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I Forge Iron

Rick Marchand

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    Wheatley, Ontario, Canada

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  1. ^^^ I can vouch for that. I cut 3/4" off both faces of a 6lb'er and the inside tested just as hard as the original face. The brands that I have used and tested are Benchmark, Garant and Estwing. They are all through-hardened.
  2. I used to form a bulb higher up toward the head. That's where I held the hammer, mostly. The problem was that it didn't allow me to adjust my grip to suit the power/control I wanted. These days I prefer a tapered handle with a multi-faceted cross section(think "octagonal" with way more sides... lol)
  3. For those smiths who use the reserved heat of the body to chase a temper back into the edge, you probably should still go back for a second temper. During he initial temper, you are converting any RA(retained austenite) into new martensite.... new, UNTEMPERED martensite. In small enough percentages but it is still there.
  4. The crown will work fine. You should only be forging 4" at a time. I would also look into getting a length of RR track or I-beam at least 10-12" long. It doesn't have to have a lot of weight to it... just a long face to help straighten blades. I suppose a cement floor would work in a bind, too. Its not necessary but helpful. Perhaps I'm wrong but your weight calculation seems much too high. A quick head calculation of a 6"dia x 48" tube of cured concrete would be around 120lbs.
  5. Here are two hammers I modified recently. I am bladesmith so never saw the need for a rounding hammer. Man, I wish i would have tried one long ago because these things move metal nicely with good control. I have close to 30 hammers in the shop in styles of French, Japanese, German, English... with straight, diagonal, ball and cross peens. For the past few weeks, I have used these two as my main hammers. The large one is 1600g(3.5lbs) and the other is 1000g(2.2lbs). Watching Brian Brazeals videos really made me reconsider my past bias. Thank you, Brian! Rick
  6. I forge blades... mostly from 3/8" flatstock and 3/4"-1 1/8" round bar. My go to hammers are 1.5#, 2.2#, and 3.5#. I do have both larger and small hammers that get used as needed. My technique is a hybrid Hofi style but that changes depending on the work. My post anvil is set up so that when the hammer face is on the anvil face, the end of the handle is at my belly button. I swing with my palm face-down in the Hofi method. That said, I also have a larger anvil set up lower in the traditional "knuckle" height. I bounce back and forth between the two. I say, forge in the way that is most comfortable for you and that allows you to keep doing it until you're old and wise(okay, maybe just old) ... that goes for hammer size/style/weight, too. Take what advice is useful to you and for the rest... just smile and wave.
  7. Don't worry about grain size when you are forging... just make sure it stays HOT when you're moving metal. As long as you don't create fractures, normalizing will fix all the "wrong" you've done during the forging process. YOU NEED TO NORMALIZE AFTER FORGING. Start your normalizing at 1650F to make sure everything gets into solution. Then use lower heats during subsequent cycle to refine grain and not undo what we are trying to accomplish. In between cycles the steel only needs to form another structure from which to renucleate... when it becomes magnetic again, you're there! Then you can ramp back up for the next cycle. Here is a good starting regime that will work for most carbon steels... - Heat to 1650F, cool to magnetic. - Heat to 1525F, cool to magnetic. - Heat to 1475F, Quench in warm oil. Medium speed(for O1) if you have it... canola if you don't. - Heat to 1300F (make sure you don't go non-magnetic) and cool to black. Repeat 2-3 times and quench in oil on the last. Yes, you end your last normalization cycle with a hardening quench. You don't have to, but I recommend it. If you choose not to, at least quench from black to avoid coarse pearlite and other unwanted structures. That last 1300F bit is a sub-critical anneal(or at least a redneck version of it.) Proper spheroidizing would be best but for those without the equipment, this does the trick. Now, you have dead-soft annealed steel all set up for a great final quench. For O1, without a controlled kiln, I would forgo any attempt to soak and just heat it to 1500F and quench. Rick
  8. I thought it was a PW too. I sent the seller a message.
  9. Hey Folks! I cannot find any info on this anvil... The face reads, Carter Wright Patent England Solid "O"
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