Ramsberg

Hey John, Good luck with going at it full time! Looking at your profile you like motorcycles too. Just an idea, but what about making some custom hand forged brake/clutch levers, foot pegs/highway pegs and sissy bars. Maybe have them chromed after forging or just a solid paint job. Most of the Harley models don't seem to change that much over the years, a bit of research may show which models have used the same mechanical connection of the levers and such. Light and mirror brackets may be the easiest mechanicaly to adapt to a design. Well, just an idea. Caleb Ramsby

Hummm, fishing for blacksmiths! The easy part is the hook, just a J wall hook. . . the difficult part is getting he 200 lb German anvil attached to it. . . not to mention the very heavy chain required to pull in the blacksmith! 100's here too, especilly downtown where I live with all the buildings and streets. . . hot hot hot! Just trying to remember the days in the country smithing outside in the winter. . . 30 + mph winds and negative temps on the mercury gauge. . . don't want to think what wind chill that was! Caleb Ramsby

Just knock it off with a wire brush. If there is something on the metal it isn't clean.

Hey Daniel, Very cool openers! I really like the buisness end being two "seperate" pieces, makes them rather unique. If I may be so bold, I would suggest that you try forge welding the folded end together and drawing it out in a scroll of some sort, maybe a fish tail. Even if you havn't forge welded yet or your forge can't get hot enough, one can still draw out the folded over part a bit to give that back end a bit more grace and a place to hang it from. Either way, very original work! Caleb Ramsby

Brian, That last paragraph of yours should be at the top of each page on IForgeIron.com! "One of the main things I try to emphasize to people is not to belive everything you hear or read and do not believe me. You can understand all you need through your own eyes and observations. No one can teach anyone anything. Each person to know something must teach themselves. This is all reasonable. That means you have the ability to reason it out. " Hurrah on hot working tools not requiring heat treating. It would be like heat treating a soldering iron! Good looking tools! Caleb Ramsby

It is thread titles like this one which make me miss Grant Sarvers (aka NakedAnvil) rather bold comments! I am sure that he would have had some usefull information to pass along too. Caleb Ramsby

Hey Brian, Would you and Lyle be able to produce a short YouTube video showing all of the working dies of your hammer? Doing so would really show people what you are talking about and be appreciated by many people, myself included. Caleb Ramsby

The important thing to remember here is that every technique or process has its place. It wasn't until just the past few years when cast crankshafts have been able to compete on a durability and strength level with forged cranks and it is still debatable that they are. The thing to keep in mind is that steel still has grain in it and if one uses a tool to cut a hole in it, then the grain is interupted and the material is weakened. When it is forged with the grain in mind, then the object becomes much stronger. My grandfather worked in an industrial forge shop and he taught me a bit about industrial forging design, as well as gave me a mess of industrial forging and metal books. One thing that is critical when designing the dies for the forging of an object is to have the grain to flow properly. This is for forging engineered products, products that peoples lives depend on, so the reliability of their strength is critical. Much more so then a simple table that is welded together in ones shop or a few non structural decorative items. I don't think that a blacksmith would just dump all of their forging knowledge when sparky welders and "modern" machines were encountered. I for one did rather the opposite! I had first learned the sparky welding, cutting and grinding fabrication techniques. When I learned blacksmithing I found that there were a great deal of items that I could produce in less time, with less metal and consuming less materials with forging then with my prior sparky welding, cutting and grinding fabrication techniques! I didn't really anticipate that result. One other thing to think about is that the "old" blacksmith worked in wrought iron, more so then steels and the machining and forging techniques for wrought don't work the same as on steel. Really, a gread number of the modern hand forging techniques would split and harm wrought iron, it's just my personal opinion, but I think this may have something to do with why we are seeing so many new forging techniques. Brains welding technique is a case in point, not really of the above, but more so of what is made now as opposed to what was made before. His technique lookes to be brilliant for welding non descript bits together, but if one were welding a wagon wheel together, then the ends would be required to lay on one another exactly, other wise one would have to alter the bend of the whole tire! Another thing is that metal has only recently become CHEAP. Back in the day if one ran a shop it was CRITICAL that as little metal was wasted as possible, regardless of ones shop being small or large. Now-a-days, a lot of people running a small shop don't think twice about a process producing more waste metal then product! Heck, many small blacksmith shops live on the waste metal of other shops! Caleb Ramsby

Humm, actually it may say "Try our advanced uploader (requires Flash 9) " . It was the basic uploader that I had an issue with and couldn't upload any photos with. Hey Ted, For me it says that the max single file size is 32 megs, so the file size shouldn't be an issue. However, I don't know if this is the case with everyone using the forum. Caleb Ramsby

Hey Frank, If you click on "More Reply Options" and then bellow where it says attach files, click on the "try our basic uploader" it may work. I have had to do that a few time to post a photo. Caleb Ramby

Hey Francis, No, not really. The transfer of heat in the fire to the stock is mainly via radiant and conductive processes. The amount of radiant heat produced in the fire is much more dependent on the surface are to volume ratios of the fuel. This comes down to the size of the chunks of fuel in the fire. Smaller chunks will have a much greater surface area for the same volume of fuel and thusly be able to combine with the air much more rapidly. It will also have a much greater contact with the work in the fire, thusly increasing the conductive heat transfer. Charcoal is much more open then coal, and thusly the charcoal allows the air to pass more freely through it. The coals greater inner matrix also consumes more air for a given volume of fuel. This explains why one requires a deeper bed of charcoal and a lighter blast then with coal. If it is any indication, for my second forge I made the firepot out of about 1/16" thick sheet. I noticed that with charcoal the firepot was much hotter then with coal. The firepot was thin enough that it would glow in use. I used it for about two years and it didn't burn through, just in case anyone is wondering. Caleb Ramsby

Hey Dave, Charcoal and coal both, for practical purposes, in the forge fire are pure carbon in the heart of the fire. They both burn at the same temperature. The density issue is how "packed" the carbon bits are. Coal being much more tight, it requires a greater air pressure for a given firing rate, but less replenishment for heat a given heat per time output. Charcoals biggest advantage is that if it is made properly, it has fewer impurities then coal and thusly is more adaptable to bloomery processes. Metallurgical coke took longer to become economical to produce. In Europe, especially England, the use of wood and charcoal for fueling purposes was a massive buisness prior to coal being readibly available. An issue they had was the amount of forests at hand. So they developed a process to significantly increase the production of wood by trees. It is called the coppicing and pollarding. Coppicing is where a mature tree is cut off to form a short stump. Said stump produces many small sprouts which form suckers. Suckers are branchs that grow straight up and are generally tall and thin(the bane of fruit trees) . Pollarding is the same process, but the tree is cutoff much higher up. Generally high enough so that deer and such can't eat the sprouts and destroy the process or for a road side tree to keep the suckers from getting in the way. In Europe there are many streets which are lined with trees which have been pollarded. The process has been discovered to be at least as early as 3000 BC or so. Keep in mind too that at the time many things were made from "round wood" . That is, wood which had not been carved down to square or rectangular sticks and a bunch of stout rapidly growing suckers can be used for many products. Maybe if you guys add in a bit at the begining of your video where you say, "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away. . . " you will be freed from a great deal of criticism! HA!!! As an aside, what do you think about your new hammer? Caleb Ramsby

When is it a can of worms? When they are sealed in the can or when they are taken out? Just can't help myself sometimes. . . wry grin. . . Caleb Ramsby

Hey Beth, Those birds are a lot like children, at times they cause the greates joy. . . and at others the greatest despair! Working with them is about as opposite as one can get from blacksmithing, with the birds you can do everything in you power to produce perfection, but in the end you have absolutly no control over the situation, with the blacksmithing ones efforts are very clear in the work. I have read of the birds who try to make their nests more attractive. I am very bad with names, so I can't recall which species it is, nor can I remember if it is the male or female. I do know that they are the type that only mate for a year or so with an individual bird. The bird "lures" in its mate with the fancy nest by building the nest prior to the opposite sex migrating there. The male mountain rams combat by literally ramming each other to try and acquire the favor of the female. What is funny is that very often while the two males are combating, another will wander over and walk off with the female, leaving them to battle it out alone! Hey MacBruce, I am blaming this whole art discussion on you! (that was a joke) I have been playing a wild card game called "In a Pickle" a bit lately. It requires one to have rather unconventional thoughts as to objects and ideas relations. This got me thinking about uses of art. Your repose self portrait could be "used" to cook curiously molded pancakes on the stove. Hey Bentiron, Just a bit of curiousity here. Were your pieces too artsy or too functional for the group back then? This rather relates to the pureness of blacksmithing. The earliest pieces of blacksmithing that I have seen have a great deal of art in them. More so then many modern pieces that are produced. The Roman surgical tools are a good example, especially as compared to the modern forged ones. Caleb Ramsby

The beginings of the addiction. . . then a few days later with my first crude forge, burning wood. Caleb Ramsby

Hey Mac, I love that quote! Hadn't heard it before. I also agree that the world would be a drab place without art. However, I couldn't disagree more in regards to birds. I have been hand raising exotic birds for a few years. http://www.public.asu.edu/~kjmcgraw/pubs/Families.com.pdf http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/17B.html Well, I supose it depends on what one determines as "art" . To me a very vibrant color or combination of colors can be art, to others it is just a bunch of color. I have often wondered how I would describe visual art to a person which was born blind. Attraction, a women in a red dress has a certain type of attraction. . . is it the women in the dress, the art of the dress, the color of the dress or the combination that is attractive. . . what does this have to do with purists. . . why are my feet cold. . . what time is it. . . I see your point with the birds, as in it is the health of the feathers that is actually attracting the mate, but I have found that birds are much more intelligent then they are often given credit for and I wouldn't doubt if there are patterns of "art" in the feathers that we can not see with our eyes, that they can see with their eyes. They also "dance" to attract a mate and dancing is a form of art. . . at least it is to us. . . don't exactly know what they think about it all. . . not honestly sure I want to either! HA!!! Say, I really love your Dr. Seuss quote too. . . I can't recall seeing a quote by Winston Churchill and Dr. Seuss so close together before, but it makes all the sense in the world! Caleb Ramsby

Oh, come on man, art has a use! It is used by its creator to express emmotion and beauty. It is also used by its viewers to experience beauty and feel emmotions that they may not otherwise be aware of. To me, saying that art has no use is akin to saying that love has no use. Birds make great use of beauty. Most all of them use big displays of colorfull feathers to attract their mate. For many species, it is the male who is more colorfull and does the "dance of attraction" , if it were not for their built in art, there would be no baby birds. . . I think the same could be said for many people. Caleb Ramsby

Good one Thomas! I was actually thinking about how it reminded me of my grandfathers three legged milk stool, but it doesn't have the handle coming out of the side of its seat. Caleb Ramsby

A very heavy step stool? Couldn't resist it. I agree with George, it looks like an upsetting block. Caleb Ramsby

Melting temp 787 F. 419 C. boiling point 1,665 F. 907 C. If the zinc melts off of the metal and runs into or onto the forge then it WILL reach the boiling point. Caleb Ramsby

Hey Thomas, That depends on if you were a spectator or a participant. . . Caleb Ramsby

Well, hopefully 2012 is a better year and the ill fated 2011 Scotish games somersaulting contest isn't repeated. . . Caleb Ramsby

Something to consider is Weygers flue blasted forge. He made it from a coffee can with a hole in the bottom side for access and a bunch of small holes punched in the bottom for air to get to the fuel. The flue was made from 12 feet of 5" diameter irrigation pipe gotten from a farmer. He punched some holes in the sides of the top of the flue and hung it from a tree with wire. He punched some holes in the sides of the bottom of the flue and corresponding holes in the sides of the top of the coffee can and used a pin to attach the coffee can to the bottom of the flue. He packed the coffee tin with charcoal taken from a camp fire. The natural draft of the flue gave the charcoal enough of a draft to be able to make some wood carving chisels. I don't think this setup would get 1" diameter steel up to heat in a hurry, but it would be enough to do something at least! Keep it up man, it is doing such as you have that proves what determination can really accomplish in this crazy world! Caleb Ramsby

Years ago I read of an Amish farmer that used the vacuum produced by the intake on an internal combustion stationary engine for automated milking. There are many different "sects" of Amish, all with different limitations on which technologies can be used and how they can be used. Many will ride in a car, but not drive one. Many have a phone in their community, but not in their home. Some will use electricity for specific purposes, but not for others. For most Amish the main point is to refrain from relying on outside resources for their perpetuation and to place the work load of subsistence on their own backs, not on that of machines. They of course also live in rather closed and private societies. I think that most people who attempt to live "traditionally" are using the same principles as the Amish, the difference is that they, the traditionalists, do it alone and not in a closed group. I often wear a hat and for about seven years had a long beard, so I was often told I "looked Amish" . When I went to pick my sister up at the airport, she said she didn't recognize me and thought I was "some Amish guy" . . . she never said what she thought an Amish guy was doing at O'Hare. . . The above is to explain my research of the Amish, if you get called something long enough, you eventually just gotta know what it is you are being called. I may not be a purist, but in many ways I am a luddite. . . well as much as anyone who is stating that they are a luddite on a website, using a computer and the internet can be! HA!!! As a side note, has anyone ever heard of an Amish made anvil? Isn't it "traditional" for a blacksmith to forge their own anvil? Caleb Ramsby

We must have been posting at the same time. There are very few steels that can poison the smith. Since it sounds like you will be buying from a metal supplier, then ask them for the MSDS. Material Safety Data Sheet. These sheets indicate the potential for danger that the material represents. When making knives, a large proportion of the work will be grinding the blade. Ventilating the grinder(s) is just as, if not more important then the forge. Also, don't be fooled into thinking that just because your forge is burning propane that it is magically producing a clean exhaust. To be honest, a well build and designed coal or charcoal forge has 99% of the exhaust leaving up the flue, so virtually none of the exhaust gases are placed into the shops air. Contrastly, 99% of the small blacksmith gas forges I have seen have NO flue for the exhaust and they just exhaust into the shop or are placed outside. I don't know how many people would agree with me here, but I believe that shops with coal forges have cleaner air then shops with gas forges. You can also look up the MSDS for a steel online. Best of luck. Caleb Ramsby