woodsmith

sure thing, I took a class with Tom Latinae to make this and have a couple days work to finish it since the class, http://bighornforge.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/norse-style-ax-by-tom-latane-pepin-wi/ his axe is based on real museum pieces, definatly battle axes and norse, but my interpretation is that they are much later period norse, not the same as medieval period (or earlier)viking, most examples have similar decoration, sumple punch work making up lines, and most have more curved lines than mine, but I was going for a similar style, not a replica, overall shape is aslo similar, not exact you will notice many of the mueseum axes pictured have profile lines, not pleasing to the eye, and decoration not a nice as the Latinae's, honestly this is the hardest forge project Ive done and the trickiest forge welds Ive ever stuck, just shear stubbornness and patience to pull it off. Though all the others have a flower like design inside the circle, and I followed the some of thier other characteristics, I was thinkng of putting something original here, (more powerfull perhaps), dragon, if I coud pull it off, lightning bolt and a hammer would suggest Thor as well as a traditional thorshammer would, just kinda probing for ideas till I get one that stikes me Thanks Woodsmith

progress on norse battle axe, fully shaped, hardened and tempered, kinda wingin it on the chisel decoration, not sure what to put inside the circle area, pehaps an anvil, or crossed hammers, or something runic....any suggestions? *temper colors not actual, edge is bronze, socket is clear metalic, not sure why it shows up like this on the camera

I wish I hd a real 700lb HayBudden.... :mellow:

Nice..very nice, mine is 14ga, took a paper pattern from a 165 HB and scaled it up, tig welded the corners down and sanded, once burned and sooted black it has fooled more than a few people

got my "700 lb" haybudden hanging from a piece of twine on a 1/4" hook on the wall in my shop, new plan is to hang it from the cieling about 10 feet out from the wall, paint a big red X on the floor, and place a sign on the wall (in a font readable at 10 feet) sign reads WARNING anvils attack from above, with up arrow. possibly include something about ACME company ..... :D

the obvious one is train rail, but Ive found random chunks of heavy plate (like anything 2" htick or more) can work great, or an old or busted forklift prong, if cut to reasonable length, better quality steel.

Thanks guys, observation of the "durabo" love the name by the way, as well as the old bradlys hawkeyes etc, heavier springs was my first direction to go, although on the durabo it appears as though the leaves are so overly stiff that they added the little pogostick style mechanism, at end mounting to put a bit of whip back into the arm?, adding a secound spring got me half way there, today I got a third leaf spring mounted in under the arm, same configuration, length and leverage. All 3 spring are 3" wide and run full length up to eye, were they are clamped together. Very happy with this, ram is under control throughout the opperating range, hardest strikes should be adaquite to forge 1" stock.

2nd heat, trail run, video as promised, no real technique here just seeing if the hammer can move metal, at this point ram performs poorly at at low rpms, but hits consistantly with great force at higher speed, we are turning 1-1/4 square 1045 into 5/8

Thanks, I have researched these settings as they apply to little giants, and attempted to "calculate" or anticipate how these apply to a helve, there are some smilar dynamic situations. The loose space in the center of a leaf spring flex were the initial preload on the spring is made either up or down is similar to a du pont linkage center were the arms and linkages have almost no leverage against the ram, allowing the "snap" of stored energy from the upstroke to go into the downstke slam of the ram. I have adjusted clearance at the dies intuitivly both up and down (beyoond reason) so Im pretty sure i need to stiffen the leaf springs up tll they can handle the inertia of the helve arm to bring it within normal tuning range.

I am trial running testing and tuning my newly homebuilt junkyard helve, (the one with the boring picture show with me talking) I will have video footage up here like tomorrow...using a leafspring linkage I have found through various adjustments I can make it hammer tottally perfect on the low end and on the high end it will double tap bounce, on bang tap, (a hit and pause) , or loosen up the spring till it hammers super hard and consistant at high speed, but the low end is wacky, I have done research into this, I know little giant style dupont linkages do this when way out of tune or the spring is shot, I am pretty darn sure Im hitting a lucky resonance when it hammers great fast on the light spring, and assume the other way round its working till the ram overpowers the spring at high speed and then gets out of timing, my next move is going to be to add a 3rd leaf to the stack and test again I am happy with the build just want to tweek it up to great, Rather than reinvent every wheel....I know there are a bunch of "rusty" style hammers and spring helves out there, many home built, so if somebody has got a bunch of expirience with this, Ill surely figure out eventually but it could really save me some wasted time, And if not Ill post the solution when I get to it for others benefeit. Thanks Woodsmith

Welding and machining experience and education aside, If you can make a piece of steel glow in any sort of forge and smack it with hammer with any result the world will refer to you as a blacksmith, several people called me that when I was forging in reinactment, but I knew better, any eager kid who spent a little time at my forge could go home with an S hook, when someone I regarded to be a real smith referred to me as one thats different. Still by the standards of 100 years ago I might just be an apprentice. Theres nothing wrong with saying, Im learning blacksmithing, even a "master" should fall in this catagory, I ounce said, "Im not really a blacksmith, but I did stay at a holiday Inn express last night" in public.

Ive got a 7inch 100lb vise, my friend bought it from a local repair shop for $50 (3rd generation from a blacksmith shop) he was sort of friends with the owner, all he did was show up with his mower to be fixed with a hand forged cup holder I had made on it and started a conversation, I stopped in to see if he would sell me his hossfeld bender, also sitting outback in the rain, made the mistake of seeing if it was for sale, before striking up a conversation and making friends for 10 minuites first, If I would have done the warm up first and the offer second he might have been willing to deal, Whats even more bewildering than why these guys wont part with these tools they dont use is, in this instance-- why arent they using them? When a stranger shows up at my door and wants to buy a piece of farm machinery, my kneejerk reaction is always no, Im not sure why, If weve talked for even a few minuites I start to feel like hes a comrade in my struggle and want to at least consider the deal, something to think about there

I finished the helve hammer I started last fall in time for the guild meeting at my shop here in April, lots of information in this slide show though not particularly exciting, I have drawn out some 1-1/4 stock with this hammer in testing, needs some tuning and tweaking, as expected, but it hits seriously hard Im making another video of actual forging, once everything is right, I have found that any bolt even if tight and lock washered will come loose and needs to be locktighted, have gone to type C crushed lock nuts also, major saftey issue on a new build, everyone at the meeting was impressed and Im pretty happy with the build, total build time is about 50 hours and $160 mostly bolts and paint, all junkyard steel

I do like 4140 for this job, but I have only ever worked with it or seen it available in either annealed condition, or prehardened to rockwell 32, give or take, the prehardened stock I think ranges from about 28 to 34, (within range for machining and cutting for HSS), this is a lot harder than mild steel, but a lot softer than a true hard anvil face, when you dent it up a bit you can easily grind and sand a nice new face, and / or have it hardened, as much as I love the profile of an "english pattern" anvil, I find a post anvil handier for bladesmithing, as the horn and tail and hardie are less helpfull and often get in the way. Conclusion: it would be most ideal to have the top surface rehardened to the 50 to 60 range, but weigh the costs with what you intend to ue it for. It will work as it is. Woodsmith

Agreed, if your using a mapp torch head you can only heat just so much area, very good insulation is a must, blocking off the front of the forge with firebrick helps keep heat in but if the hole gets too small it will restrict the air flow on that style burner, youll be able to see this in the change in flame color coming out the front of the forge, keep reading and researching, sounds like youve got a good start http://zoellerforge.com/ this is were I did most of my reading before I started making sidearm burners for my atmospheric or venturi propane forges best of luck to you Woodsmith

I have a similar forge with busted blower, and have used functional ones, the fins in the blower were really crude and slow turning way to much effort and noise to make enough air to forge anything, the pump handle and ratchet look neat but it ends there, (I have it in the front yard as a barbecue grill works great for that) I would rather use a good hand crank blower like a lancaster or champion, than an electric when they are smooth and quiet, but would much rather use an electric than a slow noisy crank blower, just mount up your furnace blower with an air gate on the intake side so you can choke down the air flow without burning out the motor, and mount a toggle switch up were its easy to reach, if you make those two controls convenient to reach you should be able to control the air and be happy with the results Woodsmith

Its time I get to forging and building the gifts I always do this time of year, thought I might post the topic to encourage the exchange of ideas, In past years Ive done a knife, an end table, a table lamp, a pot rack, the following years for that family member I made a kitchen utensil set, and rack that matched the pot rack, then a spice rack from white ash with steel scrolls to match the previous gifts, this adds even more appreciation to your hand made work. Even a simple set of burger brands made a much better gift than the expected shirt or tie you get for that hard to shop for relative. Ive got some pics of some of these projects in the gallery though not all of them. Ive got a few ideas for this year,... mother in law wants a pair of throwing axes....but thought Id throw this out here, What forge project have you done that made a great gift? Weather elaborate or simple. I enjoy making the project even more, when its all new. http://a5.sphotos.ak...9_2903634_n.jpg http://a3.sphotos.ak...8_2586587_n.jpg http://www.iforgeiro...ristmas_005.jpg http://www.iforgeiro...ristmas_004.jpg some of that stuff I mentioned Woodsmith

quite respectable for tongs, great for a first time, my first pair are kind of a novelty, always hang on the rack but never get used, those are much better, after several years I can finally make really good tongs, looks like your well on your way Woodsmith

that works, Im often working with whatever Ive got handy, firepots dont have to be pretty, just tough, whatever you use, you can modify the inner profile by lining with clay, I do find straight sides sides with square corners on a fire pot a little annoying, always catching the poker on them and if too small in size your fire only has one smallish hot spot, still works just not ideal Woodsmith

Agreed, looks like the C is in a the sunken triangle in the mounting bracket definatly says Columbian to me, but the screw and nut must have been replaced, Ive picked up several vices in the 4" 40lb range for $25 to $30 in this area, guess if it worked smooth enough Ive give about that for it, but price seems to be highly affected by whats available in your location, Woodsmith

a fabricated steel firepot could work well enough, just that thinner steel burns away faster in xtreme heat than the thick cast ones, since most of us dont run our forges 7 days a week, I think it would last plenty long, you may never wear it out, however, I woudnt go to the work of building a round firepot, a square one maybe, I would find a used brake rotor with a deep round center and use that, there are many brake drum forges out there working well enough, I have found there are tons of brake rotors now used on vehicles with a deep enough center for a fire pot, they have a nicer taper, not straight sides, will work better than a brake drum and are a very tough casting. Woodsmith

I built this a few years ago, wanted to put together a blueprint n the build, but was unable to get it emailed in, thought I might as well post in this way Woodsmith

I watched a tire hammer that wasnt counterbalanced properly rock like mad, though it still worked, and others that didnt seem to rock a bit, also with 1" plate underneath, I assumed it was balanced better, wright ups on other sites claim, and its quite logical, if you use an I beam in place of a square tube, it needs to be cross braced, webbed up both of the open sides to prevent twisting in the beam, as it is not shaped to take torsional loads, but to have beaming strength, my experience looking at a few used hammers, like low cost old little giants for example, they may require such extensive rebuilding like all the pivots in the linkage are shot and the babbit needs to be repoured, the ram guides are gone and the dies have sunk into the post, that the rebuild looks like more work than building new, I may be wrong but I would take care and educated observasion in buying a used hammer to save money or time. Woodsmith

Ive seen a lot of great looking tire hammers, and kinyon style air hammers home built, most of them beutifully fabricated, Ive wanted to build an ideal air hammer for several years, but lack a large enough compressor, the build itself becomes too pricey, when I look in my scrounged steel pile or at any local sources I never find big 1" plate, 6" tube or 4-6" solid like all the other guys are building thier hammers from, based on advice from smiths with far more expirience than I, I would say an upright air hammer is the way to go, both for power and precision, especially if your going to use this professionally, an old hydraulic cylinder should get you started if you can scrounge enough steel, the major costs are in the valves, Im building my simple junkyard helve hammer not because its the most ideal, but I could see it being built straight out of scrap on hand with a couple bucks in bolts and paint, and really, the imperfect hammer you do have is a lot better than the perfect hammer you dont have I agree with Dodge a decent footprint of heavy timber should do fine on a dirt floor, I wouldnt hesitate to try it Woodsmith

when I was doing Ag repair work a farmer once told me how he used to sit on the horizontal pressure tank of his compressor while he aired up tires and such, on day when he wasnt sitting there, it threw a spark down in the tank and ignited the pressurized mix of oil vapor and air, the explosion obliterated everything nearby, and Ive heard worse stories of compressors taking walls right out of shops, my point being, dont take a torch, welder, or even an abrasive wheel to an enclosed container and figure its safe just because it wasnt a gas tank Woodsmith