Goods

Frosty, I need to improve my word choice.

I know they didn’t mention a bloomery in the article, and it’s possible that the wrought iron was imported. I just thought that at such an early time period a large forge like this would also be producing its own wrought iron, especially considering that the northern part Oxfordshire had a principal iron ore deposit. (Of course, if the find was in southern Oxfordshire, it would be easier to transport iron than the quantity of ore needed to produce it.) I’m obviously not an archaeologist or a historian, nor have I had any other information on this find. It’s just my amateurish thoughts. Keep it fun, David

I found this interesting today: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/28/high-end-iron-age-smithy-oxfordshire-blacksmith?fbclid=IwAR2vZFxoR5qXRUp3gzDtOuGPRK5nHS_xGJsPUXT1zPsY6E6Lta3Mykcc7mU_aem_Ac58rbjHUOwDirFI1yahvImYDN9xYi4w75wxmzBbHMu8yrEMFBXIIZj8OVoGAP8krUo I do question there thoughts on the need for a large forge. I personally believe someone in the material chain would need a large forge to work blooms down into wrought iron, and this early in the time line I would think they were doing that at this location. What are your thoughts? Keep it fun, David

JHCC, I’m not sure I could bring myself to get that organized. Here’s my work for the day: I started with 6.5” of 2.5” diameter 4140. Target was 8lbs, and pictured with an 8lb for scale. Not sure I’ll be at 8lbs when it’s all said and done.I knew this was going to take a lot of work, but even with the power hammer, I’m exhausted. Not looking forward to the final drift, but have to make an appropriate drift first… Keep it fun, David

Your research looks sound. Just be careful! I’m not an expert on heat treatment, so double check a couple resources.

I understand that. I’m frustratingly independent. But this is not something to mess with with out experience and the right tools. (of course, here I stand forging 8lbs of 4140, with a hammer that just a bit small for the job…)

Really should have proof read that. Sorry, in the middle of heavy forging heats… 45~50HRC should be safe. I would send it out to a heat treating shop to get it there. 4340 can be pretty quench crack sensitive. Do you have a heat treat furnace? (I would like one one day…) Keep it fun, David

Ok, step back and listen to everyone. You don’t want work hammer die at the top range of hardness. You need harder than soft forging temperature steel. Hard that are too hard can kill you. One chip off the die in the wrong place can be lift ending! Start of normalized, and if you get too much distortion after a year, rework them. Then harden them and draw them back pretty far. One step at a time, and learn as you go. Keep it safe! David

I see a candle holder without too much work. Keep it fun, David

Absolutely! But, I won the door prize last month, so it’s my duty to provide one for next month. Personally, I like to put forward my best work on these type things. So, I’ll get it done, even if I end up using the whole bar in attempts… Keep it fun, David

Today I bought home a scrap heavy duty conveyor shaft: 32” of 2-1/2” diameter 4140. Woo hoo! (Already committed a good bit of the material to a project for our hammer-in door prize next month. It will probably take me a while to get this project down…) Keep it fun, David

Sorry, I’m not familiar with it, but we all love pictures Keep it fun, David

Irondragon, looking at the straight peen hammer, that is shape fiskars came out with a few years ago. I would have bought one if it wasn’t for the resin handle, just to try out. I’m not sure that I would call the peen particularly short. It seems to fit the over all shape of the hammer, even if the hammer doesn’t fit traditional blacksmith styles. It look like an over all good hammer, but haven’t had the opportunity to use on yet. Keep it fun, David

Doesn’t look like they have a very good base built up yet. I used to go snowboarding pretty often, but the past 5 or so years haven’t be weather friendly to the local ski resorts and the rates reflect it. Not to mention most of my gear is now worn out. At this point, I just put that money into smithing… Keep it fun, David

There are several good threads here on this forge. I believe JLP has one of the better ones. To get this setup to its fullest potential, you may need an original blow and that may be hard to find. Just to get it functional there are a lot of options. Do you have electricity in your shop? An easy solution is a combustion air blower from a scrapped gas furnace with an inexpensive speed controller and aluminum flex tube for clothes dryer vent. Keep it fun, David

I feel like I had a little be of redemption in the forge today. I came up with a bigger billet size for my cleaver project and tried it out: A little bit of rasping and filling, but otherwise forged to shape. I didn’t follow my planned steps exactly, but pretty close and ended up right about where I was aiming. (I anyone is actually interested, i can share my planned steps and the pictures I took of most steps.) It’s still annealing in vermiculite, so grinding will have to wait for another day. Spine is at just over 0.200” and the edge is around 0.100”. More material on the edge so this one should stay straight, right? Also, after I put it in the vermiculite, I made a couple of my pencil scribes: Made from heavy garage door spring and just the point water quenched for max hardness. I haven’t made any for a while (and it shows), but I had some guys requesting them. Shop started at 52F and was up to 69F by the time I was done, with two windows open and 17F outside. Keep it fun, David

Frosty, I’m not generally a knife person, but I’m pretty sure this is done as a cleaver. I didn’t warp in the quench, it started warping in the normalization step and I tried straightening it multiple times. Warm, lower orange cold, even tried to do a plate quench with 3” x 3” x 12” blocks. I think it need a lot more experience to make this one work as is. As it, I’m not sure how much carbon is still left in the edge… aaamax, maybe, we’ll see. I’m probably going to set this aside and try a bigger billet to get where I want to go with this. If I get there, maybe I’ll come back to do something with this. It may hang on the wall for a couple months. Keep it fun, David

Here is the cleaver from Saturday after tempering: Edge is quite wavy. Believe or not, this is better that the first normalizing round. It was just too thin! Plan at this point is to cut it down to a reasonably sized kitchen knife. (Blade is currently 3-1/4” x 7-1/4”, so there’s a lot of material to work with…) Keep it fun, David

The hammer-in seemed to go really well: I hammered a test piece out for my cleaver project. I’m going to need a lot more material than I calculated. I tried to make it work, but in the end the edge was just too thin. It warped really bad, even while trying to normalize it. Hardened it anyway and it’s tempering now. I should be able the re-profile it to a small chef’s knife( if I really want to go through all that grinding…) At least all the heat treatment was after everyone left. All it all it was a good time! Keep it fun, David

Gas furnace in there. Not a problem!

Shops only 20’x20’ and I try to make the best of it. For these we move the vehicles to the neighbor’s and setup for food and relaxation there. I guess the picture does give it a stage like feel though . Feels pretty spacious right now, but it probably won’t tomorrow… Keep it fun, David

Shop is a clean as it’s going to get and tables/chair setup: Ready for the hammer-in in the morning! If any of you are local to south central Indiana, drop on by. Fun starts at 9am. Keep it fun, David

When I built my shop I put in dimmable high bay LED lights. I like working in a bright shop, but for forging bronze or heat treating I can dim the lights to get a better judgement of heat color. I cost a little more, but the convenience is wonderful! Keep it fun, David

Beat up Vulcan? When I read the title of the post I was expecting much worse. Most of the Vulcans I’ve seen are in much worse condition. It still has a lot of life left in it. That being said, it is not a top tear anvil. I would probably put it at $500 in current condition. Of course, you never know what you could get on Facebook marketplace place from a newbie that doesn’t know any better, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Keep it fun, David

I would heat it to non magnetic hold it to get the temperature even through out, then slow cool in vermiculite overnight as prep for grinding. (Belt can get costly, but I guess fuel it too.) 4340 can air harden a little, but I’m not sure with a large block. Honestly, I would go with air hardening and leave it at that. Too soft for a hammer die is way safer than too hard! Just my two cents… Keep it fun, David