habu68

Practical blacksmithing: a ... - Google Books

Take a look at Master Hofi's solution to the need for elbows in a side draft forge. This is found in the blueprint section of this site. His use of a side draft box to exit the building beyond the eves and then a strait chimney pipe is the best solution I have seen yet. I would think that an elbow placed out side the building below the eve with a 10" pipe through the wall at forge level would produce the same effect. I would also experiment with restricting the inlet of the pipe at the forge to increase the velocity of the air flow were the smoke is the hottest. Side draft beats a hood 5 to one because of the cold air collected by the hood. BP1048 Side Draft Chimney

Diderot's classic Encyclopedie is the father of all encyclopaedia,The 9 volumes were written in the 17th century, it covers every trade and industry of the time with exquisite engravings of shops and workers at their trades. I found some blacksmith pages starting around volume 8 page 0100. I have seen other excerpts of shops and workers that i have not found in this site as yet. Encyclop

my brother is a tool and die maker, and has some experience working TI heavy feeds and speeds are called for and he recommends never pausing or retracting a drill or mill until cut is finished, because the part will work harden as soon as the pressure is off. a couple of other notes: One of the first uses of Ti in aircraft was the SR-71(habu) black bird and the learning curve was steep. Part failures were high until they discovered that the chlorine in the water was reacting with the Ti and causing stress cracks. Also trace amounts of chrome from chrome plated tools would cause TI bolts to fail. Part failure at Mach-3+ can be a real E-Ticket ride.:o

From Modern Blacksmithing 1904 DRILLING IRON Every smith knows how to drill, sometimes it gives even an old smith trouble. The drill must be true, the center to be right, if one side of the drill is wider than the other or the drill not in proper shape the hole will not be true. For centuries oil has been used for drilling and millions of dollars have been spent in vain. It is a wonder how people will learn to use the wrong thing. I don't think that I have ever met a man yet who did not know that oil was used in drilling. In drilling hard steel, turpentine or kerosene is used as oil will then prevent cutting entirely. Nothing is better than water, but turpentine or kerosene is not as bad as oil; if you think water is too cheap use turperitine or kerosene. I had occasion once to do a little work for a man eighty years old, and when I drilled a hole, used water. The old man asked if water was as good as oil, and when informed that it was better, said: "I used to be quite a blacksmith myself, I am now eighty years old, too old to do anything, but I am not too old to learn." it ought to suggest itself to every smith that while oil is used in boxes to prevent cutting, it will also prevent cutting in drilling. HOW TO DRILL CHILLED IRON First prepare a drill which is thicker at the point than usual, and oval in form, then harden it as follows: heat to a low cherry red heat and cool in the following hardening compound: two quarts soft water, one-half ounce sal-ammoniac, salt, three ounces. Don't draw the temper, for if you have the right heat you will get the right temper. Now drill and use water, not oil. Feed carefully but so the drill will cut right along. If you have no chance to get the compound, harden in water but draw no temper, let it be as hard as it will. good book and it is free :D

Who Will Watch The Home Place Leaves are falling and turning to showers of gold As the postman climbs up our long hill And there's sympathy written all over his face As he hands me a couple more bills Who will watch the home place Who will tend my hearts dear space Who will fill my empty place When I am gone from here There's a lovely green nook by a clear-running stream It was my place when I was quite small And it's creatures and sounds could soothe my worst pains But today they don't ease me at all In my grandfather's shed there are hundreds of tools I know them by feel and by name And like parts of my body they've patched this old place When I move them they won't be the same Now I wander around touching each blessed thing The chimney the tables the trees And my memories swirl 'round me like birds on the wing When I leave here oh who will I be

At Rock Ledge Historic site in Colorado Springs we have a Shire stud that was slightly taller, though not quite as massive as a Clydesdale. A true gentle giant. We had a set of shoes in the blacksmith shop including one that had the hoof trimming re-nailed to the shoe to show the kids how a shoe was nailed to a horses' "toe nail" . The shoe was a full 13" across the heel and a set of show shoes weights about 2 1/2 lbs each and are used to get the horse to walk with a high lifting gate. It was fun to pass it around and then have the boys to smell the Toe Jam. I'm no farrier so my terms and discriptions may be some what off, It was still one impressive horse hitched to a 2 wheeled pleasure cart and the 65 year old lady owner driving him like he was a Shetland pony.

guesstimate: looking at the anvil I would remove the two horns and add them back to the body to create a cubic rectangle that i would estimate to be 13"x 8"x10" or 1,040 cu/in. steel depending on type is about .2904 lbs/cu/in or about 300 lbs. it would be fun to see how much it really weighs. should we start a pool?

This morning I opened Marjorie's hope chest and found a shoe box full of love letters that we sent to each other when I was away in the military in 1968. It is too bad that my four daughters won't be able to read them until they are grandmothers. I now remember why I loved that woman. She was such a beauty and from the beginning she would return my letters with corrected spelling. Glen and all here thank you for providing me a place that I could go for distraction and to practice my passion. Bless you all.

Last night at 3am my young bride passed 12 days after our 38th wedding anniversary, from Cancer. She would have been 58 on the 19th of April. Marjorie helped me edit this toast in memory of my grandfather, and great-grandfather, both were smiths. Please feel free to hang it in your shop and use it to honor others of our craft. Toast to a fallen hammer He was heated in the forge of life, shaped by the hammer of Christ on the anvil of God, quenched in tears of sorrow and joy, tempered in the hearts of those who loved him, and has gone to find his place in the gates of Heaven. Three times we ring our anvils in his memory. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen Mike McGinty AKA Habu

Traditionally, the piece presented to a panel of Master judges in the guild system by a journeyman seeking Master papers was called his Masterpiece. The Judgment was typically very critical, as the smith was then permitted to open his own shop in competition with his judges. Stand a little taller today after judgment by your peers in a great tradition.

Brand: Trenton Weight:126 Price: $125 (He "couldn't go any lower than $1.00/lb) condition, Sides were painted silver, top excellent, edge 2 small chips that ground out to a nice radius. year 2000 I also bought a buffalo blower ($35) frozen, that took about two weeks of soak to free. A 4" vise of unknown ancestry ($35) working and complete. ugly orange paint. A 2 ft by 3 ft cast iron railroad forge ($125) with a pump handle blower. Missing the wooden handle, belts and a blower that did not operate because of its furry occupants. Two hours to restore. All in one stop at a garage sale. Luck of the Irish. I paid him his asking price on all of the tools and I think he thought he slicked a city kid.

I've seen a fire started that way with a 2lb hammer faster strike and a little paper. It does show why a good smith seems to get more time at the anvil per heat, he is putting heat in when he hammers , thinks while the iron is in the fire. and working only the area that should be worked in each heat. Another trick to that stunt is raising the work just off the anvil between each strike. Still it's cool to see it done.

Magnaflux From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. Magnafluxing, developed originally by Carl E. Betz, is a method of testing ferrous metals for surface and subsurface flaws. The component being tested must be made of a ferromagnetic material such as iron, nickel or cobalt, or some of their alloys. This test is often used on industrial tools, and engine parts during maintenance inspections. It can also be used to diagnose failure, as in crash investigations. It works by applying a magnetic field to the component under test, using e.g. a permanent magnet. This will cause a high concentration of magnetic flux at surface cracks, which can be made visible by dusting iron powder or a similar magnetic material over the component. Parts can be tested using one of two methods. The wet method consist of bathing the parts in a solution containing iron oxide particles. The wetted part is then placed in a magnetic field and inspected using a black light (ultraviolet light). The iron oxide particles are attracted to surface discontinuities or cracks, where the magnetic field is discontinuous. The particles flux around the imperfections and the patterns are visible under the black light. The dry method is based on the same principle. Parts are dusted with iron oxide particles and charged using a yoke. The particles are attracted to the discontinuities and are visible by black light. Magnaflux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Updates

Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/

I once played with a design that would use a helve arm that would extend past the pivot point and with an over balanced weight instead of a spring. My reasoning was that the mass of the counter weight would be applied to the hammer side as the hammer hit the work. One draw back would be the force applied to the pivot bearing at the strike. I never found my "roundtuit" for this project. maybe some day.

old oliver about half way down the page. Old Sturbridge It took me a couple of days to find it again.

The vise table is a good idea. The vise is always the place you use "the other tools" like punches files, twisting wrenches. the small table is as handy as a shirt pocket. I need to ad one to mine.

Samuel Yellin's shop at it's zenith employed as many as 400 smiths and in the shop 40 languages were spoken as told by Francis Witaker who apprenticed in his shop as a young man. samuel yellin blacksmith - Google Book Search here is a sampling of the works about Yellin.

Francis Whitaker In the "blacksmiths cookbook" suggests slitting the piece from both sides with a slitting chisel, after marking the piece with a center punch for center and slit length. After the slit is through then follow with the drift. He gives a chart of slit lengths verses finished hole sizes. Coal dust and cooling still apply. Dang I just Googled the Blacksmiths cookbook. Used they are going for $650 to $1200, I may have to copy mine and sell it for a new anvil Pierced Joinery

The strangest thing I ever used was the counter weight "ON" a bob cat loader. We used it to straiten a tie rod for another tractor. forge was a hole in the ground, blower was a shop vac and the coal was at least 50 years in the coal shed behind the barn. I must say the "anvil" did not have much of a ring. Down on the farm blacksmithing at it's best.

Call your local garage door repair and install company and ask for broken garage door springs. They make great strikers.

The smith and the carpenter have a tradition of not setting horse shoes or handling nails on Good Friday in respect for how they were used on that day

A horse shoe used above the door of a house or barn must be a new shoe purchased directly from the Smith. Because a thrown shoe found along the road has had it luck used up. It should be installed with the heels up to hold the luck. (edit) unless you are a smith then it should be heels down so the luck drains into the forge. (i knew that) ;-)

A penny on the floor when using another mans tools or fire, since in would be less than honorable to use another's tools without payment, and less than gracious to accept payment from a friend for the use of the tool. A penny on the floor settles the debt and at one time could have been used to make a "penny" weld. And Never build a fire in the forge on a day that does not end in Y