Donal Harris

I have several 3/4” x 8” wrought iron, round bars. I’ve cleaned the paint off and will be soaking them in some rust remover I bought at tractor supply. If forget the name.

I plan to more or less attempt to copy one Jennifer has done. What should my next step be, forge the round bars to square?

I put on a respirator and scrapped it off. The red (well more pinkish than red) came off easily. The silver paint beneath wasn’t as thick and was harder to remove. It reminded me of the silver paint my granddad used to paint the propane tank. 

Since this is the Nickname Thread, my nickname in high school was Disco Don. I showed up to Ag class on day in a shiny red shirt. Some jack wad called out, “Why looky there!  It’s old Disco!  Disco Don.”  It stuck till graduation. 
 

I really liked that shirt, but never wore it again. 

On 7/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, arkie said:

arfist, good idea to preserve your equipment if it's not a burden.  Sometimes the young ones get into a situation in their later years where they recall what Dad did with his craft, and decide they want to give it a whirl, sorta reliving the past memories.

If not the son, then great grandson or great granddaughter. My great grandfather was a blacksmith. His kids sold all of his equipment except his anvil, which my dad still has. 

There are a couple guys in town who give lessons. One is just down the street from the Everything Welding & Safety shop. I have considered giving him some of my 2nd stimulus money for a couple lessons. 

Chris C, are you sure you have your forge set correctly?  I thought one of the benefits of a NARB is hey are not fuel hogs. 

Didn’t quite follow me home, but the seven pieces of WI I purchased on eBay arrived today. All 3/4” round bars 8” long. Covered in some reddish-orange paint. 
 

Siti don’t know what I will use them for,  Maybe forge square and then forge weld them into a hammer blank.  Maybe draw them out and use them for handles for coffee measuring cups.

Just be careful with your daughter. Make certain you know where she is in relation to your anvil at all times. My grandson was I thought safe. Behind me to my left about 8’-10’ away. Flying slag hit his eye. 

You want to see some ugly tongs that don’t even do what is needed?  If I can find them I will post a photo. Yours look like a pro made them compared to mine. 

Heat it and twist it. 

On 7/2/2020 at 10:15 AM, HojPoj said:

::snip:: 

Worked on this hammer eye punch, first go at slit/drifting a tool.  Unfortunately the eye's a little crooked and the punch is off the axis of the body and struck end.  Need to fix it without boogering up the eye.

It isn’t off much. Is fixing it really necessary since it is a struck tool?  You could probably fix it when putting a handle in it anyway. I tried to fix a crooked hole in a much smaller punch once. Eventually I gave up before the tool became totally unusable. 

Your suggestion about arborists is a good one regardless. 

Plant hanger ended up looking very nice.   Would it be silly to put forged collars on after welding?  

Perhaps I should say after arc welding. 

On 6/29/2020 at 9:12 PM, arkie said:

Scooter, I had to spend the night in a gas station parking lot one frigid night during a blizzard in Purcell when the highway was closed, and I don't recall seeing any large trees in Purcell, but back to my intended comment.....see if there is anyone in Purcell who might cut down trees, like an arborist.  You might sweet talk them into more than one stump next time they cut down a tree thereabouts.

Purcell?  As in Oklahoma?

I have a cousin who was an arborist in Duncan, Oklahoma until an accident put him in a chair. He and most others sold would on the side. 

Of course the thread was going to take off. It had wrought iron in the header. 

Cast iron throws of hardly any sparks. Cool improvised anvils. Unlike most, it looks like they come with something you can insert Hardy tools in, and they have handles. 

12 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Mr Harris; this is a blacksmithing site; *everyone* here knows to spell a problem working with iron as  "katastroFe"  

Kastrofy on the other hand is used when dealing with giants of the "Fe, Fy, Fo, Fum, sort.

Man!  Is there anything you can’t riff off of?

Thanks. That helps.  I waited too long to go buy tyres from a guy in Duncan, Oklahoma who restored wagons. He shut down and sold all of his stuff. I had wanted to do exactly what the OP had done, but from the little I have worked wrought iron was afraid I wouldn’t be able to punch and drift the eye without turning it into a splintered mess. 
 

It sounds as if some of that is just unavoidable, and I assume due to the grain, a split is not as apt to continue splitting and fail upon use. I wish it were more available. Like the “smushed clay” pattern in the OP, you can really get interesting and quite beautiful things from it. 

  You goob!  Everyone knows the correct spelling katastrofy, not katastrofe!!!!

Scooter, if you want a log, you can almost always find a good selection down at your town’s recycling and bulk trash center  Usually they are free. You will need a chainsaw to level the top though  Elm is very good because it doesn’t split easily, but any hardwood will do really.  Soft woods such as pine don’t last as long  

Speaking of city recycling centers, about 20 years ago my wife and I were going through very lean times. I couldn’t afford gas for the furnace and couldn’t afford wood for the Franklin stove.  I heated our house that Winter with wood I loaded up and brought home from the city recycling and bulk trash center. It is how I learned about free stumps and logs available from cities. Splitting so much wood by hand when it was already bloody cold out was not fun. You can also find logs and such neatly stacked along the side of the road where electrical crews have been clearing trees and limbs from power lines. 

Which is why Jennifer made the comment about the hole being so near the end?

I’ve tried upsetting wrought iron once. It split and it was at a yellow heat. How do you prevent that?

Any day spent doing something for our parents is a good day and time well spent. As for the three adults, turn off the breaker on the circuits the TV and modem are on. 

This should not be taken to be a criticism on this hammer.  I’ve seen similar in pretty much every photo of a wrought iron hammer I have seen, including one by Jennifer and I don’t believe anyone would try to argue she is not skilled. 
 

In a solid steel hammer the cracks and such would be concerns. What is a small crack now could spread and become a larger crack and eventually result in failure. Is this not a concern with wrought iron?

Thank you, SLAG. Were it not for the grandkids, I likely would have turned that “quench tub” into a planter long ago. Maintenance is a pain.

How do you plan to join the pieces, JHCC?  Looks very good. 

You should try their fiber internet. Blazing fast, reliable, and dirt cheap. 

If a professional like Jennifer likes mild steel tongs, I guess I must be on the right path. 

Today’s activities: watching the babies play in the pool, making a grate for my firepot, and finally starting on strap hinges for several gates. 
 

The grate is more of a way to practice some basic blacksmithing:

Slitting and drifting while keeping the holes essentially the same size and in the same spots on each bar and the bars each the same length. 
You can see by the first hole this is going to be more difficult than I thought. The hole is off center.  I tried cooling the thinner side to make the other side move more, but it was too late.  The bar is 1/2” square. The holes will be drifted out to 3/8”. Between each bar will be two 1/2” spacers. Holding everything together will be two 3/8” round rods. Each end of the rods will be peened over. 
 

The gate side of the strap hinges will be 32” long and made from 2” x 3/16” flat bar. I’ve read here or perhaps elsewhere that they should be 2/3 the width of the gate.  Each side of the gate is 48”.  I am not entirely sure I shouldn’t have chosen slightly wider and thicker flat bar. I haven’t yet decided what to make the post side of the hinges out of or what I want them to look like.