TASMITH

Mike,
As one door closes another opens somewhere else. There are plenty of opportunities for someone willing to work as you have found out. Good luck in your next career move!

Terry

Thank you all for your kind comments:p
Mike and Ian,
I will write some of my past experiences down and post them! I have a tendency to ramble on about these things (as the wife points out frequently when I have someone interested in the trade listening...lol) but it would seem that at least on here no one will complain about me being long winded!
Now that winter is upon us here in the great white north ( and yes, other than the discovery channel, there isn't much worthwhile on tv), I guess I could come up with some "Tall Tales" of my past experiences. I have seen and done a lot over the course of my career and you are right, if not shared they will just gather dust in my mind and go to waste.

Stay tuned for the next episode!...LOL

Terry

Jayco,
Those are cool little ornaments. Not too shabby for someone "not particularly artistic".....LOL They look good to me!

howardz71, tech413,

We aim to please on this site.We all started out knowing nothing about this trade but have learned plenty from others along the way. That's what this site is all about!

Just watch out for guys like frosty though! He'll be after ya to post pictures......lots and lots of pictures! I think he must get cranky when he doesn't have some new pictures to look at every day.

All joking aside (sorry frosty... couldn't resist!) you will find a LOT of information on this site and more than enough people to help you on your way. There is no such thing as a dumb question on here. It is simply not knowing what to do.

Welcome guys.

Terry

I think it depends more on the use of the tool. I used to like handled tools for use under a power hammer or when being struck repeatedly by my helper with a sledge hammer. I found the handles helped to absorb vibrations better than rodded rather than my hands or arms having to absorb them. I have used rodded tools as well but generally they were something I would use rarely or special made for a particular job that I may not do again for some time.
My two cents!...:D

Philip,
I would put it 90 deg. myself. Then the ring will sit flat in the palm of your hand and give you better control of the rake as well as being able to sit flat against the wall. Just my 2 cents worth:D

Terry

That is basically what they are Rob.... just a little BIGGER:o

Welcome! You found a good place in this forum. Great bunch of people here all willing to share and share alike!

Mike,

It was interesting at the steel plant. If you work maintenance (such as millwright) or helper in my case, you get to see all the different dept. at one time or another. I was in every dept. of the plant at one time or another so I have seen all steps in steel making from coke making, to iron making,Steel making casting, rolling and finishing. You learn a LOT when you get to see the whole process all the way through and it gives you a good understanding of steel and it's properties.I don't know if steel mills still have tours like they did years ago, but if you ever get the chance to go on one it is worth it, even for the bit you might get to see.

Terry

I took my apprenticeship back in the 80's. It was at a major steel producing company where I lived at the time. It was a fully integrated steel mill, with coke making,iron making, steel making and of course all the finishing mills. I was already working at the plant as a millwright helper when they posted the job.

I had to write a mechanical aptitude test when I applied and must have done well on it (they never give you your results) as they offered me a choice of apprenticeships. I could have taken Blacksmith, Tin Smith, Rigger, Boilermaker, Machinist or welder. The Blacksmith really appealed to me and I chose it. They had a large self contained shops unit where all the trades were based for the plant.

The forge shop I worked in had five Blacksmith's, six helpers and three hammer drivers. We made all the overhead crane hooks for the plant ranging from 5 ton capacity up to 100 ton capacity (the largest forged hook).We also forged guides for mill stands, Large clevises, bolts, Heavy duty wrecking and pry bars, heavy duty cold cuts for the millwrights, gear blanks for the Machine shops and numerous other things( to extensive a list for here!).

Working conditions were not too bad. Hot of course especially on the big hammer with the large forgings produced there(Crane hooks etc). We had full safety gear and anything else we thought we would need for safety.The compensation was good. It paid the best money of any other industry in town and good benefits.

Unfortunately the plant took a big downturn in the late 80's and there were massive lay-offs. The shops got cut way back and at the time I was the junior Blacksmith in the forgeso I got laid off too.I was out of work for two years and was going back to school when I found another Blacksmith job at another plant down where I live now. As fate would have it, after 22 years at this plant I finished my shift on Friday and there was a note in my mailbox the next morning saying the plant was closed as of that day!

I took my pension money, invested it, and semi-retired at age 57. I now just work from my own forge here at home. I am thank-full that I had the opportunity to learn the trade from some real Masters. It gave me the opportunity to do things that most other Blacksmiths never have a chance to try.I got a thorough education in forging, heat treating and metallurgy as well as welding.

I will work at the trade as long as I can simply for the love of it and when I can't do it physically any longer I hope to be able to pass on what I have learned to others.

I guess the one thing that comes naturally to me is going on about things in this trade. At least according to the wife I do!

Sorry for being so long winded:o

Terry

YouTube - 2T forging hammer.WMV

This video is "somewhat" similar to were I first took my apprenticeship. The hammers I worked with were chambersburg style hammers and were steam operated. However the process was the same. We had operators, called "Hammer Drivers" that controlled the hammer the same as the fellow running the one in this video. Our hammers were 1,000, 1500 and 3000 pound hammers driven by 250 lbs of steam pressure with a stroke of about two feet on the smaller ones to about six feet on the large one. This significantly increased the effective weight of the hammer.

On the small hammers there was one Blacksmith, one helper and the hammer driver. On the big hammer it was one Blacksmith two helpers and the hammer driver.If you notice in the video ther was one man doing the actual forging and you can see him nodding his head. This is the form of communication between the blacksmith, who controls everything, and the hammer driver. Each time he nodded his head the hammer driver would strike the hammer.

There were several signals that the blacksmith would use to control the forging operation. We would nod our head once to signal the hammer driver to begin striking. If we nodded our heads again he would increase the strength of the blow on the forging. Moving the head from side to side would signal him to give lighter blows.Lifting the head upward once would signal to stop striking. If you held your arm out straight,palm down, it would signal the driver to bring the hammer head down softly to "feel" the work and determine were the hammer head touches and to insure any tools held by the helper were sitting flat on the die or work. Holding the arm out, palm down, then lowering the arm slowly, would signal the driver to lower the hammer head, then increase the steam pressure and press down on the forging to either start a bend or to hold the forging and tools in place on the die.

The helpers job was to hold the various tools required to perform the forging operation, such as stop blocks to create a precise thickness of forging, or swage blocks when forging round bars. We also used large flatters, "necking down tools" and a variety of other tools as required. The Blacksmith determined what tools were needed for the job and the helpers would make sure they were all at the hammer for the Blacksmiths use.

Two helpers were needed on the large hammer as most forgings done on there were quite large and required the use of chain falls and an endless chain to support the weight of the forging while the Blacksmith worked it under the hammer. The other helper would be using the stop blocks or swages as required under the hammer dies and the Blacksmith had to watch all aspects of the job and control everyone and ensure their safety all at the same time. It certainly was a challenging and interesting time!:o

The "flat" bars, as they appear to be, are not really flat. The first one used is actually a round bar. The next ones are either "V" shaped or 1/4 round bars, I can't tell for sure in the video, and are referred to as "necking down" tools. They are used to create a shoulder, either sharp or rounded, to create a transition between a larger section of the forging and a smaller section without a taper in the forging.At the steelplant were I took my apprenticeship we used to use them all the time. One job we used to do was make "LARGE" square headed bolts for mill stands. They would have a six inch square head and a three or four inch round section that was threaded. We used the "necking down tools (1/4 round) to form the square shoulder on the bolt head before drawing out the round section to size. In the case of a bolt the tools were used on all four sides of the billet. We also used them when forging large clevises to leave a larger section of billet to form the eye of the clevis with a smaller section of round in between the eyes.

Terry

You have done a right fine job on those.As Thomas said we are our own hardest critics. They are very well done and unique!

Welcome! It sounds like you have a lot to contribute here as well as learning some new things. That is what this site is all about. Sharing.:p

Looking good! Especially working on limited time and recovering from a blister too! Imagine what you could do healthy and with lots of time!....LOL

Looking good!.If I might make a suggestion, you should draw the edges of the petals out a bit and make them a little thinner. Then you could roll them back just a little to make a ruffle.Otherwise for a first attempt...good job!

I have seen some posts here were people say to triple harden and quench when hardening. There is no need to harden something three times. Each time you re-heat to harden the piece your are just defeating the initial hardening process and possibly causing excessive grain growth. To harden steel properly it only needs to be brought up to the proper temp. to bring it to the austenitic state then quenched in an appropriate solution (Air, Oil or water) depending on the grade and type of steel. After hardening (Quenching) the part should be tempered immediately at least one time at the appropriate temp. to obtain the level of hardness OR toughness wanted in the finished product.
When dealing with certain tool steels (such as A2 or D2) you should not cool the steel form hardening below 150 deg F and they should be tempered immediately after hardening to prevent cracking. They also should be given a second tempering after cooling to room temp. after the first temper.
Tool steels such as High Speed Steel (Lathe turning bits for example) should be triple tempered to achieve the best results.
There are a lot of factors that come into play when heat treating those tool steels and the makers of those steels will supply appropriate hardening and tempering temperature for them.

However, as to the steels that most people are dealing with on this site, they are not tool steels for the most part. They are generally just medium to high carbon steels with limited alloys.Most only require just a single hardening and tempering cycle. The high carbon steels can benefit some with a double tempering cycle but the most important factors are still a proper tempering temperature and held for an appropriate length of time at temperature.

I have done a LOT of heat treating over the years and dealt primarily with the tool steels and never had anything fail due to the wrong heat treat process.

These are four things made for Christmas this year as well as some candle wall sconces, heart hooks and some other little "stocking stuffers". The roses are for my daughters' anniversary seeing as how it is on Dec 23rd.
The "ANT" can be used as a watermelon holder for the table or lined with moss, filled with dirt and planted with flowers. The wife has two that she uses for both purposes.

Quick and dirty formula I use to calculate length of stock for a ring is ...3 times diameter of ring + 3 times diameter of stock +1/4 inch when working with smaller dia. stock such as 3/8th's. Therefore for a 3" inside dia. using 3/8" stock: 3x3 + 3 x 3/8 + 1/4 = 10 5/8" stock req'd.

I make my heart hooks from 3/4" wide X 1/8" flat stock.Split about three inches down to make the heart. Forge the bottom section to about 1/4" square, flatten tip back out to about 1/4" wide x 1/8" thick again and curl slightly. Overall length of steel is about 6 1/2 " to start.

You have my prayers for you and your family. I know just what you are going through. I worked at a plant that shut down out of the blue.Finished my shift on Friday and Saturday morning there was a notice in my mailbox that the plant was closed as of that day! This was on the 15th of Dec. Not a good way to be going into the holidays but things did work out all right for us as I am sure they will for you.

Welcome . You won't find a better place to learn than here! Opinions may vary but it is all in the best interest of everyone wanting to learn!

Looks like a heavy duty cold cut. We used to make them at the steel mill were I apprenticed.We made them for millwrights to use out in the various mills.The cutting end is too blunt for a hot cut, but is made to withstand use with a sledge hammer when cold cutting.

Very nicely done! The fireplace tools are a good match to the screen. Not bad for having forgot that you made them also, before you made the screen!

It is done with separate sheet plates about 2 3/4 inches in dia. I used three of them.

Another fellow Canuck!. Welcome. There is a wealth of information available on this site and no end of people willing to help. It is probably the best site of it's kind on the web.