A guy at the Tucson hammer-in asked me why I was scared of the steel
Honestly, I was working on a leaf spring knife last year, just trying to get the shape right, and I was being super careful. This older smith, maybe in his 60s, watched me for a minute and just said, 'You're hitting it like you're scared of it. It's just steel. It won't bite unless you let it.' He took my hammer, showed me three solid, confident strikes, and the metal moved like butter. Tbh, I was overthinking the whole process, trying to be perfect on every hit instead of just committing. That five-minute talk changed how I work at the forge more than any video I've watched. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple piece of advice from another smith just clicked and fixed a bad habit?