Gerald Boggs

7 hours ago, Marc1 said:

Ha ha, take it easy guys, it is all in good fun. 

No, it was in poor taste.

And yet, you knew what I was saying.  So why write what you wrote? 

14 hours ago, iron woodrow said:

He said then not than.... is that enough?

It's all fine.  I freely admit I'm a high school dropout.  In the last semester of the sixth grade, the school put me in the janitor's closet, they said I was disruptive.  I wasn't even allowed to join recess or gym class.  School never got any better and 3 days after I turned 17, I was enlisted in the army.   So while my grammar and spelling isn't what it could be, the school of hard knocks developed other skills.  Such as my ability to make money as a blacksmith, which is quite good and I don't need to credit anyone but myself with my success

41 minutes ago, Marc1 said:

He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor that boards the ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast ...

I don't recall Da Vinci as being a sailor, I on the other hand have sailed both schooners and brigs.  I'll take practice and I'll add "Practical Experience" over theory.

Then we'e seeing different anvils.  I see a relatively small anvil, 225 maybe.

And whatever the weight, it's still a very small face and they seem just fine using sledge hammers on it.

Watching this video made me smile.  At around the one minute mark. you'll see smiths fire welding 3 inch round chain on a rather small anvil.  Perhaps skill and experience are more important then theory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LA_R4ifYk

On 7/6/2018 at 11:13 PM, Steven511 said:

This question has been bugging me all day, and I've yet to find any post on here that can adequately explain the answer to me of why heavier anvils are better - and before you type out that they are better because they give more rebound, I know. What I want to know is why heavier things give more rebound. I've mostly just heard they are better because they have more inertia and therefore don't waste the blow's energy by bouncing around, but that just doesn't make sense to me, because as far as I know the energy is still going into the anvil, it's just not moving it as much. However, I know that heavier anvils do work better, hence my conundrum. Have I got something wrong? Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?

In the sizes of metal most blacksmiths forge, the size of anvil is mote point.  As I have wrote before, I started my blacksmith career on a 350 lb. Fisher, when I went off on my own, I got a 600 plus lb. Fisher, I then downsized to a 400 lb. Fisher, then to a 218 lb. Swedish, and now I'm using and have been for 8 years, a 100 lb. Swedish.  I find the 100 to be able to perform as well as any of the others and it's size is better suited for the work I do.  If I did big enough work to warrant the use of 16 lb. sledges I would use the 400 for the heavy work and the finish work on the 100.  Mostly I see the whole "big is better" as just a "feel good" myth for those that have a big anvil.   

I still own the 600, 400 and 2 100's.  I occasionally use the 400, but the 600 is just collecting dust.

1 hour ago, Chiefum said:

Xxxxx, that's a lot of steel for not much money. What are you using all of that metal for?

Stuff, making stuff is what I do for food.  I was closed for a month, so times are slow.  Once I'm back to up, I'll go through that and more in a couple of weeks.

"That's actually how I found this company I'm working with right now. Cincinnati Metal Supermarkets."  They don't sound like a steel distributor, more like a retail store with high prices.

My current prices as of yesterday:  200 feet of 1/2 round and 200 feet of 1/4 round, total with delivery, $154.63 and that's up quite a bit since three months ago.  I don't deal in weight, so I had to look it up. 185.8 Lbs.

1 hour ago, Daswulf said:

Or if you can locate a metal fab shop or machine shop stop in and talk to them. I found a fab shop more local that gladly lets me in to pick through their drops and leftovers. Prices are always fair because most of the time they already got paid for it. 

 

When I worked at Stokes of England, we always did.  Most of the time, what you could carry was $20.

Try typing "steel distributors" as a search for Cincinnati, you'll find there's a lot.  All the places I've every done business with, have allow me to look at their short racks or scrap bin.  Better to know exactly what you're buying and the price will probably be better.  And if you want a bit more, you can always buy the 20 feet and cut it up there.

3 hours ago, Daswulf said:

If you clean it up with electrolysis you might even find a forge weld line and maybe see a difference in the metal where the higher carbon bit is welded in as well.

If you don't have the set-up for that, you could also use vinegar, it would probable be a three day soak.  As for it's age, who knows?  The style has been made for a long time and is still being made.  

Never to early to start making plans.  The 2020 conference will be held near Saratoga, NY.  Mark Aspery has created a Facebook page to keep folks informed on the event,s doings.  For the first time I've ever seen it, the demonstrators have already been selected.    Once again, myself and Mark Aspery will be at the teaching tent, Tomahawks are very likely to be present :-)

On 7/3/2018 at 2:35 PM, Zachary said:

I’m not brushed up on my terminology but this was folded in half and welded. Then I used a slightly different pattern and welded a bit in the end yet so the weld wouldn’t be running down the middle of the cutting edge 

My mistake, it looked like you had folded and welding the eye from one end, same way Jame Austin does with his Viking axes.  However you did it, it looks nice.

Looks nice.  It looks like you did the asymmetrical eye weld, very cool.

Nicely done, very clean.

ABANA 2018 is over and over all I think it went well.  If I can blow my horn, the teaching tent rocked!   Some of the demos we had was standing room only.  We had 20 forging stations and often the forges were 2 to the forge. 

For the small part I played, I'm quite happy with how it went.  For the tomahawk class, we had planned on 10-15 smiths a day wanting to have a go.  On Saturday, we had over 50, sadly we could only accommodate 30.  We ran a second class on Saturday and had space for 13 more. 

Very nice demo' I missed size of mild steel stock and thickness....caught area needed and marks for center and end of eyes with punch marks Need stock info thanks!!! Also how much coal did you have from the side blast exit to the area you heated your stock? That is where the neutral part of fire is

The size was 10 inches of 1 1/4 by 1/4.  I try for 2 1/2 t0 3 inches above the center of the  tuyere

Fantastic, thanks for the great demo, and Good luck with Abana 2020!

I searched "Pig roasting spit" and received a lot of answers

What I've done there, is counter curve the eye area.   If you take a bar and bend it, the ends will flare upward.  The result is the center is the smallest and the ends the largest*.  If you you curve first, when the bar is bent, it's neutral.  I did it by using a rounding hammer and a swage or one could use the step and peen.

*For those that have made a hinge and had trouble with it being a bit wobbly, this was likely the culprit.

Step three is the curve to create a frustum of a cone.  When the eye is folded over, I will have the taper already started.  If you don't do this, then the only way to get a taper, is to hammer in the drift and forge the top side.  As the weld is there, you're putting a lot of stress on it.

Step four is putting a counter curve on the inside to counter the arch the happens when you fold over a piece of metal.   In both the Cosira book "The Blacksmith's Craft"  and in volume one of Mark Aspery's books, this is discussed in good detail.

Neither of these steps are required, but do make the finish work all but done. 

On 6/7/2018 at 4:59 AM, Jon Kerr said:

Hi there, apologies for the newb questions but I'd really like to try this project. This would be perfect as "limited tooling" is most defiinately where I'm at currently.

Between steps 5-6, is the part forge-welded? Or is it just hammered together, until the high-carbon bit is added, and then forge-welded all in one go?

 

Welded, I find it easier to weld that section and then weld in the bit.  I do the same steps when forging an axe.

Sorry for coming back late, I didn't see the conversation.  

On 5/16/2018 at 11:05 AM, rockstar.esq said:

Gerald,  as I was looking at the photo you posted it occurred to me that your storyboard communicates what needs to happen without language.  That would be a huge advantage for a foreign student, or even a student with limited vocabulary.  I've had teachers whose enthusiasm for the subject led them to talk so much that they complicated a simple lesson.

Another thing that really pops out at me is that your story board is driven by the smiths thought (and working) process rather than the presentation medium.  I've sat through a whole lot of power point presentations that adapted a lesson into "bullet point lists" simply because that's what powerpoint does best.

Ten "slides" with bullet point lists of instructions would be less coherent than the single photo you've presented.

That's true and when I'm finished (timeline is for the ABANA Conference)   I'll actually have two sets, one mounted to the board with notes and one students can handle.

Don't know why this thread has taken a dark turn on possible theft.  But going back to loaning equipment to ABANA:  In the five ABANA conferences I've worked at, I've never heard of any large item stolen.  In fact, the only item I recall from the 20 plus sets of equipment ABANA borrows each conference for the teaching tent, is one pair of gloves.  For which, ABANA promptly paid.

You may not be aware, but California has one of the most active and supportive blacksmith associations.   Here's a link to a listing of forge workshops by CBA.  One of them is in Sacramento. https://www.calsmith.org/ForgeWorkshops

Stencil your name on the anvil and put a stencil or tag on the vice..  Plus, if you're there at the end, just come get it, or ask one of us to put it aside.  Maybe a picket sign with your name and we'll put the anvil and vice there.  When we broke down Salt Lake's teaching tent's equipment, we neatly sorted all the different group's equipment. 

It is, this is a story board work in progress.  Still getting all the bits ready.

Weakness is a terrible thing :-)