Archie Zietman

Thanks!

ok. ahem. If any of you chaps or chapesses has a pattern/plans for a bellows, may I please see them?
Thanks,
Archie

Hello.
I have decides that my pool toy-blower is not very good, and have decided to embark on the quest of making a very large bellows. I will probably make a single-chabered bellows, but how does one chamber them? is the flap-valve in any way different on the inside of the bellows? Basically, how does a multi-chambered bellows work?
Thanks very much,
Archie

hello.
I have just been given my first real comision: a whittling knife. I know that files are good carbon steel, so I'm gonna make it out of one. I have a question though: How should I do the quenching? Cherry red in oil that is 78 degrees F? also, what is the average amount of carbon in a wood file?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Archie

Hello.
This probably should be in the bladesmithing section, sorry...I have just forged a kind of knife...blade...flat curved thing. My brother just got back from a road trip with school, and I let him do a bit of pounding, and a lot of blowing of the bellows So here is the unfinished blade, it needs sanding, and sharpening. I have a kid at school who has commissioned a file knife from me.
http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/167/18/Resized_Picture002.jpg
http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/167/18/Resized_Picture003.jpg
http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/167/18/Resized_Picture006.jpg

Thanks,
Archie

You burn however much you are using per hour per hour. I use about 1 pound at a time, and I burn about 1 pound every 1.5 hours or so, It varies with the amount of air you're putting in, and all sorts of other stuff, like letting ash clog everything up.

My anvil is the yellow shafted hammer next to my forge on the first pic. I use the head as a pounding surface, and will until I can get a proper anvil. I am saving up for a good one which I will propably make portable too. somehow. The amount of fuel I used in the fire did make it difficult to heat the metal, but it got hot pretty quickly, so I didn't bother adding much more, but I will next time. :D

I got interested in medieval armour reproductions one night in december 2003, when I just thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool to make armour? I'll start researching right now." and then during this year the interest branched off into an equally strong passion for blacksmithing, when I said to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool to be a blacksmith as well as an armoursmith? I'll start researching right now." So now I practice both arts. :D

more pikkies!!!!!

in action: 8)

my whole metal pounding setup:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/163/16/Resized_Picture009.jpg

pumping air into the fire:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/163/16/Resized_Picture011.jpg

what I ate for dinner on thursday, killed by yours truly:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/163/16/Resized_Picture005.jpg

my hand holding a red hot piece of metal. I could get it up to a bright yellow heat if I took more time:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/163/16/Resized_Picture013.jpg

don't touch it! It's hot!

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/163/16/Resized_Picture014.jpg

I burned my left index fingertip very badly by accidentally touching my work just after quenching, when it was still VERY hot. I'll finish the knife over the weekend.

Edit: photos added

I just put in a "bellows". It's a big red plastic thing, and it has the air valve at the top, and works like a japanese box-forge. It's used to inflate pool toys or something. I don't have a pool so it's no use for anything else. It blow a lot of air VERY hard. It's got twice the air capacity of my old fireside bellows, and blows thrice as hard.

Hello.
For school a few months ago I had to write a story in the style of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, for humanities. I wrote one called The Blacksmith's Tale, which I recently reworked a bit and thought I might share with you. Please forgive me, it confuses blacksmith and farrier, but that's how it was written. It's based on the Paw Paw Wilson's story of why blacksmiths ring their anvils from anvilfire.com but in modern times:

The Blacksmith's Tale

On days when lightning splits the sky asunder,
And farmer's ears are deafened by thunder,
Then water spills and sloshes in the mires
And businessmen turn on their big gas fires
And warm the house and listen to the rain
For in their comfort they do not feel pain.

On such days the blacksmiths ring
Their anvils, and do toil as they sing.
And one such man made merry in his forge
He was not one who would sit and gorge
On cookies, but would work and not waste time
For he was poor and needed every dime.

He made such wonderful sets of horseshoes,
That great horse racers would come and pay their dues
To have this man farry their massive steeds
So they could gallop the track and do great deeds.
But still this craftsman did remain quite poor,
For to buy a foursome of shoe,
He charged a mere price of one hundred twenty two.

Now Satan it is known has horses hooves
Upon which are set terrible grooves.
This makes it rather hard to walk
Across tarmac and at the same time talk,
For he must keep one eye upon the road,
And the other to look for trucks with heavy load,
Which he can steal and drive right down to hell
For down there trucks and cars do sell
For pretty pennies, and many of them at that
Enough for a devil to buy himself a hat
A Yankees one to cover up his corns
For if he walks the earth on sunny morns
Drivers are very likely to honk their horns.

It just so happened that as the devil drove,
A stolen truck with a stolen stove
That he saw a crowd controller's horse being paired
For shiny shoes at which the devil stared,
And wanted them to gild his grooven hooves
Which would allow him ease to groove his moves
At many sinful discos down in hell
(For a pair his stove he'd gladly sell)
And so he did, and with five twenties went
Back to the farrier's house far down in Kent.
He gave the money to the smith,
Who looked at the bills and gave a hearty sniff.
"You lack a twenty, and two twos,
I cannot make you a shiny pair of shoes,
But if you agree to get what you paid for,
I will indeed make you two not four."
"xxxx you! Fit me a pair for my hooves,
That down in hell I may pull groovin' moves!"

The blacksmith he was a good and moral man,
But needed the money to buy a fan.
So he took the fiend's money and then did make,
A set of horseshoes for the devil to take.
He was a trickster, a religious man too,
He detested all the devils that don't pay, as humans do.
So he shined the shoes up so they glittered like gold
And to the devil slyly he told:
"Here are your shoes, the best in the land
Now let me please put them on you by hand."

The cunning young smith did a service to God,
For when the nasty devil he shod,
He used nails that were far too long
He pounded them in Bong! Bong! Bong!
So that the devil was hirp'ling with pain,
So that he very nearly went insane.

The blacksmith tap-tapped away at the shoes which,
He made far too small so that they would itch
The deceitful devil's feet,
And he tripped and fell right down on his seat.
For on the shoe soles the blacksmith had put
A coating of tarmac along with some soot.

So the devil ran away, and screamed as the shoes clanked
And the blacksmith, 'twas God that he thanked
for letting him teach the devil a lesson, with a shoe
So the devil learned, I hope you did too
You get what you pay for.


copy to story page S020

I think I am going to prop the forge up to the correct height by giving it thick legs attached to the Radio Flyer.

Here they are:
front:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/158/18/Resized_forgefromttop.jpg

back:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/158/18/Resized_forgeback.jpg

side:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/158/18/Resized_forgeside.jpg

top:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/158/18/Resized_forgetop.jpg

tuyere:

http://www.yourimg.com/?page=05/158/18/Resized_tuyere.jpg

Yahoooooo!!!!! I have just killed, and cleaned my rooster Kosher style! 8) (In the middle of the city) I will upload pictures now!

The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers (spelling?) lots o' good simple forges etc. also, if you want: http://www.countryside.gov.uk/search/jsp/verity/search.jsp there you can download several blacksmithing techniques manuals free :D

I have pikkies on my camera as of 30 seconds ago, I just need time to put them onto my computer, which will be later. Right now I'm off to kill, prepare and stew several roosters cajun style with Stefano my neighbor 8) WOOT!!! :D

Thanks. I was wondering what was so specifically special about EARTHEN clay, and now I know :D

here is another discussion of it's function: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46440&view=previous

For now I am using dirt packed into the forge, and suck with water which works fine for the moment, I just need to make a defined forge pit.

I am going to do the bellows, I think. I have a ton of scrap wood, and Vinyl, which I know some people have used.

They are in my prayers tonight.

Thanks! Air:Size ratios have been the thing which I have had the most trouble with.

Hello.
I have decided to replace the grillable kitty litter paste in the bottom of my forge with some form of adobe lining, which will also allow my to sculpt the inside shape how I want it, as opposed to flat plane. I am gonna use Tim Lively's mix of 1/2 sand, and 1/2 earthen clay, but I have no idea what earthen clay exactly is, or what makes it so special.
Therefore my questions are: what is earthen clay and what makes it so special?
Thanks,
Archie

I just lit it up yay!!!! but, yet again, I couldn't get my steel to heat up correctly grrrrr... I need to put bigger tuyere holes in, and also I need to find a way to plug them so that I don't waste air pressure. I got the coals up to white hot by blowing on them from the side with my bellows again, but I REALLY need to get/make a big bellows for it. I wonder...could it be the charcoal I'm using that stops the steel from getting so hot? it is hardwood, though.
No pics yet, because the camera's batteries died just as I was lighing... :cry:

Just posted on armourarchive for you, there are a lot of very good guys who know a xxxx of a lot about tools like this. (I hope you don't mind that I took this liberty) If I you don't think that was the right thing to do, please tell me.
Thanks,
Archie