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I Forge Iron

Jack-O-Lantern

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Everything posted by Jack-O-Lantern

  1. I've been antsy to try out leaves. This is my first one. I could'nt think of anything to put 1 leaf on so I made a knifish thingy. :ph34r:
  2. Yeah Steve I getcha. The block was to make up for hammer control. I'm better than I was but still. I thought a sledge whack or 2 with the block would spare me some marring. I think I'll just make a long ways valley and use it to color temper blades and the like after I heat it up. Thanks to all for the useful info as usual. I like my little setup as of now, but I'm interested to see if improvements would be made by using actual coal, a heavy anvil, good stock, a welder, and a much wanted hardy hole. Oh and a vice that works. If absolutely nothing changes then I know I just need practice. :)
  3. Well gang, they did'nt work. That desperation fuller did'nt bend but requires God like hammer control to stay put. The piening swadge actually did o.k. with all those teeth, but I think it needs more support then my weighted cable hold down. I'll figure it out. Currently I'm aggravating myself with tongs of all things. I'm sick of my pliers and want to move away from spike knives. I know I shoud'nt blame tools and materials but....rusty rebar is terrible! Its my nemesis!!! I saw that dude Brazell or whatever work some good stock and it behaved like clay. I do however know that conquering rebar will beef up my skill greatly. Oh well. Keep smakin!
  4. I've been an artist for most of my life and have studied blacksmithing hardcore for a little over a year. I can confidently say that I can make an attractive S.S.O. But if I said I can make a genuine katana then I'd be a balogny salesman. I do have a lot of experience with tools and labor but blacksmithing has its own unique difficulties. Just the fact that the dude said he made a katana shows his ignorance. That's just my opinion as a semi knowledgeable rookie.
  5. Yeah I got 7 pritchel holes! I was gonna try a bend but I thought the fuller would just spin all over the place. Thanks for the lincoln tombstone welder info. I had no idea such a thing existed. I was thinking the peening swage (thanks for the name) would make alot of messy folds and such. Im gonna knock some teeth out of it. Again thanks for the welder heads up.
  6. I do not have welding equipment, nor do I have a square hardy hole. I spent some time thinking of how I could weave and wrap up rebar to act as a slide on spring fuller. All the ideas were pretty complicated and I realized none of them would work very well. SO; I chopped up an old stake bar for concrete forms and made this simple yet effective guillotine fuller. Its ugly but it works. Any improvement recommendations (many I'm sure) are welcome and requested. Remember I don't have a welder or a square hardy hole. Our next item is......I dunno. A thingy? I made it with a hand grinder. Its purpose is to help draw out blades and such. I thought it would be much easier to stamp several peen marks at once rather than do it by repetitive strikes. Once the work piece is formed by whatever I should call this, I flip it over and smack away for a much quicker drawing out process. Is it a fuller block, a mini swadge, junk? I'm not sure. Again, please recommend improvements. I hope these little monsters can assist fellow newbies, and maybe even vets if they make the grade or whatever.
  7. Thank you. I'll share if I can pull it off.
  8. I was wondering if using clay to cover part of a blade would work for temper coloring designs. Modeling clay in particular. Would it damage the blade? Is there an easier method?
  9. After fiddling with spikes for a little while now, I'm finally satisfied. As you all can tell I'm no knifesmith by a long shot, but my hammer finally keeps up with my imagination. So for now I'm satisfied. I'm gonna drift off into more deco type stuff now and see how well I handle it. When I return to blades I'll try big boy stuff like damascus, mokune gane, etching, and proper tempering. At least I hope so.
  10. I make up my own sometimes. Somebody had to start the old ones. Why not make new ones? I read that in some small parts of Africa the locals will have a special blacksmithing language. That and in other parts of the world a feast was held for the unveiling of a new anvil. The smith would strike it to start the party and food and wine were placed on the anvil.
  11. Hey Pduffy. I'm in Plainfield but originally from Chicago Heights. I've been looking for beginner blacksmiths around the area. If you find an anvil source or a good scrap yard let me know and I'll do the same.
  12. Welcome Jano. I'm also a newbie and I have done a little casting with aluminum. I suggest you start there. Iron needs more than double the melting temp of aluminum to melt. If you don't have casting sand you can mix silica sand with baby oil. Or filter regular sand on an old window screen to get the big pieces out for a smoother cast. I also would like cast iron, but I want to master aluminum first. Either way dude, good luck.
  13. Well dudes and dudettes, here it is; my anvil. 40lbs. A railroad track piece with a grinder gut bick. 2 grinders actually. 1 burned out on me. In my newbie frustration I decided I wanted a bigger flatter face. So I eventually got someone to weld this 7 holed plate on top. The holes give me TONS of options but the draw back is that I've heard of a cushion effect with welded anvils. Though me and my 3 pound hammer seem to do just fine with it. My question is if I should bother hardening it. The plate gets marred easily but has held up pretty well. If I were to harden it; would one of those 25$ propane torch kits do the job? Would the weld beads be badly affected by this? And how exactly should I go about it? Also this thing used to walk around the block when I'd work on it. So I hammered the stump to a massive olde timey x-mas tree stand. It helped alot but it still scoots a bit. How can I still this little beast? ANNNNDDD good ol'7 eye helped me out in a pinch when my old vise broke. This little trick allowed for handle twists.
  14. 1. Jack Kewitz 2. South Chicago suburbs 3. Knives, Decorative stuff, and a little casting 4. I started about 7 months ago. I got the idea in my head after having had done all types of artwork like bar room rock show fliers, comics, stone carving etc etc. One day I saw this incredible massive door lock made by a German blacksmith at the art museum in Chicago. It was insane! It had dwarves and castles and animals in a forest that moved for no purpose other than being beautiful. 5. A railroad track piece that was magicly in the garage of a house I moved into while thinking of blacksmithing. In the forest near my house I also found a 3 1/2 foot wide pre-cut stump. 6. A 2 1/2 foot square tower of patio blocks......That exploded.... 7. My friends and family said it sounded like a cool idea. 8. I have always thought it was awesome and still do. But in the last 5 or so months I've discovered what a deep connection it has to legitimate occult and mystic philosophy and practice. Which I also have a deep interest and personal investment in. 9. The 7 holed 6 inch wide plate I had welded on my now horned railroad anvil. 7 holes allow for a ton of ingenuity. 10. Ha! I started a thread on this. If you can do it how the ancients did; then you'll be more independent. Also learn the lingo. It makes info mining much easier. 11. Be nice to beginners. 12. Everything since the beginning. The science, labor, magic, art, pain, joy, all of it.
  15. @ Dan: I've never actually tried annealing but my thought is that if you can make it softer at room temp than it would be without annealing, that it will be easier to heat and have more of a maliable texture. I think this may be true because I've noticed that even if two seperate types of metals of the same size are heated to yellow, they still have a different reaction to the hammer. Basicly I'm going for a copper feel as opposed to tungsten. Is this true? Will it work? It doesnt do anyone any good to post wild unproven guesses and rumors.
  16. Exactly. Look around before you ask. Also, an old crowbar 1/2 thick is more workable than a 1/4 inch piece of rebar in my limited experience. If good English rebar is as plentiful there as this crap is in the states then you guys are lucky. I think it comes from a lot of recycling. I dunno. I suggest anealing it first. That's softening. Heat to a brighter red and leave it burried in ash for a day. I'll try it out and see if it helps.
  17. This may seem presumptuous as it is only my second post and the fact that I've only been smithing for 7 months. However, after studying this craft for a year and being in the thick of newbiness I've noticed several things that I feel should be discussed and avoided by my fellow beginners The act of heating and shaping metal is awesome in and of it self. The fact that its so cool makes people want to share whatever they heat and twist while calling themselves blacksmiths. This is like nailing together 2 mangled pieces of wood and calling yourself a carpenter. With that said: be picky about where you get info. Do not be satisfied with your forge if it only heats to a dull cherry red. It is pretty cool when you accomplish such a feat, but in the future when you learn more you'll realize that you have alot of tweaking to do. When you can heat at least a 1/2 inch piece to white hot, THEN you can be satisfied with your forge. DO NOT START WITH A SWORD!!! The veterans preach this constantly and they're right. Even if you manage to make a pretty sword shaped object you'll eventually learn that its junk and you'll wish you did not waste your time/material/and fuel. Do not waste time waiting for cash for tools and material. Being poor is a great teacher. Look up ancient methods. There was'nt homedepot and IForgeIron.com in medieval times. Examples: If you cant afford chemicals or toches to blue/purple a blade or whatever; then burry it in coal and experiment with timing. If you can't afford refractory cement; go dig for FREE clay. If you cant afford charcoal; MAKE SOME. If you can't afford casting sand, mix some regular sand filtered on a piece of window screen with some baby oil. I had a hairdryer for bellows. It broke and so I built a box bellows from an old bookshelf. I could'nt afford to get pipes welded for my forge. So I took my brake drum and some pvc and dumped concrete on it. My old vice broke. So I rigged a monkey wrench for twisting handles. Be ingenuitive and don't give up! Its incredibly educational and satisfying. Find any book or pdf that teaches basic hammering techniques. It opens a whole new world when all that frustration is relieved by a simple technique. If you need some stock then go to Good Will or the like. They always have super cheap pots and candle holders and whatnots that you can use for material. A POX UPON REBAR! I hate that stuff. It takes forever to heat, and its stubborn as XXXXX I've seen plenty of vids with fellow beginners attempting to forge it. This one guy used 3 heats and 25 minutes of hammering to only slightly flatten a 1/2 inch tip. Its like if someone put superglue in play-doh. All kinds of impurities that I don't really know about yet. If you use charcoal and have to get store bought then do not use bricket charcoal. Use natural wood chunk charcoal. I recommend royal oak brand. The other stuff is like a spark fountain and dos'nt heat the metal very well. Thats it guys. Any tips would be appreciated. Good luck. Terms corrected from "Coal" to "charcoal" because they are not the same thing, also edited for language violation
  18. Thanks guys. Slowly but surely my hammer is keeping up with my imagination.
  19. Hey guys. I just joined the forum but I've been getting all kinds of info from you guys via google searches for a while now. I'm new to blacksmithing. I've been an artist for most of my life and decided to enter a new medium. I've been trying it in ernest for about 7 months. Its been interesting to say the least. I'd also like to add that of all the corners of the internet I've been to this place has the coolest and most helpfull people. No cynicism or smuggery. Its refreshing. Heres some stuff I've made thus far. I hope to teach and learn as much as possible. Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks guys. Happy to be here.
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