Shane Stegmeier

Ed I am right there with you on the critque of Bealer, but I would say the same thing of Weyger. Both men researched and reinvented blacksmithing with what they had available, they did not come from a blacksmithing tradition so some of their methods are unorthidox sometime:-)BUt at the time they were writing blacksmithing was just begining its reimergence. (There were still farriers and industrial blacksmiths, and some good old fashion blacksmith/machinist/welders like Jr but no one knew enough to ask them...) I have not seen some of the other books being mentioned, so I can't really recommend any good books for a beginner. My wife keeps telling me I should write a book:-) Who wants to see a book for the beginning blacksmith with historical footnotes tracing the development of tools and techniques???:-)

I just got back from a hammer-in, actually it was the Indiana Blacksmiths Association 25th Annual Conference, in Tipton, IN. Attendence was down a little from last year, which was down a little from the year before (lots of hammer-ins that weekend I think) I didn't hear a head count but I would guess something like 80-90 people came through over the weekend. Randy McDaniels author of "The Blacksmiths Primer" was one of the demonstators, and Nathan Allen was the other (Nathan does traditional reproductions and historical interpertation, at Conner Praire near Noblesville, a living history museum) I watched Nathan's demo he was interested in teaching about how to go about looking at an extent item, and figuring out how it would have been made in period. He place extra emphasis on how stock size wasn't precise, the smith would use what he had to make what he wanted. Forgewelding was EVERYWHERE you look in historical pieces, it was used to make the wrought iron in the first place, it was used to recycle old useless things into new product, it was used where there was a large transition in cross section and stock thickness, it was used to weld up the thicker stock. He showed a numer of antiques, and used them to discuss how they could have been made and then proceeded to make the items: a fire place shovel, a traveler, a hammer, a chisel, and a hinge. He never missed a weld in the whole demo, everything stuck on the first welding heat, even if it didn't stick on the first hit:-) ANd everything he made had at the very least one forge weld in it. It was fun seeing him weld up a faggot of wrought iron to make the body of the hammer out of, and then steel the face and the pein. There was a good deal of fellowship and freindly ribbing. Ptree was the only cybersmith/anvilfire/iforgeiron person who I saw. I came home from the conference much heavier than I arrived, I got a 450# ANVIL kit:-) This will be my new shop anvil:-) and I traded a nice little english postvice for it. It is a 37" long axil of 4140 off of some heavy equipment. 6" diameter shaft, with a ~22" flange at the bottom, all I have to do is dress, and harden the face (oh and bury it to get it to a good working height for me:-) I picked up some other goodies, too:-) There was a Forging Contest where you had 30 minutes to forge a cube out of 2"of 1"round. Ptree and I won the cube was 1 1/8" and pretty square (I always bring a lot of tools to a forging contest:-) I ended up sharing my tools with several other teams (they happened to come in 2nd and 3rd) I wasn't a boyscout very long but I still try to "be prepared" when it is important. Looking forward to Quadstate, we need T-shirts:-) So we can find each other and put some real people behind these signins:-)

Archie take a look at the thread on side blown forge tuyere, Bruce Wilcock outlines how to set one up and the box you have would work well for that:-)

Fionnbharr means fair haired, I have long red hair and a greying red beard:-) Fionnbharr is my name in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism.) I could never learn Gaelic at this point in my life, don't have a real knack for picking up langauges any way, and my hearing is poor enough I have trouble hearing the different pronunciation neccessary to learn to speak a language "whats that again?;-) Heck there are sounds in Spanish that I have a great deal of trouble hearing at all:-) To move back to a related suubject namely the hammer... Cruise the fleamarkets out there in CA looking for hammers. And ask all the guys in the local group what hammers they are using, and ask if you can try them. I am very particular about what I like in a hammer, and how the head is balanced, as well as what shape the handle is and the thickness and length. That eing said I like a number of different styles of hammer:-) Good hammers have a very specific "feel" to them, most hammers just feel clunky to me. Jock over at Anvilfire can pick up practically any hammer, and use it, and isn't mystical or picky about it. Other guys are VERY possesive of their favorite hammer, and won't let anyone else touch it. I know what feels good in my hands, and prefer to use what feels good. Steel handles as well as fiberglass handles should be avoided at all costs, they will transmit too much shock back into your arm. For some hammers a thin neck is wonderful, and can reduce the amount of shock that gets back to you, but you have to be careful not to "over apply" a hammer with a thinned neck:-)

In a word... Yes. It is a good idea to start with a lighter hammer than you THINK you should be able to handle. Size your work to your hammer and your skill level. 5/8 stock and anything larger are not suited for beginners no mater how strong. Learn to move the steel with the hammer, and learn how to make the hammer do the work for you, without trying to "push" the metal by gripping just a little harder and driving it just a little longer... I don't know how young, how strong, or how hard you work for a living, but... You have not been blacksmithing, and it is safer and more prudent to start small, and move up as you feel more comfortable, but don't rush it. I take it you read the first post in this thread;-) Quenchcrack had been forging for ~2 years? (I think that is how long I have been seeing him post:-) before he wrecked his elbow. I have been forging for nearly 20 years and I have always worked hard for a living. ANd I have told this story over and over again but if it saves you some pain and chronic elbow, and hand problems, then it is worth telling again. 15 years ago while I was young and stupid I was doing the starving artist blacksmith thing out in California, and I was using a 6# hand sledge for practically everything, I was powerlifting, and at the time it was hard on me but I did ok. 10 years later I had a project were I needed to draw about 40 bow strikers out of 3/8 by 1 1/4, I was using a 4# rounding hammer, I was doing hour and a half session, I was working 5 pieces at a time in gas forge subsequently I took no breaks(which was to physical failure) It took 5 sessions and Trashed my elbow... I bet you can use a 3# hammer right now, but if your form isn't good, you might not be able to use it 6 months from now?:-) Get involved with your local ABANA chapter, and learn from people who are more experienced. If you can learn good form from the start you will be miles ahead in the longrun. If you have a little disposabe income and some vacation time I would recommend one of the schools that teach blacksmithing. Tom Clark's Osark Blacksmithing School would be a good place to get a start, they use balanced, or Hofi hammers which some people like, some hate, but the hammering technic is solid, and they emphasize results. I have been trying to retrain myself to help with the pain in my hands and elbow, but retraining is a hard row to hoe. I can use the balanced technic that Tom Clark, Uri Hofi, and Rob Gunter teach, when I think about it, but when I loose myself in my work I use the hammer differently and it is harder on me. BUT I do farrier work as well as blacksmithing and the horseshoeing is hard on me. Take the time to learn to do it right and you will be able to enjoy blacksmithing for a long long time. There are a number of places in CA that offer blacksmithing courses, and I have heard good things about some of them, but I have personal experience with Tom Clark having seen several of his demo's over the years and struck for him a time or two (team striking for nail heading the big nails:-) I try to recommend the balanced hammer, and that technic to people who are just getting started, because I think it works, and I would have wanted to learn that style first to save me some of the problems I have had. There are lots of hammers, and lots of ways to hold a hammer, and lots of ways to use it, and any one of them that doesn't wreck you, and gets the work done is a valid style, but I would prefer to teach the balanced method because I believe it does have a biomechanical advantage over some of the other blacksmithing traditions. BUt we all like what we are familiar with and have been employing successfully. I have been disenchanted with my own tradition, because it hurts now:-) Though to be fair and honest I may have abused my body so much, that any technic is going to hurt some. But I am looking for something better for me. YMMV;-) I hope you take your time and learn good technic, and don't push your body past your endurance too often...

There is an aweful lot of high dollar work that gets done with a MIG welder. Like HWoolridge said, if both you and your client are happy with the design and the results then it is perfectly fine to use the MIG gun:-) Francis Whitaker also did a gate where the Whole thing was drilled and tapped, and I think he cut the heads off of grade 8 harded bolts and used them as allthread to make the joints. He said he was surprised to find that there was no sag in the gate. (it was a design that would have lended itself well to a MIG or ARC welder and a good grinder, but I guess Francis was too stubborn to refuse the design, and too principled and stubborn to use a welder:-) Ellements of traditional joinery: Forgewelding - You can forge weld individual ellements together to get your design, not for the faint of heart:-) But used quite extensively, especially for the frame of many grills and some gates. Generally used in conjunction with one or more other methods of traditional joinery. Riveting (inline, lap, and blind) - Some ellements can be drilled or punched and riveted inline with the other ellements, this can get prettty tricky especially with tight scrolls. In situations like that you almost need to make a special snaring iron for riveting. There are a number of good designs that include ellements that are lap riveted to a forgewelded frame. Blind rivets can be used on railings where you do not want to pierce the top. Punch or drill a shallow hole atleast one diameter of the rivet stock, preferably two, then get the railing hot and center punch around the rivet angling in toward the shank, slide on your ellement and get rivet hot and finish heading. Blind rivets are not as strong a regular riveting, but can be made just bit stronger by upsetting the head of the rivet stock slightly, or use a small pan headed rivet. However you choose to do it blind riveting aren't as strong as normal rivets, but it is still a very useful trick. Rivets can be an additional source of decoration in an otherwise simple design. They can be faceted, or cut to look like rossette, they can be stamped with crosses... Simple Collars - Generally used on smaller grills and gates, though still functional on larger pieces. Collars are prepared out of a material that is normally about the same width as the stock used in the main ellements of the design, but is thinner. The collars are preformed either with a vice and a piece of stock that is the size of the matterials to be joined, or in a specially made swage or bolster block with a set tool and then a piece of stock the same size as the materialls to be joined:-) The sizing bar should be just a hair under size, so that the hot collar will fit, and when quenched and cold will hold tight. The collars can be cut and trimmed so that they are butted, lapped with a diagonal cut, or forgewelded. You will need different sizes of collars for every different type of joint. So if you are doing a grill with a 1/2" x1" frame and all the ellements to be attached are 1/2" square where they attach, you need a collar to fit 1/2" x 1 1/2". Where you have two scrolls joining you only need 1/2" x 1". But in the center where you have scrolls sitting in C scrolls attached to the center ellement you may need 1/2" x 1 1/2" again. Francis Whitaker gives a formula for collar length, but I can't find my copy of The Blacksmiths Cookbook at the moment. I think it was perimeter of the joint plus 1.5, 2 or 3 times the thickness of the collar material??? Always do a few test pieces to find the correct length, the formula (whatever it is:-) is a good guide, but should ALWAYS be tested before all of the stock is cut to size:-) Pierce and Collar - Using this method the frame is pierced (instead of being wrapped in the collar),and the pickets, or other ellements of the design, are attached to the frame with a collar. This method is used extensively in screens and grills, especially where there is a wide flat frame that affixes to the wall. Mortise and Tenon - Forge, file, grind, or cut on a lathe a tenon on one or both ends of a picket, and then match it to a precisely sized and placed hole, the tenon can be finished flush and hidden, or can be finished with a riveted head. Doing pickets with tenons you need to make absolutely certain that all of the pickets are the same length between the shoulders. A pass/no pass jig can save time and trouble (The jig is just a tab with a hole drilled in it on one end of a bar, and another tab on the other end with a slot. Then the picket is inserted into the hole, and the shoulder should just barely slide into the slot on the other end. Too long use a monkey tool to upset the shoulder some more to reduce the length of the picket somewhat. Too short, better luck next time, or get the middle of the picket hot and tap it to lengthen the picket till it passes. This is a great place to use the MIG welder, to weld up this jig;-) Wrapping - You can join two pieces together by just wrapping one around the other hot, some of the artsy foliate designs use this technique. Think tendrils of vines wrapped around the toprail of a railing, or a pot rack... Its late as I am finishing up, so I may have missed something;-) But this is a good overview of the basics...

Merelion's Lair Forge is the name of my blacksmithing business. And to explain... Well I think visually, and dream in color:-) and I will have been involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism for 20 years this August. Which brings me to the source of my shop's name. The name come from the main charge on my shield. My heraldic device is two merelions combatant, counterchanged on a field of vert, divided per chevron orr. Which is just a fancy way of saying two merelions facing each other on a green sheild and the bottom tip of the shield is gold and divides the merelions in half, so that the green scaly tail is on the gold, and the golden lion upper body is on the green. Now add to that years ago I read a short story in the Fantasy & Science Fiction magizine, about a were-merelion. And I got this image of a merelion chained to a stone forging in a cave next to the sea. I still have hopes of doing a sign in deep relief repouse, with patinas, double sided with a wrought signpost to hang it from:-) (In my copious free time;-) My wife liked this image , and name better than the other name I had been enteraining:-) My initials are SJS, and that would be the makers mark, and the forge name would have been Smiling Joe Salamander Forge. In medieval beastiaries Salamanders were elemental creatures of fire and could burn, melt, and/or consume almost anything, great beasty to have sitting in the fire pot, as long as it was well mannered:-) I still may use that for a product line at some time in the future... Nice logo potential:-) 15 years ago I was a parnter in another mythically inspired forge: Dragon's Breath Forge with my best friend Ernie. That was back when I was young, stupid and romantic, and did the starving artist blacksmith thing out in California. When Ernie first started using that name, I had never used a gas forge at all (the casting furnace we used in jr high to forge a chisel doesn't count in my book:-), and I doubt that he had either. Later we aquired a big Johnson Gas Appliance trough forge from a school auction. I would stack that thing full of stock and whale on them with a 6# hand sledge. Did I mention I was young and stupid then, and very very strong;-) We were also powerlifting at the time... I just wish I either had a bigger clue, or more drive back then, or I still had the strength and endurance I had back then. Ah the arrogance of youth. IF I would have worked on it back then, I could have been really good by now:-)

A cute "little" double frame steam hammer, that would be a nice size to have in the shop here at home:-) STEAM HAMMERS ROCK!!!

Not to mention saws are more appealing to a woodworker;-) I like them pretty well too:-)

I find ignorance and misinformation unacceptable:-) And therefore try to stamp it out whenever I can, politely, even graciously:-) But I think even boneheads need to be enlightened... I will let a fool have his way, if I realize he cannot learn, but I think it is worth it to teach, even if it is hard. Wrought Iron and Charcoal are very different from people expectations, but they can be taught most of the time:-) If I am doing a demo and I am using more modern tools and materials I try to explain to the crowd what would have been used as a part of my demo. I have an idea for a small portable sideblast bellows blown medieval demo forge:-) and I can get chunk charcoal at Rural King for 8.95$ for 20# we will see...

You do know that Wrought Iron is cold short, and will give you nothing but grief if you try and do anything with it below a bright red heat, right:-)

Bessemer is simple:-) Melt a huge amount of ore, dump it into a tundish, drop a couple oxygen lances into it, blow pure oxygen into the load (Impressive and scary... which burns out all of the impurities, like carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus:-) then throw in your alloying packets, roll the tundish to the job and pour your steel. The scary thing is you can do it on a small scale if you are crazy:-) or have LOTS of safety equipement ready. (Atleast that is what I think I remember:-)

I would look up the steel manufacturers specs on 52100... As I rememeber the suggested working methods were preheat for a certain period, the slowly raise to working range, allow to soak at temp, then forge. BUt these are industrial specs, shop practice is another thing. It is always better to know the way you were supposed to do things:-) If you get something else to work great, it not you know why...

Osage is also known as hedge apple, around here (north central Indiana) it is only lightly thorned and they tend to be small thorns. The heart wood is normally bright orange when fresh cut, but tends to fade as it oxidizes to a deep yellow tinted with orange, or turn redish when oiled. The wood tends to sucker a lot, so there are twigs and branches coming off the main truck everywhere normally, which makes finding clean straight grain fun;-) and the trunk of the tree often has a twist. I have made osage bows before and it is an interesting wood to work with;-) Finding a clean straight trunk that has not been damaged, and doesn't twist, and isn't interrupted with suckers is probably why bowyering isn't more popular;-)

Glenn is dead on about memory and batteries. I have a 256meg compact flash card, and I have never run out of memory, I ALWAYS run out of battery first... :-) I have a Canon PS200 ELPH it is a nice little camera, and my only complaint is that I only have one battery pack and no car charger. Having a couple extra storage cards are nice, I have the 8meg CF card that the camera came with that I use to transfer pics to the printer/scanner/copier/fax machine from the computer across the room. Getting good pics of pattern from patternwelded steel is tough, I would try softer lighting and slightly longer exposure time, but I am not a camera guru to say the least:-) But that would be what I would try first, No flash, and careful about your angle to the light, because a good knife will likely reflect a lot of light back at the camera... Good luck:-)

I have noticed on the occasions that I have set my cloths on fire, that it is very nice and convient to have gloves on, so that when you are putting the smack down on the flames your hands don't get burned:-) They seem to e more common in the colder months for me. Frayed edges of good sturdy cloths (like well worn Carharts), and winter synthetics are the normal places for the clothing fires that I seem to have encountered:-) BUT the gloves have kept my hands from being burned... Summer forging my cloths are so soaked in sweat, I am more likely to get a steam burn than to have my cloths catch on fire.

It is scary but I can loose tools in a clean shop, once things get shall we say, just a little bit busier, the situation gets almost comical. I will be ready to pull a hot piece out of the fire and won't be able to find the tools I was intending on using. I have a young girl who is learning to blacksmith with me and I will start looking for the errant tongs, hammer, file... whatever, she will give a nervous laugh, and look around too. Of all the things I have lost I miss my memory the most:-)

Yep, pretty much. Tom used bring Yuri Hoffi over to teach in his school till there was a falling out. Tom still has some of Yuri's students like Tsur Saddan come over and teach at his school or help with demos. Big Blu and B3 Design now are the ones who get Yuri over here to teach. I think Tom might sell the same stuff, but I am not sure. I know he uses it:-)

Well I can find both of my anvils,and the swage block, and the power hammer... So it is not a complete disaster, but... The welding table is covered with scrap. The graded scrap is pouring out into the room from underneath the welding table, and the graded tool steel buckets block the end of the power hammer tool rest. Various welding projects hang from the joists and clutter the floor. I know a few guys who have packed more tools and scrap into this size space, but not many:-) I have out grown this space even before I have it finished:-( Not surprising really:-) I picked up another postvice for 20$ needs work but is a fairly heavy one:-) I ry to keep it clean but extra things keep accumulating in there and it makes it hard to climb into the shop:-)

http://www.bigbluhammer.com/products/puncheize.htm 15$ american for 4oz that mixes with one pint of water. I haven't coughed up for it but have seen it used in demos several times. And I try to lubricate cutting chisels, drifts and punchs when ever I use them. I may move this up on the priority list.

As a fulltime farrier and part time blacksmith, and after twenty years of beating my freinds with wooden swords:-) I find that 4 advil is about the right dose for me, on bad days every 4 hours, on an average day maybe only before bed, and right after I get up, on good day (or when I run out:-) none at all... (but I have an iron stomach, hopefully I won't get the iron kidney, and the ironlung to go with it;-) Handles make a HUGE difference in how good a hammer feels to work with and how hard it is on your hand and arm. I have relatively small hands for my size and cannot use a hammer with a thick handle. I carve my handles down so that they are only 3.5" or 3.75" in circumfrence. I have had another small flare up of my tendonitis late this winter, which was due almost entirely to vibration and tightening my grip just a bit to swing harder. But the pervious bad bout was due mainly to a handle I had not shaved down to the proper thickness for me... That and working too long, too hard, too many days in a row. You have to really work to improve your posture, hammer techique and adjust your hammer handles to fit you, if you want to avoid making tendonitis a chronic problem. I started having elbow problems about 10 years ago when I was using really long swords two sword style, too much torque on the tendons and I didn't do enough to ensure that they healed properly, and were not re-injured. At this point I have had 4 or 5 major flareups since the intial injury, and if I am careful I can avoid them. The best way I know to avoid the flareups is to avoid doing anything stupid:-) duh... If you haven't worked real hard for a while, don't over do it. Don't push yourself too hard, when you are too tired to swing the hammer without gripping too tightly, it is definitely time to take a rest... Things I have learned the hardway!:-) A damaged tendon is no match for an iron will. Just because you can push through the fatigue, pain and numbness does not mean you should... Fatigue can wreck your technique, and bad technique will wreck your body. Gripping the hammer too tightly, just focuses the concussion of the blows into the irritated tissues. A slightly flexible, or "lively" handle will help to absorb some of the damaging vibration, but your best bet is still to consciously develop a somewhat relaxed grip on the hammer. You need to guide the hammer. You do not need to choke the hammer into submission to force it do your will:-) Rigid posture, and repetative blows with your wrist in a non-neutral position will also contribute to the problem. A lower anvil may be harder on your back, but if you can use good form it is easier on your wrist, and elbow. Wisdom is the ability to learn from the mistakes of others without having to make them yourself:-)

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved. BP0218 Split work Hinges by Fionnbharr I was doing a demo on hinge making, and I did a split work pattern with a Thistle finial and a swell just before the barrel of the hinge as part of my demo. I swelled the face of the hinge, with the heavy peen marks on the same side as the bevels from the chisel marks. Needless to say this was not a keeper. I started a new pair immediately this is an improved variation on that pattern. It is a simple split work design that I came up with based impart on medieval examples. But it is not a reproduction of any particular medieval example that I am aware of. I have already realized that there are a few additions and variations to the design that I feel would improve it quite a bit. But I had these hinges in progress and needed to finish them up, so I was able to take the pictures needed to explain the process properly There is nothing terribly complicated about this project, but it is a fair number of simple procedures. It is an exercise in matching pieces, by repeating the processes over and over. If anything that is where the difficulty lies, getting everything to match nicely. I will work at least two pieces and sometime all four pieces in the gas forge at the same time, so that I can keep everything consistent. Practice, practice, practice. For this project I used 1-½” x 1/8” x 3 feet. I forge one end and then the other, then when the split work is finished the hinges are cut to the correct length. This way you have the full length of the steel, and you don’t have to use tongs which makes handling the steel easier. The first cuts are angled in from the edges of the end of the bar, and divide the bar evenly into thirds. I do the splitting with an anvil saddle so that I can safely cut the leaves on the finial with the tail of the stock laying along the length of the anvil face. Off of the end of my anvil stand I have my swage block set up and it helps hold longer stock. I freehand the cuts, but if you are concerned about accuracy you can lay out the lines for the finial cold, so they are easy to find with the chisel while the steel is hot. I like to use a thin hot cut chisel and a Kevlar heat resistant glove to mark out the lines and use the width of the chisel to measure. I use 1 ½ or 2 chisel widths to form the fluer-de-lys. Just be consistent and note it somewhere. I am prematurely senile and often cannot remember when I look at a piece, just how I did it. I like to slit the lines down till there isn’t much left to cut, then I switch to a thicker chisel to finish the slits. I start out at the end of the bar and split it open, and then work in to the base of the slits. The bevel of the chisel will bevel the pieces, and is reasonable easy to preserve through the forging process, and to touch it up with a file. The next step is to fuller just behind the leaves of the finial. I use a ¾” round spring fuller under my air hammer, to produce a nice neck behind the finial. The fullering will draw the leaves away from the center spike. I dress the fullering with the hammer and square it somewhat, so that it would match the chisel line to cut free the leaves. Next step is to cut free the large leaves at the base of the hinge. I angle the cuts in hard so that they make a narrow stem, a 1/3 or less. Again, I mark the lines with the hot cut chisel, one angle cut, and two long straight cuts. Then I finish cutting open the leaves. I do a convenience bend in the spike, and then forge out the leaves into a nice curl. Once the leaves are out of the way I work on the spike. I hold the spike against the face of the anvil at an angle and then use the peen of the hammer. I flip the spike back and forth, keeping it flat as I work both sides of the tip out to a point. It is EXTREMELY easy to get a cold shut using this technique, but in a decorative finial that will be dressed and beveled with a file it is an acceptable cheat in my book. I only use this technique on thin stock, with 1/4" stock it isn't necessary. Once I have the point out to a good length, I facet the point, and bevel it. With the finial finished I move onto the leaves of the base and fuller the neck to start to spread them out. Then I do another convenience bend and work on the leaves in earnest, forging out the harsh angle of the cut into a nice smoothly curved point. I work over the horn and draw the point out as I draw it around the horn to arrive at the curve I want. Once all the rough forging is finished on the split work, I straighten and align everything to my liking, and clean up all the bevels with a file or belt grinder. Then I decide how much stock to leave for turning the barrel of the hinge and for attaching to whatever the hinge will be used on. Again I didn’t measure, but just eye balled a good length, and made all of the pieces match. Now it is time to turn the barrels of the hinges. I start the barrel on the radiused edge of the far side of the anvil. I take a small bite to begin and roll it over the edge and then work a little more into the growing curl. Then I flip it over on the anvil face and work the curl back toward myself. It is very important to get this bend, and the whole barrel, square to the stock. If it is not your straps will not align very well, and it can cause your hinge to bind, and cause ugly gaps in your barrel joint. Once you have the barrel closed up and roughly square to the piece, you will likely need to refine the shape of the barrel and make sure that the pin will have a snug fit, so the hinge is not sloppy. I do this by working it over a drift, and into the swage block. I use a 3/16” screw, or piece of round stock tapered on both ends. Thicker pins, or high alloy tools steels would make this a little easier. Somewhere I have some small rounds of H13 which would be ideal for this. Now it is just tinkering with the barrel till you have it nice and round and a good fit for the pin size you have chosen, which means closing it up, and then drifting it back out till you are satisfied… Now it is time to cut the barrels to form the hinge joint itself. There are lots of options here, for these hinges I did a simple male and female cut. Again you try to divide the width of the stock into thirds. BUT I always try to cut the male side a little over sized, and the female side a little undersized. I have cut them with a hacksaw in the post vice, and this can work very well, if you have a good hacksaw frame, good bi metal hack saw blades, and have good enough technique that your blades don’t wear out too quickly, and/or you consider the hack saw blades a consumable, and ditch them before they cut off at an angle. But to be honest I was tired of throwing hacksaw blades away after cutting each leaf of the hinge, so I set up a cut table so I could use my chop saw kind of like an abrasive band saw. I took some scrap 1/8” plate and folded it down in the post vice so that it could be clamped in the vice on the chop saw, and hollowed out an area for the vice screw to pass through the table. Setting it up so that it is square to the abrasive cut off wheel is important, but once you have it square you can slide metal up the table into the cut off wheel and notch and trim to your hearts content. The steel of the table is sufficiently rigid that the hinge is easy to control and doesn’t chatter on the wheel, and it is fairly easy to make nice cuts. The cut off wheel has about 1/8” clearance over the table, but the angle of the table means that anything slid up the table will be in full contact with the wheel. It all worked out pretty snazzy. With the male part of the hinge you can trim the tabs out easily enough with the hack saw or with the cut off saw, but for the female side, you will need a small chisel. I had a small chisel that was just the right size, and I scored the line cold from both sides and then broke it off in the post vice. Then it is a question of filing everything till it is square and fits nice and free, but is still tight, and not sloppy. There is an awful lot of file work involved in locksmithing like this, but it is very satisfying when you have nice joint. I adjust the throw of the hinge by how long the male part of the hinge is, and how deep I cut the female side of the hinge. I file a chamfer on all of the bearing surfaces so that the hinge is well supported when open as far as it will go. My next step was to make rivets to use as hinge pins, since I didn’t have any already on hand. So I drilled a 3/16” hole in a piece of ¼” x ¾”.I couldn’t anneal the S7 I had wanted to use well enough to drill it. In any case, I should have made a two part hinged heading clamp, or jaw plates for use in the vice, but I was impatient. Next I annealed some 3/16” rod (from political ad signs, see politics are good for something. I clamped the rod in the vice with at least 3/8” above my ¼” header, then proceeded to upset a decent little rivet head. Since I was clamping a round on the flat I of course got a little sliding when I started to form the rivet head, and this material all bunched up behind the heading plate, so I flipped the rod around and clamped it in the vice with an inch of space between the jaws and the header, and tapped it with the hammer sliding the header back over the smear. Then I clamped the rivet itself in the vice jaws to straighten it, working it back and forth. To cut the rivet to length I loosened the jaws slightly on the post vice and slid the rivet out comparing the length of rivet exposed beyond the jaws of the vice with the female side of the hinge, adding 5/16”, then clamped the vice down and cut it off with the hack saw. This gave me enough material to make a decent head on that side as well. Finally I inserted the rivet, seated it down tightly by sliding the header over the exposed end of the rivet and tapping it down with the hammer. Then it was one more rivet head to form. Next comes cleaning up the edges of the rivets and the barrels with files. I set how far back I wanted the hinges to be able to swing, by the set of the eye of the barrel on the hinge, and how deep the male and female parts of the barrel were. Not shown, I beveled the bearing surfaces so that when the hinge rested in the fully open position there was the maximum surface area in contact to support the lid of the chest. The last pictures is of the two finished pairs of hinges, you really cannot tell from the picture but the front pair has been sand blasted and painted, while the pair in back have a light scale on them with a hot linseed oil finish. The traditional linseed oil finished ones will go on a medieval style chest that I received in payment for some work that I did. The hinges are meant to be embedded in the lid, or door, so the smoother side of the barrel is exposed. I thought that would look better and not catch things when you are sitting on the chest. Fionnbharr Hinges #1 I started each leaf of the hinge with a 2" of 1"x1/2" bar. I fullered it under the power hammer drawing it out to a little over 3/16" x 1" on the barrel side, and then I fullered the fan on the other half of the bar till it was nearly 2" wide and thinned down to less than 1/8". I matched them with the hand hammer pretty well and thickened the fan at the edge cleaning them up. Then I started the roll on the barrel over the edge of the anvil and continued to close it on the face of the anvil driving it back at my tong hand. I finished roughing in the barrel with a 3/16" pin in the swage block. I hack sawed the cuts in the barrel and filed the waste out. Fitted the pin in the barrel and then closed the base leaf's barrel on the pin. The rest was a load of whitesmithing, truing up the pattern with files, and adding the contour to the fan. I got really tired of working on them and I did a fast cheat and used my drill press for the trifoils, and the mounting holes for screws or nails. I made a neat little gauge for laying out the center marks, too bad I didn't trust it on one of the trifoils and messed it up... ;-( I still haven't put a finish on it... Haven't decided if I want a period oil and wax finish or a really good modern paint job??? A really nice medieval oiled and waxed finish does give the metal such a nice texture, and it would compliment the nice texturing I got working in the fire... I only wasted 6 hours doing these, probably less than an hour in the fire... What I should have done was used 1/8" by 1 1/2" and fullered the middle to thicken the barrel section and to give the proper curve to the hinge, that would have saved a bunch of time I think. That and making a trifoil punch to do the decoration:-) All in all I had a great deal of fun making these and the next set will be much sharper, and much quicker... Might even be able to make some to sell:-) This first set is a very simple pair of german gothic butterfly hinges. I did these in a hurry so they are not quite as nice as I would like, but they are still pretty decent:-) (My hacksaw got dull pretty quick, and I ended up butchering one of the female sides of the barrel... Luckily I was able to forge it closed somewhat and ended up recovering from that reasonably well. That and my trifoils did not all come out perfect, and simple geometric designs like a trifoil NEED to be perfect to look right:-) irnsrgn Really nice work Fion, congratulations on a fine job. This is the second example piece I did for the medieval hinge demo. These are loop and ring hinges and are somewhat cruder than what we might consider a typical hinge. It is also the same general type of hinge that was found on The Mastermyr Find tool chest. These hinges are a loose interpretation of a combination of elements from a chest in the Laneham church in Notinghamshire England. The hinges on the actual chest were unornamented, but there were decorative straps used on other parts of the chest. I tried to combine the two elements, but my split work "Y" finals turned into almost an "M" final:-) (I didn't have a picture in the shop to work from so I was at the mercy of my memory:-) The finish was left a little cruder than I should have left it, to save time since I had to make a few more example pieces before my demo:-), particularly on the open ring. Which I should have forged to a round cross section before I formed the ring. This ring is ment to be inset into the edge of the chest where the lid butts up to it. This allows the lid and the loop to lay flush against the top of the chest, an important detail to note:-) Phil H Thanks for your post, I found the medieval decorative strap work particularly interesting. Fionnbharr Hinges #3 Here are some swiss style pintle hinges, they are kinda simple rams head scrolls. Most of the attention in the books like "Decorative Ironwork of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance" show very ornate pintle hinges with lots of cutwork and simple chasing. But you find examples of a simpler form in colonial ironwork. And we know that all of the ironwork done in the medieval period was not the high end stuff that gets put into books and museums, but the bulk of the simple things that were made every day were given some simple decoration. These hinges are again loosely based on example #9, in the section on hinges in "Architectural Wrought-Iron Ancient and Modern" (A reprint available from Norm Larson Books:-) Donald Streeter has some Staghorn hinges in his book "Professional Smithing", that are similar but has the addition of cut work and fullering on the horns to widen them out. The pintles themselves I forged out on the power hammer just before the begriming of my demo... :-) Fionnbharr Hinges #2 These are the split work strap hinges I started after I did the demo (I messed up the demo hinges when I swelled the circle just in front of the barrel, except I fullered it out on the FACE of the hinge:-(... They are hot slit then fullered with a spring fuller just behind the scrolls then forge out as I roll the scrolls more, constantly comparing them and matching as best I can:-) Need to finish the barrels on these and get them installed on my 9 board chest:-) Fionnbharr Hinges #4 Fionnbharr Finally got these hinges finished, as well as a second pair:-) Got some process photos as well and should have a Blue Print up soon on how to make these. The small strip in the middle is a 6" steel rule Irnsrgn Looking forward to the blueprint Fionn, Nice job on the hinges Ed Thomas Very nice and clean. Thanks for sharing. Are these for outside use or all for the chest you mentioned? What are you using for finish? Did you make a drawing of a hinge first, or forge one and match the others to it? What were some of your constraints? I mean design considerations? Fionnbharr One pair is for the 9 board chest, and it will be carried around to SCA events and have stuff hauled around in it. The other pair are for sale, and will go on my web site. 2.) What are you using for finish? The pair for my medieval chest have a linseed oil finish, and I will likely put a couple of good coats of wax on it as well, since it is a period piece. I wanted a traditional finish that looked the part, and helped it to look real. The hinges I am selling are sandblasted, and painted flat black. I offer traditional finishes on pieces on the web site as a custom order, but find that most people prefer modern finishes since that is what are familiar. Sorry I was using a very small file size on the image, or you would be able to tell that the bottom pair of hinges is painted, and the top pair has a traditional oil finish, you can still kinda see a difference but it is not nearly as noticeable in the picture as it is in real life... :-) 3.) Did you make a drawing of a hinge first, or forge one and match the others to it? No, I didn't do a drawing first, and to be honest normally I don't, I am afraid that my drawing skill is not as well developed as my eye for steel. Occasionally I will think on paper, and set perimeters like height, length, and width, and stock sizes. I do like to use paper to help refine a thought, and leave an outline that will trigger the idea (Senility isn't much fun, I am way too young for my memory to be this old;-) For this design I knew that I wanted a strong finial that would also be split, and I knew that I was going to taper the interior section of the hinge, to get a more organic look. The inspiritation to use the spring fuller as a decorative element was luck:-) And I like bosses like the diamond shape below the finial, which are also very period. I generally don't make a single pattern for things like this that need to be well and truly matched, I do things in PAIRS at least, making two, three, or even all four pieces at the same time, so that I can constantly be checking them against one another. Stack them deep in the gasser, and I never need to wait for anything to get hot:-) No rest for the wicked... 4.) What were some of your constraints? I mean design considerations? This design developed directly from the technique I wanted to use, namely split working, and was constrained by medieval design sensibilities,and being able to do most of the process in the time allowed in a normal demo:-) When I did the first pieces as part of a demo at my hammer-in last fall I had been studying medieval hinges intently for about three months, and had a real good feel for medieval design elements. Have you read Julius Schram's books where he talks about blacksmith's designs developing out of the methods of a blacksmith. I like that idea a lot! Not to say I won't fabricate:-) But I like designs that it really takes a blacksmith to execute:-) Next thing I need to do for the hinge demo is to do some composite hinges:-) Forge welding elements onto a base, and collaring the laps... Have you ever REALLY looked at the hinges of Notre Dame, and thought about how they did it... 1.)Are these for outside use or all for the chest you mentioned? Jim C. Fionnbharr: Thanks for taking your time to post the photos and all the text. Very nice work; I'm looking forward to the Blue Print also. Ed Thomas: I'm glad to see you at this site. Your knowledge will be appreciated by a lot of us beginners. Fionnbharr Ok, maybe I use paper to design more than I remember (funny how if you can't remember anything, how you can't remember how you designed something:-) It helps the wife, help me with executive design decisions to. Just finalized a design (on paper) for a 'simple' pot rack;-) Slitted, and drifted elements, as well as split work will be really cool (unfortunately somewhat time consuming to make:-) Revised response:-) I think on paper when there are more than two parts to be assembled, and I need to work out volume of steel needed, and proportions;-) Oh, and so I can remember what I was making when I am in the shop;-) Ed Thomas Fionn: Excellent post! Thank you for the clarity and information in your answers. It makes admiring your hinges even more fun, knowing how they materialized. I too have difficulty drawing, and have been trying to correct that. For some reason, I find it easier, as you said, to just experiment with the steel... sort of draw with fire and iron in 3-dimensions. Not very efficient, but more satisfying. Your philosophy on form from the process, and exploiting the strengths of forge work, is very refreshing and encouraging. You hit the nail squarely on the head. We need more of that kind of talk Jim C: It looks like there's oodles of skill here on this board. We are all in good hands. Irnsrgn Fionn and Ed, I usually make a rough sketch of what I want to do by thinking in my mind what process I can use to get the desired effect, I guess that is what you are calling form from process, I frequently change the rough sketch while actually doing the work as one thing will not work but another will. But it usually comes out close to the sketch, after its done then I do a drawing of it with dimensions. This design developed directly from the technique I wanted to use, namely split working, and was constrained by medieval design sensibilities,and being able to do most of the process in the time allowed in a normal demo:-) When I did the first pieces as part of a demo at my hammer-in last fall I had been studying medieval hinges intently for about three months, and had a real good feel for medieval design elements. Have you read Julius Schram's books where he talks about blacksmith's designs developing out of the methods of a blacksmith. I like that idea a lot! Not to say I won't fabricate:-) But I like designs that it really takes a blacksmith to execute:-) Next thing I need to do for the hinge demo is to do some composite hinges:-) Forge welding elements onto a base, and collaring the laps... Have you ever REALLY looked at the hinges of Notre Dame, and thought about how they did it... Jim C. Ed Thomas: I'm glad to see you at this site. Your knowledge will be appreciated by a lot of us beginners. Fionnbharr: Thanks for taking your time to post the photos and all the text. Very nice work; I'm looking forward to the Blue Print also. Fionnbharr Revised response:-) I think on paper when there are more than two parts to be assembled, and I need to work out volume of steel needed, and proportions;-) Oh, and so I can remember what I was making when I am in the shop;-) Ok, maybe I use paper to design more than I remember (funny how if you can't remember anything, how you can't remember how you designed something:-) It helps the wife, help me with executive design decisions to. Just finalized a design (on paper) for a 'simple' pot rack;-) Slitted, and drifted elements, as well as split work will be really cool (unfortunately somewhat time consuming to make:-) Ed Thomas I too have difficulty drawing, and have been trying to correct that. For some reason, I find it easier, as you said, to just experiment with the steel... sort of draw with fire and iron in 3-dimensions. Not very efficient, but more satisfying. Your philosophy on form from the process, and exploiting the strengths of forge work, is very refreshing and encouraging. You hit the nail squarely on the head. We need more of that kind of talk Jim C: It looks like there's oodles of skill here on this board. We are all in good hands. Fionn: Excellent post! Thank you for the clarity and information in your answers. It makes admiring your hinges even more fun, knowing how they materialized. Irnsrgn Fionn and Ed, I usually make a rough sketch of what I want to do by thinking in my mind what process I can use to get the desired effect, I guess that is what you are calling form from process, I frequently change the rough sketch while actually doing the work as one thing will not work but another will. But it usually comes out close to the sketch, after its done then I do a drawing of it with dimensions. View full article