Ric Furrer

I'll have one of these burners by the end of next month....it is similar to the "bread pan" funnel I've used on my 18" long forge burner for some ten years BUT the holes may be an improvement.
Thank you all for this and the blower info!
Ric

Gents,

Came across this old hand forged and highly decorated hilt. The detail of the piece is amazing considering its size. both sides of the piece are engraved and dressed out with gold highlights. i'm not a sword guy but I can tell this piece has a history. This may be a war souvenier, I'm not sure of its lineage. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter

Peter,
Patrick Hastings of http://taganearts.com/
is a specialist on Japanese sword fittings. I suggest contacting him.
I have an all iron tsuba with raised figures, but no copper figures like that one.
I rather like it.

Ric

Would the hilt have been brazed together and then the blade hardened? Or is the hilt riveted on after assembly and hardening of the blade??

Phil

Phil,
Cutler's resin...or whatever the name for such is in Hindi.
A mixture of pitch, bee's wax and powders which act like an adhesive. The blade and hilts were done by different folk and married by a third. (or maybe ten or more hands touch the work before it is "done")
The handles can be soaked in boiling water or hot oil and the resin becomes soft again and in this way the blade can be removed for whatever reason (change of fashion with the hilt, severe re-work done to the blade,broken blade replacement etc)
Cutler's Resin was rather the way of things for most cultures..Scandinavian and English Sheffield knives were the same in many respects with the resin....I have seen resin colored white,red and black...this hilt has black.

Think of it like removable bedding compound.

Ric

Is there a written report with high quality still photography available?

How about the hilt construction?

Phil

Phil,
No and No.
The micrographs are digital and I no metallography has been done on the hilt, but it is of rather standard construction for the type. Fabricated from many pieces brazed together.

Ric

thanks for sharing those with us Ric. I'm waiting in anticipation for the results of the microscopy and other investigations that you had planned for the bits!

what did the cross section of the welded section look like in the end?

David,
All the metallurgical work was done in 2001 and will be included, along with the bend test pressure and deflection information on the Wootz instructional DVD scheduled for 2011 release.

Ric

It seems to take a bit for the new setting to "take"...it should all be fine now...or very soon.

Ric

Hello All,
In 2001 I filmed a video of the destruction of a wootz sword.
Here it is in three parts:
http://doorcountyforgeworks.com/Wootz.html

WARNING
This may be a bit painful for some of you.

Ric

Hello All,
Here is a bit of a blast from the past...a video from 2001 in my old studio. I found this on an old VHS tape and converter it to digital.

A general overview of forge-welding and some background into Viking blade construction.
If you have not done any forge-welding this may be of interest. Not as detailed as I prefer to go, but you may find it informative.


http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Videos_to_watch.html

Ric

What type of forge are you going to use, gas, charcoal, coal, etc

How large is that forge, one burner, 3 burner, 5 burner (gaser) or brake drum, buffalo style, or industrial forge that takes a whole lot of coal to keep it going.

What size stock are you going to be forging? Something 1/2 inch in size takes a different amount of heat than something that is 2 inch in size.

You going to use this on one forge or you going to gang 3, 5, 10 forges to the same blower?

How much pressure (give PSI and CFM) do you think you need for the forge you are using? Show us photos of the forge please. We need some details to better answer your question.

Propane forge on its own.
If there is a CFM/pressure to BTU to furnace interior square foot to Temp then I would like to see it.
Roughly
200 pounds of steel per hour from 65F to 2250F heat up.
Furnace size is six cubic foot.
two burner

Another operation:
single gas forge, single burner, single blower
one cubic foot furnace dimmension
20 pounds of steel from 65F to 2800F in one hour

Ric

Hello All,
Anyone use the blowers sold by Blacksmith's Depot?
Any better than any others?
I'm after a bit of pressure I think.

Ric

Ric
I re-read what i wrote earlier, and realized it might have come across as snippy. If you think so to I appologize, that was not my intention. sorry

No..Not at all, but I say the same to you.
I do not intend to be snippy either.

Thermal Transfer
Titanium has about half to 1/3rd the transfer rate as mild steel.
Copper is about six times the transfer rate as mild steel.
Stainless steel (depending upon grade) is about/roughly 1/2 the rate as mild steel.

I know it takes a lot longer for the titanium I forge to get hot in the center...its a two coffee heat up. Which means I can only heat it twice in one day as I'm cutting back on coffee.
SO
as Patrick Nowak has told me many times..."titanium makes good tongs".

Ric

ric, if you'll notice the titanium plate is already on hand. so cheap isn't going to ba an issue atleast if i read this right.

I have a 220 pound slab of titanium on hand, but using it to line the forge bottom is not something that would have occurred to me...pure nickel would be a better choice I think if I were to use metal, but ceramics are made for this stuff.
There is a high chromium ramble ceramic mix which resists flux well...Mike Blue of Minnesota uses it in his forges. I believe he also ramps it down toward the front so the flux drips out..I have done this in the past as well and it works.

Most of the time now I just line the bottom with Missuo(spelling?) castable and when I need a clean bottom for something I place a 3/4" thick clipper brick in place ($3).

I would think you could sell ten square foot of the titanium plate and have enough castable and brick to keep the forge running for some time.

Let me know what you want for some of the plate or maybe we can trade brick or castable for the titanium as I am a short distance from a supplier of the ceramic.

Flux by its nature is rather reactive and I have not found anything which is permanent, however there are cheap consumable solutions if you wish to explore other options.

Ric

What do you hope to gain?
A 1/2" thick clipper brick (thin firebrick) can be placed in the forge and pulled out as needed..or have the brick at a light angle so flux runs out.
A think it is a cheaper solution to the same problem.

A pool of flux at the bottom of the forge is not a nice thing either..something that can be removed simply and replaced is best.

Ric

Message sent

Ric