Wim

Hi Bob,
Nice joints, I like the way you cut those. Real Pro job. What is the outside diameter of your element coil? What is your supply voltage? and what is the measured resistance? What is the Total length of the coil?
I think to run your element it is best to use the 2 sidewalls. Start at the back at the top. You have your double twisted lead-out at the back, through the sidewall, then run your element from back to front, then a hairpin bend down, then to the back again, another hairpin bend down, to the front, one last hairpin bend down and back to the back and out with the double twisted lead out. See layout below.
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Your pitch centre to centre on the elements should be at least 1", providing your element outside diameter is not bigger than 1/2". Care full when you cut grooves not to break the board since it rather brittle. You should ask your element supplier for some loose wire, same gauge as the element wire, say 2' long that you can use to make stapples to secure the element to the board.

Your Thermocouple can go thru the roof in ther centre. and your controller in a little control box, where you see the display and play around with the settings. Your controller can switch a little contactor that can take the Amps. Otherwise your Pid unit is likely to overheat.
Let me know the other parameters than I can help you more in detail.

Succes Bob, we're gonna get this baby to run nicely!
Wim

Today I received a commission to make a branding iron for an antique furniture dealer. He does a lot of restoration work, mostly antique wooden furniture, and wants to put his name on his work, which is an honourable thing.
I am thinking of making an oval cup with a flat bottom in steel and hard punching the text in the bottom. Then pouring molten copper into the cup, and afterwards mounting the copper blob onto a steel backing plate with a long handle. That way he can heat the copper part with a torch.
Anybody got any experience in such a thing?
Will the copper maybe stick to the steel mould?

I would appriciate any advice, thanks!

Wim

Bob,
Heat Treatment requires much lower temperatures, so your board will work great. What kind of heating elements are you planning to use. Coiled type Kanthal elements lend themselves quite well to be embedded in the board.
Any questions you may have I ll be happy to answer, I have been building furnaces for the last 22 years. you can send me emails as well, but for the benefit of other bladesmiths, we should maybe rather use this thread.

Good luck, Wim.

Hello Bob,

This looks like Ceramic Fibre Board. It is the same material as Kaowool, but rigidised and more dense. It normally coes in 2" thickness. Most likely this material can take up to 2300 deg F, unless you have a higher grade, but this temperature is adequate for forging. It is quite soft so you can cut it with a hacksaw blade. You can have 2 layers, which will give you 4" of total insulation. That should give you a cold face temperature on your outer steel casing of about 200 deg F. You must cut it such that the layers support each other and that a labirinth is created on every joint. In other words, no straight through joint from inside to the steel shell. Your roof can also be cut this way that it supported by the sidewalls, yet does not have straight through joint.
I suggest you do a bit of puzzling before you start cutting, because it is jolly expensive material. If you don't have enough for 2 layers, you use this on the hot face and surround it by bricks or other inferior and cheaper material.
For the floor you should use some hardface firebrick or other wear resistant material.

Hope this helps, Succes, Wim.

Wim is my name. It stands for "Winning In Metal". My Dad had a strange foresight at the time of my birth, that I was gonna be a Blacksmith.
Actually not, Wim stands for my name, Wim, short for Willem, which is dutch for William. I believe is means protector.

Are you enjoying your anvil BB? Remember not to spend too much time, your wife might get jealous.
BTW Are you coming to the Sparks w/ Light Forge In this saturday? Hear from you soon

See attachment with info about the event. It is going to be lovely, sharing your passion with other blacksmiths, teaching and learning from each other. Thank you Paola for the oppertunity.
Wim.

Hi all you Blacksmiths
It's nearly TIME!!! WHEELS AT THE VAAL!!

This will the final Update for Wheels at the Vaal. Volker has put on his creative cap and came up with a nice design for our throne project. It can be described as hammer and fire throne. I am busy putting in the detail of the joints and actual size's before we put on the board to work from. I will bring 5 forges, 4 anvils, leg vice and basically all the other hand tolls that we will need. I will bring coal and Roto Engineering kindly sponsor the steel. If you have, you need to bring your own special tools and hammers. Don't forget safety equipment!

We need one or two others to bring a small anvil each. Also bring containers for water, coal and ash.

You are welcome to bring any of your creations for display or for sale. This is an opportunity to share your passion with the public.

There will be some basics like a kettle and coffee, tea, Oros and the like. We can make some pap and sous. We will also get some wors and rolls, but ultimately you are responsible for your own food. Any super duper breakfast you my require, snacks and something to braai is up to you. Also bring own utensils, cup and plate. Own drinks go without saying.

There will be a army tent again (very cold) or bring your own tent. Camping chairs are also very handy for a tired body.

The Mittal visit is scheduled for 11:00 am at Vereeniging Mittal plant in Mario Millani Street. Remember to bring ID books. No cameras will be allowed inside, including mobile phones with cameras.

You can phone me if you need more info about the weekend.

Coenraad Vegter

It's very nice working out in the open, as you work you enjoy the sunshine, the garden, the kids playing around me. I just want to train my dog to handle the sledge, but he keeps running, when I approach him. Wonder why.:cool:

Blackbeard, you see the small anvil, that's your to be.

Wim.

Glenn, This weekend we are gonna have a whale of a time. We are expecting about 20 smiths, will have 4 forges, 6 or 7 anvils and 4 legvices. We are making a throne, worthy of a blacksmith, the king of all tradesmen, using only traditional forge techniques.
Please can you set up a folder for us to post pictures, which will be coming in early next week?

Thanks, Wim.

Etienne,

What James describes, to reroute the smoke into your air blower is described in "The complete Blacksmith, by Alexander Weygers, a very practical dutch engineer, that used blacksmithing to make tools for his sculpting work.
I have no problem, being in Afrika, we have nice wheather always, and I forge outside in the garden. But I agree with Glenn, once the fire is going and managed well, there is no smoke problem anymore.

Wim

Jaco, thanks for your input. No, I like it when everybody visits the SA forum, and participates. It brings mutual understanding to the other smith's circumstances and conditions, that he has to work under. Besides, I really like your pic's. It has given me some ideas.
You'r welcome to post here, Jaco.

Thanks, Gerald for your input, as well.
Wim

Tell us about your blacksmith shop, what you use for heating the steel, What you use to pound on, where did you get your tools etc. South Africa is a big place, and most of us work in isolation. Let's use this forum, to give tips on what to use, where to get coal, what material is OK for smithing, for making tools etc.
Wim.

When I make a left hand threat, my kids just laugh at me.
They respect my Right hand though. haha.
Wim

If you are coming to the Wheels on the Vaal event, you are welcome to bring stuff, tools, materials, forged objects to sell or swop with the other guys attending. We come from all corners of the country, and what may be available in abundance on the countryside could be a rarety to us suburban fellows, and vice versa.
You may pick upo a few nice tools, or make a few bucks.

Let me know, if you are coming.
Wim

Great times await us at Wheels at the Vaal this year. We are now less than 3 weeks away and I can't wait. The date is 31 Aug to 2 Sept 2007. For all the new comers, I will quickly run through the basics.
The show takes place at the Pukke campus in Vanderbijlpark. We will be camping on the banks of the Vaal river next to our working area. Make sure that you are prepared for the cold. Temperatures can go down to freezing during the night. Saturday and Sunday will be spent working on our throne fit for a blacksmith. The design will be finalized in the next week. Don't worry if you do not have any blacksmithing experience. There is more than enough work for everyone and it will be your garuanteed ticket to fall in love with the art of working with hot metal. Food arrangements still has to be finalized with the organizers, but it will be up to us to prepare our own food (braai). We will need a volunteer or 2 to help in this regard.
Now for the Mittal plant visit. I have been twisting Dave Bischoff's arm to help me arrange the visit. At the moment everything seems to be on track. Mittal needs a list of Names an ID no. of those interested to take part in the site visit. Can I get this info ASAP. I want to forward this info to Dave on Friday morning (17 Aug 2007 before 9:30 am). If you name is not on the list you may well miss out. If you are still not sure if you can make it, I would suggest that you put your name on the list in any case. If there are specific things in the plant that you would like to see, please let me know. We still have time to let Mittal know what we want to see.
Let the sparks keep the passion alight!
Blacksmith Greetings
Coenraad

Guys, thanks so much. I'll be honest, Im gonna archweld this one and give it another bash on the other rein. Mills, yes, I think I allowed it to cool down on the anvil, cause that is the side that didn't take.
BT, I never checked the heel of the scarf temp, I will keep in mind when I try again.
Evfreek, thanks for your elaborate explanation about arch cheating. Now I don't feel so bad.
Wim

Thanks Candidquality, I really feel welcome,
The Highveld is an elevated plain about 5000 feet above Sealevel and it covers a large part of the South African Inland. Veld is a dutch word for field. It includes Johannesburg Pretoria, and a large area of about 250 mile radius around it. Look it up in a Map of the world, showing geographical features.

The blacksmiths in our group all stay more or less in this region. I drive about 4 hours to get to the most remote one.

Hope this answers your burning question,

Keep the fire burning, Wim

I did my first forge weld this week, trying to weld on the reins of a pair of tongs using 1/2" sq bar. I used my new forge, made a very deep fir about 7". and used borax as a flux.
It went great, I managed to get half the section to stick, a good solid joint but the other half is a big gap. And I have allready forged the pre-upset section down to the required size. what do I do now, or should I just arcweld the gap closed and try again on the other half of the pair?
What could have caused this and how can I improve?

Wim

If you judge every tree you pass, by how well it would serve as a stump for an anvil.


posted

Rick, is that you in the picture? You look OK man.

Wim

Quench,
Hope you settle in quite fast. Start ringing your anvil, and new friends will present themselves.
All the best.

Wim.

Strine,
Thanks for challenging us, I will get my mind in gear, and try a bit on my next session. My knot is allready guaranteed to be unique, hahaha. I hope to have some result by end of August.

Wim.

Stevenard, bienvenue dans le familie, ( I'm trying, see)

I often pick up tongs at second hand shops, what they call here Pawnshops (South Africa), where you find a lot of used tools, punches, chissels. I'm sure they must have something like that in Canana. I bought 2 pairs of tongs, a rodded chissel, and a double blacksmiths calipers like that. Paid about ZAR 50 each, that is about Euro 5,00 each. It is quiet easy to modify an old tool to whatever new use you want to put it to.

Hi all you Blacksmiths
Great news is that Wheels at the Vaal is coming up soon. Last year we had so much fun and it was great to work together on one project. From beginner to pro we worked liked a well oiled machine. I believe we were all surprise and very happy with the finished product. So, what's up for this year?

Date: 31 Aug to 2 Sept 2007 .

Venue: Pukke Campus on the Vaal River, Vanderbijlpark

I have a few suggestions for the weekend. The organizers are very keen to have us back and promised us the same spot as last year. The University is playing a greater roll in the organiza tion of the event and promised that it will be bigger and better. They don't have any suggestions of what we can or should make. It's all up to us. I think whatever we decide on, should be first traditionally made and assembled. Not have hundreds of the same components. Be simple enough to make and complete in 2 days but with enough place to ad decoration / texture. With this in mind I was thinking of a chair fit for a king. Like a throne. When you sit in this chair it should feel like the world belongs to you. Let me know what you all think. Feel free to make other suggestions.

The next question is what to do with the final product? I was thinking that everyone involved (all the blacksmiths and helpers, sponsors and organizers) names goes into a hat and the lucky person takes its home. With the understanding that the lucky person name won't go into the hat for the next couple of years! Also what do you think?

Last thing. In the last year I have been doing a lot of industrial work for Mital Steel. I have asked the guys if it will be possible for us to do a tour of one of their plants on Friday 31 August. We can take leave for the day and meet around 10 or 11 am and see how they make steel