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I Forge Iron

jlpservicesinc

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Everything posted by jlpservicesinc

  1. this started life as a 1/2" round.. The finial shaft size is about 3/8".. It is a rake or Side poker for forge coal fire maintenance..
  2. It's all good.. After what you had said, I gave it a lot of thought.. I also had someone video me this past demo day.. While I do work like a person with their hair on fire I also do chat it up and engage people.. Sometimes it's a matter of not seeing what it is you do so the video was great to watch.. As for a demo training thread I'd be game.. No such thing as bad information and the nice thing about a place like this is the open sharing.. Something in my earlier days I would have foregone.. Also, I don't think you or I have detracted in anyway with our discussion on demoing.. If anything it might help others who are thinking of demoing but don't really know how to get started in how to converse, act or portray.. If the demo gets done and shows what blacksmithing is.. This was my 3rd demo of the year.. And add in the 2 days of demoing (didn't really demo, just had people watching, or did I. Does teaching count as a demo?) at the NEB event well that's 5 days of demo's this year.. I'm still having fun and the last demo in town was excellent. if you do start a thread I would certainly participate but in reality we covered a lot of terrain.. Not sure I'd have much to say.. Just kidding I love to hear myself talk..
  3. I prefer mine to be perfectly flat on the back side.. This allows for me to take off just the right amount at a high spot and by running the knife flat I can burnish the wood at the same time.. If I need to take more just change the angle of the draw knife to what ever depth of cut I want.. In the olden days where everything was done by hand.. They had like 1000's of different kinds of draw knives.. Concave, convex, Round, sweeped. Short, long, wide, narrow.. pivoting handles, blades swept forwards, blades swept backwards.. Each had a particular task which it was designed for or more in mind but could also be used for other things.. Some of the concave bladed ones are also designed to be used upside down..
  4. Thanks.. Coal smoke is pretty heavy so this keeps the smoke moving along over peoples heads vs coming out a short stack and settling back down into the crowd.. Also a longer stack will offer an increase in cyclic negative pressure between full on and off.. I use a hand blower..
  5. There are 3 video segments on my facebook page showing the steps to the diamond in these pictures.. More of a time lapse then a how to but it should give you the full picture of the process.. https://www.facebook.com/jlpsinc/
  6. When you say weld a plate on, do you mean with forge and anvil or do you mean with arc welding.. I've reforged or as better known " redressed" several anvils with excellent results but again I was setup for it.. The faces were well attached and stayed that way in the forging process as well as the heat treat which I did in house. I've done them up to 200lbs, which was the largest I was setup for.. Like I posted earlier if you are setup for it, makes all the difference in a good job vs ruined or lack luster job.. If you really do want to fix the face then cleaning up all the cracks and voids in the face, Bevel out the area nest to the existing face, then use a hard facing rod that is a softer Rc for the base layer and then switch to a higher finished Rc layer.. While not perfect from the stand point of an anvil made 100 years ago as it now will ruin it's authentic hand made nature it will make the anvil fully functional offering up good corners, a flat face.. and if you do damage it in the future can just re fill the dents with the hard facing, grind down and it's brand new again. Once i get the full shop up.. I'll be putting in a forge for anvils as I have 2 that need a redress and the forges I have now are undersized for the job.. One is 200+ the other is 330lbs.. It's your anvil and if you feel comfortable with doing the work and then finding a heat treater or finding a group to help you can do it with a lot of water a big wood fire or a stream or pond.. Just understand the face if not thoroughly attached will come off.. If you arc weld the new plate on and it's a good clean welded out portion, it will work fine and the incidents of the face popping off is very small vs forge welded on..
  7. Milling off the face completely and putting a new one on, is a very laborious project and unless you have the equipment to put the face back on the old way with a forge weld you would be remiss.. If you really want to have it functional preheat the anvil and then use a hard facing rod.. There are youtube videos as well as other forums with like information. New England Blacksmiths have an anvil rebuild clinic every so often which they have all the equpment.. If you have a large arc welder 225amp -250amps you could take off the plate, bevel out both plate and anvil and then arc weld on a new face being extra careful not to get any voids or inclusions.. Then harden and temper the edges but just the hardening process alone can be costly so unless you have access to all the equipment yourself or are highly skilled it's best to find a different anvil.. There are still deals out there to be had..
  8. I might be interested in this as I could actually take care of 2 birds with 1 stone.. Is the 1/4" round all we can use? If that is the case it would limit the items one could make..
  9. 5160 gets plenty hard to act as a Sen.. 58Rc-62Rc in the hardened untempered state.. In today's Metallurgy and alloying fields there are so many different steels that are designed (designer) to work better in some situations than others but for the most part O1, W1 or W2, or A1, 4140, 4150. 5160 can be used to good advantage in many different roles as long as the heat treat is appropriate for the job at hand.. As a simple demonstration.. S7 is said to make great hot chisels, punches etc, etc, So does H13,, But so does 5160, 4140, 4150, O1.. I have hot and cold chisels and punches with many thousands of hits, hole, cuts, slots etc,etc on them and they will have many, many more before their life is consumed.. Anyhow, the argument comes down to semantics and which someone prefers.. If you are an engineer and have to have exactly the right material then 5160 is probably not your choice.. I would have no problem using it.. Traditional Japanese Sens are made with a low high carbon (0.07-0.85) cutting edge laminated to a softer core.. These steels are considered water hardening steels. A draw knife and a Sen are 2 totally different tools and are designed for the materials they are used with.. A draw knife is used on wood and usually drawn to a peacock or purple which lends itself for the ability to hold a good edge but also be sharpened with a stone or a file.. Has a very thin edge profile with very little back up geometry as the edge has plenty A Sen is left fully hardened or a light bronze Temper and is used on Normalized, annealed on surfaces of which the Rc is at it's lowest point.. One could argue the best steel would be a HSS until you look at the forces involved and even with a blue temper on the HSS (depending) it would make a bad Sen. Anyhow the argument as to which steel makes the best what ever will never die since everybody has an opinion and the argument of Engineer vs shop floor person doing the work is always an issue.. I've made draw knives and Sens out of the same materials from 5160 to 50100, W1 etc, etc.. How you heat treat it will have the largest effect on its use.. Anyhow, 5160 would work great as long as you understand the edge geometry and how to create the geometry needed to support the cutting action you want.. this might take some experimenting and the limitations a Sen has in stock removal.. It's great for removing high spots or planing a not to wide blade but once you get to a certain width the amount of strength you would need to make it works becomes astronomical.. I find a sharp file can strip metal pretty fast with less dangers of gouging involved both to the work piece and to myself. Enjoy..
  10. Thanks. It's so nice to work in.. The stack gets lifted up onto a thimble which is mounted to the roof and a support structure under it.. This thimble acts as a water tight pass thru for the stack from the forge.. It has a tapered fit so once the stack is up, you wiggle it just a little bit and it locks onto the thimble. It takes 2 jacks on each side to raise it back up to lay it down for transport.. Here is a visual reference and lesson on the blacksmith diamond.. Ideally when finished all edges should be sharp and the square sections should all be square and the triangle sections should all be sharp triangles.. Certain finials were considered difficult to master and showed the level of mastery by the smith.. The blacksmith diamond is one such item.. While not that hard to make, to make them all perfect without a file is challenging.. Besides that its a fun item to make..
  11. Do you know if the material would harden.. I don't recognize the base part as being a high carbon scrap piece.. Nice start.. And even it it's not hardenable it's stil good practice..
  12. I love to be around happy people. it brightens the day.. Me, I'm a worker ant.. Not one to sit around.. But can be happy also.. I just sound like a downer because of where I came from.. Anyhow, Friday I went to the NEB fall meet (My first meet with the group) and ended up making some stuff at the open forges. Which they had 6 units setup. A forge side rake (side poker) and a blacksmith twist handle on a shovel which had no handle.. I never expected it but since there were no forge tools I took it upon myself to get the move on.. My first time at the forge in weeks.. Took a little while to get warmed up but all in all was good demo's for the guys hanging around and watching.. And since both items involved forge welding one of the guys spoke up and said he never had a successful forge weld.. So gave him a lesson in chain making which is an excellent exercise to develop technique and timing without fiddling with extra hands or tongs.. So we each made a link then I tested mine by smacking the weld back down towards the other side and it just about made it to within 1/2" before the weld failed.. I expected it to fail so wasn't a biggy.. There was a lot of variables going on and I used a lot of green coal to stoke the fire so the next guy would have plenty of coke to work with.. I was so surprised they everybody used a shallow fire and a nearly empty firepot.. I filed that bad boy up.. When I got done I asked the guy if he was going to test his.. He said " H no".. LOL.. Was a great day.. So, back to this tread.. Saturday I went and did the last demo of the year here in town.. Friday was a great warm up at the NEB and it felt so good to be in with my equipment laid out the way I like with a forge built the way I wanted.. Ah, such a relief.. Working at the NEB event reminded me of why I don't like working on the ground.. Moving blowers.. Smoke and soot and cinders all over me.. Ick.. I demo'd from 10-2pm and didn't even get dirty, I had a wonderful group come through and since this was the 4th year of doing it, I had a ton of town folk come by and take pictures of the new trailer and exclaim on what a fine job I did.. One guy came back about 5 times to check out everything each time saying what a fine job.. He is a post and beam builder as well as wonderful carpenter.. I asked if he was going to build one.. He said "NO" it's just a work of art.. This year was especially nice not only with the new trailer but because the level of involvement with kids was amazing.. It used to be the parents that want to stop and watch and the kids would be egging them to go.. This year I had so many kids holding the parent there to watch what I was doing.. And the amount of girls just hanging and watching was the most I have ever seen.. It was so inspirational.. So many good questions and the girls ranged in age from 5-8 to 20-25.. Anyhow was just the best day.. LOve it.. Also got some great 3D footage of me making a large toasting fork.. I did forget to fill the water tank before I left for the show.. So that was a bummer.. it holds about 25 gallons so recruited one of the town guys and we hustled water in jugs and pails from behind the church.. The day finished up at 2 I had made 2 bars with blacksmith diamonds to keep the drawers shut for trailer transport, 1 hook, 2 nails the fork and started to work on a set of butterfly hinges for the front of the trailer again.. Was home by 2:40pm had some lunch and headed back to the NEB meet.. Arrived at the NEB meet to see every forge taken up but kids.. got some nice 3d footage there also.. I noticed one kid was struggling with what looked like a small knife.. It was about 5:30pm and was going to call it quits and head home.. The call went out to the group for supper.. So every body cleared out but the guy making the knife.. He sat down and started to eat at the forge.. Awesome.. As I walked by the Kid making the knife I heard a woman call to me and said. " Oh, you must be the lady all the guys were talking about making a blacksmith twist handle in like 15minutes and a poker".. YUP.. I said.. She introduced me to her son which was making the knife made a little conversation and headed for the car.. I had the car today as I had bought a firepot on friday but had the 77 BMW R100RS and no way to get it home.. So I got about 3 miles down the road and decide the kid might want a lesson on knife tip making.. I went back and pulled up in the car and asked.. Want a lesson on forging knife tips. The kids face lit up like a christmas tree.. I ended up making a full knife.. The lesson was supposed to be about directional forging which is was but in the process I ended up making a drop point camp knife, half hidden tang. I had like 30 guys standing around watching me and had 1 kid swing sledge, one twirling the blower on and off. The demo/lesson was good but since I had only planned on forging the tip of the knife as a lesson the blade came out a little wider than I would have liked.. Anyhow I gave the kid "Jesse" the knife and asked if he got the lesson of forging vs mushing and using the hammer to pull the material where you want it to go.. He smiled said " Yes".. Thanked me many times and the Mom came over with a big thank you.. I almost got a hug I could see it coming but at the last moment she caught herself.. I love hugs.. Was a good day.. I have a huge blister on my thumb as I have no callus on it since I've been working on the trailer and very little smithing.. So there is the update on the trailer, the NEB fall meet http://newenglandblacksmiths.org/ and all the like.. Few of the trailer in it's nearly completed state, as setup.. everybody I asked about the view and if they could see well enough what I was doing was a resounding yes.. I had a group of girls camp out at the back deck on the grass to watch.. There are also a few of the Youngsters at the NEB meet and the parts I made on friday night..
  13. Yes. This was made in the blacksmith demo trailer doing demos at a show.. 5160 blade, pear wood handles.. forge welded ferrules.. Water quench. all hand made, no drills, grinders or the like.. Just files, and sand paper..
  14. I to the same thing depending on how the handles are finished out.. metal washers on the ends get peened, wood gets clinched..
  15. I actually get stuff like this quite often.. Men, Women, boys girls.. as you know it's the passion or wow factor that provides the best entertainment.. I like cheerful and happy people.. I'm just a doer.. Middle aged. and happy to swing a sledge, dig a hole or roof a house.. LOL>. Differences are the spice of life.. I know where I am today is where I am supposed to be.. I also know that all my brothers and sisters are where they are supposed to be.. It's understanding that in reality there is no difference of who does this, or can't do that.. It's a matter of looking at the differences and seeing in reality we are all the same.. I love to hammer hot metal,, I believe everyone on here does also.. We may go about it differently or have different opinions or different methods, but in the all of it.. It's still forging metal, and sharing a passion.. It's all good.. And as your Name points out" It's all a Little Frosty till you sit by the fire and have a cup of cocoa with a friend.. Thanks.. Do let me know when you have demo's scheduled next year I'd love to try and see one.. As for any fun stuff all I have done is worked on the trailer. I haven't been swimming or to the beach once this summer.. Next year..
  16. Really sounds like a great demo.. You must be so entertaining to watch from the entertainment stand point. I'd love to see you in action. That is certainly not me.. Heres a little history of who or what I am. Maybe more than most care for.. But it's who I am good or bad. lets see.. More than likely I demo to show people what blacksmithing was.. Vs is.. I'm a very serious person.. I love animals, nature not much for BS or standing around, though I do enjoy good conversation and very interested in how others make a living or go about their day.. I'm also a trades person not an artist... I like making functional everyday items.. Well what would be considered everyday items way back.. I'd rather build an axe than a sculpture.. And way back when i really started to get more involved with hardware one of my buddies who was a blade smith tried to talk me out of hardware and into bladesmithing as a living 1990.. I guess it stems from trying to make a living from smithing 22 years ago.. First off I was self taught and had no mentors.. Information was scarce and unless you joined a group or knew someone and/ or could afford to travel (which I couldn't do) there really was no sharing... If I walked into a shop, the smith would stop working instantly and wouldn't start to work again until I left.. Wasn't much sharing back then.. At least in the limited circles I was in.. Maybe it was me but it certainly was different.. So, my earliest creations were knife making (11 years old). It wasn't till a person I worked for doing carpentry knew I had a forge and made stuff, asked me to make him some hardware.. it was hideous.. I soon realized while yes I could make knives.. i really had no concept of what real forging was.. I was 16 at the time and living on my own.. I then started pursuing hardware making in earnest.. spending what money I could afford on coal and equipment with bartering and trading with a cash kicker.. Of course I had read just about every blacksmithing book I could get my hands on from the age of 10.. MT Richardsons was my favorite.. I prefered the old schools stuff vs new.. Anyhow, eventually I got the hardware thing figured out and was working on my own.. The rule of strike while the iron is hot became my life blood and mantra. 99% of my business was custom orders and I would quote these jobs out.. I also had a 30% variance up/down on quoted price..but prided myself on being on target.. I also had a time clock which I would punch in at the start of the job and would punch out at the end.. I was all business.. I had taken a business course related to blacksmithing and they had a formula which according to my outline would require me to make about 110.00hr.. There was no way I could charge that.. I settled on 60.00 back in 1990-91.. So in order to come close to the 60.00 per hour AND come close to the quoted price I learned to work very quickly.. With no messing around.. This stuck.. Both mentally and physically.. So it applies to pretty much everything I do.. No time for messing around.. Get the work done and it should have been done yesterday.. With this being said.. It's the largest reason I love to forge iron.. You hit it, it moves.. Instant action.. Also, because of the ingrained work ethic's of my earlier years it applies to everything I do.. The happiness comes from when it's completed and it's a job well done.!!! I used to be a machine.. I've been told I am a rather intense person.. But its funny because during teaching it's the exact opposite.. At least now it is.. Maybe it's because I have gotten older.. Not sure, but I'm still pretty intense.. My sports of choice.. Martial arts, Free style solo rock climbing, DownHill mountain bike riding, breath hold diving. Deep over 130ft scuba diving and cave diving, Rally car driving.. LOL.. Can you see it.. I am not an entertainer for sure. Here is a letter a gentleman sent me names removed.. Maybe I'm entertaining after all.. Hi Jennifer, I think that is the name you gave me. My daughter and i met you at the Hardwick fair this summer, and we were both very impressed with you. You seem to love you craft and seemed to love to share it with others. You don’t realize of course, blacksmith women, how fascinatingly beautiful you are, and how strangely you have acquired an added and special and dangerous loveliness to the world. You are every think i would love Rosie to be strong independed, motivated and skilled. I truly appreciate the time you spent with use explaining and demonstrating you craft. Rosie and i love to draw and love art of all kinds you are inspiring to us both, I do wish you would were safety glasses. You seem have great awareness and control but i would love for you bright eyes to last a life time so that you beauty you create will continue. I am always crazy busy all the time but i hope that we will meet again. if so I would love to draw your portate or perhaps you would figure you have beautiful arms. I am no superman but I know what he looks like. Well keep up the good work Sincerely yours
  17. Thank you. This coming weekend will be the first real together demo.. Be super nice to have everything organized and where it belongs.. Then I can get started on the foot hammer.. Thanks.. I would have been better off with a completely new build.. For some reason I was fixated on using the rounded panels.. I swear this is the last trailer I will ever build but one never knows.. 4ft longer would be perfect..
  18. So today was banner.. The trailer is just about completed.. just a few small things left to round it out..
  19. I find a pre bend works very well also.. Bend it the opposite way of what you think it will need before forming of the edge.. Then form the edge.. this will curve it back and eliminate the straightening and save hitting the cutting edge against it..
  20. few questions.. Are you working by pattern or drawing? Are you copying or recreating and existing one? A few minutes at the forge can take hours off of grinding.. What are the final plans as to how it will be used.. Reason I'm asking is this determines how the edge both in thickness, shape and handles are decided.. Looking forwards to the finished product..
  21. A hand operated drill (one you crank by hand with gears) works wonders for polishing concave surfaces. then you can use any stones with a shank you desire.. Also polishing bob's or felts as well as rubberized abrasives.. I used to be a purist.. I wouldn't use any modern machines for anything I made.. Well except a drill press if drilling lots of holes.. Anyhow, you don't need electricity to make anything highly finished or polished.. You just need the skill set and the education to carry at the task at hand.. Dinnerware as in the picture (the fork with more than 2 tines) is a relatively newly deigned piece.. for many years it was a 2 tine fork for cooking, carving but not for eating.. It was a spoon (spork) and a knife.. Multi tined forks once they came onto the scene (the rich first) and were being mass produced is when everybody had them.. A very well made small 2 tine fork can do most of what a multi tine can do. Is there a reason the finials on the latest set point towards the face of the fork and spoon? Sadly forks and spoons were not something I took pictures of regularly so can't share any examples.. Cleaning the bowl of the spoon before shaping is is a great way to do it. and if you take a light heat in dishing it ,will be easy to clean up..
  22. I come from a colonial hardware back ground..so have a little different perspective on stuff like this.. I like the overall design's.. Love all the twists.. Something I learned early on is: From a colonial or the way back finishing.. Food service items need to be polished or at least scale and as many cracks and grooves removed. at the eating end.. Handle not so much.. Even the least expensive flat ware was given a smooth finish.. They figured out early that items not finished to a decent degree would make someone sick as it was harder to clean and the cracks and scale would hold food. leading to bacteria and other problems. Also the polished flat ware would look better when being served.. On a selling note.. Fork and spoon sets do sell pretty well..
  23. What was the build time per section? Did you have to build one section or were you able mock up and go straight to jig?
  24. I love the carriage but is there any equipment inside or just for advertisement?
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