Dodge

Hi!

I just wanted to get an answer about Al, because I actually managed to forge 2 blades (the smaller one in the attached picture) without Al breaking (hammering 10h each to form a bar into it). I don't know how to replicate the conditions under I first done it.

 

Today I tried to work with the broken pieces I casted yesterday and to my surprise they were quite hard. They broke, but after like an hour of hammering. The bar I've made my blade of was lying for a couple of weeks. Is it possible that Al hardens by itself after some time? How to make it not break at all during hammering?

 

Now I know about annealing and that I have to use a crucible. Thanks for that. Any other important point I may be missing? How much iron is dissolving into my Al while it melts?

 

BTW: After my ingots broke today while hammering, I got so annoyed that I decided to cast a flat Al plane and cut spear heads out of it. They look terrible but they are.

Where would the iron be coming from?? I am intrigued by this. I wasn't aware aluminum could be mixed with ferrous metal successfully.

Thank you Brian and Brian :)

Am I the only one that cant see the OP pics?

It seems, unless one is using a pyrometer, the specific temp would be irrelevant anyway, unless the information is purely for a reference or research document. I have usually gone by eyeball. If it
looks hot enuff, pull it out and give it a couple smacks :D YMMV

LOL I jumped in feet first; My first knife was a pattern welded blade. Albeit the finished product was two and a half years in the making :ph34r: Nice knife Francis!!

Scott

Mr Reynolds

It seems you would be surprised at how much manufacturing is indeed done by hand still. Some processes mandate by the complexity of the job, that designing a machine to do it would be tantamount to putting the first man on the moon. The expense of R&D alone would negate any savings. (Not that that was the issue of cost in the moon landings ;) )

Case in point. Of something on a larger scale: I used to work for one of the worlds largest light pole and power transmission structure manufacturer in the US if not the world. Each and every light pole and traffic signal arm that went out the door is virtually  hand made. Yeah the tapered tubes are formed from a flat sheet by a machine, and then the tube was sent through a machine to fusion weld the seam. But those machines were controlled by a man that guided them one by one; especially the welding machine.

Welding a tapered tube is not the same as welding continuous straight pipe or tubing. We probably had at least 20 different sizes of tubes for different applications. Whats more, every tube that came out of the welder, and the following rounding and hard working (burnishing) machine had to be hand straightened. This was a process of achoring the tube at both ends and pushing up with a hydraulic cylinder wherever it needed it to make it "eyeball straight" No two were the same. The same company made pipe and tubing and as the product came out of the welding area and cut to length it too had to be straightened one by one by a man using a similar process as the tapered tube line. 

While I was surprised that the teeth in the files were cut by hand, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see them bumping them to straighten each one one by one. You simply cant automate some processes. To do so, either compromises the quality in some manner or increases the cost of manufacturing in the end. Yeah, those files are costly, but when you make your livelihood using them, they would pay for themselves, just as any other fine tool will.

Scott

  Hand cut! Whoa!

Sorry I missed the initial post but glad to hear about improvements! Hopes for a speedy recovery

Scott

Impressive! How will you make a contrasting set for the opponents? Please don't say "paint" :D Blacken one set with heat and oil? Maybe polish one set and leave other natural. Patinas? .........

Nice, Francis! How did you pierce the clover and slots? Drill pilot holes?

Semper Fi

Scott

I second the cladding vote. (Saw it on History Channel....I think ^_^ )

There's always flame cutting from plate steel

I too saw it on the 'tube. Though, I thought it was Modern Marvels. Could be wrong on that point, cause I watch all them shows (How its Made, How do They Do It?, Modern Marvels, Surviving The Cut, etc.)
Anyway, I thought it was the use of explosions to "sandwich" two dissimilar metals together. Wouldn't thermite do too much melting damage to the lower metal?

You, and DSW have joggled my memory, Crawler! It was, indeed, The History Channel's Modern Marvels on welding. I love edu tv also :) You're right about the thermite. I thought that it was, but all I could find after googling the episode was "The explosive powder is a proprietary blend of common and unique explosive chemicals. The amount and exact formulation is always matched to the types of metal involved." The thermite I was remembering was on the RR track welding ;)

Scott

Windancer, This may seem like a dumb question, but do you have a cover over the tumbler while in operation?

I missed this when you first posted Jere. Really nice! Looks like a heavy duty rail! :) Got any recent pics? I wonder how it looks now that the wood has had a chance to age a little; assuming they are letting it weather naturally

Scott

Hey Bill, Glad to see you got settled in here, and welcome aboard! Told ya the reg was near immediate. Can't say that for the slingshot forum, however. Still waiting for the authorization email <_<  LOL No worries :)

Scott

I saw a segment on Discovery Channel(?) "How Do They Do That?" or something. IIRC they set of a controlled thermite explosion between two very large plates of steel and made them one. Very cool!! (No pun intended) :D

It will be really cool when you get it stood upright. Surprising the fire doesn't fall out :ph34r:  Just kidding. Looks like it should work nicely. Welcome to the forum.

Scott

Running water (like from a household faucet) often has the same tone, pitch, note, whatever you call it and when it does it resonates. I wouldn't call it cord; what I call it is insanity. First time it happened was the last time I worked without earplugs. This followed a shift of heavy grinding on steel light pole shafts without hearing protection. I think the damage (and yes, it is hearing damage and loss) had already began before however from loud rock music, gun fire and maybe even jet engine noise even tho I religiously (and by Wing regulations) wore hearing protection....

Scott

Very nice, indeed Ausfire! I'm with Gergely  I have a bucket of various broken and disheveled tools I have been saving for just such a project :)

Scott

Even forging larger items doesn't necessarily require a larger forge (Or even hotter if it heats ok to begin with) Most high carbon steels shouldn't be forged to hot anyway, but my main point is, you don't want to heat more metal than you can forge at one time. Generally 4 to 6 inches. With a gasser, this usually means you need a rear opening so you can heat longer pieces. If you really want a hotter forge (honestly, yellow to white is just dandy in my shop) you may want to explore other refractory solutions as jcornell suggests and other more efficient burner options. Zoeller Forge is an excellent start.

Good luck

Scott

Edit: I was writing while you were posting ^_^ . Ceramic blanket such as Kaowool or Inswool is a good refractory for fast forge heat but large pieces suck a lot of heat from it and it needs to be coated with a refractory coating to contain hazardous airborne fibers. The trade off is a solid refractory;  brick, castable or ramable. They generally take longer to heat but hold the heat better when heating large pieces. There is a tone more in the forge sections and I can't remember it all and certainly don't want to type it either. But that is a very general idea.

Yellow or white hot isn't enough? What are you trying to achieve??

The Complete Modern Blacksmith

Alexander Weygers

 

I have questioned his suggestions on the forum before and what I have recieved in the past is 180° opposite from what I just read on the topic at hand (standing @ the anvil & swinging the chammer)

 

Apparently he is supposed to be the final say on how to do this or that, from my past questions............

 

I recently visited a shop and the blacksmith was standing right over the top of the face, swinging a 3 pounder, square faced/ very short handle hammer, making hooks from 1/4 inch stock. 

 

He teaches classes.

 

So do I.

 

Was sorta taken back by his stance/size of his hammer for 1/4" stock. Got me to thinking about how I instruct **my** students. Thus my question.

 

As far as holding the hammer mentioned in an above post, I hold the handle either way, depending on how I feel. Joe DeLaRonde holds said handle with the thumb on top. Tough to argue with an expert about that.

I'm not sure why "everyone" believes he is the final say. He was an author, artist, painter, philosopher, heck he was even a fellow Marine from one source I read. That being said, he wrote books on several subjects. One just happened to be on blacksmithing and from what I have gleaned from net surfing, he learned most of that from either reading old books on the subject and personal experience in making tools for his other art mediums; namely sculpting chisels and such. His book about smithing (which I do own and have read) is about what has worked for him; much like any other books on smithing (as has been eluded to by previous posts). How his book, entertaining and informative as it may be, became "The One Book" on blacksmithing is beyond me except maybe its price. Its one of the more affordable books on smithing so perhaps the first (and I'm guessing, only) book many new smiths buy. It was my first smithing book, but from what I've learned on my own as well as from other smiths, it's far from the final say for me. YMMV :)

Scott

What?? I can't hear you due to the ringing in my ears! Please, speak up!!!  :ph34r: