BELL MAKER

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Yes, I know and have applied this wire brush method, For the Vesterheim contest, the brass plating must be the traditional process. The bell is shown in the book Mastermyr Find, a 1000 year old find of viking blacksmith tools and artifacts. This is what I know: 1, clean the steel of mill scale in any contamination. 2, prep-air a mixture of clay, horse dung and straw. Nead all air pockets out. Flatten like pizza doe. 3, Cut pieces of cartridge brass and place on the doe. 4, Place the doe over the bell and let dry. 5, build a huge, hot fire that will heat the bell/doe to red heat over 18,00F to melt the brass. 6, roll the bell to distribute the brass whole heating and while cooling. 7, Once cool, break the clay mix off to reveal the brass coated bell. 8, Buff the brass to ma bright shine. What I need is to find a blacksmith who has done this operation. Nothing is better than hands on experience to eliminate problems.

Two years ago, I made two Viking age bells using the Mastermyr Find book as the guide. At the Vesterheim festival, they achieved the "People's' Choice Award". The official critique simply stated, they looked too factory made, not handmade by 1000 YEAR past Viking Blacksmith. This year I am going to make a Viking bell using as much blacksmithing as possible. The bell was designed on paper, cut out, and folded to see what I am making. The pattern was marked on a steel sheet and cut out. The original was hammered out wrought iron. The steel halves will be hammered to represent the original process. The original bells showed signs that there were brass plated. I want to duplicate the brass coating process. I am looking for any help in this process. I am 87 years old. I built my side blast forge. I started collecting blacksmith hardware in 1980 and although slowed down, forging in 2026. I made axes, and knives and all sorts of special fixtures. A Peterwrite is my go to anvil, I have a +100 year old power hammer. Other anvils are Fisher, Trenton, Acme, Blacker and several without any name. I live in rural Iowa 100% surrounded by corn and bean fields. I still ride my 2011 Harley trike, deer hunt (got one last year), look for glacier gold and designed/built gold/black sand separators.

Has any blacksmith out there hammered out a bell, (cow bell) out of steel sheet? If so, did you coat the steel with brass? Could you describe your process? BELL MAKER