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I Forge Iron

george m.

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Posts posted by george m.

  1. Dear Tom,

    "Backyard" or not google or otherwise look up "super quench."  It was formulated at Sandia National Laboratory which, IMO, is a pretty respectable pedigree.  I have seen a chisel forged from a bar of mild steel, hardened in supper quench, and then used to cut a piece off of the bar from which the chisel was forged.  The edge of the chisel was still sharp.

    I have been able to make RR spike knives reasonably hard with super quench.

    Is high carbon steel better? Yes. Can you do fairly well with mild steel and super quench? Also, yes.

    Hardeningly,

    George M.

  2. I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the difference between hot and cold rolled steel.

    Hot rolled is manufactured with the steel hot enough to be plastic.  As a result the corners are a bit rounded.  Normally 3/8" square is the smallest size I've been able to purchase but a couple of times I've encountered 1/4" square.

    Cold rolled is just that.  The corners of the square stock are sharp and crisp.  Sometimes you want that but often hot rolled is just fine. Cold rolled is more expensive than hot rolled.  Cold rolled is often sold as "key stock" which is used as "keys" to fasten cog wheels to their axles.  Cold rolled is available in smaller sizes than hot rolled.  I've bought it down to 1/8" square.

    Hot rolled usually comes in 20' pieces to the supplier from the steel mill.  Cold rolled comes in 12' lengths.

  3. We have a bunch of cats and one in particular is my shop cat.  As soon as I'm in the shop he is in the window wanting in.  The only down side is that he often thinks that I'm only in the shop to pay attention to him.  However, once he has had enough attention or I convince him that he isn't going to get any or any more he will settle down and just hang out with me.  He is not bothered by the sound of loud power tools.

    On the whole I like the company.  I sometimes talk to him and explain what I'm doing or comment on how things are going.

    I'm not sure how good an idea it would be if you are thinking of having cats which just live in the shop.  It gets too cold in Kearney for that.

    Also, I have had cats who think the coal box is a big litter box with funny black litter.

    Felinely,

    George M. 

     

  4. Laramie is my emotional hometown.  I attended the University of Wyoming there for both undergraduate and grad school.  It also has the association of meeting my late wife there.

    It is my understanding that the Medicine Bow Mountains are so named because the Native Americans would make particularly strong bows from the mountain mahogany bushes which grow on the lower elevations.

    The Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains in N. Wyoming is a really cool place.  I understand that there are other medicine wheels throughout the northern plains area.

    If you ever get out west again I could show you some interesting things in that part of Wyoming.

    "Powder River!  Let 'er buck!"

    George M.

  5. Dear Smoothbore,

    Minor geographic quibble:  You can't see the Medicine Bow mountain range from Fort Laramie.  The Laramie Mountains and Laramie Peak are in the way.  The Medicine Bows are visible to the west of the City of Laramie which is about 100 miles SW of Fort Laramie.

    The legacy of fur trapper Jacque La Ramie is somewhat confusing.  The City of Laramie is in Albany County and located in the Laramie Basin and is beside the Laramie River.  Laramie County is to the east of Albany County and contains the City of Cheyenne.  Fort Laramie (originally called Ft. John) is about 100 miles NE of the City of Laramie and was so named because it is on the Laramie River near its confluence with the North Platte River.  And Laramie Peak is the highest point in the Laramie Range and is located west of Ft. Laramie and was a major landmark on the Oregon Trail.  It was the first mountain the immigrants would see.  By that time they would have been on the trail a month or more.

    Geographically,

    George M. 

  6. Dear Max,

    As others have said, we've all been at the same place you are.  In 1978 I found a forge and anvil at an auction, cleaned the mouse nest and pine sap out of the blower, got some books from the library, found some nasty old slaked sub-bituminous coal, built a fire, and started pounding on hot iron.  And here I am.  The best bit of advice I can give you is to remember that blacksmithing is largely hand/eye coordination.  It's like learning to play a video game, sawing wood, swinging an axe, or any other activity.  The other part is knowing where to hit something and how hard to hit to perform the operation you are trying to do.  Also, if you watch a video or read instructions on how to make something immediately go out and actually do it.  I say this because, as Francis Whittaker said, muscle memory lasts longer than mental memory.

    Encouragingly,

    George M. 

  7. Dear Mitch,

    Here are some photos.  This tripod has one closed loop and two spiral topped legs.  It would work the other way around.  The point is being able to lock them together as a tripod and take them apart for a gallows frame. 

    One disadvantage could be that when you are driving them into the ground for a gallows frame you are hammering on the top of the loops.  If the ground is hard you could get distortion in the loops.  Since this one is made of half inch square it is beefy enough that I don't think that would be much of a problem.  If it was made of 3/8" square there could be an issue.

    Convertingly,

    George M.

    House renovations & iron tripod 038.JPG

    House renovations & iron tripod 039.JPG

    House renovations & iron tripod 040.JPG

  8. Hudson's Bay Company records record iron rods, etc. being shipped out via canoe brigades to blacksmiths at the various fur trading posts in western Canada.  There are also records from the posts of the various trade items produced by the smiths, usually over the winter months.  During the summer it seems that it was repair work mainly.

    Frontier smiths along the immigration trails in the US made a good living repairing the immigrants' wagons and gear at whatever rates the trade would bear.  Also, I am sure that there was a great deal of trade for items that the immigrants didn't want to haul any further.  By the time they got to Ft. Laramie or Ft. Bridger the idea of hauling that bed  or rocking chair all the way on to Oregon or California didn't look all that great.

  9. Re campfire tripods:  The way I make them is to have 2 legs with closed loops at the top and 1 leg with a turn and half spiral loop at the top.  The first two thread onto the 3d very securely.  If a gallows frame rig is wanted the 2 closed loop legs form the uprights and the spiral topped one the horizontal member.

  10. Dear Bo,

    Try the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, NE.  I'm not sure what they have on their website but they have displays of quite a number of artifacts that were made by fur trade blacksmiths, many from the Hudson's Bay Company.  They may have a number of books for sale which will have some good chapters.

    There is also the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, WY.  I haven't been there but I hear it is good.

    Try to get a copy of "Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men" by Carl P. Russell, reprinted by Skyhorse Publishing, 2011.  There is quite a bit about fur trade blacksmiths.  Also, "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork" by Marc Simmons and Frank Turley (who participates on this forum), Museum of New Mexico Press, 1980 would be a valuable resource and would illustrate the ironwork used in the fur trade which came north from Taos and Santa Fe. 

    Remember, fur trade blacksmiths would have been located in permanent bases such as fur trade posts or forts, e.g. Bent's Fort, Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger, etc..  they would have served the local population and would have manufactured trade goods such as fire steels and awls.  The free trappers or organized brigades wouldn't have had much iron work with them and would have utilized a blacksmith to repair beaver traps or fire arms and to obtain the afore mentioned trade items.  There would probably have been more repair work for people at the fort or the trading post.

    Blacksmiths did accompany major expeditions such as Lewis and Clark and Jed Smith and were present at the various Redezvous.

    Good luck and if you like I can probably find some photos I have taken of displays at the Museum of the Fur Trade.

    Ferrously,

    George M. 

     

    PS One experience I had with fur trade blacksmithing is that some years ago (but not as many as it sounds like) in Laramie, WY I made a reproduction buffalo skinning knife for a guy.  When I was finished he didn't have the agreed to cash and I took a buffalo skull in trade.  I subsequently traded the skull and a couple of tanned deer hides for a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary which is still in my library and is a regular reference book for me.

    Also, I have found that camping type ironwork such as campfire tripods, etc. are popular with fur trade re-enactors.

    GM

  11. Dear Torment,

     

    If the inside of your barrel is black and charred it is an old whisky barrel and should hold liquid once the wood swells up.  If not, it is probably something that was likely built in China to be a planter.  Can you tell the type of wood?  Whisky barrels are made out of oak.  If it is pine it is definitely a planter.

     

    I have thought about getting a half whisky barrel for a slack tub but they are just too big for my shop.

  12. Another thing to consider is the changing purchasing power of the dollar.  The U.S. Department of Labor has a cool inflation calculator on its websites.  Just goolge "department of Labor inflation calculator" and you should go right to it. It covers all years from 2015 back to about 1910.  It is interesting to see what values we remember in our lives would be today.  For example, I was making $13k/year in 1975.  To have the same purchasing power today would take around $52k/year.  Also, if you are beefing about the cost of gas put in 1960s price per gallon and see what it would be today.  You'll be surprised.

     

    Inflationarily,

    George M.

  13. Dear Winginit,

     

    You might try putting some chocks (wedges) under the wheels while forging.  It would add some stability.  At some point you will be hitting the anvil in such a way as to give it a lateral push, e.g. if you are bending something down over the heel because the end of the piece bends back and has to go under the heel.

     

    If you are going to make knives out of the RR spikes look up "super quench" on the internet.  It hardens spikes pretty well.  Quench but don't temper.  If there is a C on the head of the spike it is higher carbon steel than the regular ones.

     

    Good luck.

     

    GM

  14. Dear Notownkid,

     

    How many $ were involved?  I am guessing that the radio was worth a few hundred dollars.  It seems that they went to a lot of trouble to try to rip you off of something worth that little.  If the value was in the thousands it would make sense.  Maybe there is a vast market for vacuum tube radios of which I am unaware.

  15. I have kept a bench book for years with memos and instructions to my future self.  If I make something only occasionally I write down instructions for myself so that I don't have to try to recall something I did 5 years ago.  Maybe it will be of some value to someone in the future besides me but I often send thanks back down the time line to my former self for having the foresight and wisdom to instruct me.

  16. This is a great idea and I can tell you from personal experience that the control and creative process is great for addressing stress and PTSD. I will contact the local American Legion and VFW to see if there is anyone around here with an interest.

    George M.
    Infantry Platoon Leader, 1st Cav. Div., Viet Nam, 1970-71


    PS Someone could infer my military experience from the pin on my boonie hat in my photo.

  17. Dear Cody and others,

     

    Back in 1978 when I got my forge I followed the instructions cast into the bowl, "Clay before using."  I got some fire clay and laid it in to form a shallow cone from the edge towards the tuyere.  I found it broke up and also welded itself together with the clinkers.  I removed the clay and have used the forge successfully for the last 37 years.  There has never been any cracking of the bowl or other problems.  I would avoid using large amounts of water to quench a fire to avoid thermal shock but that's about it.  I've had to replace the tuyere twice and will need to do it again within the next year or so.

     

    My experience is that claying a forge is more tradition than anything that will actually avoid a problem.  One of those, "The guy who taught me clayed his forge so that is what I'm going to teach my students" things.

     

    I suspect that the manufacturer was just trying to avoid potential liability.  That was an issue a century ago as it is today.  You can make something foolproof but you can't make it damfool proof.

     

    Claylessly,

    George M.

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