. The Natives simply did not have access to that, and settlers would have almost certainly prevented them from acquiring the materials in sufficient quantities.
   
   
2. The lack of relevant technologies: Forging a gun barrel is a labour-intensive, highly skilled job, requiring specialized smithing equipment. See Alex Bealer's The Art of Blacksmithing for an example of the techniques required to forge a pattern-welded shotgun barrel.
   
   edit: Corrected the link code.

I'm a blacksmith and I'm going to restate what biggguy said. Your best bet of finding one of us is at a living history museum (such as the Mystic Seaport Museum, where I apprenticed) or at a renaissance festival or something similar. We're really eager to explain our trade to anyone who's interested, so questions will be received quite well. And depending on where you go, the smith may let you do something really basic like make a hook.

Doing it at night is conceivable, but I will prepare you for something kinda sad. It can be expensive to get into. Lessons are particularly pricey. And getting your hands on an anvil, tongs, hammers, vise, chisels, etc., and most importantly a forge and fuel, can be quite costly depending on how you go about it. That being said I purchased my own smithing equipment a year ago and can say that it is a very rewarding hobby, and an art to itself. You learn so much about the modern and the ancient world in the act of smithing. Also, The Art of Blacksmithing is, in my opinion, a necessity.

I hope I helped you a bit. If you have any questions, just ask.

Anvilfire.com
Iforgeiron.com
hammertyme.com
reddit.com/r/blacksmith
/r/blacksmithing
/r/bladesmith
/r/metalworking
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Blacksmithing-Alex-Bealer/dp/0785803955
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966
http://www.anvilfire.com/bookrev/
Those are just a few to get you started.
ALSO. Start learning metallurgy as soon as possible.

just had a look you grind your knives, cool they look beautiful. However if you want to make a Proper knife (an its clear you have the eye to make one and the youth to spend 1-2 years getting your skill up to the very start of profesional sellable level ) learn how to pattern weld, you can build a small forge fairly cheaply from an old oil can, Get that skill an you will never be out of a job once your reputation spreads far enough. http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=24457 http://octavia.net/the-creation-of-a-pattern-welded-blade/
http://owenbush.co.uk/videos/ Good luck from an ex blacksmith, p.s : Oh an buy http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Art-Blacksmithing-Alex-Bealer/dp/0785803955

Spike knives are great to practice knifemaking on. They will be decorative however since, as you pointed out, they do not contain enough carbon to heat treat or keep an edge. But do work with them; it's free steel and you can practice how to go about profiling a knife on them.

As far as hammers go, I have known accomplished smiths who are happy with the hammer they picked up at a flea market. I've also known those who have made their own, or those that have bought from Centaur Forge or from other smiths.

It seems everyone has their own idea of what works for them. Quality of steel, balance, and ergonomics are obviously the main priorities, but the rest is up to you.
At this stage, just use what's economical until you start refining your smithing style.

Pick up The Backyard Blacksmith and The $50 Knife Shop. If you've got time, I would also invest in The Art of Blacksmithing, mainly for it's ideas on projects and moving metal.

As for your forge questions, I'm not sure what the best answer is as I primarily work with coal and only occasionally work with gas. The gas forges I use are pretty big, so I don't have experience in your model. Maybe try to stick a RR spike in there, close the doors, and see how it does? You can make small knives for now until you figure out the direction you want to take. Hope this all helped, good luck!

Great work! Cannot recommend "The Art of Blacksmithing" enough