Ursa Minor.

Mark Aspery, Instructor of Blacksmithing

Sierra Forge and Fire.

As a professional smith and blacksmith 

instructor, I am often reminded how little I 

actually know about the craft of blacksmithing.

To that end I usually try and attend a week-long 

blacksmithing class a year. 

This year I attended a Darryl Nelson class at the 

John C. Campbell School in North Carolina.

My thanks go to the Francis Whitakker 

Blacksmith Education fund for approving a 

grant that made this possible.

As a class we made a number of different 

animal heads during the week. The class started 

with a bearʼs head. The stock was 1 1/2” square 

hot rolled A36. Length can vary, but you will 

need enough to hold in the vice with about 4-

inches protruding above the jaws. The other end 

needs to extend past the box/screw mechanism 

so that the work-piece does not turn cartwheels 

in the vice as you work. A handle welded on 

will address this situation as well as making the 

bar a little lighter to work with.

Step 1; The basic shape

Forge a taper to the end on three sides only. The 

end should measure about 9/16” wide by 7/8” 

tall and taper back to the parent bar-stock over

 1 1/2 inches. 

Step 1 A

To create the brow, turn the bar so that the 

straight side is uppermost and with about 2/3 of 

the taper resting on the anvil deliver a half faced 

blow. You should be working over a rounded 

portion on  the nearside edge of the anvil when 

you do this. Leave a slight taper from the 

shoulder to the end of the bar.

Step 1 B 

To define the jaw and front of the cheeks, either 

use a top and bottom fuller as shown or a spring 

swage at least 1/2-inch diameter. The rear of 

the fullers should not extend past the brow line. 

Fuller in to leave about 5/8-inch and a slight 

taper to the front of the jaw.

Step 1 C

Forge in the remaining stock using the edge of 

the anvil and your hand hammer.  The snout 

Step 1 A

Step 1 B

Step 1 C

Step 1 D

will have a rounded top and a flat bottom to start 

with. Place the bottom of the jaw on the anvil and 

knock the corners of the top of the snout with a 

view to making it round.

Step 1 D

If you cannot see a bearʼs head in the rough at this 

time, itʼs time to get the book out and see what 

exactly it is that you are making!

Step 2; Fuller work

To create the eye socket, define the brow and the 

top of the cheek bone you will need a hand held 

1/4 to 5/16-inch fuller about 7/8th to 1-inch wide.

Fig 1.

With the center-line of the fuller in line with 

the top of the snout and the side of the fuller 

extending slightly over the snout forge in the 

eye socket. Remember that carnivores have their 

eyes facing forwards, so do most of your work 

from the front. Herbivores have their eyes on the 

side of the head. My wife seems to have eyes 

everywhere, especially when it comes to sneaking 

in a new tool! 

Step 2 A

Extend the fullering around the side of the head 

and blend it into the parent bar-stock.

Step 2 B

Bears sometimes have a ruff around the neck and 

a beard under the jaw. This next use of the fuller 

defines both of these features. Starting with the 

edge of the fuller where the eye socket finished 

fuller in a walk to tool down the side of the bar. 

Angle the fullered groove towards the jaw to 

define the rear of the cheeks. First create a groove 

by fullering at 90-degrees to the bar and then 

come back and push the stock back to create the 

ruff. I am breaking this step into two parts but in 

reality the making of the ruff and the beard are the 

same step and techniques.

Step 2 C 

Figure 1

Step 2 A

Step 2 B

Step 2 C

Step 2 D

Once you reach the bottom of the bar when 

creating the ruff, turn towards the jaw and with 

the fuller on the corner of the bar start to push 

the corner into the bar to create the beard. The 

beard does not run to the very end of the jaw but 

stops someway before.

Steps 2 D and E show work in progress.

The forehead is formed using the same tool. A 

bear has a pronounced forehead. With the inside 

of the tool on the centre-line form two grooves 

each running back and angled away from the 

centre-line. Do most of the work by the snout 

and feather out the fullering as you get to the top 

of the head. Blend in the sharp edges with the 

same tool. Step 2 F

Step 3;The Ears

Using the same tool as above, place the business 

end above the eye socket and hold the tool at 

an angle. You will push material back from the 

face to create an ear and at the same time create 

the eyebrow. As you push the material back 

drive the material slightly towards the centre 

of the bar. If you omit this step the tool will be 

deflected upwards and you will have very small 

ears. Of course, too much angle and you end up 

with bat ears. Step 3 A

Taking a sharper than normal centre punch, 

place the point at the bottom, centre of the ear. 

Drop the angle of the punch so that the taper 

on the end rests flat upon the brow and make a 

depression of about 1/8-inch or so. If you feel 

like youʼre driving towards the brain you are 

holding the centre punch at too steep an angle!

Step 3 B

Step 2 E

Step 2 F

Step 3 A

Step 3 B

Using a hollow ended fuller, (Fig 2) place one 

corner in the depression you just made. Rock 

the tool out so that it touches the body of the ear 

as well. Start from one side and spread the ear 

out giving it texture as you go.

You may need some clean-up work from the 

back of the ear with either the fuller or the 

hollow ended fuller. 

Step 3 B and 4 A  show the results

Step 4; The Jaw and tongue

Drive a curved hot chisel held about 2/3ʼs down 

from the tip of the nose cut the mouth. Angle the 

cut down towards to bottom of the head as you 

go. This will leave a nice taper to the snout from 

the tip of the nose back to the cheeks with the 

curve leaving a hollow in the upper jaw.

I have my chisel ground on the outside edge to 

help with this.

Step 4 A.

Step 4 A

Figure 2

Step 4 B

Step 4 C

Using a hand held butcher or your hand chisel; 

cut a groove around the lower jaw about 1/16-

inch down. 

A hand held side set will push the upper section 

in to create the lower lips and give you the mass 

to cut the lower teeth.

Step 4 B and C show the progression with the 

arrow in Step 4 C showing the result of using 

the side set on one side only.

Mark the center of the tongue with an offset 

chisel

Taking a small curved chisel, again ground on 

the outside of the tool edge, cut the tongue. Start 

about 1/16

th

-inch back from the front of the 

teeth. Step 4 C

Start by cutting down; but quickly change the 

angle of the cut to the back of the jaw. If you dig 

too deep you can seriously shorten or upset the 

lower jaw and give your bear an overbite.

Work the chisel back to the rear of the mouth. 

Donʼt allow the tongue to touch the top of the 

mouth as getting it down can be both frustrating 

and damaging.

Step 5; The Teeth

Using the same curved chisel, start at the center 

of the front teeth and cut first to one side and 

then the other. This creates the mass for the 

canines. Donʼt aim too deep as you cut. Use a 

smaller hollow ended fuller and work the mass 

into sharp canines.

The offset chisel will mark the other teeth both 

on the side and on top as shown.

Step 5 A and B

Step 6; The Nose

Using the same curved chisel as above mark a 

line for the nose. Remember that a bear has poor 

vision but a really keen sense of smell. Donʼt 

skimp on the nose!

On the front of the snout create a good line 

leaving the nose forward of the rest of the stock. 

On the top of the snout use light blows as you 

are identifying only the edge of the hairline.

Use a smaller curved chisel and aiming slightly 

towards the centre of the snout put in the 

nostrils. Allow them to flare a little. Leave a 

little gap between the two chisel marks.

Use the side set to push away the stock to the 

side of the nose to make it stand out a bit farther.

The result is shown in Step 6 A

Step 5 A 

Step 6 A

tep 5 B

Step 7; The Eyes and Eyebrow

The eyes on a bear are quite small and round. 

If we copied the natural bear our bearʼs head 

would look a little out of proportion.

Use a round eye punch and drive it in from the 

front. Remember, carnivorʼs have their eyes 

facing forwards.

Once you have got a complete ring around the 

eye. use the fuller tool to form the eyebrow.

Again the results are shown in the next photo, 

the left hand side complete and the other as 

punched. Step 7 A

Step 7 A

Wolfʼs head

Lynx head

Gargoule

By tweaking the techniques and the tooling 

slightly, other forms can be created.

If this sort of work appeals to you look for the 

Darryl Nelson Demo and clinic dates contained

in this magazine