Dan P.

Anybody with basic competence in smithing could make a sound weld in this fashion. Are you promoting a book or DVD or something, Brian?

You can split it, or you can notch, fold it back on itself, and weld it up.

Very simply, the reason for welding on reigns is that it is quicker to weld the bulkier stock of the bit to the long, relatively thin stock of the reins than to draw it out. It is not that hard to understand. Or it shouldn't be, any way. And it has nothing to do with wrought iron.

Speak for yourself, TP. Wrought iron has its own thing going on, but the juju qualities attributed to it are almost exclusively twaddle.

Ha! That's funny! I would be the very first to call "bulldust" to wrought iron being easier to weld. I've heard it so many times. In my experience it's "old boy" bluster. Like you have to get W/I to a sparkling heat to weld it. Nonsense!

Don't be put off by a little internet bristle, Brian. Don't be afraid to learn a little either. Hammers and axes had faces/bits welded on for economy, not performance. I'm also willing to be corrected on that point, but I'm fairly sure of it. Certainly as a hammer user I can attest to the fact that a welded on face does not enhance performance, but rather shortens the lifespan of the tool. I'm also interested to learn more about tongs made with different materials for the bit and reins. I have handled hundreds of sets of tongs in my life, seen some very big ones from old industrial forges, many of them welded. I don't believe I've ever heard of any that were made of different materials for the reins and bit.

Well, I think this has probably been gone over before, and probably to death, but I think whether or not we can produce smiths who claim to have done a "formal apprenticeship", what I really want to see is the formal framework in which they did it. There is none. If one does an "apprenticeship" in anything it just means training. The formal hoo-ey that had in Europe, the guilds, the "Wanderjahr" or "Tour de France" they did not have here. To be a "journeyman" in this country was to follow the work, not some kind of ritual observation.

Amazing!

There is a lot of stuff in this thread! Two things; A lot of stuff in the Weygers book is a bit bodge-y. Not my first port of call for historical information, anyway. Second, the COSIRA blacksmiths were not formal apprentice trained smiths. They were just smiths, and very good ones. A last note about welding things as opposed to forging them; Back in the days smiths were more confident (or is it compitent?) and welded all kinds of crazy things that today we would forge. I've seen a few examples of eyes on the horizontal bars of a grille welded on, rather than punched. Recently I copied some brackets with fish tail scroll components. The original fishtail end was welded on! I have my ideas as to why, but it seems strange all the same.

Fascinating, true and important. Please can anyone posting a "I want to be a blacksmith" type post be required to read this. It's a lot quicker and easier than taking five or ten years working it out from scratch!

Looks sturdy enough. Pretty cool!

Who's assembling the forged elements while all this hammering is going on, or undertaking the various tasks involved in shoeing a horse? It's one of the common misconceptions that smiths do nothing but stand at an anvil and beat on metal day in, day-out.

No, I think you might have it wrong. Given that the question is about welding on reins, then how fast person X, Y or Z can hammer them out becomes very literally a secondary, less important issue. Concerning the problem of spring in tong handles, do not use undersized stock for the reins, and if it is round stock, the sides can be flattened to give a stronger cross section.

I have toads, a hedgehog, a lot of bugs, and birds come in to eat the bugs. Wierdly, I get a lot of butterflies in my forge. They like to come in in spring and summer, just to fly around, but in autumn they come in and hibernate up the chimney, which sometimes doesn't work out for them.

If drawing out reins takes less time than welding them on, you need to work on your welding. In the more distant past, when pre-rolled round stock for the reins was not available, or not as available, smiths might have forged rein and bit from one piece.

I wonder why bother putting a round taper on square stock? Either way, the more you make, the less time it will take you.

That's not at all an uncommon shape for French anvils. I believe it's a "just an anvil" anvil. That hump is probably there for drawing out, which would have made up a large percentage of work in a rural smithy of yesteryear. The stubby little legs seen on French anvils are a design continuation from an earlier "church windows" form.

There is also the danger of social isolation. Although it is not very macho to admit it, it can be a lonely path to travel down, being a blacksmith. Where I used to work was a mews with other workshops, there were always other people about. where I am now, I can go for days and days where the only other human I see is my wife when she comes home from work. Hair starts to get a bit tangled, eyes start to get a bit wild, conversations with the dog start to get a bit animated. You get the picture.

Isolated is not necessarily a good thing either.

There has been a "thing" about the decline in breeze quality. Stromsholm is a well known farriers supply company. I don't know, but I would guess that their breeze is the same as everyone else's.

I think you might have had a lucky near-miss by not getting your funds tangled up in the forge in Widdecombe, blackleaforge. Being in a rather small, very old forge myself, it has more problems than benefits. Those old forges were mostly for shoeing horses. The one I'm in does not have a single flat surface. Layout for anything bigger than a small garden gate is a nightmare. Old buildings can be very picturesque, which is why I moved into the forge I'm in. I fell in love with it, it is like something out of a Dutch painting. Unfortunately it is draughty, leaky, difficult to clean, the roof is falling in, the walls are falling out, it is dingy and cramped and there is a hedgehog who comes in and chews the cables. If I'd had the means to buy it, I might have. I'm lucky I didn't. I can't even begin to imagine these disadvantages being compounded by being in a town, with nosey, annoying and complaining neighbours, maybe the council breathing down your neck. I have run a forge in a residential area before. Even with the council on your side, it can be a titanic pain in the bum. I'd do what Dave Budd suggests.

Those methods don't work here in the northern hemisphere. I had to wear The Special Hat instead. You know, "The Special Hat". Yes... that one.

And go slow (ish).

Yes, you've got to anneal it otherwise it goes into little bits.

I think you've nailed it, rockstar.