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[Ninurta]

I've done blacksmithing and farrier work on a home-made forge. We used a truck tire rim standing on water pipe legs for a mud box, and "fire bricked" it with red clay. A two pound hammer and a 150 pound anvil mounted on a section of tree pulled out of a firewood pile and left unsplit rounded out the set. I've split wood with a double bitted axe (there's a trick to that) and learned to make my own wedges out of wood when the axe was not enough, which was not often.

I got a minor introduction to blacksmithing as a kid.  My uncle didn't think it was a safe activity and quit teaching.  I've swung the hammer several times since, but have no clue when it comes to heat.

It's the color. The iron in the steel runs through different colors at different temperatures, from a dull red to a bright yellow. Cherry red for forging, more into the yellow for welding, It was the quenching that always got me. If you get it too hot and drive out too much of the carbon, it will get too hard and brittle, and sometimes shatter like a piece of glass when you quench it. It can be a fine line between something that will hold an edge and something that will fly to pieces when you dunk it. Sometimes, you have to leave it laying in the coals for a minute to draw in enough carbon not to shatter it.

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