Randy

In teaching a forge welding class at NESM one of the projects I showed was doing a forged welded hammer. I had an old one that was made this way and you could see the lines where the welds were so the process was visable. As often the smiths didn't have readily available material and choice of sizes, they had to create their own. This one was made from 1/4" x 1-1/4" flat stock, hot rolled mild steel. The same process was used with wrought iron. This was folded back and forth as shown in the drawing to make a stack to achieve the desired thickness. The one end was left long for a handle. It was then faggot welded together. A faggot is a stack or pile of metal. Then I used leaf spring for the high carbon face and cross pien. This weld is known as a jump weld. In the old days they would cut barbs in the edges of the high carbon pieces and with the hammer hot would hammer the steel in place for forge welding. I used a small tack weld on opposite corners to hold the pieces in place for welding. Then the eye was punched in and the hammer was heat treated. In the photo I'm jump welding the high carbon face onto the hammer.

Great work! Is this your own shop or do you work for someone? If your own shop do you have others that work for you? How's business? What is the majority of work that you do? Hope you don't mind all of the questions. Interesting to see how others make a living and produce work.

Looks good! How about a shot or two of what you made with it?

I'd give a shot at introducing yourself and showing your wares and why the coal is important to you. I used to go to places that normally wouldn't deal with one man shops and I'd take my portfolio to show them. Pictures of my shop and what I was doing. It amazed me at the doors that opened. Even make a leaf key chain or something and give it to them. Might be surprised at what happens. Maybe at night you could get a bucket load off of the tracks first to see if it is any good for how you work?

Look at this arrangement and see if it helps. I've been using it for many years and I still have layout room on the floor for big jobs. My doors are at the bottom of the drawing. The working triangle is behind the anvil, not in front of it. Good work space you should have some fun there!

Why not do a combination of both? Seems like a lot of burners just don't get hot enough. So I bought my burner from Steve Genshiemer, one of the hottest out there and superbly made and then made the forge from a freon can with dura blanket and fire bricks. So I have the parts done that was easy for me and got the tough part well done by someone who has the right equipment to do it right.

About the same. I use the edges for cutting shoulders using half faced and edge blows. If you want a tenon on the end of a bar you do it on the near edge. If you want to make a leaf then it goes with an edge blow on the far side, etc. That's also why about three inches of the edge near the horn is slightly rounded and the rest are sharp. Some times you need a radiused shoulder, other times a sharp one.

It may be out of the way but definitely go up the Pacific Coast Highway and then over to see the giant redwoods! Amazing!!!!

I said I'd follow up so here I am. I got the ferric chloride and recommended neutralizers, distilled water, etc. I mixed the acid 50/50 with the distilled water. I found the ammonia removed some of the contrast where the baking powder didn't so liked that better. I haven't been able to get the 2000 grit sandpaper yet so used a scotch-brite pad. I see where the other will be better. The ferric chloride gave a nice etch in 10 minutes. There was also a coloration to the wrought iron that I didn't get with the muriatic so I liked that better, too. Attached are the photos. The one after neutralizing, before sanding and the other after sanding.

I do not recommend aloe for burns. I used it once on a burn and it made it worse and burned like crazy for days. I immediately put a hand burn in cold water. It pulls the heat away and the oxygen helps to heal a minor burn. I have a couple small kits in the shop from Sears.

Randy McDaniel Reading, PA I create forged work from architectural work, store fixtures, sculpture to belt buckles. Originally it was colonial reproductions, but now mostly contemporary work. I do mostly custom work, but am now working towards a line of my own work. I also demonstrate for regional and national blacksmith groups and teach workshops at various schools and shops including my own. I got started in 1972 with a class at the local Farm Museum by Marshall Crumbacker, an 81 year old wagon smith. They were teaching an 8 hour class, 2 hours for 4 Saturdays for $2.00. I had $2.00 at the time so I took the class. My brother and dad took the class, too, but I was the only one to keep hammering. My first anvil was a 100 pound Peter Wright that I still have and use on occasion. My first forge was a sheet metal rivet forge with hand crank blower. Who encouraged me? I guess that would be the other smiths that I met along the way. They had as much enthusiasm as I did and we fed off of each other though we were few and it was far between us. After fumbling around for two years Frank Turley made the biggest improvement in my skills. He taught me the basics and got me on the right track so that I knew what I was doing and how to do it. His style in teaching made a big impression on me, too. I think the biggest event that changed the way I thought about blacksmithing was the ABANA Conference in Carbondale, IL, in 1976. That was the first time I was with so many like-minded souls and met so many talented smiths. It took me months to come down from that trip! Originally I would have said my Champion 25 pound power hammer was the tool that changed how I did things and made my life easier. But then about 13 years later I got a Nazel 1B air hammer. After having that one day in the shop I sold the Champion. I could do everything with the Nazel that the Champion could do and so much more and with so much more control. Then about 5 years ago I finished construction on a 60 ton hydraulic forging press. This has really made an impression on me. Pun intended. It’s amazing to me how easily it squishes the hot metal like clay. I can still do the heavy forging that I do on the Nazel and without all the shock to my body. It also gives me more control for texturing, punching holes, shaping, doing production work and creating tooling. For those just starting blacksmithing I’d recommend that you slow down and learn the basics. Start at step one. Learn the hammer blows and fire control. You will use this in everything else that you do in forging. Read some basic books and take several classes in forging. You shouldn’t even have a power hammer or press until you have those skills well learned. You need to know the process before you can throw machinery into the mix. For those already in blacksmithing I’d still recommend what I said above if you haven’t gone that route. Secondly, if you want to do this full time then getting some business classes can be very helpful. It’s not always the best at anything that are the most successful, but the ones that know how to sell themselves and run a business. Asking some of the interesting things that happened being a blacksmith would go on too long as so much has happened. Briefly, being able to go across the country and up to Newfoundland to teach has been a big highlight. Meeting great people and seeing our beautiful world and nature due to this has been very special to me. Being able to create special works for special people has been another honor, always a challenge and rewarding. One of my biggest thrills was in the ‘80’s being invited to Ivan Baileys’ shop in Savannah, GA. It was a small event with a lot of big names. Francis Whitaker, Manfred Bredohl, Tom Bredlow, Dick Quinnel, Bill Gichner, Ken Schwarz, probably someone I’m forgetting and of course Ivan. Manfred suggested we have a blacksmith baptism as in the old days here and based on what they did in Germany. They picked three of us to be baptized and I was lucky enough to be one of the three. As the history and lore of this craft has always meant a lot to me, and with the people that were in attendance, this was truly an incredible honor and event for me. I hope to someday live up to it. The only thing that I would like to add is about the community of smiths. In the early years of doing shows I saw jewelers cover up their display cases if another jeweler came near in fear of something being copied. At the same show a smith came running over to me to show me a then new braided handle and then excitedly explain how he did it. Wow! We are very lucky to be in this fellowship of smiths. The other crafts have learned a lot from us over the years in regards to this and in sharing information. But we have had this family since the beginning. Besides the excitement and passion for what we do, this craft gives us a place to call home, allows us to be part of a family that supports us and gives us encouragement. How lucky we are!

In regards to the newbies: "An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching." Mahatma Ghandi.

Frank, very classy! Is the center foot just like the front ones? Can't see it in the shadows. What is the finish?

Excellent information guys! Thanks! I'm sure more than me will find this very useful. I'll post new pics when I get the ferric chloride and do a new etch so everyone can see the difference.

Well, that would be true, if the drawings were acurate. Looks like they have things backwards. Wrought iron is more like B in the lower drawing, not A. Wrought just has straight lines to it, no carbon bursts. Almost all smithing books have better drawings than these. One must be careful of the internet.

Finally made it over to Radio Shack and they didn't have the ferric chloride or the PBC Etchant and won't get it for me. Went on-line and to dimenickel's suggestion of http://www.mgchemicals.com/ . That just sent me to other sites which some were under construction, others were blank and others wouldn't take my payment method. Finally SRA Soldering Products at http://sra-solder.com had it and at a reasonable shipping rate which is still almost the same price as the product, just so you know. I bought the MG415-1L. Now my question is that is says : Note: Do not dilute this product with water. yet dimenickel said you're diluting it 50/50 with distilled water. Right?

I've used what I was told was forge brazing not just to attach pieces, as it used to be used in locks, but more now as a surface treatment. I like the texture and colors I can get with it. I use the gas or coal forge, heat the plate, flux with borax and I usually use brazing rod. Some times I drop chunks of it in certain places and then use the rod to kind of paint with it, though you don'r have much control. Attached are a couple pieces I forge brazed.

Wow! This is a shock to me CH. Moses B. Glick is like a half hour from me and I've bought so much stuff there over the years. Got all of my 4140 there for my press. What surprised me is that this is the new owner and they are all Amish. And here they are big time on fleabay. Have to give it to them, they know how to make money. BTW, they have one of those guns for telling the metal composition and so you know what you're getting. Good people and good products.

It definitely is a different age. When I started there were a couple of old books and one new book and a number of smiths over 80 and that was about it for a while. And you may not run into another smith for a year. I really felt isolated. Craft school classes and hammer-ins and conferences were very exciting and I'd go home with a head full that would take me a year or more to process. Today is a world of instant gratification. I want it now! If you have problems with the info and comments on here then do a YouTube video and see the comments that you get. I mean they don't even think about what they are saying and if it makes any sense or if it even relates to what you're doing, they just want to bark out something and often in not so nice language. I see so many newbies that have the passion for the craft but are somehow stuck in this internet mentality. They want a power hammer or a press and they don't even know the basic hammer blows! They either want to skip all of the basics and build a damascus sword or spiral out of control hunting for information that can't be simply learned by reading or watching some bad videos by someone else that doesn't know what they're doing. Thank goodness we have IFI. Finally we have a place where we all can get together, not be so isolated, share information, problems, answers, ideas, laughs and help to lead these newbies onto the right path. Now like anything else they have to pull back and listen, but they can choose not to if they want. If that's the case they will either drop out in frustration or find another way. So eventually maybe we'll hear another way to do something. At least they have a place to come and know they're not alone. And thank you all for the help you've given me and how much I've learned by being a part of IFI. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Good tips. So where is the best place to get ferric chloride with out paying twice as much for shipping? Also is the powder okay? Is it best to buy as "already diluted, don't dilute, use full strength" ? Radio Shack does not have it even as etchant.

The original way was to do the undercut keyway and hammer the wire into that, but I've seen some smiths, for "inlaying" brass actually cut a straight groove and then heat up the piece and actually braze the piece into it. Then by taking a file or sander working back to the original surface which leaves the brass exposed in the groove only. Saves a lot of time in undercutting. You could silver solder using the same technique.

First off, great tongs! Second, great ph tooling. I have some old industrial tooling that had heavy duty handles and the shock on the hand was terrible. The 1/4" round solves that problem. Looks like your touchmark handle is at a 45 degree from the punch. That's the way I did mine too and it's so much easier to position and see where you're putting it on the hot metal. So why not do that with the other tooling that has a rectangular shape to it? Seems better than having to work 90 degrees off of the metal as far as body position is concerned.

I have a different design than that one, but it does come in handy. The block in the front is for upsetting bolt heads and the lower block on the rack is adjustable so you can raise and lower it. That gives you a bottom stop for the bar you're working on. My vise has several sets of different size holes that fit in the vice jaws and that block is down in the middle instead of out front. Mine was over $400 so $175 is a deal!

Another way to make tools for the hardie hole is to forge weld pieces together to make the mass you need and your shoulders. In using mild steel this process will also add a lot of carbon to it so that you can heat treat it. I recently welding up one using this pattern: This welded up real nice and fast. I does help to be able to tack them in place before forge welding but I have used tongs to hold the pieces in place for the first weld. Also it was faster and less work than all the hammering required to upset the block into the hardie hole. I use this tool for demonstrations so I never know the size anvil or hardie holes I'll have to work with. My original stock size is 3/4" square. I over lap this and each additional layer with 1/8" thick angle iron and simply screw them together with a flat head screw that takes me all the way up to 1-1/8" square hole in 1/8" increments. You do have to grind off the outside corner of the angle so it fits in the inside radius of the next angle. The more pieces you add the further out the tapped hole moves on the angle so then you either need a larger angle or need to weld a piece so it still hits the hole. see photos. You are increasing the size across the diagonal so it works real well.

I said I'd follow up so here it is. I made a stack where I fored all the pieces to 1/4" x 1". The stack goes like this from top to bottom: A36 Wrought Iron Leaf Spring Wrought Iron double refined A36 Then forge welded it and drew out the one end and twisted it. Then ground it down and etched it. All I had was muriatic acid. It was about a 12 hour etch. Here's the results: As you can see not much difference between the A36 and the wrought. The leaf spring is the darkest section. (Didn't have any emory paper to shine it back up). The non refined wrought got more texture in it than the double refined, but color is the same. Not quite the results I was hoping for but I learned a lot. I could make a nice candy cane though.