Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Recommended Posts

Hey fellows,

 

after I published my guide on how to forge a rams head wall hook some people asked me how to make the punch for the eyes of the rams head. Due to the fact that there isn´t any video covering this very type of punch yet, I decided to make one on my own. I hope it can give you an idea how you would forge one on yourself. Please bare with me, it was -10°C and gloves where an absolute necessity in order to be able to forge anyway.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCkMiVZR8Pw&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Here a little written description:

 

 

1st heat: forge a square taper

 

2nd heat: dress up the taper

 

3rd heat: dress up the tip of the punch

 

4th heat: punch a dent into the tip of the punch using a ball punch

 

5th heat: take off two opposing corners of the tip, if you want the eye ball to be round, only use a file, if you want it elliptical first upset it horizontally with the hammer and then dress it up with a file

 

6th heat: cut it off at desired length

 

7th heat: make the strike end of the punch octagonal and forge a teardrop shape about 1" below the striking face, dress the striking face

 

8th heat: anneal the whole punch

 

9th heat: harden the tip of the punch at cherry red color and then use the spare heat to temper it to sky blue color

 

last step: test if it is shatterproof and test the punch on a piece of steel.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the video and learned something new!

 

 

 

Your

- Daniel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vaughn, I have a hot cut that was made back in the day that has a 90o bevel. It can be pretty annoying, since i leaves such a long rag and refuses to hold a good edge.

 

 

Excellent work.  But, is that hot cut's bevel really as close to 90 degrees as it appears?

I will be at Alec S. place this winter where we will inter alia forge a brazeal style hotcut that has a very narrow and curved blade that cuts through steel like a hot knife through butter  :D. Sometimes one can also benefit from such a wide angle eg. if you want the end of the cut of piece to have a bevel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually started a ram's head today.. 

Hey! That rams head already looks pretty nice! I hope you´ll now be able to finish it. Also make sure to round of the tip of the face where the mouth and the nostrals are going to be, because at the moment you have a little bit of lipping there. Keep on!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey! That rams head already looks pretty nice! I hope you´ll now be able to finish it. Also make sure to round of the tip of the face where the mouth and the nostrals are going to be, because at the moment you have a little bit of lipping there. Keep on!

 

Ya, I kinda made the nose even longer then that, I had to cut it off :P

 

Thanks for the tip! And keep those videos coming, liking each one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

nice job looks like it is starting to get cold time to close in the shop and get a wood burning stove. I make mine a little different I form the concaved ball and then file the outside shape that way the eye ball is not elongated. But as with any thing in blacksmithing you are developing you style and that is important. In the future when someone compairs ram heads they will beable to tell the diffrence from who made it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...