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cracker72

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Posts posted by cracker72

    Building a smith's shed

    in Blacksmithing, General Discussion

    Posted

    http://img845.imageshack.us/i/shed7005.jpg/
    http://img191.imageshack.us/i/shed7003.jpg/

    I built mine from split oak trees and spruce poles. The walls are mud and straw on hazel wattle and the roof is layers of straw and a waterproof membrane. Floor was made with a few tonnes of small stone and about an inch of 6:1 sharp sand/cement dry screed. Very cheap to make.

    Avoiding quenching

    in Heat Treating, general discussion

    Posted


    I have a question about quenching, or rather avoiding quenching. If I leave a piece out in the air, intending that it be annealed, what is the temperature below which I can put the work in water without affecting the metallurgy of the steel? I have been taking the work out of the forge, letting it air cool, waiting until the work is down to 300F, as measured by a non-contact thermometer. Once the work is warm, not hot, I drop the work in water to cool it so that I can sand it or drill it or perform other processes. My guess is that the real cutoff is maybe 400 or 500F. My goal is that the work be annealed, without me waiting for the work to get down to room temperature.

    I said annealing, but maybe I mean normalized.

    For purposes of this discussion, assume 1020, 1045, or 4130 steel. I do understand that 1020 steel is not going to harden like 1045.

    I wish I had paid more attention in Metallurgy class. ;-)

    Thanks.

    Richard


    This is just how I do it. I don't claim to be anything of an expert, etc.
    I take a piece of steel, heat it to orange and draw out into a strip about three inches long and quarter inch thick. While it's still red I score it into sections with a chisel, making about five marks. Now stick it in the sand next to the forge and go to bed. Next day heat one end to orange and let the forging colours run down the length of the piece so that the last section is dark red. Pull it from the fire and remember which section was what colour. Drop it in the tub. Put it in the vice and starting at what was the orange end try and snap that section off at the chisel mark. If it's high C steel it will snap easily, low C steel will just bend. I repeat this for every chisel mark, line up the bits in order of colour and look at the metal structure at the breaks. I look for the finest grain structure with a dull grey colour which is usually in the red/dark red for hC steel.
    So from this test I now know roughly what it is and what will happen to the grain structure at various quench temps.
    Image
    test004m.jpg
    From left to right - dark red - red - orange.
    See the grain enlargement with increase temps.

    froe

    in Axes, Hatchets, Hawks, Choppers, etc

    Posted

    Yeah, I've been correcting as I go. However, if I go a bit too far and try to straighten it can be a real work-up. I'm starting to leave a slight curve on the splitting edge as I'm sure it helps feed in the wood easier, and it looks a bit nice. I guess I just want to be quicker at making them.

    Thanks for the tip, I'll try bending first.

    Sharpening Knives

    in Finish and Polish for Knives

    Posted

    That machine looks useful for getting edges true when tool making, but I agree, hand sharpening is the way to go. It's a skill that takes time to learn.
    I use Japanese water stones 1000, 7000 and finish with my leather belt(strop). If it will slice a sheet of A4 like it's not there then it's good enough for me.

    Stainless steel nails.

    in Blacksmithing, General Discussion

    Posted


    I'd go with Bob Mainly's and Grant Sarver's suggestion and see about the feasibility of bronze.
    Pilot holes would of course be a must, the ID of the pilot holes likely being very close to the OD of the nails due to the hardness of oak. I once built a treestand for deer hunting with kiln dried maple and had a real bear of a time driving 16p nails even with pilot holes, they were bending like they were made of rubber, hard hard stuff! I wound up forsaking the nails and bolting everything together.
    I can remember when I was a kid in the 70's rowing around in an old wooden boat at a lake where my grandparents had a cottage. My great grandfather bought the cottage in 1907, the boat was his and dates from the 1800's, a lot like an Adirondack guide boat. That was about the only type of boat on Chautauqua lake in those early days. The boat today is still there in rough condition stored in the rafters of my cousin's carriage house a few streets away from the cottage. It has lots of bronze nails in it and other bronze fittings. They have a patina but no weep lines into the wood as would be seen with steel. That old boat saw an awful lot of use for probably the better part of eighty years. In the winter it was simply placed upside down in the yard on pieces of split cordwood, no tarp or anything covering it and it got a coat of varnish every now and then. Through all of that there is no staining of the bronze into the wood.

    Yes, I drill my oak before nailing, it would split, bend the nail, or both! Even when drilled, once the nail is in it won't come out without a fight. My customers like the look of rose head nails but don't like the stains <_<
    I don't know anything of bronze. Is there a type best suited for nails?

    Stainless steel nails.

    in Blacksmithing, General Discussion

    Posted

    First post. Hello all.
    I work with green English oak frequently. The tannic acid in the timber reacts with mild steel forged nails leaving black streaks and accelerating corrosion.
    So, I want to have a go making some stainless nails but I've never worked with stainless. Is it viable? What grade stainless would be best?

    Thanks!

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