theimi

Hi man,

i have a nice (mechanical) hammer standing around which served me very well during the last five years, but unfortunately cannot use at the moment because my neighbour's glasses are falling down from her table when i start hammering

forges 25rd easy up to 50rd (and more if you have lots of time)
very nice control

I don't have to sell it, so don't expect it to get it for a song...
No problem to try it out....

Frank
CT, Somerset/w

welcome Anduril777
good to have you on board. It seems we'll get a growing community here...slowly...

Please go to the green bar at the top of the forum and click user cp. Then add your location and save. We would like to know where in the world you are located. (Sorry glenn, used your text )

if you are not too far, maybe you can pop in quickly..i'm always happy if i can serve the ZA community....


Frank

If you want to some fine use of brass, bronze and I think copper you want to see Albert Paley Albert Paley Studios :cool:

Hey, he's one of my smithing related heros ... the other one you might be interested is John Medwedeff

ca

You can hand forge H13 easy enough. You just need to work it at a high heat, and not try to work it any lower. It might not move like wrought iron, but you can move it ok. Especially if we're just talking tapering 5/8" down to 1/4" or so.

Of course you can... (ok 5/8", as i said i dont get it below 20mm).
And you can also work it hot but you shouldn't go too high. You shouldn't forge H13 at higher temps around 1050C (orange heat, bright red) and not below 850C, otherwise you may damage the steel. In that temp range its not really funny.

Forge it down to the size you want..

Happy hammerin' LOL
as long as you dont own a power hammer (dont know whats the smallest size available at your place, here it starts at 20mm diameter)

Much too expensive for tongs and absolutely not necessary (except your tongs become red glowing while forging )

mild steel is fine in 99%, for extra strong tongs it may be useful to use a low carbon steel, C45 for example

H13 (A.I.S.I) => No. 1.2344 => X 40 Cr Mo V 5-1 (DIN)
is what u are looking for. Any supplier has his own name for it.
hth

Quote RegionalChaos:
"...H13 is air hardening, so you can forge it to shape, give it a good heat, and let it slowly cool. Then dress and use, no fancy heat treat...."

yeah, but air hardening does not mean heat and let cool slowly. thats more normalising than hardening. It should be an 'air quench', a strong blast of cool air for example. You will get a much better working H13 tool with a good heat treat.

I tried it once with the blower of my coal forge (VERY strong, if i give full power it blows the biggest coal pieces out of the forge through the shop) but was not really satisfied.
I quench mine in warm oil which works really nice for me.

frank

the drilling of holes in each pipe is necessary because of the pressure of the zinc while flowing through the inside of the pipes. These holes are essential at each end of any pipe otherwise the pipes will burst.
of course, if the pipes are not closed u dont need holes.
holes are also necessary at the joints.
If you dont want the holes visible you can do them inside.

don't know what that guy told you but i have done lots of hot dip galvanized stuff since im in SA and never heard that

Here at he Cape coastel area nearly any gates and fences used outside are hot dip galvanized, which is really one of the best and durable rust protections besides the use of non rust materials...
the fumes shouldn't be interesting for you as you do any welding or forging before you bring the parts to the galvanizing company. After galvanizing it can be coated as usual, you can keep the zinc finish or some folks etch the galvanized parts to achieve an "older" interesting look (for ex. see Paul Elliott FWCB Hammer & Tongs Artist Blacksmiths Online where you may find lots of pictures of etched galv. stuff)
the big disadvantage is, if you do forge work, the zinc will hide the texture of the metal.

hth

im coming from germany. Nearly we would have been relocated to the US as my brother is born there it would have been no problem to immigrate, but he choose then to stay in germany and we went to SA...
Yes, Lucky is a crazy dog, loving and cuddly. but to be accurate he's not husky but alsakan malamute
of course the anvil is steel, found lots of these pieces on the scrap yard. i have made the base of concrete now (still sand only in the pic) as the hammer was walking around in my shop...

"pure iron" is most notably a trade name, and as i know it has the crystal structure of modern steel.
If you follow the link in the opener's post you get the chemical analyse. Of course it has carbon content as it is in fact very low...

pure iron is steel with very low carbon content. easy to work and weld - similar to wrought iron i believe as i never have had the chance to work with real wrought iron
but it has not the same appearance because of a totally different creation process without layers of slag and silica

hth

for the interested: my mom shot some pics from the door construction (didn't know until yesterday). I uploaded them to the user gallery

copper door construction - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

bentiron:
Huh? 30 years? don't know, as democracy in SA is only ten years old now and i settled 5 years ago.
I love the people and the country and of course there are places you shouldn't go, but thats the same everywhere in the world. Until now in my live i was robbed once and that was in germany :confused:

Anyway, happy about the nice comments

Thx!
1. The frame is made from 100x50x2 rec. tube plus - on the glasspanel side - a 25x1.6 sq. tube which allows the glasspanel to be flush with the door.
2. The copper cover is glued with a special product, dont remember the brand at the moment but there are different good products out there...
3. One of my first projects when started blacksmithing was to build a 100# rusty-style hammer (for me the most fascinating part in the blacksmith trade is the work with the powerhammer)
4. The hinged panels accomodate ca. 7mm security glass, the only type and size you may use here
5. i have posted close up of the handles yesterday
http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/recent-work-7568/

Found today another pic of a similar mild steel only door i made last year (unfortunately i have only a few pics of my work since im working in SA)

cheers
frank

So i was installing the handles today. Yes, on sunday! but the customer is the boss...
Unfortunately it is difficult to make a good pic from the door as it sits in the shady entrance and lots of light is coming through the house from the opposite side.

The base of the door is made from ms tubing, the copper sheet is being used as cover.
The stops (?) are from stainless tube, the center part is stainless flat bar, the grilles are forged from 16mm and the handles from 25mm stainless round bar. copper collars are used to hide the welds of the scrolls.
I used no finish to allow time and weather to form the patina. The door accommodates to glass panels which can be opened indepedantely whereas the security grille stays closed. Security is a big issue here in South Africa but folks does also like fresh air

Happy weekend (now!)
frank

Hi all,

building the website takes much longer than expected, so i thought i will post some recent work so long.
this are two handles made from 1in stainless steel for a copper/stainless entrance door i built in the first quarter this year. hope to post some pics with door after installation.

cu

BP for (ball) swages:

I advise the "Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated". Very old (first print 1930) but VERY useful. Downloadable in pdf for free...
Info: Book review on anvilfire
Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated by J.W. Lillico

find the pdf on (besides different other blacksmith books)
Craft publications

frank

I have realized when doing art (and blacksmithing is doing art) the best thing is to use your name...
So i split my business in two parts: the (ornamentel) fabrication part is named the "CAPE VILLAGE FORGE" whereas 'Cape' stands for Cape Town, South Africa. All fabrication work is done here with or without employers.
the second part is the pure blacksmithing part in which i'm working more or less on my own. FRANK THEIMER - ARTIST BLACKSMITH/METAL DESIGN

In the end these are trading names only. If i need it for business, for example if the customer needs a TAX invoice, it will run as "Theimer Investments SA (Pty.) Ltd." which may be used officially for the first or the second trading name...

Glenn: sorry, one mistake.
1 inch = 25,4 mm or 2,54 cm (NOT 2,54mm)


frank

hi...

on Anchor Bronze and Metals, Inc. (no, i don't have any relationship to them) you find lots of data and tables about all copper, brass and bronze alloys with chemical composition, material-, mechanical-, physical- and fabrication properties (e.g. cold working and hot forging properties, how to weld .... a.s.o.)
very useful

hth
frank

Huh??
In the netherlands?? No blowing vacuum cleaners?? Don't believe that as i live in south africa now (til 2003 in germany) and here it is very difficult to get some special stuff compared to europe...
But anyway- ANY vacuum cleaner can blow even it may have no connection for the hose..

Hi Wim,

thanks for the welcome... will send you PM with my details shortly as i'm so busy at the moment. have built a demo trailer over the cold winter months and must get ready as the flowershow-/festival-/arts- and crafts fair time is coming now...
I'm planning to go out nearly every weekend this season to make lots of PR for the blacksmithing craft & community...
A selfish reason is that too less SA folks know what a blacksmith is and i'm & my qoutes often get compared to the messy welding shops from which you find dozens at any corner...

cu
frank

Hi,
welcome to IFI from another new member...

I wouldn't advise hairdryers as forge blowers, have no good experience with them... as i started i used old vacuum cleaners. there are models which can blow also (in fact ALL of them can) and they often have a fan regulator too...

found them in second hand shops for only a few bucks..

cheers
frank

Thanks for the charming welcome. Have always known blacksmiths are nice guys :-)

cheers