matt87

I just built a little electric blower... amazing! I can work with 2 or 3 irons in the fire and spend most of my forging time actually forging rather than pumping! Also it reduces the temptation to work the iron at too low a temperature, which is also beneficial.

As I recall, this is how wrought was produced for a few decades; pig iron (carbon c. 4%?) was reduced in carbon content by puddling; melt the iron, blast lots of air over it and stir regularly. See Pig iron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finering seems more viable for 'small' scale though Finery forge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You do have a power hammer, right? ;)

Wrought iron was produced in a bloomery historically; tall hollow structure with air draft from the bottom. Light a charcoal fire inside and add charges of iron ore, flux and charcoal at regular intervals. Sustain for a many hours. The product is a bloom, a sponge of iron plus slag and a few other impurities. Heat to welding heat and squeeze together. Heat, hammer together etc. over and over. Each time, more impurities are removed and you get a more homogenous product.

I've seen this done somewhere before but for the life of me I can't find any articles or pages on he net (including in the BPs) on this. Could anyone point me in the right direction at all? I'm mainly looking for harden/temper info. I'm guessing that modern cheap hammer heads are something like 1050 to 1070. Can anyone shed some light on the subject?

Nice score Keith!

You probably know already, but it can't hurt to remind (and you never know who else might read this), that is likely lead paint; be careful and take all appropriate precautions.

I used a flamefast oxy/methane forge some years ago at school. Can't say I used the forge function but the torch was very useful, as I'm sure it would be in a smithy. If you build one, I suggest you incorporate a torch too; depending on the fuel, you can heat specific pieces of iron (rivets, bends, twists...), braze, soft solder and cut.

Monkey tool?

Anvilfire has a registry of touchmarks I think.

Looks to me like a demonstration of various historic methods for reducing wrought iron from the ore. Notice the differences in sizes of the furnaces and the methods for providing a blast, as well as the size of the blooms they produce. All are basically the same design though: a vertical hollow shape where charges of charcoal, ore and flux are added periodically. Air blast is provided at the bottom. The liquid stuff is slag (like clinker in a coal/coke forge), not iron. At no point in this process does the iron become liquid (that's why the process is a reduction rather than a smelt). At the end of each reduction, the slag is tapped and the bottom of the forge broken open to remove the bloom. It is them consolidated by repeated heating to welding heat and hammering. This serves to make the iron one solid piece rather than the spongey object it came out of the furnace as, as well as driving out impurities.

I understand that the railroad spikes marked 'HC' are c.1030.

There is a blueprint on making nutchrackers. The design teaches many skills, they are a great, practical gift/product and you can make your own modifications to the design, e.g. twisted handles. Toasting forks are good too.

You have a roof on your backyard smithy? I'm jealous.

Erm... wow...

Mrs Matt says: 'that is sick!'

I can't see it too well in the video but I'm not sure that's a hammer as you or I would go to the store and see (and think: I should make one...)

Mr Dibnah had a coal mine in his 'garden' too if I rmember correctly... Mr Dibnah, the engineer, the genius, the legend.

Very good work. IMO there is no sustitue for craftsmanship.

I have heard that coal dust, sawdust and clay are added to briquettes too.

New blacksmithing gear is available in the UK, but be prepared to cry at the prices. Hang around car boot sales, scrap yards etc. and start improvising... blacksmiths can improvise just about anything they want.

I've noticed that on eBay UK you can often find anvils going for about

Every so often I amble over to the Wiki and do my best to add a new article or improve an existing one. It's a useful resource IMO, or at least it will be when there are more articles and there is more depth.

Very interesting indeed Sam! Those bellows are just as described in Harries & Heer. Anvil looks like a partially buried length of rail track. A week to make a spear? Wow. I expect that's from bloom to trading for 2 goats. Captive market too; nice work if you can get it! :D

As promised, a pic of my ghetto forge.


The air draught is provided by the blue and black air pump in the foreground (designed for inflating infalteables I think) and elbow grease. The lagest stock I've used in it s far is 1"x1/4" mild (as in this photo) and it can get it to yellow if you're patient. The bowl cost

14" length of British railway rail; weight c.32lb. 'Mounted' (plonked) in a bucket of sand and constantly moving.

Matt, do you have somewhere you can set up your own equipment? You don't need a lot of money, space or equipment to get started. A garage, back garden etc. will do. I use a very crude setup at the moment and am teaching myself the basics. Lessons are great, but I like to learn on my own too. I find it's useful to take what I learn -- be it at an actual lesson, from a book, from the internet -- and try, apply, and practise it.

Nicely done Timekiller. I love thinking outside the box... which is somethign we have to/should do as blacksmiths! My charcoal forge is a 9" stainless steel bowl with a hole punched in the side for the tuyere (was once part of a shopping trolley). Lined with ashes and such, it works just fine for me! Kinda like a ground forge but above ground. Will get some pictures tomorrow when I have it lit.

Hehe Matt, small world; I attended one of those a few weeks ago John's a great guy!

...I'm just getting on with it.