woodsmith

I made a chainmail shirt 1/2 wire rings 14gaudge smooth wire and 1/2 1/4" lockwashers when twisted closed they work as flattened mail the thinner wire rings used enery other space allow them enough room to be fastened together, very very little gaps very strong, too heavy but it looks cool, and is faster to make

Ive used just about everything mentioned, in addition since automotive scrap is quite common, Ive used tie rods from rack and pinion steering, even the inner tie rod end to make a body hammer or ball end punch, or the shaft from shock absorbers or struts, though you should take caution if they are chrome plated, but deffinaty coil spring, crow bars and jack hammer bits for tooling, one of my favorites is folded axe heads from farriers rasps

so if we built a car body in .050" concrete it would weight the same as the aluminum ones....that is interesting though, concrete always seems heavy because your trying to lift a big chunk, but aluminum must seem light cause your mentally comparing it to steel
Woodsmith

Thanks for the input on filling in weight, I ran a volume to weight calculation for steel and concrete, if I manage 80% steel and 20% concrete, the post and block should make 400lbs theres another 100lbs of railroad tie just under the front of the hammer, Im getting in a few hours fabrication here and there Ill post some more pics soon
Thanks Woodsmith

thanks for the input Grant, I figured that rail would work if I reinforced it through the center, my original plan was to use a belt tension clutch, but was advised that I would go through belts too fast, dosent matter too much Ive got parts to do either way, my current plan is a drive ratio resulting in 375 hits/ miniute just because its the same as 25lb LG, seems like a good starting point Im guessing from the size of the pulleys on your hammer it would be the same ball park for speed? Love the build style by the way
if this forging hammer works good enough Ill build another light weight fast version for planishing / stretching alluminum and sheet metal work for the car building in the backround there.

thanks, Woodsmith

this is my recently started project, utilizing a lot of scrounged steel and parts, partly inspired by the helve hammer blueprint by Jr Strasil, heavy c-channel and railroad tie base, angle iron frame from a John Deere disk for sampson post will be cross braced, disk bearings for pivot point, 4" wagon tounge for main beam, will be backed with white ash lumber, leaf spring linkage to spare tire style eccentric and clutch, anvil is 8.5" tube with a 75lb die block across the top, once full of scrap iron and sand or concrete should be near 400lb anvil altogether,
Im shooting for about 25lb ram, counting half the weight of the arm, one question, should I use 4" cut sections of train rail for the dies?, I believe Ive seen this done in photos, but wonder if it could fail somewhat dangerously, other point to ponder, does it make any differance if I put concrete or sand in the anvil post?, I have plenty of heavy steel to toss in, the fill just needs to keep it from rattling around and force it to move with the post during impact, any other advice or input is also welcome,
Thanks Woodsmith

"dont stir the slack tub before you drink out of it"

"Im not really a black smith, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night"

Woodsmith

I was headed up I94 just south of Eau Claire Wi in my pickup when a rig hauling a load of Kia cars pulled up even with me, I looked over to see a guy waving a hammer and grinning, and then waving the hammer some more, My initial reaction was oh carp theres the madman in a semi waving a hammer at me, or this is some kind of "lets put the hammer down" sort of trucker signal,..... so I took off, moments later I remebered the Iforge sticker in my back window and if I remeber right he was waving a rounding hammer, and figured it was a fellow enthusiast group member here, so if that be the case, this is my attempt to to say sorry for for my reaction, and also Hi, its great to make contact with fellow smiths, give me a holler here so I at least get a chance to return the Hello,
Jared Riesenweber Woodsmith

Ive got a step vise made by Green River, (one with a foot pedal to close the jaws, and a die block on the back side with adjustable upsetting block below it) the casting says Green River No 3, and Wiley and Russel MFG greenfield Mass, Ive always figuered it to be a bolt makers vise, dont know much about the company beyond that but it gives you a few more relevant words to research with. Definitly be interested to learn more
Woodsmith

I have recently come across a gas forge and melter from a local highschool, and am trying to come up with a fair value approximation, I know a lot of these values can be pretty vague, like whatever two fools agree upon, but Im just going for a ballpark figure, I havent even found any relevent sales or E-bay type prices to go by yet. The forge is a Mcenglevan natural gas, 24" flat hearth, speedy melt F100a I beleve is the proper name, hearth is in very good shape, refractory inside the fire pot needs a little work, the melter is a mcenglevan speedy melt, also fair shape, model C-10, capacity 10-20 pounds alluminum, 30-60 lbs brass.
any input would be appreciated
Thanks Woodsmith

I just recently did what you are talking about, my belt sander is of my own design but I made the drive wheel and idlers for it on the lathe, the specs I found for crowning the drive pulley called for .031 crown, (2" wide 4"diamater), as said earlier I accomplished this by cutting with the coumpound rest, because I left a flat zone in the center and tapered off both edges, I used 2.5 degrees on the coumpound, effectivly making a trapaziod crown, knocked down and smoothed the edges, but left tooling lines on the face for traction. I wrote up a BP on the whole thing should come up next week
woodsmith

I am putting together parts to build a belt sander for knife grinding, I have most of the materials as far as steel, motor, bearings and pulleys, my question is that the drive pulleys I have for the sanding belt are four inches wide, (not diameter), and I want to run a 2 inch belt, one is flat alluminum, the other is has a rubber surface and is crowned, will the width create problems with tracking, should I make new ones, I have worked out the design as far as desired rpm for belt speed, tension and length adjustments and am planning to use a step pulley for speed changes, I do have access to a lathe, that I could make new pulleys, but thses ones I have are in good shape, the one has the tracking adjustment hardware right with it, hope this is enough info, any other suggestions would also be appreciated, thanks
Woodsmith

Thanks, for the help so far Guys
To elaborate more,
What I learned in the initial attempt, we spent a long time consolidating the lump with many light blows, turning and tapping over and over, working in my small portable forge added a challenge, long time to get up to full heat, then made what seemed like very little progress in a heat. Going by feel, hammering that bloom was like hitting a sponge or a lot of bubbles, squished a little ways real easy, but if you hit hard at all it would crack all apart. This seemed to be the slowest part of the process.
Once I got something I could actually really pound on, progress picked up. I had expected it to be a heavy hammer tiring job, but spent plenty of time resting waiting for the next heat.
Perhaps with a better suited tongs, we could do an extensive series of squishing operations, could shave off a half dozen heats. Im not just trying to be lazy here, I want to have some Iron left at the end of the process as well.
Ill read up a bit more, and take a bunch of pictures all day.
Thanks
Jared

I am looking for information, how to on forging out a bloom. I have done this once, in an experiment this last summer. A fellow I know here in Wi has done considerable work researching and constructing small clay bloomeries, making his charcoal and smelting Iron. However he does not do any smithing, this gave me the great opportunity to help him out by hammering out a hunk of bar one long (hot)_ afternoon at an event last July. We are getting together again soon, along with some other smithes from the area, to spend a day smelting, and bloomsmithing. Our last work was a rather blind, heat it and beat it job, and while fairly successful I think it may have taken very excessive amounts of time and charcoal. I found we were learning very rapidly as we went.
So, any input here about the actual working of a bloom, how to do it faster, ( if there is such a thing), how to get it more homogenous, anything, any input, or references as to were I could read up on this a bit. I would like to be more prepared on this one. It would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Jared

I found this green river Foot vise last spring, it has an adjustable upsetting block that slides up or down, below a die block at the front of the vise body there, my best assesment was that they were designed for heading bolts, I use it for twisting a lot, handy for that but not handy for big stuff, jaws open less than 2", Some of the ones Ive seen like this sell on Ebay have gone very high, very curious, you say yours has 4 legs, Ive never seen that style before
Woodsmith

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/4189/size/big/cat//ppuser/1907

this is another that I found interesting, it is only one small part of an entire story taken from the Kalevalla,

I know its very different than Longfellows work, but Ive made a print and built a frame for each.


Iron, Iron, hearken as I call you!
Let no false and foolish fears appall you,
Come from the crevices that hide you,
Leave the worthless stones that are beside you.
Leave the earth that lies around, above you,
And come with me for I do dearly love you

Iron stayed hidden but timidly said "I dare notleave, for my brother
Fire wishes to devour me"

The smith continued singing:

No, your brother does not wish to harm you
willingly never would he alarm you
with his glowing arms he would caress you
Make you pure and with his kisses bless you
So come with me, my smithy waits to greet you
in my forge your brother waits to greet you
waits to throw his loving arms around you
glad indeed that now he has again found you

Iron almost moved but then paused and asked what was to become of
him, why should he leave his quiet and peace

the Smith answered:
Come with me, for kindly will we treat you
on my anvil gently will I beat you
With my tongs deftly will I hold you
With my hammer I will shape and mould you
into forms so fair that all will prize you
Forms so rare that none shall ever despise you
Axes, Knives, (so men will wish to use you)
Needles, Pins, (so women too, will choose you)
Come with me you brother shall not harm you
Come with me My smithy is sure to charm you




Jared
Woodsmtih

I have a diagonal peen that Finnr made by regrinding the face of a drilling hammer, it works great,
I had a beginning selection of good quality hammers from estwing, and nordic, I think finn wanted to convince me that the diagonal peen was really useful, so he gave me one that he had made, As a beginner I think I spent a lot of time straight forging when I ought to be fullering, that hammer makes a difference, and helps
I have since reforged hammers myself to make punches and cutters, I think its rather easy compared to making your own complete hammer.
Jared

Just saying Hi here,
Im a learning blacksmith, lifelong craftsman, I love to create, can do so with wood, concrete, tractor and plow,pencil and paper, pretty decent with a welder, etc, but when I learned how to move steel, its the most fun Ive had with a craft yet. Ive been at it less than a year, but have collected "enough" tools, and make anything I cant find. always looking to learn more.
Jared