Iron Clad

Spent much time blacksmithing with Don at the Oregon Steam-Up and other events.  Don was a great Smith with much knowledge and a great man to boot.  This is a big loss to the blacksmithing community and he will be missed by many, including myself.  God Bless Don!  See you on the other side!!

God knows, and I'm not sticking my hand down there to find out......

I don't really have any intended projects for it. Right now My head is going crazy with ideas of all the stuff I can make. Today just made a set of 3/8 stainless knuckles to mount a set of E&J headlights on my 1932 ford.

OMG!!!!!!!!! I haven't been on the net for awhile due to work. I just found out tonight........OMG!!!!!! This is so sad. This is a terrible loss!!!! I will pray for him and his family. Rest in peace Grant.

Hey Jesse, glad to see you work hot metal....... I don't care for motorcycles much, classic trucks are more my speed. Hey, to each their own...... Hmmm, I never thought of adding blacksmith details to one of my classic trucks, I should explore this idea. Maybe custom door handles or something. What do you think?????

Okay, I give.........Looks like it WAS designed this way. LOL....

First picture: note that the top section of the side seems to have deeper pitting/weathering. My guess is the "line" folks are seeing is the transition line from where that anvil laid on it's side for a long time with the top part sunk into the muck and the bottom part propped up on the feet and so not as much in contact with the pitting agents!

How about that for a WAG!

Grant; you pretty much hit it. The division of labor can only come about once a community reaches a certain size.
Guilds-for lack of a better term-have been a part of life since man first became 'civilized'. Even among Cro-Magnon. Not everyone in the village could knapp flint, or make fishing nets, or weave. If you can keep the village small then everyone is usualy willing to work togeather in order to survive. Its when the village becomes a town the town a city the city a mettropolis things get sticky. One flint knapper in a village is good and he passes his knowledge onto his son and maybe even teaches a few select others how to do basic knapping strictly for survivaal purposes two or more knappers in your village and your techniques become a closly guarded secret. Maybe your faster or the other knapper can get a sharper edge to his points. The person who does the best job gets the most in trade for their points.
Works the same with any profession, has been for thousands of years and will continue to be so long after we and whatever secrets/skills we have are gone.

This kind of anvil does not have a seem around the waist. The body of the anvil is a large block of wrought iron with the horn, heal and feet forge welded to it. Only later anvils were made with the weld seem across the waist.

I recommend to line it evenly as well, easier to move the coal around. Cracks are common in these small forges.

Look at the picture again......Is that a CRACK or a demarcation line all the way around the waist?? Could this be a repair job gone wrong???

Also, look at each side of the anvil. The side profile curve is more extended on one side verses the other. I really believe this anvil has been through a really bad repair.

This last weekend while I was at my ghosttown blacksmith shop a guy came in and asked for lessons and how much I would charge. After listening to his story, no charge will be applied. This guy is building his own house on property in the middle of nowhere, a farmstead. He and his family will be living off the land with no electricity, a brave person. This young family is well known in the area, they already live with no T.V., no internet, and grow their own food. All they want to be is selfsufficient. How can I possibly charge this person, or be "stingy" with the little knowledge I have??? I will pass along as much info. as I can and help this family achieve their goals.......Besides, in the future, perhaps he will teach me a thing or two about a skill he has obtained!

I replaced the roadside mail box with a P.O. Box, no more problems !!!!

Mark, I agree with you. Once I put the word out for an item it usually takes no time. After awhile, people contact me out of the blue because they know I may be game to buy.....Also, part of the fun for me is the search.

Thanks Ian.

Thanks also David for the advice. I did come to realize the condition you mentioned and what I did was pull off the bearings and sanded the ash away until the wood was clean then re-heated the bearings, but not enough to burn the wood and finished the job. As soon as the bearings were on I poured water over them to shrink the axle to the wood for a tight fit. The dark / burnt wood you see in the pictures I just haven't sanded yet to clean up, but I will.......

Oh, also there is an 8" lag bolt holding the bearings tight up on the tapered axle as well. I use Foxfire as picture reference only, I do have the carrage books you refered to.

So, here is an update on the wagon project including some pictures. I have the front wheels bolted on and everything looks okay. I have the rear axle started, and in the pictures you will see the rear wheels bolted on, but this is only temporary to align things up and take some measurements in order to start on the rear hounds. I had a problem with one of the rear wheels in that the hub wasn't wide enough for the bearing leaving a gap between the hub and the wheel nut. I fixed this problem by forge welding a ring out of 1.5" flat stock, then tapered this ring making a sleeve that fits the bearing and taking up the slack. I don't have pictures yet of the sleeve, I will include them later.

These pictures are taken at my other (small) blacksmith shop from this last weekend........

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/69#69
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/69#68
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/69#67
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/69#66

I hope to have the rear axle completed by this weekend so that I may start on the bed and box.....

Hey Mark, that's neat. I really like that idea. Your house was built in the mid 1700's?? Wow, any pictures?

I haven't shaved in 10+ years. Too lazy I guess. I hated shaving anyway.... I do have a strop though, great for the pocket knife after sharpening on the stone.

Great topic. I would add this: Clean up and take out all of the hammer marks from one forging sequence before starting the next forging sequence. Peter Ross taught me this one.....I like to make every sequence of the forging process look like it's finished before putting it back into the fire to start the next forging processes.

Often refered to as the machinest Bible. The 1914 edition has sections on forging/blacksmithing including the anvil and it's set-up, dimensions for tongs, forge welding, steam hammer ratings, forging presses, air pressures and pipe sizes for forges, machinery and hammer foundations, etc. These sections are small but good useful information. These sections are no longer in the modern editions of the Machinery's Handbook. For those into antique machinery it has sections such as leather belt specifications for over head drive shaft systems, rope transmission, clutches and couplings, etc... A fun book for the machinest, blacksmith, or anyone into the history of American industry.

Machinery's Handbook
1914 First Edition (2008 Collector's Edition Replica)
The Industrial Press, New York
ISBN: 978-0-8311-3370-2

Thanks for the book list David! I will look into them...

I did buy the book "Practical Carriage Building" by M.T. Richardson. Also, I found a great article in Foxfire 9 titled "The Jud Nelson Wagon" in which the whole wagon building process from start to end was documented. It was good luck that I found a cheap broken down wagon where enough was there for patterns, also.

Speaking of books, I just received by mail the 1914 first edition (Special edition reprint) of Machinery's Handbook. It has a section on forging, forge welding, and standard tong sizes amongst other blacksmith related sections. Also, it has the info. I needed for standard square nuts and bolts dimensions. It was also fun to read the section on leather belt standards for over head shaft drive systems.

The front assembly is now done and the wheels are on. I didn't have time to take pictures yet, I will in the next couple of days and post.

I started on the rear axle today. Something interesting, while tearing down the old rear axle to get dimensions I found that the original manufacturer of the old wagon didn't seat one of the rear axle bearings on all the way. They missed the mark by about 3/4". Well, it worked all these years until it rotted beyond use.

It's amazing how much blacksmith work there is on this project. Mostly all hardware, braces, and brackets. Towards the end of the project will be the real blacksmith challenge I believe, the seat springs and the brake assembly. The old wagon is missing both and I will have to research to find dimensions to go on. Part of the fun!!

I wish David. That's one thing I haven't learned YET....The broken down wagon I bought had four good, all iron wheels that I'm going to use. (Real heavy duty). You may be able to see them in the background of the pictures in my messy shop. This week when I finish up the front assembly I will bolt on the front wheels and take some pictures to post.

I would like to take a wheelwright class someday.......

Thanks Guys. I'll keep you posted. I made some more progress today, just one more bracket and two small bolts and the front assembly will be done! Then I can start working on the rear axle, once I purchase the hardwood lumber that is....(Hardwood is really expensive, especially in large sizes.).

Well, here is what I have completed on my wagon project to date. (First pictures showing old rotted front assembly I used as a pattern and last pictures showing progress to the new front assembly so far...)

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#57
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#56
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#55
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#64
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#63
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#62
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#58
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#54
http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/65#65

I hope to have a complete wagon done by the NWBA/Western States Conference in August. The progress has been slow and much more work than I thought...I figured the wood work would take longer than the blacksmithing, however this turned out not to be the case. All of the hand-made nuts and bolts, brackets, and so forth seem to take me forever! One more day of work and I should have the wheels on the front assembly, then I can start working my way back to the rear assembly. (I figure I should be an expert at making hardware by the end of this project....LOL.).