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On the weekend of Sept 11-12 I took a class at Cloverdale Forge (http://cloverdalefarm.ca/forge), run by Matt Jenkins.
I had only used my homemade propane forge before, so after using a coal forge for a few hours, there were 2 main thoughts going through my head: "Man, this fire sure gets the metal hot quick and localized!" followed shortly by "Ha. So *that's* what they mean by burning iron!"
On Saturday I made 2 hooks to get the hang of coal forges, a firepoker (which turned out surprisingly nice after a night in the tumbler) and a letter opener that I forged down from stock that was waaaay too big.
On Sunday I practiced hammer control on a bunch of tapers, made a bottle opener (which I promptly burned so much that it looked more like a clinker than a workpiece) and then spend the rest of the day practicing forge-welding.
On the subject of forge-welding, I used straight borax, but Mr. Jenkins suggested adding in about 1/8th of pure iron oxide to the borax. Apparently the pure stuff can be bought from pottery stores as a cheap glaze.
Whoever said that a few hours with an experienced blacksmith was worth months kludging along was completely right!
Oh, and I got a diploma certifying I graduated from Basic Blacksmithing- it's official now!
In the attached picture, the firepoker's on top, one of my welding practice pieces is in the middle, the hooks are on the bottom left and the letter opener is on the bottom right.
I had only used my homemade propane forge before, so after using a coal forge for a few hours, there were 2 main thoughts going through my head: "Man, this fire sure gets the metal hot quick and localized!" followed shortly by "Ha. So *that's* what they mean by burning iron!"
On Saturday I made 2 hooks to get the hang of coal forges, a firepoker (which turned out surprisingly nice after a night in the tumbler) and a letter opener that I forged down from stock that was waaaay too big.
On Sunday I practiced hammer control on a bunch of tapers, made a bottle opener (which I promptly burned so much that it looked more like a clinker than a workpiece) and then spend the rest of the day practicing forge-welding.
On the subject of forge-welding, I used straight borax, but Mr. Jenkins suggested adding in about 1/8th of pure iron oxide to the borax. Apparently the pure stuff can be bought from pottery stores as a cheap glaze.
Whoever said that a few hours with an experienced blacksmith was worth months kludging along was completely right!
Oh, and I got a diploma certifying I graduated from Basic Blacksmithing- it's official now!
In the attached picture, the firepoker's on top, one of my welding practice pieces is in the middle, the hooks are on the bottom left and the letter opener is on the bottom right.
The recipe for the iron oxide flux is by weight 1/2 part Boric Acid (roach powder) and 1/2 part Iron Oxide. Sorry if I said differently... its amazing how much borax and boric acid sound alike....
It was fun having you in class.
Matt