Alwin

I believe Hofi has a blueprint showing that tool. It seems like a really nice way to make a candleholder with a spike in a simple and quick way. It really beats tenoning a small spike and bradding it over unless you really need dexterity exercises.

I like the transition you get with the forge-welded collar, looks great. How did you attach the spikes through the drip pans. Did you chisel a small piece of metal off the spike to lock it in right where it enters the drip pan?

I agree with all of the above. A few that pop into my head for really being experts in certain areas of the craft are Peter Ross, George Dixon and Tom Latane. Just a few more to look at. Some of the older work I've seen and thought was truly amazing was done by Samuel Yellin- A giant of blacksmithing in the U.S.A. In the realm of older work, I was truly amazed by the work of Frank Koralewsky (I'm pretty sure he lived in Boston in the U.S.A) that I saw in a book which I think was called "The Goldsmith of Venice". Cyril Colnick also goes on the list of inspirational blacksmiths of the past. The ABANA site has some pictures of his work. Many more are there I'm sure.

It depends on the weight and the work being done. Are you riveting with it, using it to stretch metal, texturing with it, etc.? I would look on the internet at different smiths and watch how their hammers are shaped for the work they do, that should give you some idea.

Jeff, you can forge without a flux by getting two pieces of low carbon steel up to a very light sparkling heat and then very lightly and rapidly hammering the pieces together. Fluxes make it easier by giving you a wider temperature range at which it will weld. Other people can tell you better what fluxes can do.

If you can back hot 1/4 inch plate a sharp chisel will go through it quickly. What kind of oil did he use? I have cut 2" square on a hardy before but I don't want to do it that way again without a striker. It is much easier for me to put it on the anvil and use a set chisel. Even easier to use a handheld cutting tool under a power hammer. I am always a little entranced by the hand methods of blacksmithing so I do like to have things set up to make doing it the "hard way" as easy as possible even if I may use a power hammer for many things. There are so many things in forging that used to be intimidating and seemed like they'd take forever which now are easy and require very little time.

Brian, I always dreamed of taking one of Alfred Habermann's classes and I was saddened by his passing. Thank you for sharing your ideas, tooling, and experiences. It is good to pass on information and you learn more from it than anything else. It is easy to have ideas and theories without challenge, but discussing those ideas often reveals areas that could use refinement. I may try a hardy of your design, I can see where a hardy that locks in would come in handy. I have made hardies with curved edges and straight edges and which I like more depends on what I'm doing. Right now mine just has a very slight curve on it. I think it is when working flat bar that a flat topped hardy makes cutting it straight a little easier for me.

You really don't have a problem with those getting jammed in so you have to work for a while to loosen them? Do you harden them? If so do you harden just the edge? I am wondering whether you leave the shank soft or slightly harden it so it will be less likely to deform and jam in the anvil.

The way I learned, and what seems to work well is a loose grip around the handle making a ring with the first two fingers and the thumb. As you forge the hammer pivots from that point without the need for the wrist. The hammer rebounds off the anvil pivots from the fulcrum of your hand, pulls the elbow and shoulder up and then goes back down with the shoulder starting it, adding more velocity as the elbow naturally bends and finally the hammer pivots in the hand to contact the steel with great velocity. The velocity is just as much with less joint movement. Even moving the wrist in an up and down movement with the palm facing down can cause carpal tunnel over time. That is my understanding through training and experience, but I would like to hear arguments against that.

One other way that I've seen a snub end scroll made, and another way in which they were sometimes done historically, is to make a tight spiral on the end and forge weld it once it's rolled. I have seen pictures of old ironwork in which you could make out the lines of the spiral still. Probably not the way in which you'd like to go but it is another option to experiment with.

Thanks for saying that. I'm really glad it was helpful.

It may have a cast steel face. The cast steel refers to the process of making the steel, not how they made the anvil. They took the cast steel, shaped it to match the wrought iron body, and forge welded it on. That is my guess as to what "pure wrought cast" is referring to. Anybody know if what I just said is right?

When working close or fishing for pieces in the forge, I'll just dip my hand in some water first- without a glove on. Wetting a glove can result in terrible steam burns if the glove gets too hot. By wetting my hand I give myself some extra time to work comfortably.

Cold rolled mild steel won't harden to the degree you need for a good center punch without a special quenching solution. I would recommend cutting a short piece of steel from a coil spring using an oxy-acetylene torch. Don't try to use an oxy-acetylene torch unless you've been taught how, are comfortable with it, and know how to use it safely. To straighten a short piece of steel, heat up the section in which it is bent-in the case of a coil spring the whole length. Then place it on a solid surface which you can hammer on so that the ends are contacting the surface and the middle rises up. Then strike the middle which is the high spot. With a little practice you'll get it straight. If I got anything wrong or explained anything badly please correct me, its been a long day.

You don't have a good feel for the handle with a glove on so you end up gripping the handle tightly which transmits more of the shock of the hammer blows into your arm. Without a good feel for the hammer it is also hard to make the fine adjustments in orientation that are required to efficiently move metal and cleanly finish it. A glove might prevent some small scale burns to the back of your hand but at the price of increasing the likelihood that you'll damage joints and tendons.

I know I didn't define quite a few things in it. My thought in writing it was that after the class it would be nice for them to have something to refresh their memory and help them as they develop skills and try new things.

You usually have to dress your hammer, and it is always your right to do so.

I was updating a sheet on blacksmithing tips which I give to classes I teach, and I thought I'd share it with you. Blacksmithing Tips.doc

I don't know, you may be right about the welds. I know very accomplished smiths who've had it happen, but it doesn't seem to always occur. Maybe they used a lot of it and it was caught in a crevise, maybe their weld did have an open space which held borax. I really would be curious to know if many people who use borax regularly have had it happen. It would seem that that there has to be somewhere hidden holding the material to leach out.

In making damascus the acid etching of the final product might halt the residue which I suspect is a salt from being formed. The white residue isn't something that forms right away in my understanding, it shows up over time.

Boric acid alone when used as a flux does not create the white residue that borax does. That is my understanding and one of the main reasons people use it instead of borax. I would love to see a strength test of welds made with different techniques. Are welds with flux as strong as ones without? Is a weld with a flux that has iron oxide as strong as one without? etc.

Working all sides on small stock makes forging slower and doesn't make any noticeable difference. With thin stock the force of the blow is affecting the metal from the top and bottom at so close to the same amount that you will not be able to see any extra movement the top makes in relation to the bottom. I am saying this because I worry someone will be spinning 1/4 inch material all the way around as they make a point which is awkward and unnecessary. With practice you will find how this information affects your forging. The heat of the metal makes a big difference in how the force of a blow goes through the steel. You can get sharp edges on steel stock working it at a lower heat while bowing the sides out and creating a softer appearance to the steel by working at a high heat. The force of your blows makes a difference in this as well. With a hand hammer it is probably important to work 1 inch square from all sides while with a power hammer it may not make a practical difference. This information is something to play with to make steel into exactly what you want.

Next time I will look in the drug store. I know a lot of smiths who have used borax and had a little white residue show up on weld sites later. Visually the welds looked joined but who knows. Maybe some of the others who use borax can tell whether they have had that experience. The flux recipe I was given was, I'm pretty sure, half boric acid and half iron oxide. It is only when I am working with higher carbon steel that i use it, but it works great then.

I use boric acid with some iron oxide mixed in for welding higher carbon steels- nothing on mild steel. One benefit to boric acid is that the weld made with it doesn't leech that white stuff over time. I am guessing that white stuff is a salt, though I really don't know. Plain boric acid does work well by itself as a flux and is available as a roach poison for those who don't know.

One can also lay the bottom piece onto the anvil lengthwise to support it as the top piece covers the scarf and the tongs are dropped.