devon blacksmith

HI I have a cut off saw that if it stands for a few days or is realy cold it takes time to reach full speed I have found that if I turn it over by hand first then start it it speeds up a lot faster,I also have a bench grinder with a week capacitor that needs a helping hand to start it.

I have been thinking about this for a few years, in the UK we have en rated steel ie (these are only my estimate of types) en8=carbon steel en16=high carbon en35=coil springs en45=spring steel(leaf springs) could we build a comparison chart with the types from the US?.It would help me understand the types of steel talked about on here.

This looks like non weldable iron not sg or gray iron that can be welded you could stitch weld it,by puting small pieces of steel between the iron and place one tack on each side on each piece of steel this will stop the shrinking that causes the iron to crack when cooling.

Hi John
what type were the hammers you have built ,and any info on materals etc, I know that a fabed up hammer wont be as good but I am in nead of a heavy hammer and only a small budjet. I keep trying the BABA news letter but think it is about 3mth`s out of date (sept),If you hear of anything could you let me know thanks.

My forge workshop the outside

Hi all I am looking at building a large power hammer and wanted to know if anyone had built any 200 wt plus hammers?

My work shop (the outside) It is now full of gear

The one on the left is made from scrap angle iron from an old fence an old beam axle and a few off cuts of sheet steel and has been working almost every day for about 15 years

How do I view through a proxy server in the states? I am not to good at things I cant heat up and hammer.

I also do not have a download option could it be only the USA can get the downloads?

NeatGuy
I would love to see a video of the process.

I would think this work is not twisted but swaged by spining it between three adjustable rollers.

I have a piece of wood with a pice of box screwd to the bottom to fit my hardy hole

I am left handed and have anvils both left and right faceing and one anvil with two horns and two hardy holes.

Hi I used my frends Goliath and it had blocks insted of springs,I think he said thay were neoprene, it worked the same as with springs only safer no bits of broken springs flying about

There are a few of these about, I have used one and would think there best for production work and not general smithing as no full force single blows.

Hi we are in Devon near Exeter and we take volunteers.we have a fully equipped 3000 sq ft forge workshop with 5 staff.

In the UK there is a lot of information on traveling smiths, Thay have allways been around but the acounts are from wide spread sources and not easy to research as a single topic.the sensus information has some refrences for the 19 century.

If you have a welder you could fab one up out of some sheet.

looks like the rivet forge might be more common over here in UK.

how well do these stands work with twisting and scrolling?as I am allways looking for a way to have a portable vice that wont fall over.

If you have a forge and a hammer you could adapt a ball peen.

I found it best on the first few pairs to bolt them together first to see where thay snag up.

Blacksmithing is part art part science. if you just work for a master smith you only have to be a good blacksmith if you intend to start your own forge you will have to be good at buisiness as well so some training in this is very important as there are good buiseness men that are not so good at forge work that are successful and some very good smiths that cannot make a liveing on there own, over the years I have trained a few in some of the art of blacksmithing some have gone on to open there own forges some have gone on to full time courses,thing to remember is if it takes 5 of 7 years full time to train with a good smith teaching you ,part time self teaching will take a lot longer. the main question I would ask myself is why then plan around the answer.

I would think if you only intend to use the tool a small amount then use whot u got but if your expecting this tool to do work for you and last find a piece of tool grade steel any old tools or springs around I have tools made from mild for short runs but the more it works the more it neads to be tough (you only get whot you pay for)