Glenn

Duck is having problems annealing files. He heats to red and then put the hot file in ashes to cool slowly. When the file is cool, it is still to hard to drill etc. Any suggestions on how to soften this file ? Thanks, Duck.

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2011 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0304 Making a Knife by Dennis hl This same techniques could be used to make a period knife or something similar. This is where I started, a piece of scrap spring steel from the pile. I cut the pointy end on the right off. The area I'm working with is about 1/2" by 3/8" by about six or so inches long. I roughed in the general shape on the anvil. Don't worry too much about making the end into a sharp point. Begin drawing out the blade on the face of the anvil. Do not make it too thin, we'll take care of that later. Draw it out and shape it, but try not to thin it out beyond an 1/8" or so. Here we're working out the general shape of the handle, again do not thin it out too much. Keep it to a little better than an 1/8" or so. When you get the basic length of the handle in mind, cut it off. Give yourself a little extra, you can always trim it off later. Continue to work out the shape of the handle, working it to about an 1/8." You may find that the blade wants to curl on you, flatten it out while you still have a bit of red heat in it. Do not flatten it while at a black heat, I've found that doing so stresses the metal and you'll have to work it out when you normalize it, more on that later. The back of the blade my develop a bit of a "sway" back. You can straighten it out by giving it a bit of focused heat... ...and then gently tapping down on the blade's edge with the hammer lightly driving the "sway" back down against the face of the anvil. Eventually you will end up with the basic, roughed out blade. Nothing special. A simple pair of pliers, a ball peen hammer, and a pair of tongs. You saw the cut off tool already (above). The are the three files I used to shape the blade. The bastard file is for general shaping and rough filing, the round was used to clean up the transition from the blade to the handle, and the small fine file will be used to clean up the surface and the edge. Here's the knife filed to shape. Next we'll clean up the front and back by draw filing. Clamp the knife to a sturdy surface in an area that'll give you a lot of freedom of movement. The clamp holding the blade down is a knuckle buster, push it back so it's laying flat against the bar (you'll hit your knuckles once and never forget to do this again). Next clean off as much of the slag that built up on the surface while forging the blade. I use a worn piece of 120 grit wet/dry sand paper. Now we'll start to draw file the blade. We left the blade a bit thick to allow a some room to clean up the surface. Draw filing is easy once you get it you may wish to practice on some scrap iron before working your blade. Place the file perpendicular to the blade and with a bit of pressure push it up the blade. This takes a bit of practice to get the proper rhythm down. The resulting filings will look a bit like steel wool. Keep at it until to file the blade smooth. All cleaned up and now ready to rough in the cutting edge. Use your bastard file to do this, the fine file will be used to clean it up after we normalize the blade. As you rough in the cutting edge don't forget to blend it in with the rest of the blade. The pencil lines are a visual representation of this. Here's the blade prior to normalizing. I've pre-drilled the holes before normalization. I do so at this stage, just because, if you wait until after you harden the blade you'll burn up a lot of drill bits In the next few updates we'll normalize the blade, clean it up, quench and polish, and make the handle. Stay tuned. View full article

We have started rebuilding and posting the Blueprints 200-300 series. The Blueprint BP0205 may be of interest to the knife folks. BP0205 Knife Making 101- or how to cook a cat - Richard Hanson

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2011 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0301 Tulips and Vase by J.W.Bennett (JWBIRONWORKS) This is how I make a vase full of tulips. Stock list: 2 - 1/4"x14" round stock 1 - 1/4"x12" round stock 2 - large tulip blank 16 ga 1 - small tulip blank 16 ga 1 - 1-1/2" sch 40 black pipe 10" long 3 - 1-1/4"x1 1/4"x1/8" angle iron 12" long Using the patterns above cut your 2 large and 1 small tulip blanks. I list 16 gauge, but I use whatever sheet stock I have on hand that is close. Lay these to one side. Take your three pieces of 1/4 round stock (RS) and slightly neck down one end about 1/2" back to form a pistil I believe it’s called. Also, beat it up a little for about 4" worth to add texture. When you’re done they should look something like this: Clamp one of the 1/4"x14" RS piece in the vise and tack weld one of the large tulip blanks to the end you just formed the pistil on. I try to place the pistil end on an imaginary line drawn between the two dips in the blank and centered down the middle of the blank. If you make too large of a tack weld it will be hard to close the bottom later on and if you don't get a good enough tack the blank will come loose as you close it. I have done both several times. Repeat with the other 14" RS and large tulip blank and the 12" RS and the small tulip blank. If you weld the wrong blank to the wrong round stock don't sweat it. It just means that when you arrange the finished flowers in the vase that the small tulip will set up with a large tulip. I have done it both ways. This is what you should have now. This is a tool from Jr. Strasil’s bag of tricks that I made. It works real well to fold the tulip leaves over. Basically, it is a piece of 2"x1/4" angle welded to a hardy and tapered. I have used this tool for countless things since I made it. Thanks Jr. Take one of your tulips and heat it to a red/orange heat and lay it pistil up on the tool. Using the straight pein of the hammer, work the edges up and around. Work from the bottom up and don't work the ends so much that they get in each other’s way. At this point I take another heat and then, using the flat face or a slightly rounded face hammer, I finish closing the tulip up. Try not to work it too cold that way you don't mark it up. At this point I usually have a tulip that looks like this: Slip the tulip over the horn of the anvil and round it out and get the spread that you want across the front. It should now look something like this: Take another heat and roll the edges of the tulip over on the backside of the anvil. Try to get a nice flowing roll, repeat this on the two front edges (lobes) also. Finish rolling the edges to your liking. I like mine about a 3/4 roll but it's strictly up to personal taste. This shot shows the three stages so far, right to left. This is the layout for the leaves on the 1 1/4"x1 1/4"x1/8" angle iron. The top piece is one cut and ground. You will need 3 of these. Heat the beveled end to a red/orange heat, lay it on the anvil ^ center up and spread it out. Do not flatten it out completely. You want to end up with a gentle open effect. Now take another heat and lay it open side up over the back side of the anvil. With the face of the hammer work a bending curve in the top half of the leaf. Work this gently or you will mar the rib on the back side and kink it. Your leaves should look something like this now. Clamp the bottom of the stem in the vise. Place the bottom of the leaf 4" up from the bottom of the stem and clamp it to the stem. Tack weld it 3" up from the bottom edge of the leaf. If you tack it at the very bottom you will have problems rolling it up in the next step. This is what you should have now. The bottom stem length on this photo is a little long so if yours are shorter don't worry about it. Take a good orange heat on the bottom of the leaf. Roll one side of the bottom 3" to 4" over as shown. Take another heat and roll the other side over and continue turning it on the anvil and rolling it up working always in the same direction until you get a good tight roll. This will make placing them in the vase a lot easier. Repeat with the other two leaves and stems then set them aside. Measure approximately 3 1/2" up from one end of the 1-1/2" black pipe. Mark it and then heat to a good orange heat and fuller/neck it down to approximately half the starting diameter. I used a power hammer. I have also used a smithing magician. Never tried to do one with a fuller on the anvil but I'm sure it's possible. Take another good heat and using the horn of the anvil flare the end you just fullered. After I have flared it out a bit, I take an adjustable wrench with all the sharp corners/edges ground off and I finish the flare almost straight out. Place the top end on the anvil and true up what will be the bottom of the vase. True up the bottom diameter by heating the bottom to a good hot orange heat and driving it on to the anvil horn while rotating the vase. You will probably have to repeat the last two steps several times to get the vase to set level and straight. You should have something like this now. Now take a good orange heat on the other end of your vase. Once again, working on the horn of the anvil, flare the top of pipe out. I use a combination of the straight pein and a round face hammer for this. So far, so good. Flare it to your personal taste. At this point you can leave it flared. I decided I wanted to waffle or scallop the top, so I did an extra step or two. Using another version of the angle iron swage used earlier, I took another good orange heat on the top of the vase and then laying the flare in the angle V I set it down with the straight pein on 4 equal (more or less) points. I like the profile that gives. Now comes the fun part: Stuffing all three flowers in the vase. Play with them first and get them half way arranged the way you want and then tack them to the vase one at a time. They are easier to arrange in a vase made of 2" schedule 40 pipe, but I personally like the looks of the 1-1/2" better. This is how I do it and then I polish and texture to finish. I'm sure there are short cuts and easier ways, but this is one way to do it and I hope you find this useful. JWB View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0298 Nickel Silver Bowl By Andrei Hand. This is the way I make my bowls out of non-ferrous metals, like copper and silver. The process is called sinking, or dishing, and it involves hammering a sheet of metal into a hollow or concave form. This bowl is made out of nickel silver, and this was the first time I’ve ever used nickel. It’s a lot harder than copper and brass, which is what I normally use. First I start by tracing a six inch circle with a compass, and cut it out with tin snips. All of the surface’s I’ll be working on, I cover with masking tape to protect the bowl from being marked up. If you don’t cover your tools with tape, they must be mirror polished and have no sharp corners or edges that would leave marks on your metal. The forms I hammer into are actually dies for a hydraulic press. I don’t have the press, but the dies still work just fine. I bought them as a set, three double sided dies and six matching mushroom stakes. The big one on the left is 3 ¼’ diameter, and the smaller one is 2 ¾ diameter. I start with the smaller die, and start hammering just around the edge. The general rule with sinking is, work from the edge into the center. I believe that’s so you don’t stretch out the bottom to much. After you have worked all the way around the edge, it should look something like this. And, at this point it should be getting pretty hard, and if you try to work it further it might crack. Unlike steel, you work most non-ferrous metals wile they are cold and then anneal to soften them. To anneal nickel silver, you heat to a dull red colour and quench it in water. You might think quenching it would make it hard, like it would with steel, but it has the opposite effect. If you let the nickel cool slowly in the air, it will become hard and brittle. After you anneal, it will have a thick black oxide covering it entire surface. You must remove this oxide before you hammer on it or it will work into the metal. You can do this by submersing it in a mild acid until it is clean, or using sandpaper and steel wool. Now I move to the bigger die, and start working around the edge again. You can see the difference between the two, the bowl on the left has been dished in the bigger die. After I get the shape I want, I move into planishing. Planishing smoothes out the uneven areas and add some nice texture. I do this with my mushroom stakes and a highly polished hammer. I clamp the stake in my post vise, and use light blows to texture it. Be careful not to hit too hard, and to always keep the bowl on the stake. You can start deforming the bowl very quickly if you don’t pay attention to where you’re hitting. Here’s a close up of the texture, just the planishing took about 30 minutes. I finished it with some fine steel wool, to give it a matte finish. And the finished product. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0296 Pot Hanger by Bill Epps Start with 24 inches of 1/4 inch round bar. This is the tool I use to make the first bend. Here I make a 90 degree bend. I make these up 50-100 at a time, so I went ahead and made a tool to make all of them the same. This is the next tool that I use. 1 1/2 inch round bar with a hole drilled through the center and a groove at right angles to the hole with a slight radius at the break out point I take a good heat, drop the shaft through the hole and bend All the way around a full 360 degrees. I finish off with a standard pair of Channel Lock pliers and a quench. This is my hook bender that I use on the other end. Bend the hook and bring it back to the center and quench the end. And it looks like this. The hook end will feed up through the drain hole on any standard terra cotta flower pot. Now we have a hanging flower pot, you bed a plant in the pot and hang it up. This is just a simple hook that sells real will at the shows that I do. They are quick and easy to make and sell for about $3.00. You should be able to make 50 to 100 of them in just a couple of hours. View full article

Hofi has some ideas that may help in his BP1009 Post Vise. He has about the same idea as cheftjcook for leveling things.

Show us what you can do with angle iron. By forging it that is.

Woody finished these skinners over the weekend

It has come to my attention that I omitted the name of Jr. Strasil from the list of contributors to the Leaves for Paw Paw. My apologies to Jr. Strasil for this error. Please add his name to the list.

Leaves for Paw Paw Sheri posted the following on the Anvilfire Hanner in and ask that I also post it on IForgeIron. I see no reason not to post it here as well, as many of you contributed your efforts to the Leaves for Paw Paw project. ----------- Trubute to Paw Paw Wilson: There is no way I can properly thank all who contributed leaves and made the beautiful planter as a trubute to Paw Paw Wilson. I am in awe of this gift and appreciate each one of you. Also a special thank you to Glenn Conner for coordinating the project. I have pasted in the list of names at the end of this message. Thank you each one and know that I will often think of the great effort of the blacksmith community to make such an wonderful gift. I have put a large Christmas Cactus in the planter and know it will be especially lovely from Thanksgiving through Chrismas. My Thoughts are with each one of you. Sheri Wilson Bob Harasim Rich Waugh SGesh Tom C. Ptree Frank Turley AlanB Kayne and Son Richard Hanson Jerry Carroll Bob Harusim Darren Thomes Leah Fuller W. Cooper UK Robert Hall Melanie Bennett Jens Butler Brian Cornish Paul Wells T-Gold Sutton Terock Memorial Blacksmith Shop, Rochester Ind. Art Morgan Charles Azbell Sonny Powell Rob Fetterling Tim Pearson Fred Oden Add these two names for design and assembly of the project. Peyton Anderson Mike Tanner Butterfly - Saturday, 06/03/06 16:11:14 EDT

I have used a tumbler to clean things. Tumble media was nails, 1" sections of 1/4" round stock and small drops from the shop. Did a good job and leaves a matt surface or hammered look to the metal. Noise is an understatment - it is LOUD and continious. Usual run time was 1-2 hrs minimum per load, and can go 4 hrs. "Dirt" was simply scooped out when it got ojectionable.

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0250 Pineapple or Briar Twist by Hollis Wooldridge Stock is 1/2” square. Our demo piece was center punched at 1” and 5” from one end on all four sides so the marks could be seen during a heat. Pre-chiseling a witness line is not necessary if you are careful when doing the hot work. The slitting chisel, with a very thin blade and about 2 inches wide – made from H13 tool steel. This tool has a notch forged in it so the special tongs will always hold in the same orientation but it’s not required to complete this element – just use a thin chisel that makes a clean mark. Piece goes in the fire for an even yellow heat on the marked area. Chisel is centered near a punch mark and rocked along to create the slit. The cut does not have to be very drastic – only about 1/8 inch deep is necessary. I am using my treadle hammer to strike the chisel. This shows two sides done in one heat. Since we are not cutting very deeply and the chisel is wide, the work goes quickly. The finished bar has been slit on all four sides. It is best to straighten the bar and make sure the slits all have the same appearance. If one is wider than another, it will be seen in the final piece - so the bar should be hammered square and the slits closed to a consistent size. The bar is heated and twisted between the center punch marks. Although I did not do that here, it is best to grab a bit past the marks because the metal will chill fast enough to prevent movement at the very ends of the slits. This piece was twisted clockwise two full rotations. Here is the piece twisted and brushed. It’s a little crooked so I need to straighten in the vise. The piece is now relatively straight and ready for the next step. Reheated to a bright yellow, the bar is hammered square with the Beaudry. This is easily done with a hand, sledge or treadle hammer so don’t let the lack of a power hammer stop you. I have done this demo for the public using a flatter and with a striker’s help - the result looked good… This is the typical appearance after re-squaring the bar. NOTE: If the bar is chiseled again at this point, you will get a true diamond outline from the grooves going the opposite direction when the second twist is performed (“pineapple twist”). If you are quick, the piece can be twisted in the remaining heat from the last operation but since we aren’t in that big a hurry, I reheated and am now twisting the opposite direction from the initial twist. This is usually half of the first number so I twisted one full rotation in the counter- clockwise direction. The twist is now finished but I like to make some sort of decorative detail at the end of the chiseling to serve as a ‘style mark’ so I reheat and use the blacksmith’s helper to fuller a small groove on all four sides, just at the termination of the cuts. The rear groove is done first with a quick reheat to complete the other end. Anything can be done at this juncture to provide a neat transition or the chiseling may be left alone to show the technique. This is the piece still hot and fresh from wire brushing. The last picture shows the piece oiled with WD40 and paste wax. This element makes a good handle for letter openers or fireplace tools or as a transition detail for things like candle holders, fence picket finials or any other bar treatment. Tighter twisting will yield an increase in the diamonds over a given area and a slightly different look. I have been told the single chisel effect shown here is sometimes termed a “rose briar” and the double chisel is typically called a “pineapple” twist. Very few people (other than blacksmiths) can pick this up and tell you how it was done so it’s a good demo for the public and relatively quick to do. Once the fire is going, it takes a little less than 30 minutes from start to finish (7 heats for the single chiseled version), so you can hold someone’s attention long enough to complete it. In addition, this form is very impressive with large stock so try one in 1” square or larger once you have the desired appearance. It can also be done in 3/8” or smaller but is difficult to keep everything consistent so I recommend starting with 1/2” to learn the process. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0278 Simple Foot for a Flag Stand by Bob Elliot, Glenn Conner This is a piece is 1/1/2 inch square bar with a piece of 1/2 inch round welded at the middle of the block. A piece of all thread rod was available and used, but anything can be used as a handle. Make the flag holder as usual. For the piece that sticks into the ground or foot, point one end of the stock. You simply lay the hot end of the flag stand on the swage block, put the footing tool on top and whack it with a hammer forming the foot. This simple foot saves you the material and effort of making a foot stand for the flag holder. It still can be punched into the ground and the simple foot will keep it in place and keep it from tuning or rotating in the wind. View full article

Dennis with your permission I can use what is there for a BP. Let me know.

You may want to look at the following BP0152 Hinge Eye Bender - Wayne Lewis aka Coalforge

Thanks for the update Ralph. Your family is on the list as they all are invilved in one way or another.

JPH email them to me and I will post them for you. Just write the text and I will insert the photos.

Those are not failures, those are the ways you figured out how NOT to do it. The forum is a place to ask questions, show us what you have now and tell us where you want to go with it. You can usually get a the answer, or a referral to information on solving the problem. As Dale suggested, find a local blacksmithing group. First hand information and someone "showing" you how to do something one-to-one is worth the trip. Besides you get to see tools you never new existed, see the work of other blacksmiths, and meet blacksmiths with a variety of skills and expertise. Oh yes, take the truck as there is usually something metal that you want to bring home.

Anyang Welcome to the forum, Your post was moved from another location to "Introduce Yourself" as it would seem to fit better here. Your profile lists your name Anyang, occupation sales, and your home page as This is confusing as to whether your promoting Anyang Forging Press Machinery Industry Co, or are an individual requesting blacksmithing information. If you are promoting Anyang Machine Industry, please contact the forum administrator for advertising rates etc. If you are an individual requesting blacksmithing information, ask your questions concerning blacksmithing, and we will try to assist you.

Please post the following: Please let DocsMachine know to check out http://www.metalwebnews.com/bs.html and click on "Picture instructions for making a 275lb. anvil". Hillbillysmith

There is another thread on welding flux that you way want to visit. Someone else will have to help with using a gasser and welding as I use coal for fuel. And we need several long winded explainations of forge welding so we can develop this into a blueprint on the subject. In a coal forge, you need to first clean the metal. No use shooting your self in the foot before you start to walk. How clean, well how much do you want to weld to succeed? Then most folks will tell you to clean the clinker out of the fire and get a fairly good size fire going, and place the metal into the neutral area of the fire, about 1/2 way up the fireball or a little more. You want the heat but not the extra oxygen, so let the fire consume the oxygen and put the metal into the heat zone of the fire where there is no free oxygen. Let it get up to high red or orange and remove the metal, wire bursh any scale off and apply a bit of flux. This should be done quickly and placed back into the fire while at low orange or high red in color. Bring the whole piece of metal up to yellow and watch for it to throw a spark or two. The second spark is the key. The metal should look like butter that has been sitting in the sun, still in a stick form, but just about to slump, with the outside looking like it coated with liquid. It is also about the color of a lemon only intense. While everything is getting up to heat, do the forge welding dance, practice getting from the forge to the anvil, grabbing the hammer and being ready to start. Do it again, do it one more time and then move the anvil and place it NEXT to the forge. Practive the dance again and again till there is no extra steps and no lost effort. You want ALL the metal at the same temperature both the outside AND the inside. When you see the second spark you are at the welding heat, grab the metal, over to the anvil, grab the hammer and BUMP the two pieces of metal. You just want to mix the liquid on the surface of the metal. Whacking the metal real good with a hammer is spectacular when you squirt the hot liquid all over the shop, but it leaves little liquid to mix and actually form the weld. Just bump it. Billy Marritt uses a wooden hammer handle - no hammer head, just the handle - that was soaking in the slack tub water to forge welding billets. Just grabs the wet wooden handle and bumps the billet much like you would bump the heel of your hand on a desk top to make the weld. After the first bump or two, then apply the hammer, and back into the fire before it cools below high orange/yellow heat. Back to welding temp and do it again. Look for any dark likes in the weld which means the weld did not take in that area. A faggot weld is the easiest make, just fold a piece of metal back onto itself like when making the end for a poker. From there move on to two pieces of metal. 1/2" square is a good size to play with as it holds heat well. There is also the "test" of welding heat of touching the two pieces of metal at high yellow temp together in the fire. IF they stick to each other, your in the welding temperature zone. But the real key to all this is to practice with MILD STEEL until you get it right. After that you can work with other steels and other methods. Just keep the first "good" weld so you can remember where you started. S-002 Making you First Forge Weld will explain a lot of the mystry of forge welding. BP0093 Forge Welding - Ralph Douglas is a blueprint on forge welding BP0071 Poker 01 - Beacher Alan (Possum) is the blueprint on the faggot weld in making a poker

She's on the list. Will add the rest of the family also as it affects everyone.

Strine, not my choice of numbers, but you must get past that to get to the next number, and move on.

If you have ever gas welded, you use heat to make a puddle from one metal, a puddle from the other metal, and blend or mix the puddles to form the weld. Welding rod is used to fill and make the metal surface level when it cools. Forge welding is much the same, you heat and liquify the surface of the metal and then blend or mix the liquids. As suggested above, bumping the metals to mix the liquid is all that is needed. Giving it a good whack will result in a spectactular spray of sparks, the liquid being squirted across the shop and leaving no liquid to mix together and form a weld. To mix dirt, scale, and other junk and impurities in the liquid metal will make the weld weaker, or not to weld at all. You have to start with the cleanest metals you can in order to have the best welds you can. To see just how good the weld is, you have to destroy it, bend it till failure, cut it in half. and look at the weld line, and the entrie weld section. To make good welds, make a LOT of welds, destroy a lot of welds, and make a lot more welds. But keep the first forge weld that "took" so you can see where it all started and you can show others that is not magic, but working till you get it right.