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I Forge Iron

Archie Zietman

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Everything posted by Archie Zietman

  1. The ones who pop into my head are Burton Sargent, one of my teachers. He does rough work with a real eye for lines in colonial era pieces. The other major influences are Chris Winterstein who used to teach at Penland, and Albert Paley, whose Portal Gates I had the pleasure of seeing in person. They are an amazing piece of ironwork.
  2. Blacksmithing where in the world? Europe? You could look at the shift from blacksmithing to fabrication and the slow fade of the blacksmith into marine-chainwork and such to todays novelty artist blacksmiths. How did the industrial revolution affect views of local household craft?Was it preserved in some ways? Where? How did some crafts fit into modern industry? (Glassblowing is still there, we still drop forge and use power hammers etc.) Lots of anthropological work about the cultural role of blacksmithing and religious significance of metals among tribes in various parts of Africa. In some cultures blacksmiths are considered supernatural beings, and some use iron instead of our abstract concept of money because it can actually be turned into a tool which has worth to the farmer or hunter. In China you get the technology of casting iron vessels, in the middle ages they were the world superpower, but then stagnated despite their incredible technology in ironwork and oil drilling and whatnot. In Japan you can find plenty of philosophizing and waxing poetical about the reflection of nature through hamons and pattern welding, and the honing of toolmaking to very specific crafts in japan (chef knifesmiths, katanasmiths, chiselsmiths axesmiths) etc. What made blacksmithing become so specialized and compartmentalized? Narrow down. For papers narrow is the word. Gives you a direction to go. The entirety of the history of blacksmithing over the entire world is a lot to cover in any length. Good luck! Archie
  3. Hey, I just forged myself two punches out of some old railroad tie (similar to 3/4 inch round 5160). How shall I go a bout heat treating them? Do I want them hard or soft? Hard in one place soft in another? Thanks, Archie
  4. People used to crack up, or not take me quite seriously when I said I was a blacksmith. Not surprising, I am 5'6" and 120 pounds. (Most of that is in my right arm) These days I just keep some work handy to show people.
  5. That's a really interesting way to do it! The way I've seen others do it is to use a chisel to pull out little thorns on larger stems. Shallow (acute angle w/ stock) cut and progressively get closer to a 90 degree angle, like cutting out animal's ears from the bar.
  6. 你好!Welcome to iforgeiron! Archie
  7. Make all of the hinges and door pulls out of steel.
  8. Wullo! In my experience corn works just like coal. It burns at the rate of charcoal, and the flame from the burning gasses is very very large. It definitely gets up to welding heat, and you can burn steel in the heat. be merry, Archie
  9. Wullo, What is it about carbon presence in the steel which makes it harden upon quenching? Alloys? I'm curious as to exactly why chemically and physics-ally. be merry! Archie
  10. search forums.dfoggknives.com for "waste oil forge" there's a lot of discussion, as well as pictures and details on the waste oil forge I built and use. It's a vertical gasser style. Basically it's a 10 inch tall chamber 5 inches in diameter, surrounded by lots and lots of insulation. I use 2 inches of koawool covered in a thick slurry of AP Green 36. The floor is cast refractory cement, so that unburnt oil does not soak into the floor, destroying it. The walls are protected by the thick coat of AP Green, nd hold up very well. The floor does need to be castable or firebrick, though. There is one burner in my forge, 3/4 inch tubing connected to a blower, with oil dripping into the air pipe through a needle valve. Gravity is more than adequate for fuel injection. Just use a needle valve to control it. Pressurized flammable liquid is dangerous, and is over-engineering. Use as many burners/injectors as you need to get an even heat. OR, better yet, take a look at the "tunnel forge" blueprint (there's also a small video of it on youtube). It's a gas forge, but for long lain-on-their-sides forges it works great. Just put one powerful burner on one end of a very insulated long tube, the heat evens out over the whole length of the insulated tube. good luck, it's great to see more people with waste oil forges! Archie
  11. Are you coking your coal before using it? Check blueprints about fire management. And use lots of air from the blower.
  12. Thanks guys! I think I'll try Haverhill first.
  13. This is the easiest to build and one of the most versatile and efficient charcoal forge designs I know. I made one like it in literally 5 minutes, and still use it after months. You can adjust the bricks to the size fire you want, and the firebricks reflect heat back onto the piece, making it very efficient. Simple Sideblast Charcoal Forge
  14. 1. Learn to forge weld, and work on expanding my repertoire of projects and skills. 2. Learn to stick weld just because. 3. Take a class at Haystack School of Crafts 4. Finally get ahold of a decent sized anvil
  15. Anybody know of any Scrap steel places in Massachusetts, preferrably further east? Thanks, Archie
  16. Hello! Question: What is the proper way/ the way you swing a striker's sledge? be merry! Archie
  17. Wullo! I just got some wrought iron: Two 6 inch long chunks of fairly coarse 1 inch round, and about a foot of very fine grained 1/2 inch round. What shall i make with them? Should I just sit them on my shelf and grin to myself that I have some wrought? be merry! Archie
  18. My chicken and turkey coop. Every once in a while I'll look down to see that a turkey or chicken has escaped and is watching me work.
  19. If they're cold, then they will suck the heat out of your workpiece very quickly, making your work very inneficient until the anvil finally warms up (which can take a while, especially with smaller pieces). be merry, Archie
  20. Hello! I know that blacksmiths did a lot of repair work up until the beginning of the 20th century, and not nearly as much making new stuff as now. Are there still smiths who work as repairmen? I mean, using traditional blacksmithing techniques to repair things? Where would one learn how to do repair work (fixing hand tools for farming and such)? be merry, Archie
  21. I am right handed and have my horn to the left. I am comfortable either way, though.
  22. Hey guys, The world economy seems pretty bad right now. I was considering going more full time into ironwork this summer, but the headlines, and current economic situation are making me think otherwise. Maybe things will have cleared up by summer, probably not. So, full or part time blacksmiths: How are you guys doing? Business is slow? Usual? Good? Any change in demand? Those kinda questions. I just want to know what economic climate I'd be jumping into. be merry, dress warm, Archie
  23. Hello. I just spent an hour punching as many holes of different sizes as i could in 1" by 1/4" flatstock. Looking at them now, even the best of the holes have ever so slightly ragged insides to them where the "biscuit" got whacked out. I crowned the edges of my punches a good bit, maybe too much on the smaller punches, would this leave a raggedy inside to punched holes? thanks, Archie
  24. I just got an e-mail from my old school offering me the chance to take a 2 week intensive blacksmithing course at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I've decided I'm going to take a class on vessel-making with rick Smith which will also allow me to learn a bunch of things like forge welding, putting patinas on steel, repousse and more. It'll be good to go back to advanced-basics. In the meantime I am going to practice punching slitting drifting and splitting with a hot chisel. thanks again for your replies.
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