Forging a flatter

[Reading Creek Forger]

I am planning on making a flatter this weekend.  I have made a few hammers so this seems to be next in the progression.  I have a piece of heavy equipment driveline, about 2.25 inches in diameter and solid.  I think it is from a PTO  drive.  I don't believe the driveline is high carbon steel but it should be pretty tough stuff.  Other than coaxing a couple of friends to act as strikers, does anyone have specific suggestions.  I plan to use a short piece about 3-4 inches long (so its long enough to hang onto) then forge a square taper at one end so it will fit into the square hole in a swage block.  I plan to then drive the metal into the swage block so that I end up with a piece about 1.25 inches square that I can later drift a hole into for a handle.  I hope to end up with a square end (by making corrections to square as I go) opposite the tapered end suitable for a flatter, maybe 2.5-2.75 inches square and about .5 inch thick.  Once I get the proper shape and dimension I can cut off any excess from the tapered end (and use it for another tool later).  I can treat the flatter end with Casenite if necessary but I don't know if I need to.  Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.

 

[bigfootnampa]

Shoot for more like 5/8" or so for your flatter thickness, you want it nice and strong and it may not end up exactly what you aim for.  Your material is probably good for that purpose and I would harden and temper the face but I think case hardening would be serious overkill!  

[forgemaster]

Dont even need to HT as you are not cutting with it, just normalise is fine.

 

Phil

[Stefflus]

Wouldn't it be easier to drift the hole before you upset the face?

[Reading Creek Forger]

Thanks for the responses.  Maybe more before I start.  Someone else suggested drifting the hole before I upset the face but I am concerned that the whole will distort when I forge it through the swage block.  It might be better to drift the hole before I finish the flatter end but I really have no idea since i have never done this before.  Good ideas though.  If the material is low carbon would I be able to harden and temper the flatter surface.  I may be using terms incorrectly here but I thought I could only harder higher carbon steel.

[ThomasPowers]

You are correct: low carbon---not much hardening

Since a flatter by use case needs to make things flat and smooth I would go with at least medium carbon and do a formal heat treat on it to cut down on marking of it's face. If you do use mild make it twice as thick so you can dress the face a lot before having to make it into something else. (of course my use of this tool has maninly been for knifesmithing and used on alloys with a lot of hot hardness...)

[Frosty]

You can upset more easily if you do it before you part it. Just heat the end and drop it on the hot end on the anvil or a upsetting plate on the floor. The weight of the bar falling even a short distance will do a fine job and it's easy to hold it vertically in plumb because that's the way it wants to hang.

 

Another trick is to lay it in a channel and slide it horizontally against the side of the anvil or lay the anvil on it's side and use it's face. A channel is as simple as wiring two pieces of pipe together so the shaft can slide in the join. This method allows precise alignment if you're not sure about holding the bar vertical. You also have to remember that as the end upsets it will become wider and you MUST allow space between the guide channel and the anvil face or the upset end will make the face upset out of perpendicular with the bar.

 

Once you've upset it as desired is time to slit and drift the eye. It's not so easy to slit and drift with the end upset so the length of bar helps align and stabilize it. Then's time to part the blank and finish the rest of the flatter.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Reading Creek Forger]

Thank you Tom for the confirmation on hardening.  Someplace I have a chart of carbon content of second hand metal sources and if I recall correctly the carbon content of drivelines is pretty low on the scale.  Thicker does seem better at least as far as the flatter face goes (within reason). Frosty, when I was trying to plan my attempt I read about upsetting the intended flatter end and it seemed like a good idea but handling a hot piece of metal that diameter 3-4 inches long in the vertical plane seemed risky as well as imprecise.  I was unsure if a 3-4 inch piece would have enough inertia to alter the flatter end sufficiently.  I even thought about leaving the drive shaft in a 1-2 foot length which would certainly have enough weight to upset the work end but I was concerned the overall weight might be too much to control.  I have about 8 feet of this stuff so I can make mistakes (highly likely) which I will hopefully learn from.  Thanks to all for your contributions.  Others thoughts are still welcome.

[Frosty]

I guesstimate that to weigh about 95lbs. and that's more than enough momentum to upset itself. It won't take many bumps to do the job either.

 

I'm envisioning doing it in my shop by putting the bar on a cart and the anvil on the far side of the forge. that way I can heat the bar and simply roll it on the cart through the pass through door and bang the anvil. I think that'd be the first and maybe only time I could upset steel sitting on a stool sipping a beverage.

 

I'm almost bummed I'm not doing it. <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Reading Creek Forger]

Don't know about the physics but I love the visual.  I am probably overthinking the process but I will know more Saturday evening.  Its likely I will have multiple failed attempts before I end with a tool that resembles a flatter but that is no surprise and the journey should be revealing.

.

[Reading Creek Forger]

An update on my attempt at a flatter. I spent about four and a half  hours trying to forge it yesterday. Very slow progress, Getting the steel hot enough and keeping it hot took a huge amount of time. Started with a 4 1/8 inch length of 2 1/8 inch round mild steel bar and a coal forge. After isolating the intended flatter end with top and bottom fullers near the middle of the bar I was able to forge it square 1 1/4 inch square and about 4 1/2 inches long (the square half. Cut off about 1 1/2 inches of the forged end so it wouldn't come up against the swage black stand. The project is on hold for a couple of weeks until the shop is open again for Labor day. Lots of help from a couple of friends (holding the stock and some tandem striking) but pretty beat by the end of the day. I can see the evolution of the project but there is lots more to do.

[781]

Make the end to be struck taller than below the eye as the struck portion of the tool wears out first also don't make a struck tool too heavy as it takes too muck energy to make it work.