This is a bick iron I made from very old Swedish tool steel. It is hardened and polished. Polished because I use it mostly for our jewelry work.
I got a bunch of real old Swedish tool steel many years ago from an old machinist and tool seller I knew starting in the 60's. It is mystery metal,but hardens fine in oil,and gets hard and tough as blazes. I drew it to a dark brown color after hardening. As for the old tool steel,most of it is rolled about 1 1/4" X 5/16" flat bar with ROUND edges. You'll never see it that way now. One piece is a square bar about 1 1/2" square,about 6' long. Must be at least 100 years old from the way it was rolled so crudely.
This is not smithed out. I bandsawed it out of solid tool steel,and welded the shank on. As I've said,I'm not really a blacksmith,nor am I real well equipped to be one like Harry is. I do things the way I'm used to doing them,and how I'm equipped to do them.
It fits right into the hardy hole of my anvil. If my black smith area,such as it is,wasn't so piled up with stuff,I'd picture the anvil,which I polished up nicely for hammering silver.
The fact is,I have a great deal of organization in my shop,with 400 feet of shelving. But,I just have TOO MUCH STUFF. This is because I work in several media,and want to be able to do anything that I am interested in,from precision surface grinding of tool steel,to making guitars,furniture,etc.,etc.,etc. Plus the fact that I am a TOOL PIG!!!
Harry,this must be another of those tools I didn't make. You remember,the punk said I didn't make these tools. Whoever made them,I wish he'd come get them. They are really cluttering up my shop.