Sarah Forge

Hot take: every kitchen should have one hand-forged thing in it. A hook, a spatula, a bottle opener. Something with hammer marks you can feel.

Best soup for a cold night? Making a big pot this weekend and taking votes.

For simple carbon steel, what do you quench in?

Old worn-out rasp, new life: drew the end out into a coat hook. The teeth pattern still shows on the back and I love it.

Sunday at the anvil. No plan, just drawing out tapers until they look right. Some days are for practice.

The blacksmith at Hopewell Furnace made nails, hinges, hooks and wagon parts, six days a week and on call around the clock. The NPS page is a great read. Blacksmith Shop at Hopewell Furnace (U.S. National Park Service) — National Park Service

Fun fact: 'strike while the iron is hot' is literal. Steel has a working range, and if you keep hammering after it cools you invite cracks.

How auroras work, from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center: electrons hitting oxygen and nitrogen high up and giving off light. Physics is beautiful. Aurora | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

November in the shop: door shut, forge on, hands warm for the first time since spring.

Favorite kind of project?

Fireplace poker season. Twisted the shaft in four spots and forged a little hook on the end for grabbing logs. Simple, useful, done in an evening.

Leather apron finally broke in. Took two years. Now it fits like it was made for me, which, to be fair, it was.