Francis Trez Cole

I have never seen the video on box joint I will have to put it on the list

you can make a block of steel with a hardie hole and pritchel hole in the I have an old ASLOP the hardie hole is only 5/8" so I made an anvil with a 1" hardie hole and a 1/2" pritchel hole. Now I take it to all the Demo's I do it is easy to move a round and with students I do not worry about the marring the surface

for your $ a good old cross peen you can shape the face to be more rounded if you like. The most important thing is just get started.

those will work just fine

here is a link to an old clinker breaker there is a set of notes from a work shop peter did after reading the notes I made a set pair of pliers. http://www.blacksmithing.org/CB-Archive/1990/1990-08-cb.pdf

what ever you have will work I started with vice grips and channel locks. Once you learn to control the hammer at that point you can start making tongs. Just get hammering.

I got to take his class a year ago and it was a great experience well worth the time you will pick up so much more I did. That is a very nice set of dividers. its a good start. I have to make time to go into it in a little more depth and finish. this is a picture of the support arm that I built after the one he has on his bench and vice. it is a very handy tool for filing to support the work. if you want to strive to emulate any blacksmith it this time Peter would be well worth the time to strive to.

Fred Crist, Daniel Lea and 32 others like this. Brian Karen Brazeal I tried to bring up a discussion about the faggot weld that is being taught in a lot of blacksmithing associations in America, but I don't think they wanted to talk about it. It seemed they wanted to defend it with nothing of substance. Guess which one is the faggot weld? March 30 at 7:43am · Like · 2 Alec Steele Please run us through it! March 30 at 8:03am · Like · 2 Brian Karen Brazeal Daniel Lea or Alec Steele, will you post this on blacksmithing enthusiasts so we can discuss this? March 30 at 8:05am · Like Alan Dryg The "weakest" looking one?? On the left? March 30 at 8:16am · Like Brian Karen Brazeal Yep. That faggot weld setup is impossible to secure and produce a sound weld. March 30 at 8:18am · Like Brian Karen Brazeal Alec Steele, this is just like the "Habermann bend" that we use to make the hammer tongs and other things. You simply start by bending past 90 degrees, and draw out the corner past the line of the material then forge back to the line. If no one understands what that means, I'm sure Alec can explain it. Alec, use your words to explain this, please. March 30 at 8:32am · Like · 2 Alec Steele Ahh that's cool! March 30 at 8:36am · Like · 1 Alec Steele I'll give it a go March 30 at 8:36am · Like · 1 Alec Steele Then see if I am able to explain it well enough. March 30 at 8:37am · Like · 1 Francis Trez Cole none of the welds pictured is a fagot weld The term Fagot refers to a bundle of sticks. March 30 at 8:40am · Like Alec Steele The weld on the left was a faggot weld. Faggot comes from a bundle of sticks and it is referring to how the sticks would be welded together. Imagine the equal sign is two pieces of steel- = One on top of the other coming from the same direction. March 30 at 8:42am · Like · 1 Brian Karen Brazeal Francis Trez Cole, I did not come up with that name. The blacksmith associations here in America call it by that name. March 30 at 8:43am · Like Blacksmiths Australia In britain now its called same sex marriage...?......lol March 30 at 9:17am · Like · 4 Charles J Durham this pic took me a minute to get, the first pic is a faggot weld pulled apart. second is the stronger version , and third is it being pulled, right? March 30 at 9:53am · Like · 2 Alec Steele Yup! March 30 at 10:04am · Like Brian Karen Brazeal Yep! Notice the nice arc in the forged area and the unforged parent stock. March 30 at 10:06am · Like · 1 Charles J Durham finally see whats going on, had a devil of a time with these and was never happy how the pokers came out. just seemed week. March 30 at 10:08am · Like · 2 Charles J Durham weak* March 30 at 10:09am · Like Francis Trez Cole the name came about in the 14th century. a fagot weld dose work. your concept is an other option to achieve the same thing. that technique I have seen in German iron work. March 30 at 10:29am · Like Alec Steele The faggo weld stays together, but it has no real structural integrity the way it is often carried out. March 30 at 10:35am · Like · 1 Brian Karen Brazeal I don't think you're getting the point, Francis Trez Cole. March 30 at 10:36am · Like Charles J Durham was that a pun? ;0) March 30 at 10:59am · Like · 3 Brian Karen Brazeal I didn't mean it to be. March 30 at 11:00am · Like · 1 Francis Trez Cole I get the point it is an other option. If you do a good weld though it will not come apart. March 30 at 11:52am · Like · 1 Brian Karen Brazeal Francis, you cannot do a good weld that way! Do one and show us and then test it? March 30 at 12:03pm · Like Francis Trez Cole ok I have one that is folded over 4 times but it is the same a weld is a weld. I cut one in half there no inclusions and it is now one piece. That is the point of a good weld. Francis Trez Cole's photo. March 30 at 12:40pm · Like Brian Karen Brazeal Francis Trez Cole, that is not what we have been talking about! I did not think you understood. I started this conversation,and I was very specific. I'm talking about the weld that most associations here in America teach beginners often their first day and have them make a poker. I've seen it all over the U.S. March 30 at 12:49pm · Like · 1 Francis Trez Cole this is what I teach as the first forge weld. But whether it 2 pieces or 100 pieces a good weld is a good weld. Next time I have the forge lit I will do a 2 piece weld that I the way I make forks March 30 at 1:17pm · Like Glenn Viveiros I think I understand what Brian is saying and showing. My take is he thinks it's a poor technique and weak at best. He is showing another way to achieve the same thing with I'm guessing less heats and forge time. And a lot less likely to screw up. March 30 at 1:25pm · Like Francis Trez Cole glenn I do understand what Brian is showing expecting a person to walk up to a forge and weld on the first project is a poor choice of a project the first thing a new person needs to learn is how to control and maintain a good fire. But its not the technique that is bad its the wrong skill to be used for the first project. March 30 at 1:44pm · Like · 1 Brian Karen Brazeal Your correct, Glenn Viveiros, Francis Trez Cole you are not! March 30 at 3:28pm · Like Francis Trez Cole here is a compass divider that I made it is 2 pieces welded together Francis Trez Cole's photo. March 30 at 6:19pm · Like Brian Karen Brazeal You're still not getting it, Francis Trez Cole. March 30 at 6:40pm · Like · 1 Jerry Veneziano The weld in the picture isn't a good one, but that variety of weld has its place. So too does the alternative technique shown. I think a lot of the associations teach it as the first weld because you don't have to worry about lining up the stock, etc. I don't; I use a chain link, same results, better weld. March 30 at 8:41pm · Like · 1 Jerry Veneziano And while it's not the major thrust of this thread, I see nothing wrong with a forge weld as one of, or the, first project for the forge. Demystify the darned thing, let's people find out how easy they actually are before the voices screaming how a weld is "so hard, really an advanced technique" poisons their mindset. March 30 at 8:43pm · Like · 2 Reinier Hoving I think you are right Brian about the faggot weld as you showed in the pictures. If you double a piece and then weld it, then the place where the weld ends and the two bars come apart a crack is very likely to form making it a weak point. Making it lik...See More March 31 at 1:16pm · Like · 1 Brian Karen Brazeal You can also put a collar around the two pieces and then weld them, and that also solves the problems with the other setup, or upset a scarf, or draw down like the blob weld. All these ways can work, but the way they teach here alway leaves it weak. You can also pile on material and weld it. March 31 at 1:25pm · Like · 1 I was able to link the full discussion for you

I posted this in an other form on facebook. First let me say a good weld is a good weld and a bad weld is bad. I do not teach forge welding as a first project its a poor choice. Next I teach my students to make a fagot weld by folding the stock over 4 times. I cut a weld I did in half to show no inclusions. Students should be taught fire management first. This is a picture of a pair of compass dividers This is the same type of weld folding over and welding it back to it self Yes it can be done I know it is not a poker but it is the same weld

nice work it is great to explore the past.

I have used a few tire hammers over the years it was my second choice to finding an old one (which I did). The plans are very easy to understand. The good thing about building the hammer your self. is if any thing goes wrong it is easy to fix. Clay did a Demo here a few years ago it is a well thought out tool. The only problems I have ever heard of was the mounting plate on the motor separating from the motor casing (factory weld braking).

I started with charcoal and a bellows. You have to have a deep fire the thing with charcoal you will use twice as much by volume as coal. so if you use 1 shovel full of coal you will now be using 2 or more charcoal. to much air can push the fire out of the fire pot as well.

when it all comes down to it.The hammer is not the key it is the person swinging it a well trained blacksmith can pick up any style hammer and get the same results. I like a hammer in the 3# range. I do use a 5# hammer for big stock over 3/4". For some one new you are better off getting a cross peen hammer and dressing the face. Which you have to do any way with store bought hammers. Then learn to make your own. When you have some basics under your belt.

thanks it was a fun project and kept me challenged. I will have to make a few more just for the fun of it

So to hold the flower to the stem I needed a rivet. This is what I came up with.

I have friends that do it I see no real benefit except all the dust turns into a mud that can make a heck of a dome for forge welding

a few years ago A wasp built a nest in the burner tube. It was exciting when I lit it. Have a 5' black snake living in the shop found his skin in the welding table. My son saw him out sunning yesterday

in one of my books written in the 1910 it talks about using high carbon steel for the jaws and low carbon steel for the reins. an other source prior to the 1800 most bar stock was square and not round but there is evidence of the reins being welded on. Maybe they were striving to make better tools.

Ok it is a 2 hp 1725 rpm Boldor motor. I have seen people use an old transmission from a old car to gear it down. I did a side mount because of height. I just had a tow truck meet me and he loaded it in to the back of my pickup with no problems. easy $75.00 I ever spent but well worth every cent. replacement belts are not expensive Mc Master carr sells them easy to install. The dies are not the original. as far as a base mine is on a bunch of salt treated 2"x6" stock bolted together. there 4 holes in the base of the hammer and it is bolted to a concrete block. the motor stand is bolted to the block as well. With a few connecting arms holding the 2 parts together. It works well

This is mine once you get it running right you can do one hit with it. I was designed to be able to weld wagon rims 1"thick 4" wide 36" in Dia. The number one is 65 pound and they made one that had a 125# hammer. There is an other post you will find a lot of information there. I did a lot of research and posted it here with pictures of the restoration and the link to the pattern of the hammer

First you listed a forge but do you have fuel for it? Second all one needs is an anvil, forge,and a hammer you can learn to make every thing else. Try not to over think it. You are a beginner. Join you local blacksmiths group. and make a bunch of beginning projects. and as you learn you will make the tools you need. You can get a lot more bang for your buck with making the tools.

its a good start over the years you will make other I am sure.

some times more is not better do all parts of the tongs partly and then go back and refine each area keeping in mind the tong charts of size each section. It helped me a lot.

I have found when making tongs the material of the jaw holds up better if it is thicker next to the boss and thinner at the end. Nice looking tongs

on the right path