Glenn

Tony Pewton UK Blacksmith mentioned one time that he worked in a blacksmith shop where the smith sat in a chair suspended from the ceiling. Think of a boatswain's chair.

This would allow the smith some mobility, but would need grabs for the feet so he could maintain one position when needed.

Another possibility would be a similar set up, but suspended from a trolley railing attached to the ceiling, such as a barn door track. This would need some thought but could work.

Sometimes things happen where a blacksmith can no longer work as he once did. This is usually related to mobility. There are others that have physical problems that would like to start blacksmithing, but the tools are too tall, too heavy, or whatever. Let's start a discussion on ways and ideas to address these problems.

To start, how would a blacksmith that could not walk easily or was limited to a wheel chair make changes so they could work in their blacksmith shop.

Any suggestions?

Sometimes things happen where a blacksmith can no longer work as he once did. This is usually related to mobility or standing in one place for any length of time. There are others that have physical problems that would like to start blacksmithing, but the tools are too tall, too heavy, or whatever. Let's start a discussion on ways and ideas to address these problems.

To start, how would a blacksmith that could not stand for a long period of time change things so he could still work in his shop? Would a bar stool to sit / lean against help? What about a wooden Block / box to place on foot on to rest the leg by changing position?

Any suggestions?

BP0150 Making a Collet Chuck
for any of the machinest interested.

The Blueprints section of IForgeIron are not limited to just blacksmithing. The Blueprints can be on any metalworking topic. If there are any machinists that wish to make a blueprint, contact me. We have the room and others would like to learn more about the tools and tricks of your craft.

BP064 Mokume Gane by Milt Gere addresses the subject, but I would like to see how Sven does it also.

Sven follow the pattern set up in the other blueprints, lots of photos and enough text to explain what is happening. Email me (or use the contact form on the opening page) and I will give you a email address to send the material so it can be worked up and posted on IForgeIron as a Blueprint.

The hood needs to be close to the fire. The closer the better until it interferes with your work at the forge. A roof helps as it controls the air being drawn into the hood to only the front and two sides.

Don't be afraid move things around till you find what works best for you.

I have always shaped the wood fit the hole in the hammer head, then double wedged (wood followed by steel) to keep the handle in place.

There have been times when the wedges wanted to work loose for what ever reason, and I have used glue to secure the wood wedge into the wood handle, and applying glue to the metal wedge. None of these have failed so I can not report on how secure they are over time.

Start with some 1/2 x 3/4 solid bar stock. Get the end HOT and using normal letter stamps, impress the letters SCF (Sandy Creek Forge) into the end of the bar stock.

Now take impressed bar stock and grind away any excess you don't need, but leave a border to "hold" the letters. Now heat treat the bar stock and you will have a negative impressed image. (think letters sunk into the metal)

As a touch mark this will give you a sunken square (or what ever border you choose) with raised letters in the final image. See attached photo.

One reason this is not as common is that it takes some amount of energy to sink letters into a piece of steel. It takes MUCH MORE energy to both sink a large block of space into a piece of steel. It also takes much more energy to depress the steel while pushing some amount of steel upward to fill in the space where the letters are located.

Buy new welding rods. The welding rod is one of the smallest costs in any project but one of the most important parts of the project. You NEVER want to tell the client that you saved a couple of bucks by using old or inferior welding rod on his project. The cost of replacing the weld, or rebuilding the project and the resulting damage is usually far in excess of the cost of new welding rods.

If this is a personal project that you can afford to repair or rebuild later, then pick what ever rod you wish. Just remember not to complain later.

Why not just use normal stamps to make your impression into a mother block. Then heat up your touchmark stock and transfer the impression to the touchmark stock (a daughter stamp). Heat treat the touchmark per the steel used. This way you cam make multiple touchmarks.

Edit:

Two threads on the same subject have been combined. This may throw off the time line but all the information on the subject is now in one location.

If things work out perfectly the very first time, you have done something very wrong, or Murphy was in someone else's shop that day.

Ron, back off, rethink what your doing, and study on the subject. Then go back to the fire and carefully watch each step of the process making sure each step is done correctly. Make just a few links at a time, and move on to something else.

It is not the first, second, or third item you make that works. It is making 100 items and throwing away 99 that makes number 100 look so good. Keep at it, we are pulling for you (pun intended).

A good place to start on the shapes is a woodworking catalog. No reason to reinvent the wheel, use what already works. Not sure about the books and DVD's, but there are several wood workers on IFI that might know.

A quick search on the subject (wrought iron register grills) and no results. There is a Blueprint BP0104 on wrought iron that should be posted soon (we are currently recoding and reposting all the blueprints into the new system). Just because a quick search did not provide an answer does not mean it is a dead end.

What is your questions on the register grills? Give us some idea of what information you need or want to do. The folks that visit the IForgeIron site are very knowledgeable in many areas and several deal with wrought iron on a regular basis. The more information in your question, the better the chances of getting an answer.

Please thank the fellow that referred you to IForgeIron for us.

If anyone out there remembers the discussion or Blueprint he is referring to, please jump in with directions as to where we can find it.

How often do you use your swage block?
125 replies

Wish I had a swage block. 70 or 56%
Monthly 18 or 14.4%
Weekly 18 or 14.4%

Couple of times a year. 7 or 5.6%
4 or 5 times in a year. 6 or 4.8%
Rarely, I have one - somewhere. 6 or 4.8%

You "can" hold a forging hammer in your right hand, but you ever try to hit anything holding it that way?


You taught one of your hands how to use the hammer, pencil, screw driver, etc, spend some time and teach the "other" hand to do the same task. The additional training comes in real handy on occasion. (pun intended).

From Blueprint BP0269
Just a couple of ways to tame those large hardie holes.

The end grain swages (holes) I have used are about 3" diameter and shallow. Some were formed from cutting the end of a chain saw, some with a 4-1/4" grinder and some just burned with either ox/ac or hot forge coals. We even went hi-tech and use a wood chisel on a few.

The hole size needs to be sufficient to support two sides of the metal leaving the middle unsupported, which is where you hit it with a hammer. The depth should be sufficient to depress the metal without bottoming out. A 2nd hole can be used where the diameter and depth matches the shape of the bowl for another pass of hammering on (shaping) the metal. This is usually a little shallower and with a larger diameter.

Wood seems to give a "smoother" finished surface to work with later. After the general shape is formed, the surface is then refined with a variety of techniques. Finally if you are making armour or bowls etc, you can use files, sandpaper, buffing wheels, and all manner of things to achieve the surface you want.


Takes lots of photos, it sounds like a Blueprint to me.

Pops and fireworks could be the result of your torch getting too close the puddle, and knocking the flame out. The pop is the gases catching fire again and the fireworks is the puddle being blown away. This can sound like a machine gun at times.

Look in the dumpsters at a heating and cooling dealer for a whole house fan from a house furnace. Or I guess you could buy a new one.

Just remember that your redirecting the dragon's breath so don't set the ceiling on fire. Your air curtain will also quick cool any metal that passes through it on the way out of the gasser.

Make a shallow depression in the end grain of a piece of wood. Place the wood over the depression and hit it with a ball pein hammer. Some armour's use large steel spheres welded to the face of a dedicated hammer for this work. The spheres may be of any size but the ones I have seen are about 2" in diameter.

Why is your head hurting?

The local welding supplier had both green and gray glasses that have IR protection and different shade levels. The gray is nice as it does not drive all the colors into the green zone.

For thin tin a depression in the end grain of a wooden log work well. Look for different shapes, both inside and outside curves. It is not what it looks like but how it works that is important.

That is Blueprint

BP0343 by Bud Norris
How to make a 45 degree pein hammer from a double faced sledge.

It is in line to be posted as soon as we get the new server on line.