bruce wilcock

some of the sheffield forges had the hearths set in the middle of the shop back to back using a common flue and the anvils and hammers radiating out 4 or 6 hearths being the usual some of the shops were six sided last time i saw one was in 1985 there was talk of it being made into a museum but i think it is another carpark now.

these are the only photos i can find of anchor and anvil forging ,and the finished anvil making a pr of shoes on it ,these jobs we just went ahead and did it thers were no bystanders to take photos ,apart from the anchors these were filmed ,

the anvil was made 2 years ago the only other job we have done since was to fire weld a new horn onto a old anvil the anvil had been given to us to have a go ,it was a total wreck, so there was nothing to lose the anvil was small around 70 lb without horn ,the job went well , used a floor fire for the anvil and the shop fire, for the horn i used iron out of old chain , we rough shaped the horn welded a handeling bar onto it ,got the anvil end to a welding heat ,pulled it out of the fire and tipped it on its tail , and jump welded the iron on to make the horn we then set it back in the floor fire and took 4 more welds to tidie it up ,i used the same fire i made the anchors on ,if you fancy having a go at some heaver work fixing a old anvil would be a good start as you dont need a power hammer just lots of coal and coke and some handy lads,give it a go.

i dont have trouble hot cutting titanium, it is very soft to forge at a full heat use a thin slitting tools i use two and change to a cool one after a few blows.the scale is a greenish shade and gets everywhere.

i sent in a blueprint showing the way i make a pair of pincers out of worn rasps ,i dont know if it still can be found

hot rasping is used during tool dressing you can forge the job rasp and file off ,and then heat treat in one go .

they look like sand rammers used in the foundry trade

near the sea i would try boat repair yards ,for scrap brass and bronze prop shafts , there is a lot of brass and bronze used in boat work.

i have a f20 fan on a round riveting forge its been liying in the yardfor a year or so since i last used it ,they are fine for small work on site,about middle of the road as far as hand fans go,you will find you will do better with coal ,coke will need more air than the f20 can easily provide ,coal and coke mix might work for you .

i started my aprenticeship at 15 as a blacksmith ,wheelright and farrier ,finished at 21, worked at the trade since .Finished shoing at 61 now at 62 i am taking a year of away from the smithy ,doing some carpentry work on my sons boat ,a 70 foot fishing boat stripping out the hold and fitting bunks ,to take whale watchers out ,i have got the heavy hull work done ,steaming planks ,a nice change ,and good to get out of the smithy and see the sky ,i am feeling well getting out of the smoke and grit.

make me a offer,

in the uk ,as a young man the workshop was called the Forge ,in the industreal areas the fire was called the Hearth, , in the country the shop was called the smithy, and again the fire was the Hearth, if it was built into the shop ,we spoke of the smithy being built around the Hearth , a blacksmiths forge usualy was free standing and in a workshop doing other things ,around the mid 60s with the decline of men doing all there work in the fire ,to speak of the hearth fell into decline, and nowdays very few dont use the word Forge .

without sounding dull ,i am happy with the shop i have ,the only drawback is over the years it gets clutterd and it is a wrench to clear it out ,tho when i have been ruthless and sent truck loads of tools to the scrapyard, the shop again is a joy to work in .So utopia is a minimalist shop.

the anvil chorus ,for me.

i dont own a key to my smithy ,it has no lock the only thing that is locked is the phone, the gas cutter lives outside attached to the bottles, and in 33 years nothing has gone. living on a island has its advantages .

i can now see where the hold on to the anvil as you se it comes from ,as i get older ,the tons of shoes i have made and tools sharpend ,are a way of life not just a living and to walk into the shop after a spell under the doc,and put a hand onto the anvil reminds of a working life stood behind the block ,the men you have worked with shoing competitions and a whole changing world the anvil has been witness to growing from a boy and to a man then retierment, i know i will never make shoes to go onto pit ponies ,and sharpen miners picks they went in the 60s but at the back of the anvil it could be yesterday ,so dont be too hard ,it brings a tear to my eye too.

the fire with the top half of a anvil in it ,thats if the photo shows up.

i remember gas works using scrubbers ,and disposal of the oily tarry water full of nasties was a headache, then ,late 1960 so today you would have to put it down the drain after dark, the cleanest i have been able to burn coal is in a puddling type furnace with a brick arch that i use to raise heats for a hammer

blacksmith ,toolsmith and farrier ,all my working life ,never done mutch stick welding ,the class of work we do is fast becoming out dated ,and will se me out ,but my son will not follow me ,the work has changed ,stone masons carnt work without a disk saw ,and most carry a bucket of tools as blunt as my thumb ,as the stone dressers retire and wooden boat building yards close i hang up there patterns for tools ,the scrap man has had is eye on my hammers for a year or two .pitty but thats the end of three generations we cant turn the clock back .I have had a great time reared a clutch of kids ,and stayed solvent. the last three months i have been out of the smithy the longest time in my life , doing some boat repair work on my sons 70 foot wood fishing boat steaming heavy timbers and caulking seams ,now i am workin on the joinery in the cabins ,its nice out of the smoke and grit of the forge.and easier on the joints without the shoing.

to resett heavy loco springs the spring smiths used to warm them in the tempering ovens back to the tempering heat then hammered the bend into them over a slot in the swage block then dropped them into the oil ,same if a spring was wanted flat

the sheffield cuttlers made a hammer then shafted it with slack wedges, before they heat treated the head ,then used it for a while to become ,there own hammer, through use ,then took of the head lightly pollished the face hardend tempered and drove the wedges home ,i still do same .

if its only a small weld a sledge hammer head in the hearth at the side of the fire ,for veryheavy work welding in a hearth without a hood ,we dont lift it out of the fire roll the piece over and weld it using other fires to heat the other parts.

a rasp snake.

we call them ,dog holes ,in the uk there are two sets ,one set at ether side one under the pike and one under the hanging end, the other set has only one showing the one under the base ,its corresponding hole is coverd at the waist when the top peice is welded on .