Sam Falzone

Back again. If you want to try some primitive lost wax casting you could check out a site called "Viking Bronze Casting" which talks about how you could cast bronze without all the modern tools we use today. I actually tried this in a one-day class a few years back. While the results were not quite what I wanted (due to errors on my part), the theory behind it is sound - and the same technique could be applied to gold and silver. Basicly the whole idea is that you make your furnace, crucible and casting flask using cob (a clay, sand and straw mixture) and you heat it with charcoal and a bellows - really primitive. You make your wax model, spru it and attach some wax wires for vents and then coat it in a thick layer of fine clay slip. When it's dry, you encase everything with clay-cob and fashion it into a casting flask. You then cure the flask in the charcoal furnace upside down so the wax burns out. Keep the flask hot in a smaller charcoal fire while you melt your gold in the main furnace. When it's liquid, turn your flask right-side up and pour your gold into the spru opening (basically doing a gravity cast rather than a centrifugal cast which is the modern method). After a few minutes, plunge your flask into a bucket of water. Don't remove it from the water orelse you'll spray scalding water everywhere. When the flask has cooled sufficiently, break apart the flask and get your cast. Be careful it may still be hot for a while. Trim the vents and spru, file and sand to finished shape, buff and polish. Cheers. Sam

Check out the karat stamps on the jewelry. If it's around 18K then the quality will be just fine, but even 14K will be okay. You can even mix together jewelry of differing karats (14 and 18), you won't be able to claim a specific karat rating for the finished ring (which you said was fine since you won't be reselling it or hallmarking it) but it will still be a gold ring. Obviously remove any stones from the jewelry first. Also cut off any bales, jump rings, clasps or obvious solder areas (usually appearing as darker seem lines or areas. File these areas well to get any remaining solder out - this stuff could give you major headaches when you melt the gold down and. Jump rings are usually made of non precious metals plated in gold and bales and clasps often have steel parts inside them which you DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT IN YOUR GOLD. Once all you gold is "cleaned up" puddle it (melt it into a blob) with an acetylene torch in a crucible -do not use any kind of steel or iron containers/ladels. If you don't have access to a refractory crucible, a charcoal block with a small dished out section will work, so should a clean refractory brick with a dished out section. Keep heating until the gold puddles into one lump. As for your casting, lost wax is fun but modern lost wax casting takes a lot of specialized equipment. You could also look at doing some cuttlebone casting (google cuttlebone casting) which is as ancient as it comes and really easy to do. It also gives the casting a really interesting tecture. Good luck and have fun Sam -I've been taking silversmithing and jewelry courses since the fall and it's a lot of fun.

I just bought 3 tongs and 2 handled top tools from Glen - I love them. The weight and feel is just right for me. Glen, if you're reading this ... THANKS! They are excellent tools - and the best thing is that they are so affordable. Anyone looking to buy tongs rather than make your own - you will not regret investing in Glen's tongs. Sam

Thanks guys, I'll try these ideas. Heat and Beat ... now those are instructions I can understand I'll try a soak in WD40 afterwards as well. I can always rely on IFI Sam

Hi everyone. My partner and I have inherited a pile of old tongs. Nearly all of them are rusted stiff. What is the best way or best penetrating lube to use to get them moving again? :confused: I'm looking for effective but not over expensive (money's tight all around) and a material I can find in Ontario rather than having to pay for shipping to bring something in from the States. Sam I love old tools - especially FREE old tools :D

The forging of Mjolnir is one of my favourite stories - I've always liked dwarves BTW, Thor was not the god of war ... Tyr was the god of war. Sam (another Norse mythology geek)

If there was EVER an arguement for natural selection .... that there is IT!!! You know, I bet it's times like this that the universe just shakes its head and mutters to itself, "... man ... what was I thinking?!?" :confused: What gets me the most is that in the background of that video there are 4-5 other anvils ready to go !!! There is something seriously wrong in this world when we have new smiths who feel the call of the forge tugging at their gut but can't find an anvil to save their soul ... BECAUSE BOZOS LIKE THESE ARE BLOWING THEM UP !!! :mad: Like Reid said - that just aint right. sam

The Norse did not use 13# warhammers. War hammers that big only exist in fantasy movies, World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons. I also have a deep interest and affinity for Norse culture and history and if I had to sum up the Norse culture in one statement from all my years of casual research, it would probably be that the Norse were a very practical people. If you used a hammer to make ship rivets it was a smithing hammer, if you used it to bash the brains in of an attacking raider, you could call it a warhammer but it was the same hammer. Aside from the challenge and attraction of smithing something that big, it is really not practical from a Norse perspective and historically inaccurate, not only to the culture but to the religion as well. To be true to the "ceremony" of the religion, it would be more religiously meaningful for a follower of Thor to use the hammer he/she actually uses everyday in their ritual rather than make a ritual object. Thor was the patron of all craftsmen, so a ship-builders maul, or a carvers mallet was just as significant as the smith,s hammer. Sam

Nice set up!!! You got everything you need to do some serious hammering. I love the anvil. How come you put it on its end instead of its side like japanese sword smiths have it? The side would give you a bigger work surface, so I'm curious about your methods. And thanks for the info about Old World Anvils. We've had alot of new smiths (and old smiths) complaining about the lack of anvils in their areas. If OWA is selling drops at $1.00/lb, that is sweet news to a lot of ears. Could you post a cost breakdown for your setup? I think your pictures and a detailed cost breakdown could be really helpful to any new smiths out there looking to get started but don't really know what to expect in potential cost or where to get stuff. Great work. Sam

A shop vac is pretty powerful. Really, an old hairdryer will do the trick. Like Frosty said, it's cheap and delivers air at a good rate for smithing. That shop vac is either going to blow sparks and embers everywhere, or it's going to just eat up all your fuel really fast.

If your shop is the same footprint as the one in the plan you posted 10'x12' (not including the porch area) and you pour a 4" pad as suggested earlier on, you would be looking at using 1.48 cubic yards of concrete - that's around 89 60# bags of premix (checkout Concrete Slab Calculator - The Concrete Network) You would also be looking at around 1.5 tons of weight (not including the rebar) just for the floor. Then you'll be piling on what ever tonnage of tools machines and "stuff" over the years. You could easliy end up with some severe structural failure over time. Doug, I think I understand what your dad was saying and I think he has a point. If the floor ever fails or you want to get it out, you're never going to be able to bust it up with all that rebar inside without busting the shop down around you (especially if you go with a grid smaller than 4'x4'). I think he's just sayng "think long-term". It's hard to come up with an arguement against his logic though. Your idea of doing half the floor has merit and historical presidence. I did some work in a historical smithy many years ago and I remember that shop had half of its floor as brick and compacted sand (the "hot" half) and the other half was a plank floor (where they worked on the horses). So it's possible. You could frame in the hot half of your shop floor with a 2x4 sill and fill in the area with paving bricks, giving you a fireproof floor, that is solid enough to keep your anvil stand mobile if you need to move it, but is also removable if you want to change it later. The gaps between the bricks can be filled with fine sand to prevent embers from getting down to the wood floor beneath. The plywood floor should be flat and level enough that you won't need to lay down a sand bed. Just an idea. Sam

If you ever think of removing the floor entirely like Frosty suggested (... BTW Frosty I agree with you totally on that idea), you could lay down an 8" layer of crushed stone (1" stuff), vibro-compact it down and then put a 4" layer of pea gravel on top of that. You'd end up with phenominal drainage (bone dry even in the worst downpour), totally fire-proof, and still gain in the headroom - it may even solve any frost-heaving issues, depending on where you live. The one major problem with concrete and brick floors that I didn't hear mentioned is that standing on concrete or brick for a long stretch is murder on your lower back and feet. A dirt, sand or gravel floor has some give and is much more forgiving on your joints. Just a thought. Sam

YES PLEASE!!! I would love to see a detailed blueprint for how to make your own slitters and drifts (round and square). A Video would be even better but I'll be thrilled with anything that explains the whole tool building process. Step bt step instructions on how to USE the tools properly would be wonderful as well. Thank you so much Archipile for volunteering to do this. SWEET! Sam

THANK YOU for putting up the link for the washtub forge. I LOVE THIS FORGE. Everytime someone asks about how to build an inexpensive forge, I always scramble to find this link. The idea is simple, effective and AFFORDABLE for almost anyone. And yes, you can forge anything with charcoal (the original forge fuel) from tools to swords. A great way to get started. Also check out the thread on Ground Forges (just posted there a second ago). A hole in the ground is just as good. Sam I know what you mean Frosty. Hard to shed the "Go Heavy or Go Home" attitude when people come to think about blacksmithing. My charcoal forge is firebricks lining a wooden box. Works just fine. Sam

Ground forges are old school - REALLY OLD SCHOOL!!! But they work in a pinch. My two students used a ground forge to make 18 tent stakes for their pavillion (... yup ... them's ma boys ...). There is a solution to the bending issue ... dig another pit next to your ground forge and stand in the pit. Plunk your anvil on the ground at the egde of your pit and this brings the forge fire and anvil up to a comfortable working height. Old Norse trick (we speculate). Tried it once with a glass bead making furnace - works like a charm. Just goes to show that a little ingenuity and creative thinking can overcome a lack of equipment (granted if you have the land space to dig your holes in - would be hard to do if you lived in a condo ) Sam

Here you gp guys, hot off the OABA website. ______________________________________ To all blacksmiths, friends of blacksmiths, wannabe blacksmiths, artists, Friends of Morningstar Mill and the general public The Ontario Artists Blacksmith Association will be holding its monthly meeting at Morningstar Mill here in St Catharines on April 18 from 9 to 3. This meeting will be an excellent opportunity for anyone who is interested to see the work being produced by today's blacksmith. The exhibition will consist of a "Hammer In" where smiths use their portable forges to demonstrate items they have been working on as well as to share tricks of the trade. It is a great learning experience for everyone, so please feel free to come out for a visit. John Bott Volunteer Blacksmith Friends of Morningstar Mill 289-407-5529

March -there is nor meeting scheduled in March- April -still looking for a meeting place for April. If you live in Ontario and are interested in hosting a meeting contact the OABA ambinistration and let them know Ontario Artist Blacksmith Association - WHO WE ARE May Saturday and Sunday,May,29 and 30,2009 The New York State Designer Blacksmiths (NYSDB) will be holding their 2nd Annual Great Lakes International Iron Fest (GLIIF) in Buffalo, New York the weekend of May 22-24 2009. Check their website for more info regarding demonstrators, or contact Peter Parry if you can help in any way. The official OABA meeting will take place at the Cumberland Museum near Ottawa,Ontario the weekend of May 29-30,2009. Watch this space and your newsletter for updates as they become available. Robert Vaughan is the contact person for this meeting.

The meeting at Waldie's Forge in Milton was great - it was my first meeting and I'm looking forward to the next one I can attend. The demonstrations were great - I learned 2 different techniques for forge welding - with and without flux. Can't wait to try them. Also found out that Waldies's shop is available to OABA members who are also menbers of the Milton Historical Society who need shop space to work. The cost is about $20.00 for the day. Picked up a MHS application sheet and I'm sending it in with a cheque this week - I NEED SHOP SPACE OABA is a great organization - glad I joined. Sam

Hi guys, Sorry for the lateness of this post, but if you're not busy this Saturday the OABA meeting will be in milton and Waldie's Blacksmith shop. Hope to finally meet some of you. Sam FEBRUARY Saturday February 14 Waldie's Blacksmith Shop, Milton ON Forge welding - Lloyd Johnson and Mick Smith These two well known and experienced blacksmiths will demonstrate the basic principles of forge welding. Lloyd will illustrate the use of fluxes, Mick will work without. Llyod has asked that all those intending on participating / watching closely make sure they bring : GLASSES / leather aprons / gloves He is concerned for people who wear nylon winter jackets in the close confines of the Waldie forge area. As usual there will be a chili lunch available for those who wish to partake. Cost is $5.00 and all proceeds go to Waldie's Blacksmith Shop. Don't forget to bring something for Iron-in-the-Hat. Waldie

Those leaves look great. Thanks for sharing. Sam (the other Sam)

DJ that's a real nice job. I didn't know you could get reverse letter punches. Sam

The cross is beautiful. My heart goes out to you and your wife. No parent should have to bury their child. sam

Aeneas is my SCA persona name. My real name is Sam Falzone - unfortunately Sam is such a common name that I always had a HUGE problem making up login names that I could remember. Funny enough, I've never had a problem registering Aeneas when I sign up on a new list or such (...go figure...). So that's what I use it, though I've taken to signing posts as Sam. Oakhammer Craftings and Oakhammer Forge are also taken from my SCA persona name - I like the sound of it. Sam

Maybe the first day should be .. An anvil that was free. Seems like a free anvil is the holy grail for most smiths these days. Day two - Two brand new hammers ??? Keep it going everyone. Great idea Glenn. Sam

The Google book search ain't workin for me. I've tried in Internet Explorer and with Firefox and all i get is the teaser. All those books and i can't get to them - bummer :mad: Sam