Blakksmyth

HI Sofaman, You will be pleased to hear that a new association is being formed here in Adelaide. We will be registered as Artist Blacksmiths Association South Australia Incorporated. We formed a committee back in July 09 and have had three meetings so far with 20 blacksmiths attending the most recent. There are blacksmiths from all over South Australia interested in joining. A.B.A.S.A will be formed along the same lines of our friends at A.B.A.Vic and A.B.A.N.S.W. The senior members of both interstate associations, have been very helpful in assisting us and are keen to see us get up and running. It is our aim to have members from all styles of blacksmithing and blademaking, from young high school people, amateurs, professionals and basically anyone starting up or interested in the ancient craft. We will be putting out the message to the public that blacksmithing is not a dead trade and we don't just make horse shoes. Our Vice President is currently teaching blacksmithing at a southern area high school , and a number of us volunteer at the Old Doddridge forge at Angaston on weekends.(Come on up for a visit) We intend to establish an association forge, similar to Victoria and New South Wales so that we can hold training and indoctrination, community work and open forging days. We will be producing a quarterly newsletter for our members as well. Our next meeting will be held on the 22nd of October, in Adelaide. If you would like further information contact me at rken-at-adam-com-au Cheers, Rob Kenning Secretary A.B.A.S.A

You can reduce bending of the stock by doing a couple of things. Firstly rotate the stock 90 degrees after every blow, if hand upsetting, and secondly hammer a small chamfer on the edge. For instance, if you are upsetting 3/4" square stock put a 1/4" chamfer around the edge before upsetting. It doesn't stop the bending completely, but it reduces it a lot. Good Luck. Cheers, Rob K

I use equal parts of bees wax, linseed oil, turpentine and Japan black(Dryer) for inside work. This can be applied to black heat ironwork. The mixture sets hard when cold, but can easily be melted before use, and it smells nice to boot. On outside work where you want the natural forged look I use a product called 'Penetrol'. It is a mixture of oils with a hardener added. It must be painted on cold and can be applied to milled steel, forged steel and even rusty steel work, and will maintain the look of the original finish. I guess you could say it is a cross between wd40 and polyurethane.