I took a 3 day blacksmithing class at the MIT Merton C. Flemings Materials Processing Lab. I got to pick my own project so I decided to make classic-looking iron door knocker. But first I had to do a little bit of training so I made a practice piece. It includes the main techniques for basic forging such as drawing, punching, twisting, flat tapering, round tapering, and bending.
After that I moved on to making the door knocker. The base of it was made of a single flat bar of mild steel and the handle was made of square bar stock. It took about 4 hours over the course of two days and was quite a workout! In addition to the techniques I used on the practice piece I also split and dimpled it. Can you spot all the techniques?
