Ed Steinkirchner

Ive seen a few pictures of some pre-electricity/kerosene lighting appliances in books and occasionally online but never have seen anywhere where they specify how theyre made or show them in use. the things I'm talking about specifically are betty lamps, and the similar simple oil lamps that preceded them, as well as things such as "gallows lamps" which have a small iron "pot" suspended on a pivoting stand to keep them level and a tube up the center to hold the wick. Another thing that i haven't been able to find much about is the rushes for rushlights, when i make them for demonstrations it'd be nice to have a way to show people how they were used. any information would be greatly appreciated and if there are any books on the subject or of iron housewares in general id love to know

Actually The transition was formed by angling the metal over the rounded edge of the anvil an setting it down kind of like a shoulder Its actually pretty good practice for learning some good hammer control and anvil edge usage. (That being said. though I've done maybe ten of this kind of transition and this is the first one that came out so perfectly! ) I imagine you could do the same thing with a set hammer though probably

Excuse the less than fantastic picture quality, my camera isn't working at the moment so i took the pics from my phone I had made a fully forged spatula a while back from scraps and that made me want to take it a step further and go all out on another! That's how this one came about The handle started out as a piece of 1/4 x 3/4 mild steel and the blade was a scrap of old lawnmower blade i think, forged out thin on the power hammer. Its about 19" overall and the whole front face is filed bright and the necking has a bit of filework for an accent. There's also some accent lines across the handle but i don't know if the pictures make it visible or not. was really a pleasure to do something bright and shiny for a change!

oh! I forgot to mention that, the bolt was later replaced, as you said, by threading one ear and tapping threads on just the end of the new pivot pin as for the center round, that was just a bit of careful work with a fine file, it was fairly simple really because it was at the top of a convex surface and here's a pic of the side profile that i forgot to add initially

this latch was forged as a replacement for the outside of my parents general store, because the delivery truck guy broke the old cast iron one off with his hand cart! it was forged from a 7'' cutoff of 3/8'' x 1 1/4'' mild steel, the cusps were forged then the handle bent before the whole was filed smooth and the center accent cleaned up and punched with the roman numerals for the year.(i didn't have 1/4 inch number stamps only letters) the thumb piece was forged from a 2.5'' piece of 3/8' square scrap (found it on the shop floor! ) the "ears" that the thumb piece pivots on, have two 1/8'' tenons on each that fit into holes drilled close to the slot and riveted into deep countersinks this is somewhat of an odd latch in that the inside is a basic brass knob and deadbolt but the outside requires a stub about 1.5'' long to project into it and press a latch member which moves the bolt. i wish i had a pic of the back so you could see it but i kind of had to rush and finish it so the door could be used.

its been a while since ive posted anything so i figured id post a few things to catch up! so here we have a set of calipers forged from 1/2 x 3/16'' mild steel, with forged rams head wingnut and 1/4'' forged bolt the hand vice is made from 1/2'' mild steel, upset and flattened to form the hinges and upset and forged to a T shape in the vice for the jaws. holes for the 5/16'' carriage bolt were punched and a wingnut was forged out of a scrap of 1/2'' round bar. finally a spring was cut from pallet strapping and riveted in place before the joint rivet was set. it measures about 8'' tall with 1'' wide jaws and really does a fine job of holding fine work for filing, buffing, etc.

figured id make a post to show my swageblock that a friend of mine at the nearby foundry cast for me in trade for a big forged spatula. i made the pattern from pine, shaped with gouges, drills, and saws then sanded and varnished before i gave it to him to pour. you can see it has no through holes, that's because that would have required making special cores and he said to just keep it solid so i filled the sides with various depressions. it has deep and shallow bowls, a spoon bowl, rounds from 3/4 - 2", V's from 1/2'' - 1 1/2", a shallow swail on one end (which i find i use rather often), a shovel form on the face that has a cut in the end opposite the swail with a bevel the same as the shovel sides, the face has a 3/4 hole 3/4" deep and 1" hole 1" deep (for upsetting bars into), and finally, some rivet head divets so i can use the block as a backer for heading rivets. if i were to do it again, id have switched the order of the half rounds so that the small ones ended on the opposite side, and didn't leave that narrow ear, I'm afraid it may break off in the future i would have simply had another cast with a whole different set of things on it, but unfortunately the foundry was shut down about two months after this was made the weight is about 80# and if I remember correctly, its dimensions are 20"x4"x8"

oh wow, I cant believe I never answered these questions! Sorry guys. though its a bit late now, maybe it'll help someone down the road. The sockets are forged to a fan shape, just under 1" at the narrowest, and about 3" at the widest, then rolled in a swage starting from the small end, then finished on the anvil face. They arent welded, and i dont use a bickern to shape them either. All made from leafspring, and triple normalised and then hardened, let down to about a bronze, so pretty hard still. the 3 inch one isnt chipped, that is galling from my file being loaded and gouging out big gnarly scratches. sorry for taking over a year to look at this again, just forgot I guess...

no, didn't burn any scrolls, and the mark on the chest is my touchmark, hard to tell because the lighting is so terrible. I am pretty sure they don't make ancient hebrew letter stamps any way. :blink: I actually ended up giving it away to a friend of mine in trade for some kaowool and other gas forge supplies.

recently I was forging some branching scrolls and while they were heating i picked up a piece of scrap off the shop floor, 3/8" x 1 1/4" x about 3", and made this between the scroll's heats. stands about 7 inches or better tall and has no base, but can hold a 3 pound hammer head without falling over! Ed Steinkirchner

my first rose, i figured i'd use copper, pretty much because i like copper. upsetting the ''hip'' was the hardest part, and I decided not to do leaves. I am very happy with how it turned out. Ed Steinkirchner

havent posted anything for a while so here i go. this is a set of four ice-carving chisels i forged for a coworker at the resort i was working at last december. the sizes are, for the flat blades, 1'', 2'',and 3'' or slightly more, and the v chisel is 1.5'' on each side of the V. forged from leaf spring. just shorter, but the angle is slightly more blunt because ice is pretty soft.

great blade, and I especially like the home-made micarta

when forging the socket, forge a small tab on the open end and drill a small hole before rolling the socket. once you jamb it onto the shaft, tack it fast and it will not come off in use but is easy to remove if need be. i have done it on spear sockets and small javelin-like heads so it should work on a crossbow bolt.

if you are going to make multiple matching chisels, you should make a tin pattern, that way you can check it hot without burning it away. I have never used a mandrel when forging a socket, it is easier to use a bottom swage or similar to roll the socket. I did a tutorial on a spear socket but it can be used for a chisel socket. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/16457-spear-socket-how-to/page__hl__%2Bsocket+%2Btutorial__fromsearch__1 hope it helps

i like socketed chisels because they don't snap off as easily, and as mentioned before, they don't split a handle in use. But they are, in my opinion, somewhat more difficult to forge. I prefer tanged for any chisels that are pushed or any that will not be struck terribly hard, but for any heavy chisels I make sockets and use a ferrule on the struck end so there is no way to split the handle. that is just a personal preference though, as i've seen tanged ones that work just as well as socketed ones.

my method has always been to use the cross peen all one way, then turn 90 degrees and repeat for square, or then turn 45 then 90 to that for a circle. Does that make sense? Anyway, a hammer with a cross or angle peen with a 1/2 or 5/8" diameter on the peen, is what has worked for me. What are you planning to make with the sheet?

depends what kind of hoe you want to make, one piece, riveted blade, welded blade, as well as if it is a small, one-handed one, or a bigger one. Ive made 1 each way. I like the 1-peice ones forged from a piece of leaf spring. it all depends on what steel you have, what you want to make, and your level of skill.

In my experience cast iron isn't brittle because it is hard, it is brittle because of the small pockets of carbon causing points at which a fracture can form. Cast iron will not hold an edge like carbon steel. So essentially, using WI and CI would yield a blade that has brittle, yet soft, spots and a soft and tough base. Unless the carbon migrates enough to make them both into High carbon steel by taking some of the C in cast iron and giving it to the wrought iron, the blade will have 2 soft bases, 1 of which is brittle, and no edge holding. If you do try this you run the risk of not only burning your shop down, but splashing molten cast iron on yourself. I only say this because the high welding temp of WI will be above the melting point of the CI and when hit, SPLATTER! I'm not saying don't try, I'm saying be Incredibly careful. Good luck Ed Steinkirchner

Thanks Glenn. Never really thought of looking in the BP's to find out how to make a BP. I'll do it real soon now. Ed Steinkirchner

All widths on these can be considered approximate. Though, I do try to keep the smaller size ones pretty exact(+or- 1/32), because 1/16" over or under is alot when the graduations are in 1/8" intervals. But a difference of 1/8' or even 3/16" doesn't matter much to me on a 2" chisel. For astheatic's sake, I keep the handles and sockets as close to the same as possible.

I have all of the pictures and whatnot, but how does one do a blueprint? Here is the finished product, unhandled and unheat-treated. and a smaller pic Ed Steinkirchner

I have a sketch for just such an occasion. I know my handwriting is atrocious, but I hope it helps Ed Steinkirchner

the dimensions are: the length of the brass- 3 1/4" the brass width- 11/16" OAL length closed- 4 1/8" OAL length open- 6" blade- 3" point to pivot cutting edge- 2 1/8" blade at widest point- 3/4" blade thickness- 1/16" OAL thickness 1/8" the "tang" is 13/16" inside and about 1 1/4" on the spine side the pin is 3/16

This is the new folder i made last week. patterned after the japanese higonomaki but with some extra work. The case is brass sheet chased with a pattern (that i freehanded), chiseled in using butcher chisels, a small flatter, a small X stamp, and a pointed nail for the stippling. The blad is a scrap of sawblade off the bench, and the copper pin is telegraph wire. any opinions or suggestions welcome. Ed Steinkirchner