solvarr

HAH! Iforgeiron and the forums were first on the recommended reading list!

I don't know his login but he will be reading this sometime tonight.

He had read almost every blueprint and was asking to use a bottom fuller the first time we got together to hammer one week after the bet started.

A local kid (16) who plays in the SCA has been trying to get someone to teach him some basic blacksmithing.

After talking to him I realized he watches too dang much TV and he could be doing better in school.

I told him one month... 30 days of no TV, no internet movies that were not blacksmithing related, no listening to TV... NOTHING and I would provide him with a railroad rail anvil, a hammer, a set of tongs, and a basic forge of his choice of fuel.

He is 28 days in and called me to claim his bet.
I had to tell him a month is 30 days and he can claim it on Saturday morning.

His grades have improved and he is understanding chemistry.

the below is quoted from eBay - engelfamilyforgeartisanknives.

As the material quoted is copyrighted I have reworded the quote and deleted the copyrighted material.
Site Admin

He only uses brand new rr spikes that he buys from the manufacturer. He suggests that you always ask the seller to provide documentation that they obtained the spikes lawfully. He says that removal of a stray spike without a salvage permit is theft, and removal of a spike from an active rail is an act of terrorism.

ever see the guy on ebay who sells spike knives...engle I think his name is...he claims it is theft to pick up rr spikes from the tracks. you must obtain some kind of salvage license.
i bet it is a distance you must keep from the tracks...we have a bike path that runs right alongside of the rr.

A friend is buying a wood lathe for my shop. Welding the collar on will save me a bunch of time upsetting.

Thanks again.
-Solvarr

If you have a 55 gallon drum you can make your own charcoal out of small limbs and untreated lumber scraps.

Just a thought be a bit cheaper than 150lbs of charcoal which might be low for some reason for the amount of ore you are processing.

Way to go.
Fire it up and give her a go.

You may find you need a grate for the tuyere and possibly a lip around the edge of the table. Have fun!

Buddy of mine from college Cem Karan and I started building forges out of hibachis
10x17 Steel Hibachi Grill: Kitchen & Dining

We would wrap dowel rods with saran wrap and put them through the holes in the center and then we would cover the rest of the holes with masking tape from the underside and line it with an inch or so of fire clay.

Then we would hook up some kind of blower to the built in ash chamber. This was a dead easy forge to build that cost us about 15$ to build.

I then went and did a few week long apprenticeships back in college.

I took a few years off due to work and would get in a little hammer time whenever I could. Back in 2003 I decided that I was going to have a forge one way or another.
I budgeted 50$ a month towards this goal. I bought some fire brick, a drill press, some drill bits, the parts for my first aussie burner, a decent but not great anvil from harbor freight, and some flea market tongs. By the end of 6 months I had a stacked brick forge on the patio of my town house.

The owner of the apartment building said... keep it 15 feet from the building have a hose ready and we will call it a grill.

Since then I have built over 20 forges, own 3 anvils, 4 post vices, and best of all started dating my wife who I had met the previous weekend and was impressed with how I dealt with a persistent kid who was wearing all polyester during an open forge day at a reenactment.

25$ total and found out the name of a guy who is willing to bring a few bags to Raleigh once a month while he is here on business.

I have room for at least one.
We'll settle up when I get back

Containerized fires from which embers cannot escape are not covered by the burning ban. I talked to the state office a few weeks ago.

Your forge counts about the same as a grill.

If you need coal let me know ASAP

They will be selling it at the hammerin tomorrowand I can bring a bag back for you.

I live about 20 minutes from the fair.
Do you have a forge to work at normally?

SNORT!!
Ecart.,
I read that and sauerkraut almost shot out my nose.
I agree about the grumpy guys.
It's been a bit of a running joke with my wife and I to not be a "Grumpy Blacksmith " .

I like the IFI photoshoot.
-S

Very nicely done demo you guys have allot to be proud of.

A gentleman was making an S hook with a "wave" element in the middle which seemed a fun way to dress up a very simple item.

You have a friendly bunch of guys who we re very cordial to my wife when she went in to look at the ironwork while I watched the demo.

I hope to make it to some of your meetings this year.

I was just referencing what I saw in the Knifemaking Unplugged video for annealing silver. Seemed cheaper than using map gas.
Knifemaking Video DVD

Yes you work bronze cold. But without a decent annealing every now and then the modern silica bronze I've played with work hardens fairly fast.

I agree about getting dies to punch them out. The last time I saw scale armor made out of stainless the maker cut every piece on a shear and cleaned it up on a belt sander and buffer.

As a side note.

I went and checked the source photo.
They say the armor is leather.
HBO: Rome - Artifacts - Gaius Octavian

here's an old link talking about courbouilli
Cariadoc's Miscellany: The Perfect Armor

800 degrees? In the knifemaking unplugged video they place a piece of steel across their charcoal forge and use that to anneal some silver. Silver anneals arround 1400 degrees F. You might be able to use the same trick not bother with the forced air and save some map gas.

It would be cheap to try and could allow for more of a continuous process than torch annealing.

solvarr,

This could be a nice Blueprint. Please consider sending it to Glenn for a Tuesday nite session.

I have a few more photos I want to take before I submit the blue print and I am taking them this weekend when I assemble one of these at the YesterYear Hammer In. (as long as I don't botch ammo can cutout tomorrow )

As a side note. Since I always have a bit of clay and kaowool left over.
The first 2 people to post a reply here and bring a bean can for a bean can forge ready to go I'll line it for them as part of the demo at the YesterYear Hammer In. I would prefer if you have the port for the torch pre drilled and I recommend a couple of bolts as feet to keep it from rolling but that is optional.

The bean can should be a coffee can or any of the larger soup cans.

-Solvarr

I have an ammo can forge I designed. We've built arround 40 of these and they work really well.

solvarr's slideshow on Flickr

one 1/3 fire brik splits in the bottom
a wrap of kaowool
and some clay and you are good to go.
we'll be adding more photos soon to fill in the gaps.

NIce.
It looks like you got yourself a really fair deal.

The blower probably needs a flap over the intake to choke the air for fine adjustments.
It's just a piece of metal bolted in one corner you can use to fine tune the air blast.

If it ends up being a dead soft anvil try this link.
http://www.cvbg.org/tips/anvilrepair699.PDF

happy hammering.

I play SCA and I go by Solvarr Hammarsson. Solvarr was the only norse name my friends didn't laugh at right off the bat. (they had been calling me Xavier for years and I wanted to change my focus) Also my wife and I help run a Japanese Culture festival every year where everyone still calls me Xav so a third name comes in handy for knowing what a phone call is for.

As long as the anvil has a little life left in it you should be fine.
Here is a page on testing an anvil which I have used in the past with good results.
link removed at the request of anvilfire

If you don't buy it let me know. I have a few buddies up your way who might be interested.

A new rivet forge without the blower goes for 125-350+ depending on the maker and the tuyere.
I'd confirm that there is a decent blast of air coming out the tuyere and ask him how he started his fires.

Happy hammering.
-Solvarr

I know that in later periods they would predrill the hole for a nail using a gimlet or a small auger.

less chance of splitting

Gimlet (tool) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I hope to get out to see you guys at the state fair again this year.
Unfortunately I have a workshop I am running the first weekend and I am going to Yesteryear forge hammer in the second weekend.

Are there any central NC groups? Whenever I look at the NCABANA schedule it seems like they only meet quarterly.

-Solvarr (another wake county smith)

Please remember that Kaowool is dissolved by borax fluxing.
A good layer of fireclay tends to take care of that.
I tent to really like satanite brand fire clay but will use vulcanite brand castable if I have to.

-Solvarr
I am working on getting the last photos for a blueprint on how to make a forge out of an ammo can.

The issue I have with many designs is that you need a full shop to build the forge.
I kinda boiled it down to basics

We have had great results with this
Ammo Can Forge Construction
Ammo Can Forge Construction - a photoset on Flickr

Ammo Can Forge Decontruction
(we tore apart the first one after 2.5 years of abuse to see how it was holding up)
Ammo Can Forge Deconstruction - a photoset on Flickr

Great demo!
This was a great day and my 3 newcomers are already making plans to come to the hammer in.
Thanks again for hosting this.

During the demo I asked Doug if he had tried an Appalachian style power hammer which got some laughs.

I understand the humor but it's a DIY helve style power hammer design
The Appalachian Power Hammer
Appalachian Power Hammers

See you all in October. -Solvarr