bluerooster

Yeah, I guess I will. Too much unwanted stuff in clinker.

I got started thinking about all the scale around the anvil. And the thought came to me to build a clay furnace, and toss all the scale into it and see what comes out.

 I'll fire it with charcoal, and see if I can create a bloom of forgable steel.  Also what about tossing in clinker as well.  Clinker contains a mix of scale, flux, dirt, etc.

My side draft is made from an old water heater tank. It's glass lined. Less chance for acid to attack it. But the flue, on the other hand, is just cheap 10" duct. I expect to change it every other year or so.

Took a few hours and started another "hotdog" project. Got the "bun" and the "Dog" made. And got a good start getting them fitted together.

Let the middle layer of the billet extend out some inches, to become the handle.  No weld to break then. And can be cut off when the time comes.

I all ways sharpen a blade by running into the edge, not away from the edge.  I don't use a belt sander, (don't have one) but I may start with a bench grinder and stone wheel.  Then file. Once I get it profiled, and sharpened to a degree, I then heat treat, and finish with wet stone.

Yes it takes me a day or so from forge, to heat treat. But I don't have to worry about "OOps, I took too much off".

Tie plates, Is that the plate the rail sits on and the spikes go through, or the plate that ties two rail sections together?

The hex is about inch and half, the round and square are inch and quarter.

I have several lengths of PTO shaft. Some hex, some round, and some square. Just wondering what they would be good for other that their designed purpose.

Hammers? Top tools? Other?

Jennifer

If I ever get to the point where I can get that quality of work on something, I'll be better than happy.

Yep, flying machine. 1946 Taylorcraft.  Gotta iron out the wrinkles in the fabric (Polyester) covering. Heat also causes the fabric to shrink, and get tight. Nope no steam power, 65 hp 4 cylinder.

Did nothing in the smithy. Spent the past two weekends working on another project instead.   But I got the Fuselage covered, ironed out, and a coat of "Poly Brush" on it.

Before ironing. Lookit all the wrinkles.

 After ironing, and a coat of "Poly Brush"

It's drum tight.

I like that. What did you use to dish the ladle?

I've got one of those punches at work. It works great for punching holes in sheet steel for plug welds.  I let a coworker borrow it the other day, (he'd been drilling holes) He loved it, and wants one.

On 2/25/2024 at 7:25 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

At one point I was forging 2 a day..   So that really made a difference dialing them in..

.....

Nothing worse than having a bleb that needs to be fixed because of an error and then having to forge this out raw. 

If I'm preaching to the choir just let me know and I'll stop.. 

Two a day! That's crankin' 'em out.

Not preaching to the choir. I'm learning, and you're helping me to learn.

On 2/25/2024 at 6:52 PM, Irondragon Forge ClayWorks said:

When that happens to me, I usually just make it a shorter knife.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

I may do that, or repurpose the material for a different project.

1 in 10 is not bad. So far I'm going 2 for 2. But I'll get on another in the very near future.  I'll be using what I learned from the past two, and mabe the next one will come out better. 

Time to harden the blade. Built a quick JABOD with a trench long enough to evenly heat the blade in one go without having to move it around in the fire too much.  Got it hot, and into the quench.  It didn't curve as much as anticipated, and came out with a slight bow. I had the vise already set up with some angle iron (just in case).  So I clamped it to finish cooling.  I then set about cleaning the residual clay to check for cracks, and the end fell off.  Well poo!  Time to start all over again. 

Oh, I also found that the cable blade failure, actually works great for cutting charcoal to size. so the day is not a total loss.

White Fox, that's a nice key, can't wait to see the lock.

22 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

So I have to ask because of where you are at..   

Your trying to make a Tanto?  Wakasashi?  with traditional HC outer skin with inner softer metal? 

Don't take this the wrong way..  Your kinda going about it the hardway..  Or the ultimate skill way..  

I often lose heart when I see someone trying something in which the chances of success are very low..  

The best way is to forge a Sunobe and forge from there..  Put in all the correct markers and lines and then go from there. 

I'm a huge fan of "Success breeding success" and within a few blades, you would be right where it would be much easier. 



Anyhow, keep after it.  

Wakizashi.  But it came up about an inch short. Yes, Next trip out I plan to forge the LC core to shape then add the HC shell. Also, keep the LC a bit farther from the cutting edge.  And to forge the bevel a bit more, and forge a better finish, (fewer hammer marks).  It's definitely been a learning experience. Welding dissimilar alloys together, Drawing, and shaping, while at the same time keeping the outer layer same thickness on both sides, keeping "pecker tracks" (hammer marks) to a minimum, keeping scale off the anvil, so the piece stays smooth, Working at welding heat of one metal, while not allowing the other metal to crack do to too much heat, etc.  Getting the core to welding temp without burning the shell, just first one thing then six.

  I have the blade filed, and clayed now, and will be going for heat treat this coming weekend. I'll be building a JABOD,  with a trench long enough to uniformly heat the blade, using charcoal.  Heating 3 or 4 inches at a time, and keeping it hot, in the coal forge would run me up the wall.  Also need to build a quench tank to dunk it in after it gets hot.

  I still have the faulty unfinished blade, that I may use for a smaller blade of some sort.  I cut it into 3 pieces, to see how the weld took on the shell to core.  It looked good except where that one piece broke off.  There's enough of it left, that I could forge it into mabe a filet knife.

Thought I got finished at the forge, then went to the warm shop for filing, and grinding. Everything is going along good, until I found out that I truly was not finished at the forge.  I should have forged the bevel some more, then I wouldn't have filed through the HC while filing the bevel. Other than that, and a couple of hammer marks that may or may not stay, it was going well. Straight, no cracks, but about an inch short of what I was shooting for.

Here it is, as forged

Then started filing it

 The sharpie denotes the file through.

I may go ahead and finish it up anyway but I doubt if I will put the fittings on it.  I'll make another I guess, and do it a bit differently.  Oh, and I need some new files these are getting dull.

Jennifer, as always your work looks amazing! Even with a bad hand, you can do some fine work.  There's a Japanese blade smith, Matsuba Konimasa, who is left handed.  But his master made him use his right hand, because "there are no left handed blade smiths".   He went on to become one of the greatest blade smiths in Japan.   Just a thought... 

Yep right handed. Coal forge. Even at work, which is where the cracks start, and get bad.  I do a lot of sanding both wet and dry, with both hands equally. Only the right hand gets the cracks.

Got some forge time in today. Got the blade rough shaped, and still have the tang to draw out and shape. Also a little more work on the edge.   This thing is taking way too much time.  And the tedious time consuming part is yet to come. But I'm trying to keep it the same thickness on all sides.  Which is difficult to do when everything is all welded together.  So far the blade is about 16" long, and I still have the tang to draw out some.  So far I've got about 3 forging sessions tied up in it.

 Now on to the question of the day; Why izzit that this time of year, my right hand is inundated with painful, dry cracks.   The left hand never gets cracks. I use "Working Hands" after the cracks, mabe I should keep it on at all times prior to cracks.  It sure does help them to heal up quickly though.

  Y'all keep up the nice work.

Had a session at the forge yesterday, and when finished I pulled the fire apart and left all the coke on the table for use today. Well, It came a hard blowing rain last night for an hour or three.  All the coke got soaked through, The table was soaked, the pot and what ash was left in the corners got drenched as well.  All the sticks and twigs that I usually use for kindling were also soaked.  Took me two tries to get the fire going. Finally started it off with a small handfull of green coal to get the coke dried out enough to burn. Hoo Wee, I ain't had that much smoke since I first fired the coal forge several years ago.    Once the coal got started, I piled the coke on, then the smoke turned to steam. But didn't take long for the coke to dry out after that.

Dang Jennifer, don't be lopping off things you might need later.  I guess physical therapy (working at the forge) is in order. And you'll have it back in no time.  

I spent the afternoon drawing and shaping the bar that I made yesterday.  It rained pretty hard last night, and all the fuel (coke) left over from yesterday was soaking wet.  Wet coke is hard to start, I didn't want to but I started it with a handfull of green. And of course it drifted straight away to the neighbors house.  But anyway, got the bar started drawing and shaping, so far no cracks, and gained about 8" in length over 10" to start.  I have a few inches Yet to work, then the tang. I may be able to work some metal from the edge into the length, by forging the bevel, I figure that by the time I get it all forged out, I'll gain another 2" overall, and get down to a reasonable thickness. 

So far, it's reasonably straight, but a bit fatter in a place or two.

What did I miss that you nearly lost an extremity?