fciron

99 % of the furnaces discussed here are piddling furnaces. First you piddle with the furnace, then you can piddle with some hot steel. :D

I think you have two questions to answer. 1. The obvious one, why didn't your weld stick? 2. The tricky one, is the best way to achieve the final shape? Lot's of good advice here for question #1, but most of the other discussion has been about climbing with this axe. I think a hand forged ice-axe is a cool project. I do not think that the axe you picked as a model is a necessarily a good design for a blacksmith forging. I assume that you are starting with a round bar that is too small to flatten and split into your parts. Perhaps you could fold it and forge weld the doubled part to create a 'Y' shape. The doubled part (which will be considerably less than double after the weld is completed) could be flattened into the pick or the tang and you would still have the full thickness of the material to make the other parts. If the welded part became the tang then neither of the tools would exert a splitting force on the weld. I would suggest punching a hole in the pick or the tang. The triangular eye you've created has sharp inside corners where a carabiner or rope could jam or get damaged. If you dress the hole over the horn of the anvil you can create a nice curve on the inner edges. I know you said it's an exercise, but what's the point of the exercise if you're not going to at least try and see if it works. (Maybe you won't use this one, but you'll want to use one eventually.) Have fun, be safe. Lewis

Dang. A star studded cast! In no. 4 a guy quenches his forged welded fleur-de-lis as the final step. I was always taught not to quench a forge weld. Does anyone know the reasoning behind quenching it?

Nothing you described sounds like much of a change except being able to use lap-tops and cell phones. There's always been help available for those who need help spending their money. :P

Here is a temper color chart. It should be relatively close for all ferrous metals. http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQ-article.php?bodyName=/FAQs/temper_colors.htm&titleName=Temper%20Colors%20:%20anvilfire.com

Aw, you all are really getting into the holiday spirit. Lay off the 'nog. MB, my compliments on coming out of the blue to change your mind. Looks like it prompted Grant to concede a point in your direction too. As soon as you guys invent the perfect hammer sign me up for one. B)

Hofi, Lovely picture. Happy, healthy, and a prosperous New Year to all!

My shop came with a ton or so of moil points. Mostly 1" hex. I treat it as a medium carbon steel and make most of my anvil and forging tools out of it. Here's a hammer I made by upsetting a short section; I kept the hex shape around the eye because I think it looks neat. Cricket's new hammer by fciron, on Flickr

That was always my understanding of the puddling process; as the carbon cooks out, some of the iron condenses out of the solution. The Byers book describes it a bit differently, so I was hesitant to mouth off about it. (I poo-pooed the idea of powdered metal damascus years ago on keenjunk, so now I fact check before I post. )

I think Grant and I are describing the same thing. Make a bolster to replace the die and its height will prevent cylinder crashing. Of course, it may be too late now.

I'm gonna remember those last two. Thanks.

Actually, I suspect that the bloomery process is easier for a small operation. No idea about predictability. Like I said, you do it and take pictures. :P

I think Sam is talking about upsetting to make anvil tools: draw the shank, drop in the 'hardy' hole, upset working part of the tool, leave it in the hardy hole and forge in grooves for swages or whatever you like.

OK, I'm checking through the book again, looking to answer specific questions. It does appear that coal fired reverberatory furnaces were used. I am still not convinced that a box on top of a coal forge will be sufficient to burn off all the coal crud. In 'dry' puddling (in a furnace with a sand bottom and no oxide addded) about 30 percent of the charge was lost. In 'wet' puddling, with an iron oxide and ore bottom and oxide added to the molten metal (like you plan to do) the loss was reduced to 10 percent. It sounds like a huge pain in the patootie to me. Have fun and take pictures. The book I referred to is by the last company producing WI commercially in the US. They used a different (not puddling) process of melting cast iron; adding oxide to create something close to pure iron; then pouring it over molten slag, which was cooler than the melting point of the iron; the iron would solidify in the molten slag, but as a 'Sponge Ball' rather than an ingot, so it could be drawn out into WI. http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/7325957/used/Wrought%20iron,%20its%20manufacture,%20characteristics%20and%20applications

Define "cheaply and effectively" lol You'll want a sand bottom or an iron oxide and ore bottom for your 'puddle'. That's where the slag comes from. You'll have to use charcoal or coke to avoid the impurities in coal. Look for a copy of "Wrought Iron: It's Manufacture, Characteristics and Applications" from the AM Byers Co. It's got some decent descriptions of various processes and furnaces. Nice pictures too.

the big problem in marking metal to be heated is that the surface scales off. It doesn't matter how hot the ink can go if it is attached to a gray crumb on the floor. Thus the traditional use of center punch marks; I have heard some claim that a square mark is easier to see than a round mark on glowing metal. I made a center punch with a pyramidal point, but see little difference. Another approach is to bend a gauge out of wire. I find brazing or bare welding rod handy and I even put a little handle to keep my fingers away from the heat. You can use the gauge to check your work as well, which is nice.

It only turned purple, so you were nowhere close to annealing temperature, that's why it didn't get softer. Here is a link to a tempering color chart that shows the different colors, seems to be in Centigrade, simply the first one I found. http://www.westyorkssteel.com/Heat_Treatment/tmpchart.htm You should be up in the glowing temperatures for annealing. Not much point to tempering unless you've hardened first. In my experience, low temperature oxide colors do bring out the pattern because the different steels oxidize at different rates. Were you sharpening or shaping? Usually sharpening is one of the final steps, since heat treatment and assembly tend to be processes that will mess up a sharp edge. Similarly, it's a heck of a lot easier to drill the hole before a blade is hardened and tempered. I think that's why people were asking where the hole was. Looks like a nice blade, keep posting pics.

This is a frequent complaint at live and electronic auctions for all types of goods. I think it's an artifact of the auction system. If the starting bid is one dollar and I tell ebay that I will go as high as $20 it only posts a bid of $1. Unless someone else is also bidding the seller will only collect my one dollar. Thus the shill is born. I don't know about the seller in question, so I am not casting aspersions. I think the vast majority of sellers are honest and that most sales go as they ought to. I know I've bought multiple times from the same seller and that I save and watch the people who I think offer interesting goods. So repeat business is by no means shilling. Caveat emptor!

That looks like a good starter anvil. By the time you outgrow it you'll know what to look for in a factory made one. You're gonna have to change your username now. :D

That thing in the tool post position looks like an Armstrong boring bar holder. If you get it cleaned up it might be worth a couple bucks or worth using on your atlas. That's a cool looking lathe, Looks taller than most that would fit on a tailgate. What is the swing?

The CoSIRA books can be downloaded here: http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/craftpublications.html

Good luck! Sounds like the dad is someone you should know. :D

Brad, look up the River Bluff Forge Council and the Metal Museum. You've got great smithing resources in Memphis.

Careful, you're getting off subject again. :P

Ampco makes bronze tools for non-sparking applications. I don't know what the purpose of that hammer is, but I wouldn't probably wouldn't use it for forging. Too likely to bang up the peins so they mark your work. I'd also be careful using it as a non-marking brass hammer, that ampco bronze is surprisingly tough stuff. (I know, I'm blowing hot and cold with the same mouth.) It's cool though.