jake pogrebinsky

******* :)

Exellent,Bryan,you're happening! B)

Hey,that's pretty cool!Never woulda thunk that it'd hang in there,that a way!(I'd still be tempted to ferrulise it somehow-above,below,both-just a narrow band or two.Either that,or handle with a knobkerrie-like rootball grained handle,terminating in a burl...).
Neat job!

Thanks,Yance,and everyone,for the info,appreciate it(I'd love to see the video,but my connection speed here makes it impossible,thanks anyway).
Good job on these,again,and would be great to see any others that you'll be making.
Cheers,and good forging!

"Thoughts?"

Dave,have you burnt/overworked the top jaw,in the first picture?(Sure looks like it,i've a 2-3 sets under the forge with the jaw missing...)?

Just in case,even if i'm wrong,there's no need to transition so abruptly.It's always best to "fillet" the corners(much like the other trades,the reason-stress risers).

Otherwise-solid,workable tongs,should last a while.Good going!

Yance,these look neat.What are they?"Trade" by whom,with whom?And,at what point in history?(Forgive my ignorance).
The compression eyes are cool,i like them in any manifestation,but in general-are these felling axes(look i little light in the poll),or ...?

Respect,Jake

One standard way is to saw most of the way through the stock,then break the rest.The break will,in most cases,expose the fibrous structure.

Another is a spark-test.WI will throw a stream of dark color,with very little secondary sparklers that are carbides.That you can do together with testing a known mild steel bar,as the test is RELATIVE.

WI is simply an old form of mild(low C),structural steel.It'll still have some C,S,P and many other potential components.

The ultimate test is to use it for what you intend to use it for,that'll tell you everything! :P

Wow...Madrone firewood!You temperate-zone folks are something else,what wealth!

But as to the rest,i can relate entirely.Bailing wire&duct tape hold this entire state together,without them life here would grind to a halt.That's what i used to use,too,on the maul handles,with no good result,however.The duct tape cracks and blows away in the cold,and i think that the wire wraps,being all separate,each embed into the wood,damaging the grain,instead of spreading the impact...

Rawhide is a good idea,it'll probably work(provided that one kept everything dry,for the rot underneath,and to keep it from loosening(the lashing on snowshoes gets pretty soggy some spring days).Also the rodentae like the stuff lots.

Imported cowhide is fairly cheap,also there's tons of moosehide around.Caribou is pretty thin,but will do,i suppose.Technically speaking,any deer-family rawhide is undesirable in any tensile application,it'll keep on stretching in perpetuum.But a tight,frozen rawhide sleeve will probably come close to the strengh of steel,but even more viscous,i'd guess.

One may have to provide a place for the wrap like that in the geometry of the haft,so it doesn't slide down(like the store-bought rubber bumpers).Then maybe one can do a hemp rope wrap,covered in rawhide,like the sword-grip of yore!

As to splitting wood,yes,the maul is the correct tool in most situations.An 8# axe-eye nas been my main survival tool for decades now.However,(almost)the same ratio applies here as in forging-a moderate sledge blow vs a high-velocity blow with a small hammer.
It takes more strategy and precise aim,that brain vs brawn deal,that we,theoretically,should moult into as we age(minus a certain % that gets chalked up to the natural selection,winterkill,et c).
For a number of years i've been a functioning cripple,(according to friends i resemble a stepped-on beetle in my movements).I'm beginning to switch over to a nasty old 3# double-bit for splitting,WHEN it works,it sure is easier.It'd help to switch to a side-load stove/shorter lenghs,now i split wood over 2' long,and right now am probably on my 12-14th cord,for the season...
But yeah,i hear you,it's all very germaine,and worth putting some thought into.

Thanks,Bigfootnampa,it's kind of you to say all that.The handles,in particular,are a conundrum to me.Well,it all is-creating the sculptural,while being a severest tool abuser myself.
Around here handles come and go like leaves on trees...Limbing is very rough on them,so is ice.Splitting wood at -20 and lower is very destructive,et c.

Recently i've chanced to see one man's axes that had a steel piece extending from the front of an eye down the handle about 8-10",as a guard.Some were welded to the head,and others extended inside the eye hooking over the top.All were then fastened into the haft.Made me wonder if i shouldn't try something of a sort,one of these days.
(I'm undecided weather a steel chunk would be likely to cause more damage,when struck,or it'll distribute the shock along the handle sufficiently to actually do the intended job).

Bryan,i'm sorry-it's wrong to suggest that you go out of your way for yet more gear,when obviously you've already gone quite beyond the call of duty with that anvil,and even the factory gas forge.You've certainly enough to work with,and yet,the crank is such a RIGHT tool...
You haven't,by chance,ask old man Dick,at the AK Feed?He'd be the first on my FBKS list.Also,now that you're settled in the area,sometime you may want to check out the Fbks Antique Engine Club.They're a group of mostly retired machinists/mechanics/welders,working on restoring old FM makes-and-breaks,and the like.There're a few smiths in that crowd,and stuff changes hands on occasion.The person to contact would be Roy Wilbur,at Wilbur Bros.Sheetmetal,neatest guy to meet in his own right.
The Chinese blower might be good,never heard of one,but the commie tools were usually sound(if not the prettiest),they did use them,longer then the rest of the world.
Very best of luck,hope that it works out somehow,and you're doing great regardless.
Take care,Jake.

Right on,Bryan,i agree with the consensus that you're progressing nicely.Way to go.

The #25's and 30's are a pain,exept in the summer,be nice to have a #100'er.

Also,too bad that you don't have a crank-blower.Cranking really engages one to the process instead of just waiting for the work to get hot.Saves fuel,and makes burning the work very rare.

Anyhoo,keep up the great work!

WI used to come in so many grades(see Mr.Powers' exellent breakdowns and explanations),that it really depends what,and for what purpose,is discussed.But,generally:

*Corrosion resistance-the lack of C,and the Si layers slow oxidation way down,even in the salt-water environment.Thus the anchors,chain-gear,et c.(You might've gotten something not quite right about the Titanic:Plating,especially marine grade,was by then a whole different family of alloys,not closely related to the several grades of structural WI commonly discussed here,or used in other industries then.If it indeed was deficcient then it likely had to do with corruption/theft,as the engineering then was already incredibly high-tech,like boiler-plate withstanding insane psi.).

*Very highly refined grades,like the "triple refined",specified by Yellin in his commissions,is so soft and elastic as to allow the forging of detail that the modern mild steel won't like much,likely to cause "brashness"-overheat/overwork(too much strengh for the torture,they are,after all,structural steel,1018 and 1020).

*Texture.Because of very high temps in working it,+ Si slag melting out and over the work,WI aquires a very special outward appearance.Just another tool in the smith's jobbox.

*WI is often a highly figured laminate,it's effects as etched often used by bladesmiths and others.Also,in a laminate with steel of a higher C content WI etches very white,giving high contrast.

*Also because of very low C it's a bit more fire resistant(less C to join that O).Makes for better inside the fireplace doo-dahs:Andirons,cranes,pot-chains,et c.

*Lastly(getting tired of typing here...),it's just so marvelously soft...Get it yellow-hot,and beat the xxxx out of it-you'll like it!Feels very different under the hammer.

Cheers,Jake

Thanks for the links,Brian!And no,you're absolutely right-i should have some dimentional ideas,even if very general.
Part of the trouble is that this particular stock,the anchor chain,is fairly irregular in the transition link-stock.It does not necessarily gets squared before some uses,making it tough to quantify.
The very best of luck with test-driving this pattern,it has great potential.That Bavarian model looks very good to me,i'd shoot for those proportions.

Thanks again,and good forging!

Darn,Brian...I'd say that the outer piece was 10" of a strap 2" x 1/2".

The trouble with this,as with most axe types,is that it takes the building-up of the right tooling,along with the rest of it.

For an example,this axe is nearly poll-less,but,the thickness of steel around the eye should vary some,at least.Therefore,do you pre-shape that(changing the lengh of stock)?
Or will you work it out after the weld,on the drift?In which case,your drift has better have ALL sorts of lengh and taper,or you must use more than one.But more importantly it really changes the lengh of the starting stock.

If you could have a look at that Zimbabwe instructional material by Stokes that would be helpful(i've lost my old computer and all contained therein).

If you read between the lines here,what i'm trying to confess is being an a$$ and a hypocrite-paying lip-service to the rational and measurable,and failing to measure even my own experiments...Were i apprenticed to someone like Grant Sarver,i'd be whipped every day.After quite a few axes my ideas of the dimentions are all in the intuitive,the reptilian brain...I'm sorry,one can do much better.Find an axe that you like,and weigh it,translating that into the inches cubed.Or,Archimedise it in a graduated beaker.I keep meaning to...

'Tis true!The welds do fail,or can,potentially.A twist,a rivet or two,to back the weld has never killed anyone yet.I do tend to lazyness at times.
The connection blade/haft always reflects the physics of the duty of a given tool.I can see how the pitch prevents the vibratory issues in a sword,changing the harmonics that can shock the hand so severely.However,the kukri probably doesn't have to oppose much pulling moment(unless you really get it stuck ).
The way the factory pikes are made is a threaded tang in a hardwood bung pressed into the Al pipe.I did have one come unglued(and watched it sail away gently,on the log that it was still stuck in),the wood has weathered and rotted.
But,yes,it all has a place.One should choose the correct technology. B)

A simple,2-3 hour project.Pike,pike-pole,or a lumberman's pike,is something that one cannot be without,if any manipulating of logs in the water is to be done.Used for rafting and driving logs,(just walking on floating logs without it for balance is tough),it was once the most common tool on all rivers.Not so any more.
Still produced(i own a sexy factory one with an aluminum haft),they're too costly to ship to Alaska with the 12',14' or a 16' haft,and even here not many have a use for one.But occasionally,like today,i do get to bootleg one,and will probably have a couple more orders before summer.
I've made them any way possible,it actually matters very little.Sometimes a socketed tool,or simply a tang,i often go with the langettes,as in this one.Spreads the load better on the end of the local white spruce pole.And gives it this funky,dark-ages pole-arm look.
2' of 1/2" rnd,bent double,faggot-welded and the loop cut to make the tines.The "threads" on the end are actually used,sometimes,to twist in for a surer hold,and to release with reverse twist.

Thanks,guys,for looking and your comments.

Brian,don't remember exactly,didn't measure...The WI is what the 1 1/2"rnd flattens out to,so a couple inches wide?The 52100 was 3/4" rnd,from Admiral.For scale,the eye is standard.

Hi,Don.The 521000 and WI like each other,no problem at all(even a little surprising,given all that Cr).
This method is quite different,and you understood it correctly-the middle piece goes all the way to the eye,becoming the front side of it.The drift bears directly against it(had to grind a small flat on the front of it to facilitate that),thus turning it's WEDGING moment into the SHEER;where,to separate,the parts of the laminate would have to slide past each other.
All this in THEORY,however,in practice all sorts of things try to go and make trouble,with this,as well as other methods.
Mr.Stokes,in those exercises for the rural smiths in Zimbabwe,describes this very way of putting an axe-head together.It reads very fine,and only at the forge some issues surface.
The weld where the mid-piece ends abruptly is tough to do-the side-pieces try to sag/bulge into the eye right past the end of the short chunk.(I missed with a hammer once or twice,and had to file some where the sides were "set"over the end of the middle chunk).I believe that it would be prudent to use the drift early and often,in this method.
Often,the torture of the weld-seam is a good thing,as it tests the weld,telling you of it's soundness.
In this way,the notch separating the eye from the blade is a good thing;it also is in the direction that applies the sheering moment to the laminate parts,and they SHOULD take it.
I've never made tomahawks,and only seen those tear-drop shaped drifts in photos.The principal issue seems the same:The drift needs to BEAR on the seam,vs.wedging it apart.For that,in some axe construction(2-piece,or one strap),that area was prepped,fullered prior to bending,to make the two shoulders that together form the bearing surface.
In any case,this way does change some things,creating difficulties of it's own elsewhere.The very best of luck,wish you success with your hawks.

Thanks,Bentiron,i do watch them,like a hawk!And the smaller the tree,the trickier it gets.Though it's been some years since i've used an axe to fell...

Hi,Bryan!I actually stuck that fire picture with you in mind.I'm guessing that you're puzzling out the fire control about now,and wanted to show how the heat in the fire radiates-radially(imagine that...).Seriously,the heat ranges on the axe show how the zones in the fire underneath behave.That fire is small,and banked with green coal(the forge is kinda lined with it).That makes the transition from heat to cold very abrupt.You'll use that difference a lot in forging,upsetting especially comes to mind.Heat-treating is also contingent upon those ranges.(Especially that radiused edge of the axe,that fire worked well in bringing it to heat evenly while leaving the other parts at the black heat and lower).
I never put water on the fire-it spalls parts of my firepot off,startles me with weird noises,and generally annoys.I've no problem controlling the fire with green coal only.But we're all different.
The middle,the burning well of fire can be fed with extra coke a long time,keeping the fire constant.Also is easy to clean for the continuous welding.
The skew-weld is simply a diagonal scarf,just like scarfing lumber or ply,on the bias.
Don't be afraid to burn through that stuff,just go for it,whatever comes of it as product is not important,it's value is in imprinting the certain iron truths and parameters on your nervous system,so that you'll learn what to expect of the material,and eventually forge intuitively,to roll with it,the Zen of forging!
You have the gasser now,as well,so that you have all sorts of fun ahead of you,with the weather warming up!
Take care,and have a blast,Jake

Thanks,Bogdan,it means a great deal coming from you.
I like that Bavarian axe,the longer beard/closer in probably makes for better balance.I was limited by the weight,as ordered,and overshot it on the original forging(thus one reason for grinding).
This "recipe"is an old(1800's?)Zlatoust production method,suggested by a friend.It seems to be an interesting transition-they were already rolling stock,but not stamping the production out,forging by hand(could it be that they were rolling iron,and "blister"cementating it prior to forging?).
In any case,the shape was achieved by forging.
I've not done a good enough job planning,also didn't make the right top-tool to forge in the notch-crucial step in the process.That became the main reason to grind,in addition to weight reduction.
I'd like to give it another try,this time with a compression eye,and test the balance myself,the logging season coming right up...
I really do believe that for a FORGED axe,the techniques that you've been working on-the comp.eye,the anvil-drawn,cementated edge,and shaping entirely with the hammer are superlative.Saves time.Saves energy.Teaches one a lot more about the hammer control.
The very best of luck at Ivano-Frankivsk,how i wish that i could be there.
Cheers,Jake

Moderate size axe,+/- 1 1/2 lb.
Welded const.,WI bent around the WI filler-piece,with a chunk of 52100 skew-welded to the filler previously.
The shape is the kind that SHOULD've been obtained by forging only(have originally evolved from the forging processes),but,long list of excuses enclosed,et c.,was mostly obtained by grinding.
I usually make my own handles,but just to provide for a future handle-replacement option the drift was made to match a standard store-boughten handle.This one is air-dried hickory,exellent quality wood but the grain orientation is 90 deg.off(with the thickness of existing stock had to choose between the aesthetic-the curve,and the correct technology,too bad,but so it goes).
3 normalising cycles,waste motor oil quench from just above critical,2,2-hr tempering cycles at 375F(peacock/purpl-ish in color,too hard for a general-work axes,but done here for a reason).
Good forging to all.

Exellent job,Bogdan,(as usual).
I,for one,really do appreciate all the logic of the archaic forging technology that you so clearly demonstrate.
The changes brought by the industrial revolution were,in many ways,detrimental to both the process(for the smith),and the quality/aesthetic of the product.
I've just finished an axe that could be the anti-thesis of your style:Modern alloy,much welding,much grinding,HT'ing,and the rest.It clearly was a process very wasteful of fuel and time,really underscored the difference in approach between the philosophies.For me,anyway.
So thanks much for all your hard work in researching the past methodologies,very educational.
All the best,Jake

Thanks,Bentiron,yes,derangement is a wonderful force,very useful in forging in particular!

Bryan,sounds great.Do come down,if ever you get a chance.Motoring,the trip back up-river will be very gas-intensive(and it's $6/gal here now),but possibly still worth it.Static trip,canoe/kayak/raft would only take 5-6 days,and the Yukon is a class-0.0000 river,you could ride a log down comfortably.The rig is cheap to barge back up,unless it's small enough to fly back with you.Air freight back-haul from here is not bad,$1/lb the last i heard,so that's also an option.The trip down is neat,beautiful country,and many different kinds of it,too...

Thank you,Thomas,you're absolutely right!Well,actually,with my education i couldn't possibly work in any specific style,and so use the term "gothic"in jest.

It actually would be very neat to learn the particulars of a given historic ironworking tradition,classed and objectified by some bright brain.Or to even just see some detailed pictures of the joinery.

Something like the late Ms Meilach's books(not that i've actually seen any,but did hear tell),on some of the old European styles.