basher

someone has kindly moved my thread to here . so i will ask again . is it acceptable to post up course dates in this area ? I was under the impression that this area was for the blacksmiths guild UK based in Devon ? My forge is in london and I am not a member of said guild and I do not want to tread on anybody s toes ?

you will have to excuse my ignorance but which Glenn ? Also where would be the best place to post . Its a shame there is not a general England section .

the whole idea of the speed controle is that i could not find the correct running speed for the hammer and my guess of 280 BPM was making it into a not so controlable whacking machine . I have 3 working hammers one of which will happily beat the crap out of steel (150lb samuel platt) so I am aiming for controle on my air hammer . I would love a one hit hammer..............

I have been playing with the running speed of my half hundred weight massey using a n invertor controler that was given to me at a recent forge in . I have never known the correct running speed for this hammer and it seems I was running it too fast . it behaves much better at 40 to 45 hertz than it does at 50........not so much power though . interestings!!!

Balloc dagger , 320 layer Tom Ward carved the balls . copper fittings and ebony . Thanks

I was wondering if there was a suitable place on this forum for me to put information about classes I run in bladesmithing damascus and sword making ? I was not sure what the policy of the site was about self promotion and if its ok where to put such posts ? All the best Owen

If Howard gave you a temp of 780 then go with that . If you are unsure about austenising temp look for recolesence as the steel cools . Most simple steels will easily austenise at the low end (or lower) of there recommended hardening range it just needs a little longer soak. getting the temp rite for differential hardening in oil or water can be a trial and error process and blade cross section, normalising temps and frequency and then austenising temp prior to quench play a part so does the type of water and water temp.not to mention clay......... were you going for an interupted quench or full quench . All the best Owen

Posted: Today at 5:32 pm Post subject: short arming sword Here is a short arming sword I havemade . 700 layers damascus with en8 steel fittings and leather over lime wood handle . weight 2lb 5 oz pob 9cm from guard blade 71cm long . thanks for looking

exactly!

I was approached to make a sword for a program on one of the talhoffer fight manuals . The sword in question had very pointy pommel and guard . it is depicted in the manual being used holding the blade and using the guard and pommel to attack an opponent .the production company wanted the sword to emphisise this possable use ..... I was filmed forging the sword and doing some cutting . the program will be called fight book ......... here is the sword I made . thanks for looking

mine is "Bushfire forge" I wanted a forge identity as i get guest instructors in. I mainly trade under my name though.

If you mean forge in then its next weekend . I have 5 demonstrators and people from 10 countries attending .themed around blades as per normal . I seem to be doing it about that time every year. we put the little massey through its paces yesterday and I was pleasently surprised .I think all the work was worth it .

Michael , good to bump into you here . I tried looking for you in gloucester a few years back but you had moved on......

Aye that was the one . They bought it at an auction and it sat outside there forge and in there other one .in the end they got a 50kg sahinla... and I got the massey . I have known steve and caroline for a long time now lots of good stuff still coming out of that stable.

I have finally gotten my little baby massey going . It's been a long journy . I was given this hammer as a work bonus about 5 years ago .It was in not working condition left in a yard for over a decade. I stripped it and oiled it and put it back together and low and behold it didn't work very well and then stopped working all together...... I pulled it apart and the valve was broken in two .... I Brazed it and it lasted a day before it broke . I had another valve made and still it didn't work no real up force and the hammer was not fully cycling At this point about exactly a year ago by pure coincidence a true to life massey expert came along to my forge-in and rummaged and drilled and scratched his head and bolted and unbolted and scratched his head some more .... It was better but still it didn't work........... about two weeks later I got a call from self same and was given the advise to up the rpm and low and behold its a lot lot better (its doing 270rpm now). I realized that it had been a whole year gon by since John had sorted me out and that really I should have got it going .Thanks for the help John . I was thinking obout making a striking hammer and suddenly realised that this might do the job. Its in my shop and working now . I spent a few hours yesterday with a dremmel grinding open the air ways on the valve and it is better still . At this point I think I am the proud owner of a working massey (or at least 80% working).I will probably have to do some more work on it as it may need new piston rings and definatly needs a new fly wheel bearing . I was holding back from spending more monie on it untill i have had it working . I have a job tomorow forging out the ends of crossbow prods and think the controllability of this beasty will be perfect . It is a match box shutter. It is in my eyes one of the most beautifull hammers made and I am very glad to finally have it working . I have yet to decide what colour to paint it or weather to go steam punk on it . I guess its time to start the real work on my alldays and onion 300 or pull the old Brooks plate hammer out of the garage ....

I have wanted to make some kind of power hammer for some time now , But Being in the Uk I have always found it cheaper to buy old hammers. I have a 60lb goliath and 150lb herculies (+300 alldays in the yard waiting.....) Currently I have a job which requires a very precise one blow striking and I was thinking that a single blow Ka75 type hammer would be perfect .I have been getting a friend over to do the hitting but think a purpose made hammer would be better . I Have 2 80mm air cylinders with 250mm travel and was wondering if this was enough distance to get the weight moving or if more Travel was needed . what weights could I run with twin 80mm cylinders ? I think a striking hammer would be a great addition to my stable . My other thoughts are that air supply is greatly limited by hose size and that onboard air cylinders with larger ports would speed up the hit quite a bit . any thoughts would be most welcome .

I think the word master is held in too great an awe . We are after all talking about a person who has done an apprenticeship and worked for someone else and then started there own shop........thats all . I think a majority of people of people working in steel for the length of time many of us have would fit into that catagory in one way or another . After 16years on the path of steel I have defiantly mastered some of my craft , the bits I make my own I excell at, I am less familiar with other bits . Plumbers and carpinters and electricians are referred to as masters of there trade after 5 or so years ....... It is all very well being all "Grasshopper" about it and there is always more to learn but if some of the people here are not referred to as masters then they are doing dis service to them selves . Artist blacksmith , master blacksmith if the cap fits why not wear it .

I Have often considered making my own power hammer but considering how cheaply second hand ones in the UK can be got for I have not bothered . The main differences between air and spring hammers.... Spring Very quiet running, no chuffing . economy of power use , I have had a 60lb Goliath running on 1HP (my current one is much more responsive on 5hp) fly wheels are a wonderful thing . they seem harder hitting for their weight , However you get slow soft blows and hard fast blows . Most overhead rotating hammers will have a slight sideways movement in the tup and this promoted diamonding of stock . tooling use can be a rite Dance with a mechanical . Air constant blow rate (self contained) ease of using tooling I want to make a one hit air hammer some time for hand tool work . and it would seem to me that all the home made hammer designs I have sen run very small gauge plumbing for the weight they are moving . I have made a few Nitrogen and air canons and you can get ridiculous amounts of power from air but you need to have big hoses and valves and supply as opposed to high pressure . To make things happen quick you need volume .

John, I think you are rite , I just measured the anvil dimentions (in the dark !!) comes out to 1700kg . The weights were a guess from the Hiab lock outs ............ Mine is just a baby !! I'll not be so scared of moving the anvil now . I have done quite a few 2500kg moves by hand . Thanks

I have enjoyed reading this . I have an alldays and onions 3 hundred weight (336lb) sitting in my yard ,its been here 2 years now . looks similar in size /weight to the nazel (we guessed at 8000 to 8500kg all in about 2500 in the anvil) I got it on ebay for £175 (sorry.) I have stripped it down , its in good condition but have been dredding the cost/time involved in installing it . This thread has given me good food for thought . There are some knowledgeable people here . Thanks

If you want to find information on this method I would suggest looking (and or asking)on Don Foggs Bladesmiths forum . I Have seen Demonstrations of clay and paper welding done by Ric furrer and Rick barret . And know Nikko Hynninen works his Tamahagane down using straw ash with great results . I have up untill recently used Borax as a fluxing agent when working down my own bloomery steel , however Borax has limitations of upper working temperature and other fluxing agents work better at the sparkling white heat that Tamahagane is worked .Borax also alters the "Hada" of tamahagane and gives whitish lines at the weld margins .I had a Japanese trained (Czechoslovakian)Sword smith ask if I was using borax on a Tamahagane blade . He said " Borax Bad" (said my steel was OK though ) People get all het up when it comes to welding fluxes ,or not using them. You can weld wrought iron and mild steel without any flux , it easy peasy . Both these materials are stable at the temperqature that the iron oxide melts on its own , you dont need flux. (wrought iron has its own flux in the silicate strands ).....However silver sand works well as does ball clay as does..... ????? The UK method of welding steel without flux is in my opinion ignorance , these are the same people who tell you you cant weld in a gas forge . Sure you can get it to weld if you get it hot enough , in the process you trash the steel. Britain has a great Heritage of blacksmithing but a large ignorance when it comes to bladesmithing , this is starting to change . Rice straw and clay and paper are all doing similar jobs to borax :- acting as a physical barrier to oxygen helping to reduce the temperature that iron oxide melts at and thus expel it during the forge weld. Some fluxes perform other tasks by having other ingredients . Powdered cast iron melts at a lower temp and coats the steel reducing its welding temperature at the surface and potentialy acting as a brazing agent . Sal ammoniac acts as an agrassive deoxidising agent and helps with tenacious oxides like chrome . I think one of the reasons for using rice straw ash is that it has available carbon and acts as a sacrificial carbon source, thus preventing too much carbon loss from the steel when welding at high heat. so as I see it there is no "one size fits all" flux . They is different...... Just like tamahagane is different from 1080 is different from wrought iron is different from 440C is different from mild steel ......Simples!

That is pretty much the most confusing Ht advice I have ever seen . and is a very odd way to go about things (in my opinion) , All the information is routed in fact its just a not very controlable way of going about it and leaves a lit to chance/Intuition. the site is advocating an interupted marquench . Brine first and then air . Marquenching a far more controllable way of doing this. By quenching into heated salts or marquenching oil at a known temperature (say 200to 250C) . You quench into hot oil and the martensite formation is slowed down .The real advantage of this method is that you get time to straiten warped blades whilst they are hot ,before the meta austenite in them has fully turned to martensite.Also warping is less likley . This method is used in industry for complex parts that are liable to warp . For us metal bashers swords come to mind . For most applications simple oil quenching is just fine.

That is a lovley blade ,did you use Borax during the welding up or a more traditional paper slurry method ? I love the Hada . All the best Owen

There is still a lot of romance involved in the making of swords and also a lot of misinformation , the metallurgy of steel is still relatively modern compared to old fashioned ideas about steel and how to work it . Steel is a solid you can not compress it ,at any given temperature it has a given density you can only squidge it around . there would be no advantage or disadvantage in forging a fuller or grinding one as far as material strength is concerned . There may be advantages in getting width into a blade (using lass stock) and advantages in getting an authentic pattern in a pattern welded blade (removing less material) . All the best Owen