HWooldridge

Much faster to forge them if you have access to a power hammer - although we had a local smith who did them for years with just his good right arm; you would not have wanted to arm wrassle him. The City of San Antonio would bring out a dump truck full once a month and he did nothing but forge jackhammer bits all day long. $.50 apiece in the old days - I think he was up to a dollar by the time he retired. Your basic technique is OK but they may break without a draw after quench. Some operators will bust them on purpose so they can stop working for a while - best to leave them on the soft side.

Our prayers and help are needed for both Myanmar and China. The scale of human suffering is truly stupendous and boggles the mind.

I had a Harris set that was stolen out of my truck. It worked great but I replaced them with Victor because it was easier to obtain and support.

Dan, I did the reverse of you - started in the city and moved to the country. As such, I hid in plain sight. I did not go around and volunteer information but when someone asked what I was doing in that shed, the response was that I did a little welding on the side. That wasn't a fib as I had a welder and used it once in a while so the neighbors could see the arc reflecting at night. The coal smoke and banging were just part of being a "weldor". One of the neighbors remarked that they could never figure out why the windows and dishes shook occasionally - I didn't say that it was probably the 100 lb hammer running. This is even funnier when you consider the neighbors did call the police once when I was hitting a speed bag in the carport. Apparently, that sounded like someone trying to get out of a locked room or so I was told. I showed them the bag and they left in less than a minute. Never got another call and I worked there regularly almost ten years.

Evfreek, I didn't know what your experience level was so tried to write an all encompassing commentary - I apologize if I overstated the obvious. Before I learned to forge weld, I had several years of welding with an O/A torch and that helped me at the forge. The basic fire characteristics and appearance of the steel are similar but you are hammering instead of puddling. "White and sparkly" is bad in either process. I believe a large part of successful forge welding is related to fuel and fire size. I have pretty much always used bad coal and been mildly successful (and I've never been able to consistently weld in the gas forge - sometimes it works and sometimes not) but it was always a fight even in a coal forge. The problem was that I didn't know what good coal was and bought several tons of substandard stuff so I had to use it - it's hot but clinkers VERY quickly. I used to watch demonstrators at workshops hit forge welds all the time and kept wondering why I had so much trouble. Several years ago, I demo'ed at a folklife fair and used their forge with high quality coal from the Midwest. The fire stayed clean for a long time and was very hot so I started playing with a variety of different forge welds. I wound up hitting every one - this was working in front of a crowd by myself. I used Sure Weld for flux and the welds did not spray everywhere - just a few small squirts (the crowd was behind a barrier so I felt safe doing this). At the end of 8 hours, there were two small clinkers about 2" wide in the pot near the blast and I had 9-10 welded pieces laying around. More than anything else, this impressed on me the need for high quality fuel. I asked for and was given a bucket of coal, which I took home and used in my forge. The results were the same - easy and fast welds with little effort. Unfortunately, I don't know where the coal came from - but it was typical stoker size that coked easily and burned a long time. I think Alwin's comments are spot on and with all that said, a large portion of your problems could be related to fuel quality, fire size and how dirty it gets between heats - or it could simply be how you are holding your tongue...:-0

Well, nobody else answered all of your questions so I'll take a stab at it... The basic mating surfaces should be close to the same size. In other words, it is not recommended to stick 5/16 straight to 5/8 without a transition. Generally, that means upsetting the smaller and drawing down the larger so they are similar. A corollary to this is that - at least for me - the pieces are square in cross section. Rounding up can be done later if the stock is round, although Francis Whitaker talked of welding in swages so it could be completed in one heat with no extra work. In addition, the scarfs should match and I find it easier to make points rather than a straight chisel edge. For me, a straight edge sometimes causes a notch that weakens the parent stock, while a point blends well. You figured out that putting the heavy piece lengthwise on the anvil helped so I won't comment further but keep in mind that there were helpers by the dozen in old shops and four hands is better than two for this type of work. You may think I cheat and that's OK, but I make up the proper joints for a forge weld and then dot the sides with the MIG. It's certainly not homogenous until forge welded but I don't have to fight with two pieces just to prove I can do it. A proper forge welding heat on mild steel is a glassy looking, incandescent yellow white. It should hurt your eyes just a bit to look at the fire and the steel. The exterior will start to appear almost liquid (I really think you overheated the pieces, which is why the piece broke in the vise and you got a huge shower of sparks. The only thing coming off a forge weld should be some flux). More importantly than fluxing the entire bar is getting enough heat on both sides of the weld. In reality, very litte flux is required and some smiths are renowned for not using any at all so 'less is more'. For example, welding 1/2 to 1/2 requires at least 4-5 inches of high heat on each piece so put them together and you'll have a good 8 inches or so of bright yellow with the ends incandescent and lightly sparking. I weld early in the day if the work permits to insure a clean fire. If that is not possible, I let the fire cool and clean it thoroughly. I bring the blast up quickly in a deep fire, watch the fire for that bright, lemon white color then reduce the blast to let the pieces soak and catch up to temp. A few bursting sparks at the top of the fire and it's out and under the hammer. A good weld should go "Spat!" when you hit it. I can't explain the noise but you'll know it when you hear it. Re hitting it hard - if you tap and it doesn't stick, then no harm to the material. Clean and reweld it. If you clobber it, the scarfs are shot and you'll have to start all over. However, once stuck all the way around, drawing down under heavy hammering helps finish the joint. If they don't stick, don't go any further - cool the pieces, clean them thoroughly to get rid of all scale and go back for another try. Other points: After upsetting, the center of the scarfs should touch first. If they don't do this cold, you will probably get a cold shut in the center of the weld from trapped scale. Don't hammer a fresh weld (first heat) at too low a temp - they will often split. It's not a sin to take a second heat to finish it. Most welds are a glue job anyway unless you can reduce the stock size quite a bit so upsetting 3/8 to 1/2 and bringing a good weld back to 3/8 will make the weld take much better. I do a lot of pieces of 3/4 to 3/8 (both square) so the small stock gets a big upset and the large stock gets drawn to 5/8. The last step is to use the power hammer to bring the joint down to 3/8, which makes the weld typically disappear. I have twisted through these and they won't split but the scarf tips are usually about 2-3 inches apart so the upset areas move quite a bit. Practice some faggot welds with the 5/8 square. Cut most of the way through on the hardy, fold back, flux and weld. After cooling, put the bar in the vise and hit the short piece from the side. A bad weld will split and break away. Above all, practice makes perfect so don't get discouraged.

Hand Forged Wrought Iron Designs and Home Accents : www.comalforge.com A few things on the custom page - mostly fireplace stuff but you can get some ideas and there are a couple simple gates.

Go light on the black pepper. For a dry rub, I use salt, a dash of both black and cayenne pepper (not much), a little cumin, some cinnamon, garlic powder and a little brown sugar. I also marinate in a bit of honey and Worcestershire the night before then put the rub on just before it goes on the fire. Sear lightly over mesquite coals then put in the back of the cooker to roast. I think pork has plenty of juice so I don't baste during cooking but some people do to retain moisture.

Hi Bruce, I currently run 100 lb tanks with neoprene fuel line crimped to each fitting but like you, have been considering a larger, more permanent setup. A friend who is a plumber gave recommendations to me of putting the tank on a slab, running a metal flex hose from the tank to hard copper, the copper pipe into the building and putting drops against each wall with a valve, drip leg and quick disconnect fittings. Lines to the forges can be propane rated hose with mating disconnects. In case of a fire, the valve on the wall can be shut first followed by the main tank valve. In all cases, follow local fire code so you don't get ticketed.

Injection molding plants often toss out their old ejector pins, which are usually made from H13. You might check to see if any are around you as a scrap source.

A buddy of mine had one of the 130 lb Mankels and it was a good anvil - similar to a Kohlswa to work on.

I replated the Peter Wright with a piece of spring steel off a scrapped bucket crawler. I was lucky that two of the helper springs on this rig were a uniform thickness, the right width and about 3 feet long. After I cut the piece to length, heated and flattened it out of its curved position, plus the drilling and chiseling for the pritchel and hardy; I spaced it off the anvil with 3/8 round stock and welded it from the inside out to the edge with E6011 rod. A buddy and I flipped it upside down on a chain from a jib crane, heated it to light orange with a coal forge (that took about an hour), flipped it back over and set it on the ground then poured water from two wheelbarrows and a big galvanized tank on top of the anvil. It also took a garden hose to keep it cool enough not to draw the temper from the residual heat. This produced a good hard face but it really wasn't enough water as the heel around the hardy didn't get very hard - whatever you do, DON"T submerge a hot anvil in water as the steam pockets will make the face crack (been there done that on another repair) unless you have a lot of movement in the water - like a flowing river - I can tell you for certain that a stock trough doesn't work... As you can see, this anvil is taller than normal but is a great tool and it has served me faithfully for many years of hard and frequent use.

To those people who do not currently own a good anvil but wish to do some serious forging - you should definitely study the tools that the Brazeal Brothers developed. Their demo anvil was a piece of 2 inch thick plate, about 16 inches square, set on edge in an angle iron stand, with 4 different working surfaces available for use. One surface was a butcher or side set, one was flat and the other two were different bottom fullers. A small leg vise and small anvil completed the setup but these guys were able to work wonders with non-traditional tool designs. Enjoy your London or European pattern if that is what you have or can obtain, but do not ignore unusual surfaces that can be used to forge works of art. Think outside of the box...

It's a lot of work to do what you suggest. Definitely possible - but much labor is involved. I have added carbon steel plates to the faces of several wrought anvils that had either lost their plates or been broken with use. It's a lot of work to do it right and you need the tools and "know-how" to do it correctly. I rebuilt a 175 lb Trenton that lost the entire face; apparently, the weld was bad and the whole plate popped off at some point in the past. The smith that brought it to me wanted it fixed so we did some of the work together and he had a nice anvil when it was finished (welding and heat treating was required) but it was several days worth of work. Not everyone is inclined to put in the time. My 250 lb Peter Wright was repaired the same way - but I did it over 20 years ago and am still using the anvil so was definitely worth the effort to me. Everyone has to make the decision whether to modify an ASO or buy a good quality tool out of the chute.

Texas is very nice for bikers - except in July and August due to the temps. We've had a mild winter and as I write this, it's 65 F at 2300 hours. Days are in the 80's but I'm sure she'll get warm as we move into May. The Texas Hill Country is very popular with Harley clubs and has a multitude of sights to see.

My son went to Iraq and was injured - but he should recover completely. I offer up a father's prayers for your brother.

Truly a great man. I shook his hand years ago but never was able to study under him. He will be sorely missed.

High carbon in one crate - low carbon in another. I usually toss out mild steel that is less than about 5 inches long unless it's an odd shape (like oval section). Short bits of high carbon are very useful for a variety of tools so not much is wasted.

They are indistinguishable - see below nos. 1, 5, 9 and 12 under "Art" and 1, 2 and 9 under "Craft". Art; (ahrt) - Pronunciation[ahrt]

It's missing the lever mechanism, which has a one way clutch to drive the wheel on the downstroke. The wheel runs a leather belt that drives the blower. If everything is set up and running right, they are good machines but do take up some room. Figure some time to get it running if you decide to buy it.

I once had a Trapper's model made by none other than Schrade back in the 1930's. It was a very large knife and opened to about 9-10 inches overall. I did a little research and was able to determine they marketed it expressly for the sportsman who might be be holding something with one hand and able only to use the other. The spring lock was a bar about 1/4" wide that engaged notches 180 degrees apart. The blade was under tension only when fully closed and if partially opened, could be locked with a flick of the wrist. The blade also had a hole in it where a guard pivoted that lay flat when closed and crossways to the handle when open. In Texas, they've pretty much banned the open wearing of anything - including lock blades and fixed blades. Law enforcement usually don't hassle law abiding folks with one on their hips but it's illegal nonetheless.

What he said...;-) I just overhauled one that had sat unused for about 40 years. The gears had stiff grease in them and there were mud dauber nests in the fan case so everything was stuck. I put diesel in the crankcase and worked it very gently (after removing the wasp domiciles). I flushed and dumped the contents several times until there was no more trash floating out of the gear case. I then blasted the innards with compressed air and liberally coated everything with ATF. At this point, it turned easily and produced lots of blast. Two weeks later, we used it for a full weekend's worth of work at a local folklife festival. They all leak at the fan case so that is a design characteristic - not a flaw. Just keep puttin a few drops of oil everyday.

One of the old "Anvil's Ring" magazines had an article about a German factory that was still making welded face anvils in the 1950's. It was a fairly complete article about methods and tools required.

Yes, it really makes no difference - whatever works for your shop.

This issue is dependent on two separate things - one is technology and capacity to produce an anvil, which has improved since the 1800's and the other is production volume for the manufacturer, which has decreased substantially in that same time. Smiths went from rocks to lumps of metal to iron blocks as civilization advanced. The London pattern with welded face was the best design for a long time, but all wrought anvils suffer from the problems of chipped faces and collapsed bodies in areas where repetitive work is done. Fisher came along and more or less solved that problem so I would venture to suggest that the Fisher design was the best anvil ever made for the purpose. However, it was developed toward the end of the time when armies of blacksmiths stood at anvils all day long in every town. Today, we have many ways to produce anvils but only so many are cost effective. It is highly doubtful anyone will ever again make a wrought iron anvil with welded face, since that technology and material is about gone. However, casting from tool steel, as Jymm does in his anvils, is suitable for both cost effective production and daily use by a smith. The Hoffman anvil or the new Hofi anvil, are made with the smith in mind and entirely suitable to pass on to your grandkids - but a good condition Hay Budden or Trenton will serve to do the same. In the end, it's the work the smith produces that matters, not what he used to make it.