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I Forge Iron

stephangleissner

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  • Location
    Galway, Ireland
  • Biography
    Bavarian
  1. i have some experience in fire welding and obviously some welding situations r easier than others. What i like doing is to laminate cutting tools of all sorts. just makes sense to me to have the edge steel only where it's needed, even if we can afford now anything in our blessed, wasteful times. Now to my problem. Usually i weld the steel to one side of the blade. I put the tool into the fire ,so that the steel bit lies on top and will get less heat than the low carbon tool body.so in a way, an ideal arangement. But when I sandwich the bit in between, as with an axe head, i find it difficult to get the top layer hot enough without burning the other layers. Is it a matter of building a bigger fire? Any advice on that and indeed, fire welding in general, would be very appreciated. It is an ongoing challenge for me, the very core of the craft
  2. i saw such a jig used on a visit to las cruces. i have to say that i personally wouldn't want to miss the enjoyment of the free shaping of a hook. don't 4get that any kind of mold introduces repetetiveness into the process and in a world where we are surrounded by dead automat products for me the whole point of going through the trouble of making things by hand is to create a counter point, a balance. obviously everyone has a different cutoff point about that. also a question: when is a tool still a tool, when is it a swage or a stamp. many modern smiths dont use rivet headers but beat heads freeforged. generally i find the stunning neatness and of many modern creations amazing and admittedly beyond me. at the same time they often don't warm my heart the way old examples do that were done less conscious of design.
  3. for me forge welding is an ongoing challenge. i normally try to be as economical with my fuel as i can but unfortunately a good deep welding fire eats a lot of coal. i find it crucial to heat gradually and evenly so that the pieces are soaked all the way through when the sparks begin to fly. also important i find the positioning in the fire relativ to the blast. a weld i find diffikult is flat material, or worse, sheet material on top of each other. how they welded a spade the old way is beyond me. so i wouldn't mind to get some concrete tips about that. has anyone ever welded a spade for the craic?
  4. i just registered 10 min ago and it was suggested to make a post. so gruess gott everybody. i live and work opposit boston, at the very western edge of europe in galway, ireland. a blacksmith dessert. but i'm originally from eastern bavaria, germany, old iron country where the clay is red. as i have difficulties here to meet and exchange with other smiths i thought why not try such a forum. so i'm looking 4ward to a lot of inspiring ideas
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