Frank Turley

Most of my anvils are held down with two mild steel flat pieces, a hole in either end, one on the base under the horn side , crosswise of the anvil length. The other one goes on the anvil base, heel end, crosswise of the length. I use four Allthread lengths fastened to the stump coming up at the proper angle and through the holes, then sucked down with washers and nuts. A couple of my anvils are sitting in ¼" plate boxes of sand, so in that case, I arc weld the Allthread to the sides of the box. When using sand, the anvil will rock around in use, unless it is fastened down tightly. The sandbox idea came from "Werk und Werkzeug des Kunstschmieds" (work and tools of the artsmith) by Otto Schmirler. The strap iron idea came from "The 20th Century Toolsmith and Steelworker" by H. Holford. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

For all your days be prepared, And meet them ever alike. When you are the anvil, bear When you ar the hammer, strike. Edwin Markham "I get a kick out of your business." (for horseshoers) Forging ahead. Show me a blacksmith making bathroom fixtures, and I'll show you a man who's forging ahead. "Time sure flies when you're screwin' up ironwork." from a Turley student "What percentage of whackage should I give it?" from a Turley student "What are those marks all over your arms?" "Flying ash holes." from a Turley student I'm overwrought. "En la casa de herrero, cuchara de palo." [in the house of the blacksmith, a wooden spoon.] cherry red; white hot stogy (cigar) from Conestoga wagon sweet iron (what bridle bitsmiths call wrought iron or low carbon steel). Derived from the Spanish "hierro dulce," meaning "sweet iron," an old name for the material, wrought iron. When the horseshoe floats, the coffee's ready. "C'mon by; the latch string is always out." "It ain't the heavy haulin' wot hurts the horse's hoofs; it's the hammer, hammer, hammer on the old highway." "It don't take HIM very long to inspect a horseshoe!" The meaning here is that the guy can make a quick decision. This conversational tidbit derives from what is perhaps the oldest blacksmith joke. A couple of horseshoes were lying on the shop floor, one of them at a black heat. The village slow dude enters the shop and picks up the hot shoe...and drops it immediately. The smith says, "What's the matter son, was that horseshoe hot? "Nawsir. It jist don't take me very long to inspect a horseshoe." http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

You're really guessing at tomcats, if you think junkyard coil springs are 1095. I recommend that you go to www.anvilfire.com. Use NAVIGATE MENU and go to FAQs; then scroll to Junkyard Steel and read. One reason NOT to use junkyard steel; you don't know what you have. Another reason is that if you make and sell a knife and the guy likes it, he may come back three years later and want one just like it. Unless you've kept job cards, you won't have a clue. Many, but not all auto springs from 15 years ago and more, were 5160. As an example, I will give you a list of spring steels from the 1966 Forging Industry Handbook, Cleveland, Ohio: AISI/SAE numbers 5155; 5160; 6150; 9254; 9255; 9260; 51-B-60; 1050; 4161. And that was in 1966! I am not a superb bladesmith, but I have made servicable knives of W1 drill rod. It has about 0.95% to 1% carbon and comes in 3' lengths which are easy to ship. I get mine from Travers Tool which has an online catalog. Other suppliers are McMaster-Carr and MSC. Using a known steel should give uniform results. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

There is a lot of "good ol' boy horse hockey" about heat treatment. I would say that burying in sand is one of those things. I met a couple of old horseshoers who buried their pritchel ends in dirt. Another crock. Agitating means to move the hot steel rapidly under the quenchant to remove the steam vapor and to allow fresh quenchant to hit the metal. The vapor acts as a brief insulator, and on many tools, it is desirable to get rid of it by agitation. Sometimes, the quenchant is stirred up before quenching for the same reason. I did a little homework. In "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" by Kapp & Yoshihara, the bladesmith, Yoshindo, quenches the blade in tap water. The average temperature of tap water is 54ºF. The authors say that water at 40ºC (104ºF) begins to retard the hamon formation. I haven't done any personal temperature measurements, but I understand that most folks cannot stand skin contact with a temperature of 150ºF and above. Therefore, I'm sticking to what I said earlier on this thread, that tepid water would be OK, as Yataiki demonstrated. The water was warmed to tepid before quenching, but not enough to retard the hamon formation. Yoshindo also tempers the blade in the hot charcoal after hardening by heating to 160ºC (320ºF). I am not at all sure how he controls this, because if you think of the "heat rainbow" for tempering, the first surface color seen upon heating is pale straw (428ºF). Yoshindo can temper more than once taking care not to overheat, as overheating might ruin the hamon. Getting away from blades for a moment, a thicker high carbon tool is often quenched in water, sometimes brine, and both quenchants are kept below 60ºF. If the tool has a complicated shape, oil may be called for. Quenching oil may be available from McMaster-Carr [?]. Quenching oil is a petroleum product which is created to have a high flash point, less chance of it catching on fire. It also abstracts heat from the hot material at the proper rate. In my small shop situation, I use Quenchtex A, a Texaco product, but I had to buy 55 gallons from a distributor. Fortunately, I was able to sell most of it in order to regain some of the cost. References: > "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" by Kapp & Yoshihara, Kodansha, 1987. > "Heat Treatment and Properties of Iron and Steel" by Digges et al., National Bureau of Standards Monograph 88, 1966. > "Metals for Engineering Craftsmen" Rural Industries Bureau, London, 1964. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Yah, I've also heard them called "corn tongs." An old timer told me that when he was young, the shoe stores kept them handy, so if crappy fitting shoes were brought back, the proprietor would stretch them for the customer.

You want it level. If bending flat, the "easy way," do not feed it diagonally through the fork and/or wrench. If bent on edge, it is easier to hammer-level it than if bent on the flat. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Yes, and some old catalogs even sold "brazing clamps" to hold the scarfed blades in a fixed position. I ran across one years ago and had to figure out its use. The blades to be brazed are held by two thumb screws leaving a gap for the spelter or silver solder and the brazing tongs. The scarfs are what I call "simple scarfs," filed bevels which mate together. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

I googled some photos of the clock jack, but I couldn't find any construction diagrams. I think a good contact would be Peter Ross, who is now semi-retired near Siler City, NC. He was head smith at Colonial Williammsburg for years and is a "walking antiquarian." 2232 White Smith Road, Siler City, NC 27344.

Yes, no, maybe, and I don't know. I spent a few days with Yataiki, a Japanese saw and tool maker, and he stirred the water with a red hot rod and hand tested the temperature before quenching. I'm not sure about the hamon, but I assume that all blades with hamon are quenched in such water. There is an old story about the Japanese apprentice who continuously questioned the blade master about the proper temperature of the water for quenching. The apprentice was becoming pestiferous regarding the subject. One time when the master was preparing to quench a blade, the apprentice could contain himself no longer and dipped his hand in the water. The old man cut off his hand. Yataiki knew that story, and I asked through an interpreter if I could test the water without getting my hand cut off. We all had a big laugh, and Yataiki said that I could put my hand in the water. The water was tepid. As regards other quenchants, we do whatever the metallurgist says to do for a particular steel. I'm not concerned with hamon, so on 1075, a plain carbon steel, a metallurgist would say to quench "thin sections in oil." To me, that means a knife. When you look up the specs for 5160, it is oil hardening because of the silicon, manganese, and chromium alloying. In terms of speed, in a small shop situation, brine is the fastest quench, because it throws scale allowing the liquid to contact bare metal right away. Water is next fastest for somewhat the same reason, though not all scale may be thrown off of the workpiece. A steam vapor blanket is formed around a hot piece when it is submerged in liquid. It is momentary, but with oil, it is prolonged compared with the water quenchants. The vapor acts as a brief insulator, thus slowing the quench a bit. With thin cross-sections like a blade, oil is recommended by metallurgists over water, even though the steel is sold as water hardening, such a W1 or W2. With oil, there is less chance of warpage, and you still get hardening. Ambient temperature brine or water may be too severe for thin sections, thus causing cracks, breaks, or warpage. Of course, air hardening steel has the slowest type of hardening. If you are purchasing tool steel, you should get the heat treating specifications that go with the tool steel. Some tools are agitated under the liquid to help shake off the vapor blanket and to allow a fresh supply of quenchant to hit the piece from all angles. I'm fairly certain that Japanese blades are not agitated. The tepid water and the vapor blanket duration are proper for their quenched blades without agitation. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

I would suggest looking at the diagram of the forge in the book, "The Craft of the Japanese Sword, by Kapp & Yoshihara, page 59. I have photos of sawmaker, Yataiki, at work in two separate forges. He is right handed, and his box bellows is parallel with the wall to his left. The forge is to the right of the bellows about 20 inches{?} with a firewall of concrete in between the two. There is a hood. The bed of the forge is dug below grade maybe 6" and filled with charcoal powder up to grade. The fire of larger charcoal pieces is built on top of this. Your idea of a side blast is typically Japanese, the tuyere of about a 2" diameter and about 2" above the forge bed. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

One must be circumspect when using pigment charts. Pigment charts do do not show incandescence; ie., the emission of light. Charts also indicate that the color is somehow fixed, yet an incandescent color is always changing depending on cooling or heating. Vincent Van Gogh was going off his rocker in his later life. His paintings would indicate sunlight, and he wanted the sunlight in the painting to be incandescent. Ain't gonna' happen. I'm not recommending the discarding of the color charts; they can be a rough guide. As to tempering colors which result from a thin oxide on bare ferrous metal, there is some question as to how accurate they are, although they have been used for well over two centuries as a guide. I have used them with success on high carbon, plain carbon steel for many shop tools I have made. There is an advantage to "chasing color;" that is, running the heat rainbow toward the business end of an edge tool. The colors run in rough "bands," so that if you tempered a cold clisel to a blue, there will be a pale blue and gray-green color behind the blue. This is what fossils like me term a "cushion." It provides a "shock absorber" for the tool, so to speak. There are many ways to reach the proper temper color for a tool's end use: a hot block heat conductor; oxy torch; reserve heat method, etc. I trust the chart in the British book, "Metals for Engineering Craftsmen," 1964, which offers temperatures for both tempering and incandescent heats. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

It doesn't look English. The anvil has the shape of some of the early Hay-Buddens. I don't understand the "HELLAR BROS" on the side. It is misspelled. Heller Brothers made many smiths' and farriers' tools beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the 1950's. To my knowledge, they never made anvils. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Whether it's English or Western saddles, you need to take a clue from the bars of the saddle construction, itself. The bars are at an angle to sit over the horse's withers and back. Most metal racks will have two plates of metal that conform to this angle. You could even consider covering the plates with a soft yielding material like sponge rubber covered with cloth. No twists, or that will damage the hide or sheepskin on the underside of the saddle. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Getting back to thecelticforge, I think I get the drift. To a degree, we are losing some persons who have learned old crafts through a lineage. Americans are tenacious though. A guy can get interested in a craft and get passionate about it, thereby learning lots about it. The other side of the coin is that "we get too far from the tree," so to speak. I learned a little about log building from an expert, Peter Gott, from North Carolina. I took a one week class from him and traded two strap hinges and a door latch. I also put a slight camber in two of his broad axes*, and re tempered them. Peter used to snap a chalk line when squaring up a timber. Then he would score the log with a felling axe followed by "hewing to the line." with his broad axe. "Hew to the line" is an old timey expression which actually meant what it said. I just googled it, and got a misch masch of responses that had nothing to do with timbers. Most of the responses referred to sticking to your guns, letting the chips fall where they may, and other suchlike expressions. Too far from the tree, I say. During the cabin workshop, one of the students asked Peter whether he was hewing to the line or the middle of the line. Peter said, "I'm hewing to the edge of the line." When he was finished, we all moved forward to have a look, and sure enough, he was hewing to the edge of the line. The guy was good. *Peter liked to be able to lay the unbeveled side of the broad axe on a plane surface and have either end of the cutting edge rise off level about 1/8" or so. Therefore, the camber. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

The reason there are so many replies here is that this question of old smithery techniques compared to contemporary higher tech methodology will not be solved. Metal workers are going to do what they're going to do. This idea of "If they'd had arc welders in the old days, they would have used them" is moot. They didn't, and that's that. If my grandmother had wheels, she would've been a truck. So much for 'hypothetical'. But I'm minded of a couple of stories regarding the excellent smith, Tom Bredlow. In the long ago days of the early 1970's, Tom was delivering his Packard auto memorial gate to the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The gate, a tour de force, exactly fit on the bed of his old pickup and was crated with thin plywood. He was driving from Tucson and stopped at Turley Forge in Santa Fe to show his work. I had a class in their second day. Tom pried off the top plywood sheet and revealed his work. Admittedly, none of my students knew what they were looking at. The work was Samuel Yellin quality. One student blurted out, "What'd ya' do, pick it up in Mexico?" Ha ha. To my way of thinking, the work was fabulous. In the course of inspecting the craftsmanship, I asked Tom if there was possibly any oxy or arc welding on the gate. He said, "NO, BECAUSE THAT WASN'T WHAT IT WAS!" I thought, "What a great answer!" It had to do with what he set out to do. He knew that the gate would be in the company of other fine gates, among them, Yellin's work. He knew that he was going to use that early style of joinery and workmanship. Therefore, that's what he did, and that's what it was. Did Tom have an arc welder? Yes, he did. Tom told me that one time a guy came in his shop and said, "Ha! I thought you were a blacksmith. What's that arc welder doing over there?" Tom said, "I am a blacksmith; I'm just not a stupid blacksmith!" Again, in the 1970's, there was an early issue of ABANA's 'Anvil's Ring'. Tom wrote an article titled, "On the Anxieties of Using the Arc Welder." As I recall, he summed up his reasoning by saying that it was OK to use the arc welder if the smith was a good designer, was handy, and was using the weldment judiciously. The idea is knowing what you're going to do for the job at hand. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

A number of years back, I tried didymium glasses and all of my heats looked the same color, a kind of odd purple/magenta blend. I couldn't recognize the welding heat. It's true that didymium lenses just get rid of sodium flare, the thing that makes the fire yellow. I wear prescription glasses and have been forge welding for 47 years (not steadily!). I think I'm OK, healthwise. Face it; looking at a coal fire sweet spot is not like looking at an electric arc. A couple of times, I think that I may have received a mild eye burn when I've welded over and over for one half a day or longer. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

When I shod horses [in the olden days], I learned from my mentor to fill that hole with paraffin or beeswax so that while i was pritcheling, I could cool the pritchel tip in the wax. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

A suggestion. I have used a Presto Brand correction pen for drawing a concentric circle or square around the hole in the top of the header. This gives a clue as to whether to use angle-correction blows or not to keep the head centered on the tool. These are the kind of pens sold at office supply stores. I have tried the other brands and have not been happy with them. As an addendum, you may be interested that a Presto white mark put on cold iron will last and be visible into an orange heat. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Several things. You should have normalized between hardenings. You want to get rid of the tempered martensitic structure between the hardening heats. I do one face at a time, heating at the edge of a hot coke fire. After one face is hardened, I remove scale and place the head in the vise vertically with the hardened face upward. I temper with a turned eye tool of 7/8 square stock leaving enough straight for a lengthy shank/handle. I drop the snugly fitting turned eye over the head at a welding heat and temper to a dark straw by heat conduction (on 1045 axle steel). I've quenched this steel in water, quenching VERTICALLY and figure-eighting it in the water to agitate. Bring it out when it quits quivering (making that "cush" sound under water). It will still be a little warm, 150-200ºF. This supposedly helps prevent cracks. When one face is done, I wrap it with a water wetted rag to protect the temper, and I use large bolt tongs to hold it. The other face or peen is heated at the edge of the fire and quenched. Keep the wet rag on it while tempering the newly hardened face. The eye is not hardened nor tempered. It remains normalized. If you try to heat the entire head, you'll get the eye hardening and contracting before the heads do, sometimes resulting in a crack on the thin eye cheek(s). There are other methods, but I've had success with the above. http://www.turleyforge Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

In 1976, I was able to visit Bethlehem's home plant when they were in full swing. I took with me on the field trip a class from Peters Valley. In the heat treatment department, there were three good ol' boys, and one of them found out I was a smith. He said, "Do you figure-eight 'em when you quench 'em?" When we claimed ignorance, he repeated that you gotta' figure-eight 'em [meaning work pieces]. The other two guys nodded affirmation. Apparently, agitation by the figure-eight allows the quenchant to hit the submerged piece from all angles. Ever hear of that? Any comments? http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

I gave a 3-week school/workshop in San José for Johan Cubillos, in 2004. Johan is an interesting lad, originally from Venezuela. He and wife, Jennifer, moved to Costa Rica, and at the last minute, his visa was denied, so that he could not come to my Santa Fe, NM, class. He offered to get me an apartment near him and to pay my airfare...a good deal whereby I could give instruction in his smithy in San José. We had a great time. Check out http://www.johancubillos.com Josh Greenwood has a forge in the country maybe 50 km north of San José. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

It looks like a Peter Wright. In small letters on top of the screw box (bell) with serifs, it should say, P.WRIGHT, PATENT, SOLID BOX. The problem is that these letters are obliterated about 95% of the time through wear and rust. If the box is removed and cleaned, you can see a single large letter stamped on it, maybe an inspector's mark. Because the vise has a U-shackle for mounting and not a tenon, I would place it in the latter half of the 19th century. The solid box was a big innovation for the Peter Wright firm. Prior to the solid box, the internal threads were forge-brazed into the "tube." http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

May I play the devil's advocate? When the nail has a tapered shank, why does the header hole need to be bigger on the bottom than the top of the tool? Now with a rivet header, yes. The hole should have a taper and be bigger on the bottom. The rivet has a parallel sided shank, so it would choke in the hole without the taper. The taper allows the rivet to be released from the tool more easily after heading. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

I went through your symptoms about two weeks ago, and I've been using coal forges for 47 years. I think it's the flu plus a cold. On the other hand, breathing lots of coal smoke cannot be good for a person. Shop dust is just as bad, or worse. Large overhead hoods without sides are not good for removing smoke, ESPECIALLY if there are breezes going through the shop, even slight ones. I've found tha best hoods are sheet metal and are enclosed except for an air opening on the side facing the fire. I'm right handed, so the hood sits on the hearth to the left of the fire, the opening about flush with the left edge of the fire pot. You want a minimum of an 8" stovepipe flue; 10 inches would be OK. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith schools

Rubén & All, That is a good example of an aldaba*. I have a couple that I have collected, and I have made a few. The ones that I've seen were not designed for padlocks. The curved portion goes through a hole in a flat headed (horizonal) clinch-nail. The flat head does not have sharp corners. Safety first. The curved keeper is a perfect circle until it gets near the pivot. Being circular allows it to go through the dead center of the slot. Years ago, I inspected the curve of one where it transitioned to a rivet, and it had a clever forge weld. The pivot-rivet was first drawn to a round section on the end of a bar, then trapped in the vise vertically at a heat. The native material above the vise jaw was bent left and right with hammer control so that it left a lay-back "lump" above the vise jaws, the rivet and native stock now being at right angles. When removed, the area was forge welded into a heading tool, the rivet down in the tool. The hammered area will spread and thin. If it's lopsided, it can be centered with cold work removal. I think it's probably best to hang the hasp on the jamb rather than the door. It could be hung on the door, but the swinging back and forth might mark up the door. It's also good if the door and jamb are flush. Aldabas are made right and left handed. However, I saw one U.S. manufactured one which was pretty cheesy looking and made of sheet metal, circa 1900? It had a short double-keeper slightly curving both ways, so that it could be mounted right or left. *I am co-author with Simmons of "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork" which was first copyrighted in 1980. At that time, I thought the aldaba was called a tranca, and too late, after publication, I found out my error. A tranca is more like a crossbar. Don't trust everything that you read. Ha. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith schools