Pipe bell

[DUNSTAN]

This weekends project was a bell made on the anvil horn out of a piece of 1-1/4 pipe. My question , does anyone know another process to make bells,or in less time than the 2-3 hours its been taking just to forge it out.
This bell was a team effort with my son making the handle while I finished sanding and buffing.

[DennisG]

Ok, first, WOW, great job, both of you.

Second, how did you make the bell?, what type of pipe?, details please!

Dennis

[Junksmith]

It is a beauty. I've made a couple like that out of aluminum but they didn't sound very nice. I really not sure that you can speed up the process. Flaring the bell is easy enough, but tapering the top end take lots of time. I have seen the bell shape forged separately (like a bowl) and welded to the flared pipe. That sounds like a complicated fitting though and your weld would need excellent penetration so it could be ground flush without gaps. I don't think that would save any time either. I suppose if you started out with the top end of a steel bottle (small oxygen bottle?) you would have the hardest part done to begin with.

When I make bells, I usually just weld a flat or cone-shaped piece onto the top of a pipe (flaring optional). Very rustic looking, but if you quench it in water right after the weld it rings nice.

You may get faster with practice, but ultimately I think something that beautiful just reflects the time that went into it.

[Frosty]

Nice looking bell.

You can try using fullering dies to swage the top.

I've flared pipe on the horn and it's labor intensive as the horn cools the pipe so quickly.

Frosty

[ThomasPowers]

Well there are the cow bells made from sheet. Also the odd bells of plate forged into vaguely triangular pieces depending from a section forged into rod.

I've seen special powerhammer set up to flare pipe on a bic or to fuller it down. (A local professional smith who had to make several hundred flared pipe morning glories for a project.)

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Dustan: You actually might find it faster to make two at a time. Start with a length of pipe twice as long and start necking it down in the middle. This closes up much easier than working on an open end. Look around at "pipe fullers". Nice looking stuff!

[DClaville]

nice work..

DC

[CBrann]

Nice work. I have made a "gullotine tool" for pipe, and necking it down in the middle, or at least a distance from and end is easier!!, makes that much easier!!

As far as the flaring... time and practice will make that better!

Is it "dingy" or "dongy" or does it go thud? I notice they have better "voice" when made from higher carbon steel, but go with what works!!

[DUNSTAN]

Thanks guys, The pipe used is from old hand rail pipe scraps. After a long process of shaping on the horn, heat up and cool. It has a nice sharp ding with a hardened forged ball. It helps to have a big anvil horn. This sight has helped me a lot!

[Bad Creek Blacksmith]

Walking dog has a nice bp on making bells, I'll try to get a hold of him to post it. They are very nice bells using all different sizes of pipe.

[Walking Dog]

To answer the original question, I don't know any way to make the bells really quickly, other than practice. I do use a swinging-arm type of fuller to neck down the pipe. Also, the bigger the pipe diameter, the wider the fuller needs to be to bring the pipe down without loosing a lot of wall thickness. For 3-inch schedule 40, I find that a fuller made of 7/8-inch diameter round works well, but my fuller made of 3/8-inch flat causes excessive loss of thickness as I pinch the pipe down to about 1/2-inch ID for the handle. The 3/8 fuller is good with 2-inch schedule 40 pipe.

Belling out the pipe on the horn is tedious, so I emphasize the reduction in diameter back at the stem end of the bell to put things in proportion. Also, I like to cut the bell end (usually 5 cuts) to allow it to be easily flared with a great deal of visual effect, but very little stretching of metal - this does make the end result much easier to obtain.

I've attached a picture of the finished bells, and a sketch of the process. Note that the gap at the handle/stem attachment gives a place for the weldment (I use a buzz box). Make the weldment at a size that then allows you to draw the stem down further and the weld will forge out nicely.

Walking Dog

[Dragons lair]

Might try making a male plug, lathe or ring over ring welded and ground. Heat 1/4-1/3
of the bell end. tap or squeeze it on. Works on copper.
Ken

[DUNSTAN]

Thanks Walking Dog, Big help, gonna try that. And love your bells. I'm going to keep trying.

[Mike Ameling]

Jay Hisel over at Big River Forge makes garden bells by welding together three tall triangles cut from different thicknesses of iron plate. He only welds about 1 to 2 inches of the tops of the sides, leaving the rest open and not touching. And the heaviest triangle he has the top extended a bit with a hole drilled in. This he bends over and welds to seal the top. They do well for garden bells. With a length of chain connected to an eye-bolt inside, an iron disk attached to the chain near the bottom of the sides, and another animal-shaped plate attached at the bottom, the wind will catch and "clank" the bell. The only "complaint" Jay ever received was that one RANG TOO MUCH when the breeze was blowing!

Large fire extinguisher bottles make great bells. Just cut off the end you don't want to use. The longer the bottle, the lower the tone. And an old scrap CO2 cylinder will make a great GONG for the garden/patio! A deep low tone like those Japanese bells. The creative part is then figuring out how to hang it. Jay might have some pics of the one design on his site Big River Companies

In the end, it is all a matter of how large a bell you want to make. A quick/simple bell can be made by cutting about 6 inches of well pipe or sewer pipe. Then cut it in half from top to bottom. Now forge up a U shaped hanger for it. Rivet or weld it to the top of each half of that pipe. Adjust the bend in the hanger until the two halves are close to touching, but not quite. And there is your bell. Thick plate steel can be forged half-round and hung the same way. Thicker, larger, and better quality steel can give you better tone.

Even an old wooden wagon wheel rim makes a pretty good garden bell as is. Just hang it with rope or leather to allow it to vibrate when struck.

One other option to neck down that pipe would be to cut slots on the top, bend in the "tabs" formed, and then weld them up. Crude, but it all depends upon what you are trying to achieve.

Hope these rambling thoughts help.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

[jimmy seale]

a reminder or 3,old csing may have been exposed to H2S, so be careful about that. and c-content is 30 to 35 points carbon,so if welding,use mild stringer bead the lo-hy for final cap.and remember oilfield pipe goes by inside dia. so 2" is 2 3/8" od.and so forth.also there are heavy weights (mostly bigger pipe)say 13 3/8" some weigh 48 # to 83# per foot. just something to think about,bol jimmy

[Frosty]

Another trick for flaring the pipe is lay it across the horn and strike it on the inside to stretch the metal with a smaller instrument, rather than slipping it over the horn and striking on the outside.

When you strike from the outside there is a much larger area of contact and much less effect per blow.

Frosty

[_Jake_]

African Gongs are essentially a type of bell and take at most an hour.

[Sweany]

YouTube - Forgeron (Bell Maker/Black Smith) Conakry, Guinea

[chyancarrek]

Dustan: You actually might find it faster to make two at a time. Start with a length of pipe twice as long and start necking it down in the middle. This closes up much easier than working on an open end.

Grant's suggestion is a great one for doing multiples. I made up a quickie vice- mounted guillotine tool and it really helps with the accuracy.

[pascalou]

Hello
very sympathetic this type of bell
here some photographs..... friends shoeing marshals at a demonstration of forging mill with Valbonne (France) September 2008.
Pascal ;)

[Sweany]

I love the ear muffs! :)