The difference 6 years of forge work makes on a simple leaf keychain

I dug out a leaf keychain I hammered out back in 2019 compared to one I made last Tuesday. The old one looks like a smashed potato chip with a hole punched in it compared to the new one. What changed was my hammer control and actually learning how to read the heat color instead of guessing. Has anyone else gone back to their early pieces and felt embarrassed but also kinda proud of how far you came?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery1014d ago

That old leaf was basically a bookmark for your learning curve.

cameron_hernandez6914d ago

Three years of picking the same leaf is dedication not a bookmark lol. The real lesson is in repeating until you actually get it right. That repetitive grind builds the skills nobody talks about.

elliot_roberts14d ago

The part about "three years of picking the same leaf" is a bit off though. That old one was from 2019 and the new one is from last Tuesday, so it's actually six years between them, not three. But the point about repetition is solid. You can't just make one leaf and call it good. You gotta make a hundred bad ones before you start figuring out what works. The heat color thing took me forever too. I used to just swing and hope, now I wait for that specific shade of orange before I even touch the hammer.