jlpservicesinc

Steeled Wrought iron mini draw knife.. Forged at the EAIA (Early American Industrial Association) regional meet. Put on at the Original location of the Moses Wilder Blacksmith shop in Bolton MA. It was sized on a historical example with some design attributes I like..

Arkie, why is this??? There are still some good deals out there.. The availabilities of new anvils, swage blocks, 2x72 grinders, forge and all the other items have become prolific if one has the money. The artificial inflation and economy has a larger effect.. 7 years ago Anyang 170lb hammer 9500.00 now 17000.

The water is to create an explosion of steam between the metal and the anvil.. Thus eliminating scale and inclusions. The Clay is to seal the metal and act as a partial flux. The burnt rice straw.. Yes burnt rice straw is in theory to balance the carbon. some of it is for the magic and mystical of the process and some of it has real purpose. The master will change what is going on, based on the results they are seeing. Something that was new to me a few years ago was seeing some of the Japanese guys adding Borax to the slurry or in some cases adding it directly to the steel before coating with the slurry. I love that no matter the ferrous materials the basics of how they join, the chemistry and the behaviors are basically the same.. Despite thinking about the precise nature of the material, it's also error-laden so us imprecise humans can actually figure it out and use it.

Frosty. I nearly bought a second manlift.. Grove 66AMZ with Duetz diesel. Lucky for me it sold before i could find the listing again. Everyone I have ever talked to involved with the trades that use manlifts swear new, used, old they are pretty much electrical bug gremlins come alive. Ever since I got this unit running and functioning about once or 2x a year it has something that for all intensive purposes is pretty simple.. It's just a matter of tracking it down. It was stored outside for most of it's life before I got it so there is some areas that are prone to water collection.. Works a treat now again though.. probably one of the few pieces of equipment that I have no buyers remorse over.

Larry, LOL.. Thanks.. Yes that lamp is one of those animated ones.. It's a blacksmith/farrier at the anvil swinging a hammer on a hot shoe.. Great eye.. Was a gift from one of my farrier customers. The end wall has not been insulated for the last year or so. Might even be closer to 2 years. When we were insulating it originally I needed to order more of the insulation hangers and that put the brakes on that aspect of the build. This project is more of a A, B, C type of thing.. Or 1, 2, 3.. This has to get done before that gets done, and this needs to be done before that gets done.. Etc, etc.. What usually happens is running out of an item, or needing something not stocked (hangers, electrical, etc, etc) and when this happens it wipes out the go, go, go and creates a "round to it". By the time the items needed arrive, I've rotated into another aspect of the build and then have to dead end there before rotating into something else. I'm very focused on one aspect at a time so when I'm forced to stop, getting started again is like moving a mule.. You can kick it, punch it, run it over but until it's the right time it ain't happening.. Sadly much of it (being the right time) is outside of my control.. So, as to the insulation and colder weather.. Nah.. not so much.. LOL.. It's more the fact that it needs to be finished so I can run the electrical conduit and wires and clear the rolls of insulation of the floor. For such a large building it's super easy to heat.. 38R in the roof 29R in the walls, the main garage door is R29. With the duct work up it's going to be even easier to maintain a more even temperature. Used to be 100F at the ceiling and 60F at the floor. I don't like working with insulation and usually get all suited up.. So having the little bit cooler temperatures does come in handy. The right side end wall was insulated this past April.. So it was nearly 2 years that it was left unisulated. Time goes by...

Made some progress on the insulation of the last section. The insulation system uses a device to hold the insulation up to keep it from settling. For the life of me I could not find them when I ran out so spent about 45min looking.. Turns out they were right in front of me and I had walked by them 50 times.. When I moved the welding leads over to the school I put them on top of the inside siding.. The hangers were under the leads. The manlift was not working well after I took it out and turned it around outside.. So took about 1hr of cleaning contacts and wires.. The usual suspects only to find that at some point the Auxillury electrical power button in the basket was partially depressed or stuck.. Once I pushed it completely in (its spring return) everything was back to normal. 2hrs of frolic messed with my productive time..

David, you are welcome for sure.. Everyone is welcome to come for classes, a hammer-in, or to visit.. I'm hoping to have some events and such like iron pours as well as theme-based classes. Intro, advanced, and intensive classes. A lot to do before then but it's super exciting to think about.

Today I installed the boxes on the left side and finished installing all the hardware to hold the duct work in place. The duct work now is stable enough to walk on.. Also aligned it a little more with the building.. Was aiming towards the left hand side of the building. I have to confess I'm starting to get pretty excited about the school opening. Getting that 3ph power installed charged me up. Ordered the 4 extra lights to day. There will be no dark spots in the school..

Alexandr that is crazy.. You are a machine..

Goods, the judge has the say.. It's interesting how they determine the positions (1st, 2nd, 3rd).. Really depends on the judge. Beth will eye things, shapes, measure to check for requirements.. Little things.. My bowl was the deepest and my twist was even from top to bottom.. There were only 2 professionals in this last forge in.. I'm lumped into the professional group though I only forge about 10 occasions a year. Once the school opens that will be great.. then I can get back at the forging on a regular basis. The hawks look great.. Is there a reason for such a high finish? Chimaera where will you get stenciles from?

So, I've been getting some work done now that I'm feeling inspired by getting some 3phase power into the school. Now it's the little things. I had to order some electrical enclosures to finish off the light runs. I have also included extra wires for another 4 LED lights.. All on dimmers.. So I can dim each side (left and right) of lights separately and I can also turn on and off as well as dim the 4 lights that will be ordered and installed at the enclosures.. Ever since getting the 3phase installed I've been inspired to get out there and spend the time.

Fired up the fat lamp. 20231001_162754.mp4

George, the judge picks the items to be forged, the time allowed, and the specifics. The Judge was Beth Holmberg.. She is into Vikings and early British, Icelandic, and Scandinavian lore. Fun really because she researches the items and gives history on them with location. Only a few items I've made there since going.. ((This was my 3rd time I think.. (covid time off)) have been useful with potential sales. 2023-division_sessions-3.pdf

Fitchburg Forge In competition. Super fun. Something different. I really should practice the items. Last arrow head I made was 30 years ago and never made a meat fork nor this design of fat lamp.

M.J. I never knew that.. Wow.. Thank you.

So, the RPC is installed.. Took a little while to figure out location and overall layout. Sadly with never doing this before it's not cut and dry.. You do things all the time and it's second nature.. Layout with what I want to take place in each bay is tough. I was able to fire up the Oster 784 threader and finally make some RMT Nipples to go between the large wireway and the panels. It felt amazing being able to use the equipment finally.

Great detective work.

Your knife work has come a long ways.. Congrats.

Goods.. Don't adjust the mandrel.. What you do is flatten the eye once it's welded.. This will give you the correct geometry for the handle. You are better off with a rounder shape as that is traditionally used for many things.. Froes, hoe's, axes, etc.. I try to show this each hawk I make at demos.. The thick side you need to forge down while it's on the mandrel.. The eyes should always be undersized when forge welded and then drifted up to size.. Keeping in mind that you will need to flatten them some to fit the handle.. The Qualiity of handles is lack luster so even between the same sizes the hammers won't be perfect.. I got a batch that they all needed to be sanded on one side because they were kinda flat where they were supposed to be round. Chad, nice job.. It's great you stuck with it.. practice makes perfect..

Ghost town forge.. Mr Craven and I have the same anvil..

The head shape and weights are slightly different. The main difference is the handle. I've made 2 handles that suit each need. Cutlers is the main use and made the hammer to go along with the anvil. I'll interpret a little about Frostys post about work height. The anvils and the materials dimension wise are closely fixed. Unlike regular blacksmith work that varies in material thickness with large variation. A cutlers or file makers materials don't change as much. In the photos the handles are markedly different based on the difference between swinging the hammer. The file cutters swing is much more confined. Frosty that was some neat information about "Eisenhower" do you remember the book? This hammer and head combination is held in with external wedges. Once I get some use time on it I'll adjust the handle. I'll make a separate file cutters hammer at some point when the file cutting station goes in.

So here is the follow up which might make some more sense to my last post.

Savlak. Nice looking hammer.. I forged up a steeled wrought iron cutlers hammer.. Cutlers hammers and file makers are very simular.

Thanks.. I will consider it.. I was trying to think of an appropriate name.. Anyone else get a sense from the hawk? I've been really enjoying manipulating the wrought iron's grain.. The farriers rasp was part of the patterning.. once side being lines. the other being the gouging.. This wrought iron was from Gilbertville, MA.. River find.. Came from what I would consider the original hand railing that spanned the stone bridge before the bridges collapse in a flood in 1938. One can see the hand railing..

David,, Great advice.. I always use the mandrel to drift the hole to the final size. Most people won't because they are afraid the weld won't hold and don't want a failure because of the work they put in.. If it takes 5 tries to get a good one to me it's worth it. Doing it this way does 2 things.. I can choose the handle size based on how far the mandrel goes in and it tests the forge weld.. When you drift the eye, bring it up to near welding heat and get it in and sized asap.. I will use the vise as my backing for drifting. Every time I drift something that is welded I'm doing it to test the weld. A good weld won't pop.. If it does pop then I need to reweld it.. No better time to know the weld is bad.. Better now vs in the customer's hands.. A lap weld on tomahawks is a tough weld to do well simply because there is not the reduction in cross section. Fast light blows are applied just in front of the eye pinching the eye shut. This is where hoop tongs are well put to work.. The little notch under the blade just in front of the eye is there to help get that much more weld in and it kinda looks good. Great info..