FieryFurnace

The hacksaw or the cutting disk will work just fine. Hot splitting would probably take two heats and the rag would be forged down when the texturing was done. I need to try hot splitting one sometime just to say I've done it.

Great job! Great to see this is still being used! You've got a great cross with great texture. Try centering up the flare on the top, next time, and experiment with different ways to center that and to keep it from becoming off-center. It takes a little practice! Metal always has a tendency to end up fatter on one side than on the other. That happened to me this past week, making a dutch heart. It turned out great, but the point was out of center. Keep at it, and thanks for searching for, referring to, and using my tutorial!

Not the most fun ride in the world and would probably be over twice the time it took me, but taking a Greyhound bus is rather inexpensive. Those considering taking a class should consider that option as transportation to help keep cost down! "Black Frog" EXTREMELY wise choice! I've been smithing for six years and have taken over 9 weeks of classes at John C Campbell folk school. (And that's a GREAT school and I've learned under some of the BEST they have!) However, after taking Brian's class, my forging ability and production doubled, my enjoyment of forging doubled, and it's helped with things as simple as heating the metal more efficiently than before. PS: Sorry Brian but I still haven't picked up on the not dropping the tools on the floor thing. I've got two tool trays, and I still drop my tools on the floor, and then grab another off the tray! I try, but it hasn't stuck yet! :D

Brian Brazeal. He (apparently) currently has a student from CT. Brian is in Mississippi and is the best techniques teacher for moving metal, quickly and efficiently, with little energy use. I took a week long class from him and came home with tons of tools and more knowledge of smithing and moving metal than I've gotten anywhere else in the last six years combined. Excellent guy, excellent teacher! Great cover picture Lyle!

AWESOME! You need a student to come bang it up for you? :D I was at the junk yard just yesterday and they had a piece of 3x4 solid steel about 18 inches long. As soon as I saw it, I thought STRIKER ANVIL! The junk yard man wanted to keep it though for a scrape blade weight! :( Electric blower makes heating that more fun I supose! LOL

Neat! Really neat looking shop! I love the fold-down sides. These guys full timers? Good luck!

So to understand correctly from the pictures, you got the self contained air hammer before you got a steel rack? OK! A bit out of order ya think? LOL I'm just messing with ya! :D Nice looking rack! There is something about a good steel rack with the long bars all arranged neatly, that just looks cool! :D Must be a blacksmith thing!

Testing with picasa to figure out how to post their pictures directly to IFI! Ok so Lyle! I can't post your pictures on IFI so I had to post one of mine! On your Picasa account, click on the picture you want to post. That should take you to the big version of that picture. Over on the right hand side of the page there is a list. At the top, it should have your profile picture and name. Below that you should be seeing things like "Photo information", "People", "photo location" "post on" etc. In that list there should be one that says "tags" and just below that it should have a link you can click on that says "Link to this photo". Click on that link. That's going to open up a pop-down list, with two link boxes and a couple of check boxes. Check the box that says "image only (no link)." Then copy the link in the box labled "Embed Image." Open the image inserter box in the forum post tool bar. (Top of the reply box, it's a little icon that has a tiny little tree in it.) Paste the link you copied, into that box, and click "OK." It should post the image. You can adjust the image size by clicking on the "Select size" option, on picasa before copying that link. Hope that helps! And WHO MOVED THIS TO "EVERYTHING ELSE?" Brian is teaching "GENERAL BLACKSMITHING" and these pictures will help anyone who looks at them in "GENERAL BLACKSMITHING." It'd be different if it was a photo album of Brian playing tennis! C'mon!

Yeah the curly eliment is AWESOME! I'm definately trying that one sometime! Is that a new thing Mr. Brian came up with? Oh and this is my new favorite forging picture of all time......that is until Lyle takes some more pictures! :D

Someone PLEASE video this demo and put it up for those unfortunate enough to not be able to attend! .....like......uhhh ME! :D

Has this project progressed anymore or is it still on the back burner?

Thanks for the blade suggestions! My jet is a horizontal/vertical too. So Yeah, I'll stick it in the vertical position, build a table for it, and be ready to cut anything that comes my way. The guy said he wanted something to cut the logs off perfectly square. After watching my dad do some chainsaw work, I think I know why the guy didn't try to cut square with a chainsaw! LOL

Lighter tongs are easier and more comfortable to use! :D I don't mind criticism, but I didn't take your post that way at all! You just brought up a point about tongs material that many good blacksmiths would agree with. I dissagree but didn't take it as criticism!

Ciladog I would contend that comment in a friendly sort of way! Carbon steel tongs are, IMHO superior to mild steel tongs. I have yet to have a pair of my spring steel tongs bend in use, whereas I've had mild steel tongs bend a number of times. I often cool my spring steel tongs in water when they start getting warm. I never leave my tongs in the fire and never get them anywhere near cherry red. However, they do, obviously get very hot on the end. I cool them off in water with a number of very fast dunks in and out of water. (Cooling the metal down, not quenching it completely off.) I've never had a pair crack. I also use the same methods to cool the handles down after forging, so I can turn them around and work with the jaws. I haven't had any break or crack yet. That's just my experience, which I'll be the first to admit, is still relitavely small.

I would second that! Those combo dies are my original flat dies. My air hammer broke down, and I was in a hurry and had to forge about 20 dinner bells, so I modified my flat dies!

Tongs blueprint! The tongs I made today did not turn out all that great and I'll explain why towards the end of the BP. However, I took pictures of the entire process, and I think this might be a help to some folks wanting to make tongs. I use 10-11 inches of 1/2-inch round coil spring. Spring makes a tough, strong, springy pair of tongs. I usually get an 18-inch pair of tongs out of 10-11 inches of 1/2-inch coil spring. So first things first! Cut some spring. I use a torch but you can also use a cutting disk on an angle grinder. Another option would be heating the end of a whole spring, straightening it, and then cutting it on a hardy. Any way you do it, cut 10-11 inches of 1/2-inch coil spring. Heat it up and straighten it out. I use the pritchel hole to help straighten it, and I like to wear a glove on my tong hand because it is going to throw some big chunks of scale around while you are straightening the piece. Next, make a center punch mark, 1-inch from the end and then 2.5-inches from the end. (Or 1.5-inches from the first mark.) I use a v-block marked at the measurements. (I also tend to overhang the end and mark a hair more than 1-inch so I can trip at the end.) Here is my v-block. Next, isolate the end at the 1-inch center punch mark, using half-on, half-off blows on the far edge of the anvil. This is shown cold below. Once this isolation is made, square up the blob left on the end, but leave it big still. You can also do it on the power hammer. If your dies are adjustable you can just offset your dies. If they are fixed dies, you can use a hand-held flatter. This is the result of that isolation. (Notice the location of the first and second centerpunch marks.) Place the piece back on the anvil, in the same position it was in while you were forging the first isolation at the 1-inch mark. Rotate 90 degree counterclockwise. Move to the near side of the anvil and use half-on, half-off blows to isolate material at the second center punch mark. Here is what you should end up with more or less. I usually like to leave the area between the two center punch marks about 1/4x1/2-inch. Here are some more shots of the overall process including positioning at the anvil, and just different angles to help you understand exactly what is going on. Next its time to forge the boss or the part where the rivet will go. I usually leave a little more than a square for the boss. The boss is forged by using half-on, half-off blows on the far edge of the anvil. This isolates the boss and starts the handles of the tongs. Notice the positioning of the previous isolations in the pictures. (This isolation is on the aposite side from the previous one.) What it should look like now. The next step is to taper out the handles or reigns of the tongs. I usually start the handles at about 1/4x1/2 and taper them down pretty small. You can adjust the size of the handles to fit the size of the tongs. Once the handles are tapered to size, hammer the corners down and round the top and bottom sides of the handles. This will keep you from having to file or grind and provide a comfortable grip. Now, we need to bend the area between the boss and the jaws. (The jaws being the blob left on the end.) Heat the area between the boss and the jaw, and clamp the jaw in the vise. Bend downward. Refer to the picture to see the direction of the bend in relation to the boss. Make a second bend at the boss as shown below. Next, center punch the location of the rivet holes in the boss. I usually mark it out as shown below, and center punch the center of the "X". Now it's time to bend the area between the jaws and the boss (called the "bit,") to form the "bolt" tongs shape. This can be done in the vise with a piece of round bar, it can be done with a jig, or it can be done on the horn. Try to get both sides of the tongs pretty similar. Showing the angle of hammer blows. Check to see how similar they are to each other. Make a line down the center of the jaws of the tongs. (The blob left at the end of the tongs.) Chisel a groove in this "blob." In this next picture you'll notice how my chisel line is not straight and it is a hair off center towards the end of the line. This is going to come back to haunt me. Make sure your chisel line is as straight and centered as humanly possible. Now punch the rivet hole. I like to use a 1/4 inch rivet. If you want to put a touchmark or stamp the tongs size in, now is the time to do that. These tongs were meant for holding hardy shanks, so I stamped "FFF" (for Fiery Furnace Forge,) and "HARDY." Rivet, but do not completely pound the rivet down. Just get it stuck! Now grab a piece of stock that is the size you want the tongs to hold. This is a piece of 5/8-inch that is pretty much the same size as the hardy shank I'll be holding. Heat the entire jaw and bit area up, place the piece of stock in the chisel grooves and hammer an even number of times from both sides. This is where the chisel line is really important. If it is a bit crooked, the jaws will not forge evenly and ultimately will not provide a strong grip. Forge the jaws down until you have a good V-shape inside to hold square or round stock. You can also place the stock in at a 90 degree angle and forge a side groove which is very handy. After the jaws fit and hold the stock firmly, adjust the handles to a comfortable grip. Finish out the rivet too and work the tongs at a low cherry heat, to loosen them. Since I got my chisel line a bit off on this pair, I spent a long time trying to forge and align the jaws. Even when it was all said and done, I was not pleased with the results. It's not the best looking pair of tongs I've ever made, and while they do work, they do not perform at 100%. However, hopefully you get the idea. Here is a better looking pair of tongs for 1/4-inch stock. Also notice the 90 degree v-groove I put in these. With a power hammer and a little bit of practice, forging a pair of tongs in an hour is easy. With proper hand hammer technique, you can forge a pair in a couple of hours by hand. A newbie, will require 5+ hours of work to forge a pair of bolt tongs like this. Tongs are important and knowing how to forge a good pair of tongs for your shop is something that should be learned, regardless of whether you are a once a month hobiest or an every day full timer. I am still a learner, and I am more than sure that my method is not the best or fastest, but hopefully I've helped someone out!

I've made gooseneck tongs before!

I'll do a BP with the next pair!

I used a grinder with a regular ginding wheel to do the bulk of the removing. Mass keeps the material cool, but don't stay in one place. Move around the entire face as evenly as possible to keep it as smooth and flat as possible. Once the marks are removed, switch to the sanding disk of a finer grit and once again, move evenly around the entire face as flat as possible. I did this on my big Fisher and my small Trenton with much success!

Forged from 1/2-inch round spring steel 18-inches overal length 14-inch reigns Made for holding 1/4-inch round or square. They took an hour and twenty minutes to make. I made about a dozen pair back to back a few months ago and got them done much faster, but it's been a while since I made a pair of bolt tongs. I need to make one of the jigs for the jaws. I think Spears posted some sort of jig a while back. Anyway, they are smooth and I am pleased with them. I'm making a couple pair as a gift to someone.

Not sure! You probably don't have any dents over 1/8 inch deep. As long as it hasn't been ground a zillion times already you should be fine. Can you see the line where the face plate is welded to the base? How thick is it?

Well it's cracked alright! Ok seriously! I would try grinding the entire face down past all those marks. It's going to be impossible to forge anything smooth on that face. If you are lucky maybe the crack is just on the surface and you could grind past it. Either way you need to smooth that face up. So I'd say it's worth the shot!

Sorry I let this slip down the line a bit folks. I currently have an application in for a journeyman position out of state. It will be a while before I know if I get it, so my hands are tied there as far as planning and hosting a meeting. (It'd be a bummer to host a meeting in my shop and then not be able to attend! LOL) If someone can host a meeting sometime, that would be great! I'll do all I can to assist!

Congrats! LOL That's the way most problems are! The answer seems so obvious once you figure it out! I see you are pretty new to the forum though. The rules around here say that if you mention any type of tool you have to post pictures of it! We are picture addicts around here. :D WELCOME TO IFI! :D

Unfortuneately doing craft show items, I don't get to do a lot of penny scrolls, snub ends, fish tails etc. I've taken classes and seen them demonstrated, and even done one here and there, but not with any regularity. I bend a lot of small round taper scrolls by hand, on my dinner bells, but that's about it. I do try to incorporate forge welding, slit and drift, rivets, mortise and tenon, and punching in some craft show items to keep me in practice. I still need pieces that include collars and various styles of scrolls. A scroll starter is on the "tool making" list now too! Nice to hear from you Mr. Eddie! Things going well your way?