Goods

You forgot: “Get it hot? Where’s the mark? Let it cool. Find the mark. Mark deeper.” Keep it fun, David

Holy cow! That is a fantastic price for an anvil of that size and condition. I’d almost be afraid to use it… Keep it fun, David

Last night I got the meat fork done. Here’s some process pictures: Tines forged and filed. (Sorry, didn’t think to take in progress pictures until this part was done.) Socket forged and fluxed. Forge welding tines to socket. Forged welding completed and almost cut free of the pipe the socket was forged from. Finished order. Keep it fun, David

Shainarue, the pan is for liquidy foods like eggs or biscuit mix. The spiral iron, would be used like a grill surface. Smaller pieces of meet and vegetables. The same person ordered a meat fork also. That is a large two pronged socketed fork with a 36” wood handle for large pieces of meet in place of a split. John, the bowl work you do is fantastic! Keep it fun, David

I’ve never heard of horn nails as a replacement for stitches on sheaths. (Honestly though, I’m not that much of a knife person.) Is the construction method something you’ve seen before, or a fresh idea? Either way, it’s very cool and makes for an interesting touch on a beautiful knife. Keep it fun, David

At the Viking event I had several requests for “replica” items. Today I finished up the first two items: A spiral cooking iron and a dish iron. These are not true replicas. There’s pan is 10-1/4” instead of 8” and spiral iron is 8” instead of 4-1/2”. On both the handles are of heavier stock. All by request. Of course, I didn’t use my limited wrought iron supply either. If they requested that I would have, but the cost would have been significantly higher. I also had an order for tent stakes. (Where we were setup there was at least 10” of mulch and most had issues with their stakes holding) These 3/8” square 18” stake will hold much better. I also started these last week: Cheaper ones make from RR spikes. I got maybe 20 of these started. They ended up 3/8” square and ~16” long. Some are already finished and gone… Keep it fun, David

Just a guess here, but I bet the “fire pot” was a duck’s nest style built up out of clay. Keep it fun, David

I just got back from a short trip to Newport, Rhode Island, USA and thought you all might like to see some of the pictures I took of a some of the ironwork from the “Cottages.” Here’s the fence around “The Breakers”: (The salt water mist around the back hasn’t been kind to the fence in some places…) (had to get something in the picture for a sense of scale!) Here’s the ironwork above the pool table in the “Marble House”: (Yes, every room is covered in marble!) And finally an interesting fire place set from one of the smaller “Cottages”: (Sorry, I don’t remember the name of this mansion.) If you have never been, these places a breathtakingly gorgeous, and worth a visit and tour. I wish I took more pictures, but there was just so much to see… Keep it Fun, David

Not today, but this past weekend (Thursday ~ Sunday) I setup my Viking forge demonstration kit at the Whitestown Viking Festival. I had a fantastic time. Worked on several projects, had one failure with a drop tong weld, made a few need repairs for other reenactors and made a few custom requests on the spot. For more information I put a little more info here: Keep it fun, David

The festival went very well for me. The forge performed beautifully. I was able to forge weld up a basket for a handle, but couldn’t pull of the drop tong weld to finish it off. I may need to reconfigure it a little or just get more experience with it. My main struggle with that was the size of the fireball. I couldn’t seem to get both pieces up to temperature without making a really oxidizing fire… I will say I really liked the rhythm of operating the bellow and the sound that came from the woosh of air and flame. Sorry George, no thrall to operate the bellows. Not much for me to do while the pieces were heating anyway. (Although a new film crew did try operating the bellows and I found it so comical that I couldn’t answer there questions. I’m sure I looked rather foolish on live TV…) Working with the stake anvil and bick was a little limiting but didn’t cause any major issues. I was still able to get some good work done, but not necessarily to my liking. As I was afraid, the stump started deteriorating and both anvil and bick loosened up. The stump could also have been more stable. Often I found myself aiming at a moving target. When it was all said and done a had 3 good days forging and talking up the crowd, sold a decent amount considering I had very limited inventory, and was able to hang out this my family and other reenactors after I put everything up. Oh, almost forgot the food we all shared was fantastic. I ate good all weekend! Here are a few pictures of it all: This was the load I took up. The sleeping tent, forge tent, forge equipment and basic needs for one night. My wife came up the next day with another full load of crafting materials, food, and other kit. Basic overview of my setup, with both of my sons hanging out. We had a decent rain on Friday afternoon and the tent (more of a canopy currently, side does fold closed, but I didn’t have enough time to make and attach the end doors) kept everything dry. The rest of the weekend was sunny and the shade was very helpful while forging. (I know, I need to get some wooden buckets and get rid of the plastic ones.) Better view of the forge in action. Better view of the anvil setup (and shabby stump). One thing that I’m sure didn’t help was how soft the ground was. The much was 12” deep! I’m looking forward to our next outing with the Vikings! Keep it fun, David

The joinery is rough, but yes quick tear down and reduction of space in the truck bed. Larry, I’ll do my best to get pictures. I’m not very good at taking time at events to do so, but I think it’s important this time. Keep it fun, David

Ok, almost ready. I got the forge stand built, and the forge box lined: Now, I’ll just have to get all my stuff packed up tomorrow… (I can’t believe how much I’m going to need to take!) Keep it fun, David

I got a little more work done on my Viking demonstration kit. Mounted the stump anvil, bick and forged a wedge clamp for twisting. See the link below if you’ve been along for the ride… Keep it fun, David

Well tonight I got the anvil and bick in a log. Not the best log/stump, but I’m out of time and it was available: I also added a make shift twisting clamp with a couple staples and a wedge. It will hold from 1/4” up to 1/2”. I will messed up and drilled the hold down staples 1/2”, forgetting that I used 3/8” for those… For now, I forged large burrs onto the staples, put extra wood carvings, and wood glue in the holes before I drove it down. It’s holding for now, and I think the staples will out last the stump that’s not in the best of shape. Now, all I have left is to finish sewing our tent canvas, finish building the forge stand, and pack up. I’m leaving to setup for the first big 3day event Thursday. (I’m cutting it close!) Keep it fun, David

You could get $5 a pound around here (south central IN) if that was in better shape. Age doesn’t really mean much to most smiths till you talking colonial era… and even then most of the smiths I know are looking for collectors items. There’s a pretty active Indiana Blacksmith Association chapter in the Indy area. You may try hooking up with them to gauge interest. Their next hammer-in is on the 25th. Check out the IBA’s website, the April newsletter should have contact information: https://www.indianablacksmithing.org Keep it fun, David

Once you in the hundred pound range, you can do quality work efficiently. The extra weight helps if you’re using a big hammer on larger items (like forging hammers from 1-1/2” ~2” stock) and especially if you’re working with a striker. The key thing is to mount it very securely! That way when you work out on the horn or bending over the edge you don’t need the extra mass just to keep it from dancing around. My main shop anvil is 150”, but at demos I either using a 100lb or a 127” anvil. Honestly, I don’t notice much difference when I’m doing demos. (My next demo will be on a 8lb stake anvil with a 5lb stake bick. I’ll let everyone know how that goes. I’m sure it’s going to be “interesting”. Keep it fun? David

I’m surprised it etched dark. All bandsaw blades that I have used to date etch bright. I’ll have to be more careful in the future! Keep it fun, David

Hefty, it’s great to see you tackling this project. Keep taking pictures, I’m curious to see how it goes. One of the days, I would like to try this myself. Keep it fun, David

For good examples of power hammer technique and tooling I would recommend Brent Bailey’s and John Rigoni’s YouTube videos. Both channels are linked from IFI on this page: John’s hammer is probably close to yours in size, Bent Bailey’s is a 250lb LG, and he make everything look super easy with only a couple hits… (Bent does have a couple videos where he explains different techniques and that provided me with some really good insight.) Not to take away from Torbjorn’s channel. He his is another I would recommend, if you hadn’t mentioned it. (Torbjon’s channel also is the only one that still seems active.) Those are the best three channels I’ve come across for power hammer tooling and technique. (Not saying I don’t what a lot of others.) Keep it fun, David

Larry, I ran out to the shop a got a picture of the some of tooling I use most often. The two flatters are in the top right of the picture. The basic difference is big vs small. (My description was not clear. I slabbed a piece off the cylinder along its axis.) Honestly, what gets used most often is basic bar stock as stops. I have a length of 1/4”x1” and 3/8”x3/4” sitting by the hammer and with those two bars I get most of my final sizing done. Of course, side sets are fantastic tools at the hammer. Speaking of side sets and flatter, on option to get Rh/Lh sides sets and a small flatter/fuller: Cut a 3” length of 2” round down the middle. One half gives you 2”x3” flatter/fuller. Cut the other half down to quarters and that will give you two pieces to make Rh and Lh sides sets. Just grind everything smooth with radii and weld handles on. My way is not necessarily the right way… Keep it fun, David

Keep us updated, but more importantly be safe! You may even plan on quenching outside at a good distance from other combustibles… Like I said, I understand where you’re coming from! I just had another thought. Have you considered contacting an other mold shop to see if they would be interested in trading materials or buying the 420SS from you? You might be able to get some big 4140 or even H13 (twice the toughness with the about the same hardness) and any of cuts or extra pieces would make wonderful stock for tools. Keep it Fun, David

Larry, what type of latter will be your first? I have two. The first is a piece of 2” round forged down into a 1” swage, and the second is about a 1” slabbed off of about an 8” cylinder. The smaller one really helps with taking significant lumps out, and can smooth out surfaces that aren’t intended to be exact tapers. The larger one is fantastic for keeping things really smooth, but the final surface will be a straight line across the full length. Keep it fun, David

My big question is how to quench such a large block. Normal 420SS is air hardened, but with so much mass, you may have to oil quench it. That would be one massive tank to prevent the oil from over heating and flashing in a massive fire ball. You might get lucky with a several good consistent air blows on it. I understand where you’re coming from, but it could be a very difficult task outside of an industrial setting. With section this large there is serious cracking concerns with both austenitizing and quenching… Also, I take back my comment about the block work hardening. Apparently 420SS doesn’t take kindly to work hardening. If you happen to have an induction forge you may be able to surface harden it that way… a bit risk though. Sorry, not trying to be a downer Keep it fun, David

Larry, don’t give up on the flat dies to quickly. With some technique and practice, you can draw stock pretty quickly, it also gives more options for tooling. I have several handled stop blocks for when I’m really targeting a dimension and that can really help, but the big help is having a large flatter. That way you can take pretty dramatic hits drawing down, back off as you getting close, and finish with the flatter. Sometimes I’ll drop/bolt drawing saddles on, but usually only for really heavy drawing (like 2” round 52100 to knife stock sizes, i got a bunch of that stock for nothing). Other times I’ll clamp “L” shaped stop blocks to the lower die. So many options with flat dies… Keep it fun, David

420 SS has issue with tempering embrittlement, and it’s not real impact resistant to start with. If it were me I would use it soft and let it work harden or have it professionally heat treated. Just my 2cents, David