matt87

Mate I'd love to get my hands on a bloom or 10, but there will be no smelts this year. Departmental budgets are tight, as always, and to be honest we have enough data for now. I can however try and get you any data you want.

Gill has however discussed scale-model furnaces in a wind tunnel... anyone got one spare? :D

Indeed Thomas I have; Dr Juleff is my archaeometallurgy tutor, and is running this 'busman's holiday'... which is in fact part of the 'Monsoon Steel' project!

Most of what we're doing this year is constructing a museum display of the technology. Creating display boards and such, and the centrepiece will be a full-scale replica furnace, made fom the correct (authentic) materials. We will also be performing field surveys of some of the many smelting/furnace sites, and visiting the site where a series of experimental smelts were performed last year.

Considering it's a very significant technology of which we know very little and the specialities of Dr Juleff and the department, I could well be writing my dissertation on some aspect of this technology.

Ancient Smelter Used Wind To Make High-Grade Steel - New York Times
The University of Exeter - SoGAER - Department of Archaeology
These articles give a little background for the uninitiated.

Sorry to hijack the thread like this!

Some good looking work there. Did you buy or make the pattern-weled steel? Planning on making any more kerrises?

That's a pretty nifty setup. Bet it's pretty soild too; that's 145lb of steel mostly under the hammer (unlike London and Euro patterns, where much of the mass is in the horn and heel). Great to think outside of the box.

Coincidentally I've been thinking along similar lines recently; a combined anvil and swage block, a little like Anvils-1. If the weight were kept fairly reasonable, and with a fabbed angle-iron stand I can imagine it being a very versatile tool; anvil, fuller, swage in one, and fairly easy to tote to demos and such.

Dont forget this article: LB0005 Blacksmithing Anvils

I'm off to south Sri Lanka this summer for a month-long busman's holiday. Am planning to do the same.

sam, what does your buddy say when you tell him most of those tools were invented by blacksmiths? ;)

I'm currently writing a report on steel in the preindustrial era. Turns out a lot of the 'wrought iron' artifacts actually had about 50 points carbon. Wonder how old the tyre is though; it matters a lot.

If you leave the bottom of the pallet exposed, you can move it later with a pallet shifter thing or a forklift, even full.

We now have a national ban on 'Samurai swords' [sic]. Badly defined, certain exemptions for collectors of genuine blades, certain martial arts etc. Well, it's not a ban, it's a ban on buying them (swords bought before the ban are grandfathered in).

a chunk of steel

And what exactly do you think an anvil is? You have a hammer; all you need now is something to hit (steel/iron) and something to get it hot. The first anvils were rocks, the first hammers smaller rocks. I'd say you are quite ahead of the game compared with some ancient smiths ;)

FYI, mild steel is around 1020, or a little lower. Nowadays, 'mild' sees to mean 'some stuff and less than 30 points carbon ) Nothing wrong with mild, it moves easier, is more readily available and is less sensitive to heat.

Regarding AISI steel spec numbers, as a quick guide the first two digits indicate the alloying of the steel and the second two that emount of carbon. For instance, 1080 indicates a plain carbon steel (10xx) and 80 points carbon (xx80). Carbon is expressed in points, one point being one hundredth of a percent. Thus 80 points = 0.8%. This is considered a fairly high carbon steel. Steel contains typically between 10 and 220 points carbon. Below that it's pure or wrought iron, above that it's cast iron.

Banning or heavilly restricting switchblades was done in many countries during the 1950s, as apparently many gangs of the time were carrying them. A lot of 'respectable' people panicked after West Side Story and Something Had to be Done. Like many other laws, it didn't have to make sense, it just 'was'.

Mate,
great work there! For the height adjustment motor, you can use a DPDT centre-off switch to control it; these have three positions: reverse, off and forwards. Very useful. You can see it on this page downaways Switches

Yeah but you'd have to take your money or trade goods with you; adjusting for inflation $100 in 1934 dollars is/was about $1500 in 2008 dollars... and that's just 1934!

EDIT:
Actually inflation may not have happened 1908-34. When did your Federal Bank abandon the Gold Standard?

Well as it happened I was just talking with a mature coursemate, turns out he's got an arc-welder he doesn't use. He's bringing it up from Plymouth next time he's down there :D

Assuming temperate North American woodland:
Find water. Carry it in an empty gas can back to camp (wash thoroughly first).

Gather firewood (dead standing, dead hanging and dead lying if it's dry). If you need to, split it by hammering a hot cut as a wedge to create orrect amounts of various grades of kindling. Use your knife (no proper toolkit is complete without at least one) to create fuzz sticks if neccesary. Prep your fire and light it using whatever method you want. Use the torch lighter to spark onto some shredded cedar bark, lint or similar tinder you find and light your fire. Boil water in a cut open gas can to kill parasites.

Construct a shelter; the lean-to shelter is a good 'un. The bulldozer is a suitable windbreak and reflector wall. Lash a hot cut onto a suitable stick to use as an axe to trim boughs etc.

YOUR BASIC SURVIVAL NEEDS ARE NOW MET.

Take the inner threads from some 550 cord and set (squirrel poles, rabbit snares etc.), and build whatever other traps you can, though you probably won't trap anything. Forage what food you can and recognise. Operate as large a trapline as you can. If there is water with fish nearby you can set nightlines, fish traps etc.

Take a pipe from the bull and use it as a campfire blowpipe. Heat some steel and use something heavy from the bull as an anvil to forge arrowheads. Cut a bowstave with your saw, split with a hot cut, string with 550 cord and tiller with files. Go huntin', checking your traps as you go.

Once/if you trap or shoot anything tan its hide and make bellows. Dig a ground forge and make yourself a proper axe, plus nails and other useful goodies. Most of your time will though be spent finding food and gathering water.

All going well you now have a lifestyle where you can live comfortably indefinitely :D

Why not just get a welder and start. you can get a stick welder brand new for less than

Three methods here Legio XX Pilum

Titanium looks good for the job. How about tungsten? It seems fine for the melting temperature. Again price is steep, but perhaps there are sources less expensive... like this with Mr Hoffi: BP1013Tungsten Tools

The forges at Westpoint are indeed very fine from what I could tell (not having much experience). I suggest that anyone wanting to build a 'proper' water cooled backblast forge contact John B for advice; his work is excellent (he built most of them).

Thing is, a full-on back blast forge complete with water bosh etc. is quite complex and not very portable. In fact without an arc welder there aren't many ways of fabricating the tue. You can cast it I suppose, but this has obvious problems. You can buy it, but at a ahigh price, with othe disadvantagees as discussed. You could also knock one up with plumbing parts (3/4in pipe nipple inside 2in pipe nipple with a through-threaded bell reducer is one way).

People may be put off building one because of these reasons. Eliminate the water cooling, and what do you need to build? A box on legs with a hole in the back side and a bit of pipe sticking through. Fill it with sand, ash or whathaveyou, hook up an air supply and build a fire. Simple, cheap and quick way to see if you like back blasts. Remember that there are very few back blast forges outside of Europe and Britain... I expect most smiths in the US have never seen one in the flesh (aside from a ground forge for instance).

The reason I suggested trying stainless as a dry tue is because I heard it doesn't burn out like mild does, which is the main disadvantage of a dry tue forge over a wet one. As I recall, even the old drilled-through cannon balls were sacrificial, though they lasted a while.

Have you tried using stainless? I've read somewhere it doesn't burn out like mild in a non-water tue, but I can't find the source right now.

devon blacksmith, do you use a plain steel or stainless tue iron in the non-water coled version?

Looks like the Mile Long Anvil... Ray Davis' Mile Long Anvil : Worlds Largest Steel Anvil?<