metalmangeler

Hi Wulfgar
Forging a section of flat bar 1/4X2 on edge should be pretty rough as the edges want to move more than the middle you are likely ending up with a small I beam. If you can keep the width to thickness rato 1:3 things work much better, then as you aproach the end of the project make it thinner. Perhaps starting with a heavy coil spring or spliting the leaf spring would work better. If I were trying to get 2 inchs of leaf spring down to 1 inch with only hand tools I would get someone to strike and use a hot set with an offset handle. Be sure to put a cutting plate on your anvil so you don't wreck it or your tool. Also be sure to have fun.:)

I have also been a farrier for to long. I noticed that there are a number of us listed in what is your other job. I think in the USA most of our blacksmiths 100 years ago were also farriers and did a lot more with plowshares than what we might think of as art. If you look at our iron art a lot of it is cast.
To get on my hobby horse just this once. I have noticed that if a demo is done making a horse shoe the vast majority of blacksmiths don't want to watch it as they think that it has nothing to do with them. Yet they might see someone 1 forge weld,2 upset a specific amount of steel 3 measure and know how much that steel will grow, 4 forge a clip which could be used for other purposes, 5 forge an arc to within 1/16 inch of the right size, 6 punch 6 or more holes in a piece of steel rather rapidly of a very precise size, 7 put a grove around the edge of the arced bar uniformly and match it on the other side 8 make a short square corner, 9 make a bevel with enough hammer control that you see no hammer marks. I could add more but that would get into double digits far to complicated for me. Now that blacksmith who won't watch this will gladly watch another person warm up for his demo if he is making a nail after all he is drawing and upsetting steel.:)

I'd think $18.00 for a 20' stick would be a little high. We get a better price per foot buying whole sticks here.

Hi markh
As you are aware cylinder size increases power both for lifting and striking. The surface of the inside of the cylinder of the 3.25 Big Blu is 8.29 the surface area of a 4 inch cylinder would be 12.56 if I did my math correctly. Certainly either one will move a 200lb. ram. If you multiply the surface area by your air pressure that will tell you how much power you have to move your hammer.
The problem is how much air will the compresser give you if I were in your situation I would go with the 4 inch cylinder, but it will really use more air.

I buy nice straight smooth bars and when I am done they are not that way any more. Some people like what I have done to the bars they help pay my bills, and also for the next nice bars. Also I would rather understate than over state.

I have forged grade 5 Ti some. It is absorbing oxygen as you heat it and after it is out of the fire so you would do best with a reducing fire and get the job done with a minimum number of heats. It forges best when pretty hot and starts getting hard when you think it should still be hot enough (or at least that is what I thought). Quenching in water does not seem to effect hardness/brittleness from my personal tests.
To make tongs I would punch my rivet hole as it may be difficult to drill.

If I just stick with this a little longer it will finely really pay off.:rolleyes:

Hammerkid sometimes to get the right birthday gift you need to be the giver as well as the receiver.

Hey Philip
Try looking up Newhouse trap. They made the best ones, the others were cheap immitations I have thought about making them to sell to tourists for years just never got around to it. The grizzly bear traps were 16" across the jaws when open and wieghed about 50 lbs. if you heat treat the springs be carefull.:D

How about a door latch.

Maybe also notice that he is a YOUNG man, not one that has been doing that for 30 years. Sam I am glad to hear that you are taking care of yourself.
The other side of this coin is that I started putting my thumb on top of my hammer after observing Bob Marshal useing his hammer that way, last I knew he was still doing it. I do beleive that it can and often does cause dammage so I stopped.

Nice hammer. I would try to break the habit of putting your thumb on top of your handle. Habits can be stubborn and I have seen those I respect a lot use their hammer that way.

Nice score on the interview, sometimes they produce customers and in my experince sometimes they don't but either way it is really good PR for you and the craft in general. It could even help make a sale for someone as far away as I am, thanks. Your products looked good. As far as the price that depends on if you are making enough to stay in buisness, not what others may think, you want to be so effient that everyone thinks there is no way they could compete with you but you think that you are making a killing.

As Frosty mentioned having a small bladder can cause you all sorts of grief.

Another thing to think about is that shaping horse shoes is very exact if the farrier is skilled, so what is likely to end up happening is you clinch nails and finish feet for awhile before you are likely to be doing anything in the fire.
On the other hand shoeing pays really well for the time spent actually under the horse, you might want to consider it as a part time job, if not I think you would get farther in forging by buying as many videos as you can find and copy making EVERYTHING you see done on them.

Hi Creek
Take a wire brush and clean off the side of the anvil that is not showing in the picture that is where the name is likely to be. Also you could rub the side with the side of a stick of chalk that may help you see things.

It looks to me like she is doing great for starting. You could either make a hammer and not harden it which is what I do for the less skilled who want to hit something in my shop, or you could anneal a cheap hammer not only will this protect your anvil but they will bounce less so she might have all her teeth when she is done. :rolleyes:

Hey R.C.
If you put the key way in your tongs as you are making them use a very blunt chisel or narrow fuller with the tong hot, then redrift the hole. Also line your notches up with the handle and jaw of the tongs so you don't create a weak spot.

I'll pray for him also especially on the 14th.

It would be some work but you could make a jaw insert that pivoted like a power hammer flatter then your jaws would line up irregardless of the material thickness you were clamping. Also it would be an improvement for clamping a taper.

My main income has been shoeing horses since 82. I have been very actively building my blacksmithing buisness since 96 although I started forging much sooner. Blacksmithing is now about 40% of my income I think. Being the only employed person in a family of 4 makes it difficult to transition to only blacksmithing, but I am getting there.

It looks like no one wants to commit on this one so I'll say what I do but there sure could be better ways. I make my spring swedges by forging them, so if I was making a 1/2 inch swedge I would make the blank then heat it and forge it over a 1/2 inch cold rolled bar then after it was cooled I would grind the edges of the hole so that it would not cut into the tenon that I wanted to forge with it.
That said we know that the spring swedge will shrink some as it cools so it would be slighty under 1/2 inch.
If I made the tool by drilling rather than forging it I would put a card spacer inbetween the 2 halves and my hollow would be slightly under sized once again.
I think that most of the time having the tenon under size will make assembly go smoother. :)

Hey Stretch are you comparing a 25# to a 100# or are you saying both at the same rating? I am not argueing just clarifing.

Mostly I use a self made 2lb. rounding hammer with a wood handle for forging in the shop. I have a good sellection to chose from, this is the hammer that I prefer. All my hammers have wood handles.:D

Glad to see you here I hope that you find it worthwhile, Alaska seems to be pretty well represented here. Mark

I almost always use better steel for triangles. It is scrap from farm machinery so affordable.