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I Forge Iron

Ratel10mm

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Posts posted by Ratel10mm

  1. I had the good fortune to be at Owen Bush's sword - oriented weekend last year, and got to wield a hand-&-half sword made (iirc) by American Arms. It was pretty unwieldy - felt it's weight, and was hard to move around. Then I had a go with the same design, but made by Peter Johnsson. It was near identical to look at (Apparently the AA is one of Peter's designs?) but the difference was astounding. It went exactly where you wanted, without you even needing to think about it. I reckon you could have used that sword all day & hardly noticed it.
    Peter explained in his lecture that it's all down to the nodes & harmonics, which is a function of getting the ratios & balances in the whole sword exactly right. I wish I had a transcript or video of his lecture, it was both amazingly good and outstandingly informative.

    In short, looking like a sword doesn't make it a sword! ;)

    Here's a link to the thread on British Blades in case you're interested.

  2. I don't know from your description if this will help, but one of the best tricks I've learned is to move your whole body, not just your hands when grinding. It makes the grind much more even - something I found impossible to do by hand alone as I was see-sawing the piece over the wheel.

  3. Hey, if you don't want it, how much will it cost to post it here? lol!

    Seriously, I agree with everyone else. Admittedly fuel cost in the U.K. is highway robbery, but that anvil looks worth the gamble to me too. If you have a cheaper vehicle to run, take it - you don't need a Landy to haul an anvil. ;)
    Also, I'd try to make the trip multi-task - see if you can find other useful stuff en route, like a fly press, or blacksmiths to visit. That way, should the anvil turn out to be not what you want, the trip won't feel a total waste. :) If you tell me/us where the anvil is, I/we may know someone to visit on route. Or one of the U.K. guys may be on route. (PM me by all means)

  4. Well considered posts everyone. I think perhaps another problem with new folk is that they may well be new to forums as well, and not understand the etiquette(sp?), so they just butt in & ask their question. It happens on every forum I visit.
    And I've noticed that you even get members who've been around a while asking (usually) off topic questions without doing a search first! :o
    Sometimes the question you want to ask doesn't seem to fit with any of the existing posts. I found that yesterday, hence my post about naming my forge. Someone will probably think the subject's been covered, perhaps in the thread about Forge Names. :huh:
    As for referring people to the posts, etc. I will do, and I appreciate it when I am so directed. But I feel awkward about sending the 'I want to make a sword' guys to Don Fogg's, British Blades, Bladeforums, etc. It's like I'm being disrespectful to the members here. Thoughts?

  5. Hi all
    So although I don't consider myself a proper blacksmith (still lots to learn, skills to master, etc), I don't think it can hurt to have a name & maybe a touchmark to help with marketing for if/when I do get to do this more full time.

    I have 2 ideas for a name:

    Rivermead Forge: We used to live at Rivermead Cottages in the U.K. & still miss it, it was a beautiful spot. I like the name as it seems to project a folksy, crafty image.

    Fivesquared Forge: The no. 5 is important to my wife & I. So squaring it makes it even more so. The odd name may get people asking why, which would get the conversation going & hopefully lead to a sale.

    Rivermead forge would be a fairly complex stamp. Here's the rough design so far - a river leading from the letter R, and the letter F formed from a hammer and tongs. It's rough!
    Copy_of_Rivermead_Forge_TM.JPG

    Fivesquared would have 2 touchmarks. Qty. 5 of the number 5 arranged in a circle, and 5

  6. Assuming it's all laid in the same direction (I forget if that's cable or hawser laid :rolleyes:), the technique I've found easiest is to get it red hot, flux, get it to welding temp, clamp one end in a vice, and twist it in the direction of the lay. This works very well with the stuff I've used to set the weld. Once you've got it set, take it to the hammer.

    Edit: You may want to mig weld or otherwise fix the end that you're clamping so it doesn't spread.

    Please excuse me if you already knew all that, and good luck with the next welds. :)

  7. The U.K. used to be 240V for single phase. Then the EU decided to get everyone to use the same voltage, so now they're 230V. BUT.... the tolerance is 10%, so the only thing that's actually changed is it's called 230, not 240V! :D
    And 3 phase in europe is 415V.

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