Mike Ameling

I really like the wedge hardy tool, (wedgie?) There are two more faces that could have different angles or contours as well though that is a "maybe practical" idea.

Another good one for my "Ideas from Mikey" folder.

I sure wish we lived close enough to to be coffee shop buddies.

Frosty

But then we wouldn't get ANY work done - to be "productive members of society!

When I saw that wedge hardy tool at the farm auction, I didn't really have too much of an idea how I was going to use it. But it just sort of ... called to me. Now I keep finding other uses for it. And I only needed a little minor grinding on the tang for it to fit the hardy hole on my 72# Haybudden. Almost like it was made for it.

The hard part of that L shaped bottom swage is NOT LOSING IT - or using it for something else. I left the tang of it long so that I could double it over for a better fit in the hardy hole. But that hasn't been necessary so far. There's enough side-to-side fit so that it doesn't bounce around or shift in use.

Toys ... the toys we play with.

Mikey

Here's a scan of a stainless steel twisted wire fork I tinkered up yesterday.


I had forgotten about a roll of stainless steel wire that I had - for the electric fence. I can't remember the gauge, but it fits a 5/64th hole in a drill bit gauge.

And I've had that roll of wire about for a while I guess. I had to wire brush off some white oxidation to clean it up a bit. At first I thought the wire was bending too easily. But it seems to hold its shape pretty well in use. And can be tweaked back to shape fairly easily.

For some forks, I've used some old Telephone wire. It is a whole lot tougher for it's small size. But it also has a coating on it - that I soaked off with vinegar. That common baling/tie wire just tends to be too small and flexible in use. And the wire used in Barbwire varies by manufacturer, but is a good thickness and "toughness" to use. But most is now galvanized. No real problem if you are just eating off of it, but it also soaks off easily with vinegar. Then the only real problem is rust --- and friends "borrowing" them!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Still hard to eat peas with this. And I ain't learned how to eat them with my knife yet like them Brits! But that's what spoons are for.

Here's a scan of that Wedge hardy tool - and some others. (My digital camera is a cheapo junker that doesn't do close-ups. So I use the scanner.)



As you can see, you get two different angles on that "ramp" when it's in the hardy hole. And the "peak" is smoothed over - so no sharp edge. You get lots of ... angles ... to work with using it - instead of working with that step down to the horn from your anvil's face. If you are doing a lot of hoops, you could even curve that wedge on one side.

The L shape is my Bottom Fuller. Slip it down in the hardy hole, and that other flat lays out on the anvil face. Then I fullered down into it the couple shapes I wanted. The main shape was a triangular fuller - in three stages. I used an old tapered triangular file to form it in the hot steel. I made it to help me forge tapered triangular ended Canoe Awls and Bale Needles for the early Fur Trade stuff. Many were tapered square, but a bunch were triangular in cross section. Doing that triangular taper by hand is ... rough ... to get it consistent. So I made those bottom swages to help speed that along, and save time later grinding/filing to true them up.

I picked up that small bench swage block several years ago at a farm sale. Handy little block for small work. Something you could consider with some of your PTO shaft.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

The WEDGE idea is simply a double-sided low wedge. One side is drawn out fairly shallow, while the back side wedge is fairly steep. Angles somewhere around a 15 degree slope on the one side, and a 40 to 45 degree slope on the other side. And then a tang to fit down in your hardy hole. That little "ramp" on the end of your anvil face gives you a smooth transition for curving bars - especially when the top of the WEDGE tool is kind of rounded instead of sharp/crisp. With it setting flush with your anvil face and wider than the hardy hole, you have the mass of the anvil backing it up.

I'll see if I can get a scan of it and post it.

I've used it to form the sides of a frypan out of a disk of sheet iron. Getting that bend up consistent, and keeping the bent up sides smooth/even can be tricky. This helps.

Mikey

Yes, such simple basic knives. Just those 3 parts -- a blade, that U shaped handle, and a pivot pin/rivet.

The only tricky part is getting that pivot pin/rivet placed right. It needs to be slightly to the open side of the handle - to allow the handle to fully open and shut. And the hole in the blade needs to match. If it is slightly towards center, then the blade will over-rotate a bit and not stop on the handle until it is slightly farther open than you want. The blade on that small Skew-point knife opens just a tad too far - due to the placement of the pivot hole. It should have been a fraction closer to the open side of the handle - like around 1/16th of an inch.

I've heard of a German knife kind of like these, but have not seen one. And I've also heard of a French Douck Douck Knife - again with an all metal handle. There is even an early/mid 1900's US military all metal knife. The unique part about these is that folded one-piece U shaped handle.

Mikey

Well, the first obvious one would be a bending fork.

And then a bottom fuller - kind of like a hot-cutter but with a rounded edge. Plus a straight sided hot-cutter. (I've always intended to make one but haven't - yet.)

A hot cutter with a "stop block" on each side to protect your hammer face, and so that you only cut so far through the stock. (like in that nail making thread)

A ... WEDGE ... to slip into your hardy and forge against. This helps you create curves when forging between it and the anvil face.

Bend a section into an L shape - so that the long section sticks out from the hardy hole and lies right on the anvil face. Then fuller in several sizes/depths of round/square/triangular grooves. Instant bottom swage block. I made one to to tapered triangular pieces - in three stages: one for the point, then the next two getting progressively larger. You get a far more even/true triangular taper that way.

Plus you could also then drill/punch a couple holes to make it a "bottom block" when punching holes through other stock.

Just a couple ideas to think about.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Those are always a fun project. The hard part is having enough "mass" in the center punched hole for threading with your tap.

You also see them on a lot of farm equipment. Like on the ends of the rods holding the side boards together on a wood-wheeled wagon. And some on the early grain binders and combines. Anywhere you have a nut that needs to be removed a lot - because you don't always have a wrench with you.

And some of the old horse-drawn field carriages for cannons had similar wing-nuts.

Mikey

Mike, household vinegar can take of zinc galvanization? really? any special disposal? No way that it could be that simple. I believe you, but never would have thought of that on my own.

By the way, love the simplicity of twisted wire fork! great and simple and effective!
Thanks
Cliff

Thanks. The forks are such a simple thing. Although they ain't too great for eating peas! But that's what your knife is for!

Yes, simple household vinegar will dissolve off a galvanize coating on metal. And that zinc is only dangerous if you breathe it - or drink it.

Plus that vinegar will also dissolve off RUST on iron. If you have an old wrench or tool that is rusted solid, just soak it in vinegar. That vinegar will eat off the rust - letting it drop to the bottom of your container. It will also eat the rust out of the bottoms of the pits on the iron. Wire brushing will clean the surface, but vinegar will clean out the pits as well.

There are some formulas out there for using a small electrical current for de-rusting parts. Lots of museums use it. But the vinegar soak works just as well, and without that electrical current and special containers.

Of course, wash things well afterwards. And dry thoroughly. And oil as needed to slow down future rusting.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Frosty - that's one of the continuing problems with this message board. All the "ideas" that build up that I want to try sometime. :rolleyes:

I finally got around to tinkering up a several more of those French iron
handled clasp knives made similar to the ones found on the wreck of la Salle's
ship la Belle that sank off the Texas coast near Corpus Christi in 1685.

The blades are carefully chiseled and ground out of saw blades, and the
handles are folded up from sheet iron. On the bottom knife I used a thinner
sheet iron than I normally do. It is around 20 gauge, but is closer to the
very thin handles on the originals. Those were like the metal on coffee cans.
The others I used about 14 gauge sheet. That thin handled one is OK, and
tough enough to hold up in use. It just doesn't have the

The thread about splitting out and forging a fork with more than two tines got me to thinking about those very early Colonial era twisted wire forks. I've made a number over the years, but only 2-tined ones. So I played around a bit.



The small 4-tine fork with the "braided" handle was made from common "baling" or utility tie wire. It works well, but the tines bend too easily. The BIG fork was made from #9 farm fence brace wire. It is a good size for a cooking fork - like over a campfire. The others were made using barbwire. It is a little larger, and has more ... tensile strength. The 2-tine forks turn out well and are pretty easy to make.

Cut your wire, bend in half, clamp the ends in your vice about as far apart as you want them to end up and as long as the tines you wish, slip an iron rod through the loop end, then pull and twist until it is as tight as you want it to be. You can line up that "loop" in the same line as the tines or perpendicular to them - personal choice. Then take it out of the vice and ... tweak ... the tines out to the side and back to your satisfaction. And bend/curve the tines and handle for comfort. Then use a file to make the points on the ends. You could point the wire first, but sometimes the tines end up uneven lengths after twisting, so one needs to be clipped.

One concern is if your wire has a galvanized coating. But that can be soaked off in a few hours using common household vinegar. Soak it until you don't see any more bubbles forming on the metal, then wire brush any residue off. And then wash like normal kitchen tableware. Although, dry immediately, or rust will start forming.

Original wire forks have been found at many F&I/Rev/Civil War camp sites. The soldiers just ... improvised a fork from some scrap wire. Simple but functional.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. I've got some stainless wire floating about somewhere. I'll have to see how that would work.

Yes, you can use a flat plate for a nail header. Just make sure that the hole is flared out on the bottom side - or you will get a "wedge fit" with your nail. It does help to have something of a "domed" area around your nail header hole, but that just helps you with rounding/tapering the head - that hammer clearance stuff.

A fairly easy way to get that with a flat plate nail header is to heat your plate up, and drive a large ballpeen hammer into the underside while holding the hole thing over your hardy hole or the end of a larger pipe. This would them "push" the metal down to create that "dome" shape. You also need to start with some pretty good tool steel. A large truck leaf spring would work.

Doug Merkel (sp) makes nail headers like that - but he also draws out one end for a more convenient handle. He "domes" one section, then punches it and drifts it from below to get that tapered hole.

Don't forget to put a little rat-tail loop on the end of the handle to hang it up --- where you won't lose it!

In several of the blacksmithing books there is a drawing of a nail-header combo tool. Eric Sloane's Early American Tools book comes to mind. It was designed to set into a stump or clamp in a vice. It had a cut-off hardy on one side, that nail header in the middle with a slit underneath it, and a lever off of the other side to slip into that slot under the header and pop the nail back out.

A lot of nail makers used a charcoal "brazier" to heat up their nail rods. They kept several in the fire heating up, used a small hand-bellows to perk up the heat when necessary, and kept rotating from one rod to the next when in ... production. That brazier was a lot like the ones used for soldering irons for tinsmiths. Plus nail making was also a ... cottage industry. People worked at home and at night around their fireplace making nails. So it made use of the light from the fire, and the heat for the home - while doing productive work to help pay the bills. If enough tools were available, several family members could be working at one time.

The early Romans used a flat plate as a nail header. One cache of nails found near an old Roman fort in England had 16 TONS of nails in it! The estimate was 875,000 NAILS! They were all made up and ready, but never got used in constructing other buildings in that fort. They were also amazingly consistent in length, diameter, and head size/shape. There is a good book on early Roman iron work in Britain. It is called:

Iron For The Eagles
The Iron Industry of Roman Britain
by David Sim & Isabel Ridge
isbn 0-7524-1900-5

The one author did a prior book about the archeology of Roman iron production in Britain - mining, smelting, bloomery, etc. This book they talk about that iron production, but then went on to produce their own iron billets, and then forge them into tools/weapons - hammers, axes, arrowheads, spears, swords, etc. They also did a time/labor analysis of each step. Very interesting reading.

Roman hobnails. You would need that top tool to form the head consistently. Much like a Rivet Set. Form your nail shank. Cut mostly through your rod leaving enough mass for the head, slip into your header, snap off the rod, set your "rivet set" over it and smack it to form your hobnail head. With practice, it would get easier.

It reminds me of a comment Francis Whitaker made. To paraphrase: to make something, you need to make up 45 of them and throw away the first 40. That ... practice ... adds up.

And the other thought is that the things that look to be soooo simple to make tend to be much much harder to make! Like a shepherd's crook curl on the end of a bar looks soooo simple to make, but getting it done in a consistent and symmetrical manner is the hard part. Or a scroll without any kinks or flat areas in the curls.

Just some humble rambling thoughts to share.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Yes, you can use a flat plate for a nail header. Just make sure that the hole is flared out on the bottom side - or you will get a "wedge fit" with your nail. It does help to have something of a "domed" area around your nail header hole, but that just helps you with rounding/tapering the head - that hammer clearance stuff.

A fairly easy way to get that with a flat plate nail header is to heat your plate up, and drive a large ballpeen hammer into the underside while holding the hole thing over your hardy hole or the end of a larger pipe. This would them "push" the metal down to create that "dome" shape. You also need to start with some pretty good tool steel. A large truck leaf spring would work.

Doug Merkel (sp) makes nail headers like that - but he also draws out one end for a more convenient handle. He "domes" one section, then punches it and drifts it from below to get that tapered hole.

Don't forget to put a little rat-tail loop on the end of the handle to hang it up --- where you won't lose it!

In several of the blacksmithing books there is a drawing of a nail-header combo tool. Eric Sloane's Early American Tools book comes to mind. It was designed to set into a stump or clamp in a vice. It had a cut-off hardy on one side, that nail header in the middle with a slit underneath it, and a lever off of the other side to slip into that slot under the header and pop the nail back out.

A lot of nail makers used a charcoal "brazier" to heat up their nail rods. They kept several in the fire heating up, used a small hand-bellows to perk up the heat when necessary, and kept rotating from one rod to the next when in ... production. That brazier was a lot like the ones used for soldering irons for tinsmiths. Plus nail making was also a ... cottage industry. People worked at home and at night around their fireplace making nails. So it made use of the light from the fire, and the heat for the home - while doing productive work to help pay the bills. If enough tools were available, several family members could be working at one time.

The early Romans used a flat plate as a nail header. One cache of nails found near an old Roman fort in England had 16 TONS of nails in it! The estimate was 875,000 NAILS! They were all made up and ready, but never got used in constructing other buildings in that fort. They were also amazingly consistent in length, diameter, and head size/shape. There is a good book on early Roman iron work in Britain. It is called:

Iron For The Eagles
The Iron Industry of Roman Britain
by David Sim & Isabel Ridge
isbn 0-7524-1900-5

The one author did a prior book about the archeology of Roman iron production in Britain - mining, smelting, bloomery, etc. This book they talk about that iron production, but then went on to produce their own iron billets, and then forge them into tools/weapons - hammers, axes, arrowheads, spears, swords, etc. They also did a time/labor analysis of each step. Very interesting reading.

Roman hobnails. You would need that top tool to form the head consistently. Much like a Rivet Set. Form your nail shank. Cut mostly through your rod leaving enough mass for the head, slip into your header, snap off the rod, set your "rivet set" over it and smack it to form your hobnail head. With practice, it would get easier.

It reminds me of a comment Francis Whitaker made. To paraphrase: to make something, you need to make up 45 of them and throw away the first 40. That ... practice ... adds up.

And the other thought is that the things that look to be soooo simple to make tend to be much much harder to make! Like a shepherd's crook curl on the end of a bar looks soooo simple to make, but getting it done in a consistent and symmetrical manner is the hard part. Or a scroll without any kinks or flat areas in the curls.

Just some humble rambling thoughts to share.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Yep! I like the analogy. I wander if I could build a little iron canoe with that! lol

lol Yes, but make sure to caulk the seams well!

And if you take it out on the ocean, watch out for "black water".

Mikey

Yes, an interesting project.

Many cultures used a single oxen/cow as a draft animal. Here in NE Iowa we see a lot of stuff from the early Norwegian immigrants. It was common for them to use one or two of the milk cows to pull a sled/cart with the milk cans over to the store or creamery. If they used two, they would hook one in front of the other instead of side-by-side. This cut down on the width of the path they had to use. Same thing in logging out in the woods. Even a number of modern day loggers using horses to pull the logs out will hook them in series instead of tandem.

And some people just use regular draft horse harness adjusted to fit their oxen/cows. The main difference is to invert the leather collar and then re-attach the hames and straps/tugs. Oxen/cows have the opposite neck/shoulder configuration of horses - the wider/narrower parts. And they pull pull with the tops of their shoulders while horses pull more with their chest. Because of that pulling with their shoulders, oxen can be yoked up with a much more simple harness - that oxyoke. Although this is one of the first that I have seen with a metal collar under the neck.

Mikey

Nice jig. It looks a lot like some of the wood framing jigs used by boat builders - especially people making canoes - but much more adjustable.

Mikey

Sorry. I forgot about those properties of WD-40. That's one of the reasons some people rub it onto aching joints like knees.

You could always follow the advice from those old TV commercials and use ... lava soap! It's supposed to clean most anything - according to their claims. Basically just soap with some pumice mixed in as an abrasive.

Mikey

I found that book back. It was only 2 foot down in the third stack behind the front stack of books. But I needed to dig out Postman's book Anvils in America anyway.

The Village Blacksmith by Aldren Watson. isbn 0-690-01449-x originally published in 1968.

There are detailed drawings of making a large double bellows in the back of the book - including valve design and leather cutting/stitching to fit and seal it.

Mikey

On occasion, I've used kerosene to clean my hands with. For that nasty tarry stuff. It's less "harsh" than gasoline. And not near any source of fire, of course. Even a good spraying with WD40 can do wonders.

But some things just have to wear away over time.

Mikey

Kind of sounds like the book The Village Blacksmith by ... Aldin or Adkins or Watkins or something like that. My copy has been out on loan for over a decade, so foggy memory has kicked in. I can see the cover and the title, but can't remember the author. As I recall, it was a good introductory book.

But there are many other places that show bellows construction - like those plans in the blueprint section.

Mikey

The only real problem is getting a small enough sledge hammer. So many of them are 6 to 8 pounds - with some running up to 12 or 15 pounds.

A classic Rounding Hammer just has a flat face on one end and a slightly rounded face on the other side. A little work with a grinder "rounds" a hammer face in a short amount of time. And then a little sanding smooths it up.

Although, there is only a slight difference between the two faces.

So starting with one of those 2 to 3 pound double faced hammers the hardware stores sell as a BIG hammer would be a good choice. Garage sales and flea markets are a good source for slightly used BIG hammers.

Now, putting a 12 inch handle on an 8 pound sledge for some "light" one-handed work has a way of adjusting your opinions about your arm strength and stamina!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Good thing I ... lost ... that 12 pound sledge with 10 inch handle somewhere under the workbench.

Thanks for the kind words. They are appreciated.

Yes, doing replicas of originals can be kind of limiting. But it has its own level of satisfaction. And if you see enough originals, you then start to see the little ... flaws (if you want to call them that) ... in them that you see in most any other forged items. Those little elements that aren't quite ... perfect. Things like kinks on curves/bends, uneven tapering, uneven twisting, too tight of curls, wavy thicknesses, etc. Yes, most books/museums have examples in them of the VERY GOOD items - sort of the Cream of the Crop!

I make my flint strikers to be used. And most do get used. But there are a number of people that have created their own "collections" of them. Some want them just to look at. And some want to use them as examples and inspiration in their own work. Now, some of the pieces I've made for a few museums are just for them to display. But I made them so that they could actually use them. And then there are several museums and parks that wanted replicas for their staff to use in their demonstrations. So I replicated ones they documented to their sites, and made them to work as well as I could for those demonstrations.

Plus, there's lots to be said for showing up at a Roman Legion or English Civil War event and using a documented style of flint striker to start your camp/cooking fire with. Instead of that regular classic C shaped striker that most everybody else has and uses.

I make around 500 to 600 strikers a year - in several dozen different styles/shapes based on originals from very early Roman times B.C. on up to the present. I now have examples in places like the National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the West, Grand Portage National Monument, Fort Mandan, Fort Buford, the Jamestown/Yorktown Volunteers Association, and at least a dozen State and local parks. Even some in the Museum of Welsh Life over in Wales.

It's a ... niche ... market, but I like it. And it keeps me from having to ask you if "... you want fries with that?"

Strawberry Point? It's a bit south of me - about 40 to 50 miles. I'm 3 miles south of the Minnesota border, and about 30 miles west of the Mississippi River --- as the crow flies! By road miles, it's a whole lot further to anywhere from here!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

And then there are those days when you fling a piece you are working under the nearest workbench - accidentally on purpose, of course! Then days (years) later you find it back and decide to get more work done on it.

Most normal iron work will not be hurt by stepping aside from it for a while - other that gathering surface rust/dust. Cooling it is generally not necessary. Just set it aside in a safe place - that "everything is hot until you verify that it is no" rule.

And sometimes that line between frustration and fatigue blurs, so you HAVE TO walk away from a project for a while.

The really hard part is balancing the fatigue with the pressures of a deadline! Deadlines have a way of ... adjusting ... attitudes, fatigue, common sense, etc. Which is why I ... try ... to get things done several days in advance of any "deadline". Try!

Mikey - yee ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Here's what I was tinkering on today and yesterday. Clockwise from top left: a pair of 1st to 3rd century Roman flint strikers, a 1700's English striker, a classic early 1800's C striker, two mid 1600's French strikers, and an early to mid 1800's teardrop style striker called an HBC Voyageur striker.

The two folding knives are based on originals from a 1685 French shipwreck off the coast of Corpus Christi Texas. They were made as cheap folding knives to trade to the Indians. The handles are cold bent out of 14 gauge sheet. The originals had handles about half as thick - like coffee can material! I made up a handle that thin, but just couldn't bring myself to put a blade in it. These with the 14 gauge handles have a nice "feel" to them. Just three pieces - blade, U-shaped handle, and rivet pin.

Just some of the historical ... trinkets ... I've been tinkering around with the last two days.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

I find that amazing forgeing coil springs into leaf springs.
Drifter

Yes, it does sound kind of amazing.

But it also reminds me of a young blacksmith I saw working at a fur trade rendezvous many many years ago. He came in a car, and unloaded his anvil, stump, forge, coal, tools, and a few pieces of stock - plus his camp gear. His forge was a little table-top rivet forge.

He was asked if he could make a classic cross-bar campfire iron set - two uprights and a cross bar for hanging pots over a fire. I never heard how much he told the guy, but then started to work on it. His stock of iron was very ... limited. So he took a COIL SPRING, straightened it out, forged it square, and them made the parts for that campfire iron set!!!!! Including some decorative twists!

Yes, he was at that gathering ... on a wing and a prayer. And he could only afford "scrap" iron from a junk pile for making things. But he MADE DO. And he sold something he made to pay for his trip there - and a few other things. Plus he gained a whole lot of experience in that simple project. And that campfire iron set will be very very tough to bend - being made from coil spring steel!

I don't remember his name. Doubt I could even pick his face out of a crowd. But I always wonder how he did with his blacksmithing. I saw him at the Apple River Rendezvous east of Galena Illinois, probably early/mid 1980's. If anybody has an idea who it might have been, let him know I was and am still impressed with his dedication at that time. And I fully understand that "wing and a prayer" stuff.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hitnerlands

Here's a pic of several original gimlets I have - plus one Pod Auger.

The one with the flat wood handle looks like it was forged as a tapered flat on the end. Then twisted, rounded up a bit, then ground/sanded on the outside to smooth it up and sharpen the edges of those twisted flats. The end does not have a classic wood screw point on it. The sharpened flat end just starts digging into the wood, and the twist then works to "pull" it in.

The one with the round handle is kind of similar on the end, just much shorter in the twist and cutting edges.

The one with the torpedo shaped handle has that tapered "lump" on the end that was filed into a classic wood screw. The flattened twisted section then does the cutting after that screw pulls it into the wood.



The bottom is a Pod Auger. It is for making a tapered hole in a wooden barrel - where the tapered tap is put in. It is a classic Arrow shape, formed into that half-cone shape, and then filed flat/true on the one side - which also sharpens it. A slight bend in the shank then aligns the handle directly over the point of it to center the force in use.

Just some other options for gimlets.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands