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I Forge Iron

Jacob

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Everything posted by Jacob

  1. I believe Iron Woodrow is correct. All of the pieces appear to be modern; possibly 19th century. They are fun decorations but not museum pieces. If you are inspired to make some armor, I recommend to study the museum pieces rather than these. These would probably not work well if worn, but obviously they were an inspiring display to enourage you to do metalwork! Best regards, Jacob
  2. BGCM will host the 30th annual Blacksmith Days this year. Dates are May 19-20. See the website: http://www.bgcmonline.org/index.php?bsd2018 The location is in Westminster, MD. There will be demonstration tents setup outside of the school shop. Advanced registration is available until May 1st.
  3. No need to be a member. I bought mine online a couple years ago, and don't remember it even asking for a membership number for a discount. I have it built and use it all the time.
  4. I need more space to do all the things I'd like to do. I could do more with the space I have if a number of projects were finished and cleaned up. I have a 1-dump truck garage, maybe 15x30.
  5. Really heavy set tools need to be hit really hard to transfer the effort. Really large contact areas need to bit hit really hard to do much work. If this is both, you might not be able to do much with a hand hammer. Possible alterations if it doesn't work the way you want: Get a friend with a sledge hammer, or reduce the weight (trim the struck end where it mushrooms), or dress it to a curve or less contact area.
  6. For those in the area or are willing to travel, there is an excellent event scheduled for Labor Day weekend in Dallas. http://www.ntxba.org/events.html?task=view_event&event_id=2 http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=147142&sid=9004c25ea0c03e9a9411066f1a97d6b0 It looks to be an awesome event. I will be making the trip from Maryland to advance my knowledge in steel repousse and armor construction. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the Western demonstrators and vendors, too. If you didn't just blow the travel budget on ABANA, check out the links and the demonstrators. They are all making top class work.
  7. A rolling mill will do well if you're just drawing out. A power hammer will also work for other forging. A flypress works well with tooling and jigs using arm power. A treadle hammer does well with freehand tooling using leg power. People will argue the details and you will find other ways to use the tools you have. I built a treadle hammer first for use with punches, chisels and sheet metal work. I'd like to get a power hammer next, but I wouldn't turn down a good deal on a flypress for being able to set up guides to make straight chisel lines easily. It sounds like you know what you want to do. Put your energy into getting or making a tool that does that well. You can waste a lot of time and resources on some other tool and it still wont be what you want.
  8. I used overnightprints because their online design tool allowed a lot more control than Vistaprints. If you have photoshop, you can go either way. There's always a sale going, so you can get "500 free cards" or whatever, and pay $10-15 in shipping. Much easier and higher quality than printing and cutting at home. It's very cheap advertizing to hand them out. I'll even punch a hole in them and use them as price tags with the information written on the back. You just have to be careful that people don't take your price tags off the table if they're not tied to the item.
  9. Go through Dave's links above. There are a lot of groups and smiths in the area. BGCM sells good coal and has an excellent school shop, BGOP has a forge shop, and BGWM has been touring local member shops lately. I'm north of Frederick. There is a pretty active community here. Welcome!
  10. Here's the cracked hammer. The picture does not show the crack, but it starts at the face and goes back. It's 2 lbs, based on the Mastermyr viking hammers, but now it's a doorstop. I hardened it with the intent of trying a new heat treating oven soon for the tempering. I saw the crack a couple days later, before the oven was ready. I took a risk and lost.
  11. I just had a similar failure with a hammer from a torsion bar. It looked fine until hardening. I didn't temper immediately, and saw the crack. I went to anneal it to see if I could grind the crack away and the crack expanded down the length. The forging was done outside in the sun, so temperature could have been the problem. I hate seeing hours of work turn into a doorstop. I'll see about getting pictures. What is a common torsion bar alloy? I assumed 4140 or similar, but it did get quite hard. Jacob
  12. I just got my inline hammer built and have been doing some chasing in sheet metal. I've been using a block of wood under the treadle, but that would still be as bad for the linkage as stomping it to the ground. The best stop would catch the hammer head before the hammer and anvil meet. This would work well for chisels and tooling, but would have to be removed for mounted tooling including flat dies. I have seen another inline hammer design with a heavy pin that could be inserted into one of a series of through holes. I considered drilling holes through the top section of my 3" diameter hammer, but did not. A clamped on stop could be made for inline hammers, but it would not be as secure and it would tend to vibrate loose. It would also screw up my pretty new paint. I've been holding chisels by hand under the hammer, so this is a topic I've been thinking on. The heavy overhead arm with a chain is an interesting idea.
  13. What different considerations should there be for a propane heater? I have a ceiling-mounted warehouse heater and have been meaning to put the forge under it to share a 12" chimney. The main issue I was thinking of is grit buildup in the heater. It doesn't get all that cold, here.
  14. 180 years from now, when they go to restore it again, how will the smith remove the epoxy footings? Can they be burned out or broken down chemically?
  15. A36 is structural steel. The requirements are looser than 1018 and there's often misc. recycled content. A quick check on Online Materials Information Resource - MatWeb shows it has a bit more carbon and .2% copper in the specs. Neat test. Were you swinging all out or being more reasonable?
  16. I have a similar royersford. It's nearly 1000 lbs with the factory motor mount and motor. I transported it upright in a u-haul trailer. We used a forklift to load it, and a tall chain hoist to unload it. The practicalmachinist forum has a number of users of these in the antiques section and there are various pictures and specs posted. Enjoy the drill. They make drilling more fun. Do not rely on holding your work by hand. It probably has around a 1 HP motor, reduced down to low, low RPM (17 in my case). You will not be able to stop it by hand.
  17. I believe they're called fish plates. I have one I made into a bench plate with larger 1, 1.25, and 1.5" square holes cut into the thicker center section. It has a heavy pipe welded to the bottom going down to a base plate like a post vise leg. It is the table behind my first post vise, so they move around together. I spend a long time with torches and files making the square holes nice. A much faster way would be to drill or mill it out close, heat the plate, then drift the holes square and flatten out the plate again. This gives me a variety of hardy hole sizes right nearby, and I've made a number of straight shank sheet metal stakes to use with it also.
  18. I'm just checking in to say hello. I don't post here often, but I pop in on various forums as Jacob or JacobS. I'll have to post some pictures here of the gate I'm building. I'd hoped to have it ready for blacksmith days, but It's looking like it will be a few pieces short. I'm building a 10' driveway-style gate for my backyard fence.
  19. I have a manual ironworker built by Cannedy Otto. It's nearly 1000 pounds and has a 5' or so lever. A number of companies apparently built similar ones in the teens and 20's. The catalog rating for mine is ~20 tons. Punch 1/2" hole in 1/2" plate, shear 1/2" plate 4" long. I need to sharpen and adjust the shear before trying that, and the only punch I have is crudely home made. The 1" rod shear is either needs a new blade, serious adjustment or is worn out. It has served well shearing the 3/8" rod for my current gate, and should be much better once I clean it up and get new punches. I'm not sure how yours compares, but it's a neat tool and I don't mind too much that my ironworker lives just outside the shop door.
  20. You are planning a huge forge. I assume it is for sheet metal work. Remember you only need to heat as much area as you can work before it cools down. It will need an incredible amount of fuel if those are inside measurements. Look for a pottery supply shop and compare to their bricks. If you have hard brick, it will take even longer for the bricks to get to temp.
  21. They are great for punching holes. It will save a lot of time over drilling. You already have the tooling, so use it for that.
  22. The quick answer is that fit and finish take a long time. If it doesn't have to fit/work, and it doesn't need to be polished, it would be much faster.
  23. You already have a treadle hammer, and it doesn't hit like a power hammer. Where is the new mechanical advantage that will make this one hit harder? It sounds like you're building the same thing, with some different angles, and expecting it to be something else. The best it will do is if you maximize the efficiency. Use a heavy solid anvil, heavy cross section supports, and good bearings with a proper fit. It will still get tired of drawing out that heavy cross section exactly when you do.
  24. I just finished my bin. It's sitting outside waiting to be filled tomorrow. Due to the amount of the yard we are devoting to gardening, I didn't want an open pile. I have been using a trash can or two, but now I have a 2x2x4' inside shipping box, plus some for a slanted lid which should hold around 1/2 ton. Any extra will go in buckets/trash cans until it's burned. I forged 16 edge reinforcements to keep it from falling apart after years of rain and weight, and a pair of strap hinges to hold on the lid. The shipping box was picked up for free after an auction, otherwise I would have made it bigger. Quality coal isn't getting any cheaper. I'll try to get pictures.
  25. Yes, look up the recommended top speed for drilling steel with your desired drill size. The small benchtop drills tend to run very fast. They are usually designed for wood or small holes in light metals. I have an old 21" drill press, intended for metalworking. It has back gears and must turn down to 20 RPM. It's much less than once per second. It was advertised for up to a 1.5" hole. With that machine, there is oil everywhere, so you might as well put some on the tip of the drill while you're at it.
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