Ferrous Beuler

Howdy Brad,It's warmer here next to the fire huh? I like your work, as my Grandpa used to say of the ladies-"nice to look at!" Happy Holidays.Dan.:)

Hmmm, Hadn't noticed this section of the forum before, is it something new? Anyway, "when is it too cold to weld"? Never actually, if you're making a living day in and day out as a welder. Business is business, deadlines are deadlines so the show must go on. I worked as a mig welder on several jobs for about seven years in the nineties. Most of it indoors but for two years I worked in a railyard doing repairs and modifications on rolling stock. The roundhouse was not heated, a huge old building with 28 bays, each with doors some twenty feet high. most of the time there would be more than one car in each bay, two would just fit, three meant open doors. Also cars being moved from bay to bay all the time... always open doors. No matter how cold the weather, more often than not most doors were open. Just the wind played havoc blowing the gas away from the mig tip, apart from the discomfort of being cold for hours on end. Lake Erie was less than five miles due east. The wind always howled from west to east and the roundhouse doors faced right into it. Work on a car for a few hours, go to lunch then come back and shovel a two foot drift of lake effect away from the trucks so you can resume. Hah! Lots of fun. The only difference I noticed due to cold was a marked increase in tacks breaking. Work on one car for a while, fitting up new sheets of steel, tacking them into place. Then go to the next car and BANG! like gunshots tacks would pop, only during really cold weather though, like below 20 deg F or so. Frustrating. More than once I observed guys welding or torching on scrap, just to get a big hunk glowing red for some heat to work near inside a boxcar, etc. Buffalo New York aint a fun place to work outside during the winter months.:(Dan

Like Son says, easy workings. I assume you are talking about the chrome colored V shape we are all accustomed to seeing, machine made. When did these come into being the commonly seen item, after WWII? What was around before that?Dan. There ain't no smily face for just me looking stupid, so just picture me looking stupid.

Just came home from the "TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE BLUEPRINTS" here on IFI. As Glenn says," bring somebody new nextime, always plenty of seats". The second round of tonight's festivities were centered around using clay as a modeling medium in blacksmithing and that's what this rant is about. Like everything else in the past 5,000 years of blacksmithing, it's probably been done before. I've been using clay as a modeling medium for about a year now to work out what I want to do in iron. You, me, and everybody else have used clay before in our childhoods at home and in school. Ever since remembered that and used it in your smithing? Remember making your own version of "Mr. Bill" from Saturday Night Live"? O.K. maybe I am alone in that. Anyway, Modeling what you intend to do is common and makes a lot of sense. Boatbuilders make hull models, architects make scale renderings, etc. etc. Clay is a plastic substance, not "plastic" in the modern throw-away society's concept, "plastic" in the definition of being fluid, it can be moved. For example, you can shape clay in the form of the stock you intend to use for a given purpose, full size or to scale (remember, you are a blacksmith and should have a full understanding of scale, blueprints, etc.) and "forge" it with your fingers and/or tools to arrive at a desired rendering all the while mimicking in your mind the required steps and tooling to forge it for real, in iron in your shop. This in itself is the object here, trial and error in a medium that can be worked cold, at room temperature with an inert substance that bows to your will. Providing you with a learning experience. This paralells how iron can be moved. This paralells how you can proceed with your intended project and give insight to tooling and methods to use. The wheels of creation in your mind will be spinning all the while in this creative process as you envision the iron being formed, as you form the clay. If you are like me, beginner or an accomplished worker of iron, using clay as a modeling medium will save you time and help your creativity. Lots of you frequent IFI, but as Glenn has said to me over the phone "Always plenty of seats at the "Tuesday night live blueprints". So bring a friend.:)Dan...COMMENTS?

I believe I'll add a couple more views here... When I first discovered the local affiliates here in my state I joined one of them and because of this I have met so many folks I never would have crossed paths with. Without this I would be just another guy with an interest in a craft, on my own and left to my own devices. Association with other smiths brings guidance that otherwise would not exist. I agree that there is a revolving door of attendance, people join, stay awhile, learn a few things and fade away. My local has literally dozens and dozens of names on the membership roster but the monthly meetings see only the same dozen or so in attendance, led by the tireless few who have put so much into the group for 25 years. What can a newbie such as myself offer? Well, if I can bring another newbie in then I feel that I HAVE made a worthy contribution to the whole because we newbies ARE the future. If I can tweak a famous quote here... "Ask not what your guild can do for you-Ask what you can do for your guild". Also I have to agree on one point with Mr. Boggs; There needs to be credentials attainable by the membership such as is the case, for example, in the American Farriers Association. Levels of skill are earned by demonstration with titles awarded as judged by worthy peers. Just my two cents.Dan:)

With a bucketful of enthousiasm and a capable teacher you should be famous in no time! Cool, its good to see you are enjoying it all so much. Might I recomend a good book? "The backyard blacksmith" by Lorelei Sims. (ISBN 1-59253-251-9) Check out the book reviews section on this forum. I ordered mine through a local bookstore and had it in a couple of days. It can be had directly from the author at her website Lorelei Sims It is well written with good photography and you will learn a lot from it. RESIST the urge to take that new welder in hand and fix that anvil of yours, refer to your blacksmith friend for advice on that. Have fun. Dan:)

I recieved the survey too, emailed to me from my forgemaster at my abana local here in New York. I've been a member of the local affiliate here for a year now but havn't yet joined abana. Why? just procrastination on my part I guess and/or maybe because I really didn't see a need. But therein if you think about it, is reason enough for a beginner like me to join, because of the future. Begining smiths like me ARE the future of abana so maybe it is a good time to join. The more that I think about it the more I like the idea of joining. I don't know much about the organisation but I am certainly very greatful that my local affiliate group exists. It seems to me that those who have been involved for some time have some strong opinions about the organisation, where it is now, where it's been and where it should go in the future. That said, I think I'll join and with an open mind and an open shop, welcome to all who may be interested in the craft as I am, together we can forge a future worth pursuing.:)Dan.

Just a thought... I plan to build a smithy once the wife and I find a house and get moved (currently renting a house). I have been smithing out in the open which is nice when the weather is nice but there have been times when even my thick skull can understand that it's time to get indoors due to approaching electrical storms. There have been many strikes here, mostly to the trees on the property. Some of them have been hit multiple times, as well as the house, barn and silo. Once the new smithy goes up it WILL have lightning rods and be grounded. With all that metal around it just seems like a good idea. IS YOUR SMITHY GROUNDED?

Welcome! If you were looking for a "show me" then you came to the right place.:)Dan.

Glenn is THE MAN, doing a great job always in bringing all of us this great site. (FOR FREE!) In this quote I believe I will bring... a couple of quotes... from Benjamin Franklin (good advice is timeless). 1.) "The smallest of leaks, left untended will sink the mightiest of ships" 2.) "Look after the pennies and the dollars will look after themselves" :)Dan.

Mine is the traditional, half a wine barrel. Kept brimming so the staves remain swelled tight to each other. Now sporting a two inch thick cap of ice (outside) and a piece of split cordwood steeped into it so the ice doesn't split it.

Grog? as in "the demon alchyhaul"??? Hmmm, I'd have to say I have a marked preference for the wonderful stuff produced by franciscan monks at their little monestary in Belgium, "Franziskaner Hefe Wieszbier" Mmmmmm..... YUMMY!!!! Favorite? FREE beer of course.:DDan. "Pour Boy"

R.C.- Hmmm, you seem to be about where I am at on the road to becoming a blacksmith. Not quite at the start anymore but a long stretch yet ahead in the quest for attainment. If experience and deft ability could be had for cash on the barrelhead then we would soon be awash in "experts". Notice the trend in recent years of the boomer yuppie class such as lawyers, dentists, etc. ad nausea, who on the weekend don leather and invade the countryside on $30K Harleys pretending to be bikers. "Posers" is more like it. I am under no illusions that I can yet call myself a blacksmith. Certainly I would like to enter the arena of craft market vendors and here close to my home is a great open air market each sunday from May to October, some 500 tables and large crowds each Sunday. I am not ready for this but will be by the 2009 season. My wife and I are presently house shopping and realistically I don't think I can cram and get into gear for 2008. Where we now live, a rented farmhouse, a smithy in one of the outbuildings is out of the question, unfortunately so is adding a shed to the property ( increasing the landlord's property tax). My smithy is literally 'neath the spreading chestnut tree, really, an actual chestnut tree. Nice in mild weather but this is New York and I'm not ashamed to say I won't be out there much between now and spring. Of course if we find ourselves a house sooner than later then perhaps I could begin to amass an inventory of forged handiwork within my skill level and realistically priced to move at a flea market ( $20 or less per piece and capable of being carried of by a woman in one hand.) That is an idea I have been entertaining and sharing with you for quite some time now, building up an inventory over the winter, that is. The sooner we get moved and settled elsewhere in our own diggs, the sooner the new smithy goes up:D. Also, the sooner my skill level continues to advance on the learning curve and that is bought and paid for with time and sweat equity over an anvil.(Period.) Yes I belong to an abana local and attend the monthly meetings (an hour one way) but that is at best once a month so with the onset of cold nasty weather I am relegated to my meager library and my forge remains cold. I need a roof over my anvil! Cabin fever is one thing but cabin fever with a burning itch to continue forging is tough to take! So let's just say the wife and I get lucky and find a suitable house by let's say, February- and I can get a roof over my anvil by then. That gives me about three months to pile up some goodies for sale and I make the beginning of the 2008 season at the flea market and am there each Sunday from 7:00 a.m. when the throng arrives till at least noon when the crowds dwindle, for the whole season, 14 to 16 weeks. That amounts to at most a total of 80 hours of sales time. Could be good if I play my cards right, that is to say if I am offering items which catch the eye and not cause it to blink (wince?) at the price tag. I could be wrong here but my take on it is this- and I,m quoting from memory another members post on this forum from last year-which paralells my thinking, "The woman controls the pursestrings so appeal to her sense, not his", or words to that effect. I will offer small sized items of low price so it moves. I want to go there with iron and come home with cash, not iron. I won't be hauling any 4 ft. diameter chandeliers there or forty pound andirons that take hours to create at the furthest reach of my ability. Display some pics or a photo album maybe of larger wares. Of course I want to begin recouping some gains from my investments in tools and I am pushing myself to immprove my skills, but I am a realist and I know this comes with time. Also I believe in myself and am confident I can reach the lower end of the market with simple items well rendered. I have sunk some money into tools over the past few years and not yet earned a dime from it, the larger items were; 269 lb anvil, $65 114 lb anvil, free 125 lb anvil, $75 92 lb anvil, $230 cone (floor) mandrel, $500 large cast antique firepot, $25 champ 400 blowers (2) $50 champ 101 post drillpress, $75 6" heavy postvice, $90 6" heavy postvice, $50 4" postvice, free a heap of hammers, tongs, $50 or so? Plus I'm sure a lot of other little things I'm probably forgetting, not to mention the list of stuff I'm omitting specific to carriagebuilding and wheelwrighting, not directly specific to smithing which would no doubt double this sum, and then there have been the books, some of which weren't cheap. Also I can't omit the cost of the hundreds of pounds of coal I've sent up in smoke, some stock though most of what I heat & beat is skillfully had by scavenging (an art all its own;)) The time and gas going to sales and auctions for naught, coming home from the hunt without having made a fresh kill, and well, you get the picture- it's like putting a kid through college. That is exactly what I am doing though, investing in my future, but not strictly in that sense; I simply love blacksmithing. It's in my blood almost like I didn't have a choice, as if maybe I've done this before in another life. So yes, that is a pile of cash to have invested so far and I'm not lost on the fact that I've fallen into some sweet deals, but still, beginning to get something back out of it monetarily is going to be nice. So I persevere and do what I can to keep a haze of coalsmoke about my head and my nose at the anvil so I improve. I am and will continue until someday I might hear someone say of me " hey look at that blacksmith, he's pretty good at that". Maybe if that day ever does come I can silently think to myself "finally, I am a blacksmith". :)Dan.

Ut oh... could this mean... NO MORE SAM?!?!?!:o

Very nice Dan! Immpressive results in a "first". Looks like your'e ready to go camping or maybe ambush a company of redcoats... Congrats :)Dan

This is coal for a home heating stove, not the stuff you want to forge with.:(Dan

Room for one more in the pew? Slide over fellas...

Luke, What the other guys said- use smaller stock if you can find it. Leaf springs are a very common easily found item, in the normal automobile size. Even these are very tough stuff which can be hard to move. Thick / heavy iron likes to take its time getting up to forging temps, evenly heated throughout. Its easy to burn the outside without the inside getting close to where you want it to be. Charcoal for fuel? Try using a LOT more of it. Perhaps your fuel is burning away? Charcoal is nice to use but it goes quick so have a LOT of it heaped on the hearth and keep your fire fed. Try coal. there are blueprints for making a blower from a clothes dryer, or use your own ingenuity. Small squirrel cages can be had on fleabay for 10 or 15 bucks. Join your local abana affiliate group. Good luck. Dan:)

Mark, Sweet shop! Mind if I move in 'till march? I don't eat much, and I'll make sure the stove is always stoked when you want to come out and forge a bit...:rolleyes:Dan

Go for it Sam! This is the one I told you about in the chat a week or two ago. Should be a good one. Maybe I'll see you there. BTW, to quote another member whose name presently ecsapes me "These are not the tools you want- WAVE" ;)Dan

Ever notice how these Blacksmith Guild Of Virginia folks have "got it goin' on"? Big doings all the time. Awesome. This is how a blacksmithing group is supposed to function.:D:D:D:

IRon- Just a note here- DON'T BUY THAT $50 FORGE! You can put together a forge for free.( sorry, didn't at first click on that link included in your post). Look around here on IFI, there are options, you have a brain and ingenuity. Scrounging is an artform among smiths, some may stumble and grasp at it and some may elevate this to levels of legend. As Glenn has included in this post, lots of help is there, you should be able to find some smithing buddies in your area. I did not know these links were here on IFI but then again, Glenn is always a step ahead of the crowd, ain't he? ;)Dan

To quote whitebear- "be a blacksmith, make one". Good advice. I try to push myself to try new things all the time. At the level of experience I am at now, I feel rolling a pipe from sheet and forge welding the seem is beyond my capabilities. I have not tried that one yet. To go back to the "be a blacksmith" part, this is where you are supposed to push yourself to try new things. Any student of blacksmithing should be reading as much as possible, any book on blacksmithing you can get your hands on. Begin to amass a library of your own; Books, DVD's, etc. In all of your lifetime in blacksmithing your library should be continually expanded. And read. And read. (and shared) Once you begin to understand how metal is moved, the basic principles of heat it and beat it, the fundamental 8 steps of forging which are- Bending Cutting Drawing / Fullering Upsetting Punching Riveting Welding Tempering and the varied groups of tools which the smith selects for each specific series of intended tasks, you will begin to form approaches in your mind as to how you are going to make that thing you thought of. You are the smith. Make it. Making a pipe, as has been suggested is a fairly complicated task. It takes some aquired skill and a firm understanding of the tools required and how to use them effectively. I think this is something I can arrive at if I get my hands dirty trying and learning from trial and error. I can envision how a sheet is heated and formed around a mandrel or stake and seam welded. So I think I get the concept. Here comes the "do it" part. Now I must take myself to my forge, surround myself with the proper tools and execute the series of efforts to arrive at success, the intended results. This isn't so hard when one is a beginner as I am, and the intended results are a simple drive hook. Welding up a pipe of the correct diameter and length is a bit more advanced. Doing things on your own as a beginner is your first learning experience but playing solitaire gets old and doesn't teach much. You need to surround yourself with blacksmiths. Literally. Dodge put you on the right track, branch out, find some blacksmithts. The way to do that is to go to [ABANA] The Artist Blacksmith's Association of North America, Inc. and click on "affiliates". Look for the contact information on a group of blacksmiths in your area. They are all over the country, all over the world for that matter, and attend a meeting. Once you do you will feel you have finally "arrived" in your quest. Good luck. Dan:)

Today is Veteran's day in the U.S. Have you thanked a vet today? Happy Birthday Marines! Semper Fidelis since 10 November 1775 Thank You Veterans!:DDan

Gee, I don't think I've ever had the pleasure... Hmmm, how would I go about this??? O.K. maybe this would work- First, take a frosty cold beer and with the goon still firmly caged get his attention, so he wants it. Next, crack it open and take a sip, Mmmm..., now he should be smacking his lips and grabbing through the bars. Now place the offering in the other cage and open the door on his cage... should work like a charm.:DDan