A different tuyere style

[boisdarc]

This is my first thread. I have been a member for a few weeks, but have been lurking here(and there) for monthes.I built my forge from a used panel off of our old drier, some 2 x 4s I had in the garage, fire bricks, some black pipe, a vidal sassoon drier, and what I think is probably a "variac" (or potentiometer or rheostat-I honestly don't know) from lowes. If you look really close, you'll see welds that do a fair impersonation of bird poop(I use a little 110 buzzbox from HF with flux core). I use some removable pieces of steel that are "u" shaped to change my air, along with the variable switch. By removing or emplacing the covers, I can make longer or shorter fires. The idea was to be able to make a short fire for items that I only want to work a small area on, and to also be able to heat treat/temper longer items too. As an after thought, I put in the back opening slide to be able to slide longer items through. I would appreciate some constructive criticism--the more constructive, the more appreciated. HAHA. I don't know if this is even a commonly used style of tuyere, it seems to work, I can take items to critical temp, however I also know that I am losing a lot of heat having a more open style of forge. Thanks for looking, and if you are in central Illinoi send me a pm-I would really like to observe some good blacksmithing and knife smithing also. Last pic is some hammers I have, I still cant figure out that flatter hammer.

Oh snapple, mods sorry if the pic size is too big. I am pretty new to posting pics.

[ThomasPowers]

well you could tell us what fuel you are using....if you are using charcoal I would take the firebricks that are 2nd out from the tuyere and orient them at a 45 to 90 deg slope to make a narrower and deeper firepot. Dirt or clay (even cheap non-clumping cat litter) will work to hold the firebricks up. 

Also when I used a similar tuyere I had it exit the back of the forge and used a ramrod made from a steel pulley and a steel rod that ran inside the tube to control the fire length---I could change it on the fly that way.

If you are using charcoal you will need several inches of it above the tuyere *before* you stick a blade in to help cut down on decarburization.  For bladesmithing I would probably slope the first row of firebrick 45 to 60 deg up!

[D.C.]

Flatters aren't really hammers, and are usually used like a top tool. Meaning that you place the flatter on your workpiece,  then hit the back of the flatter with your hammer. So your workpiece has the Anvil below,  and flatter on top of it.  Great tool for removing hammer marks on your work.

One piece of advice I was given was to radius the faces of my hammers. It helps us newbies from leaving big divot and possible cold shuts in our projects.

 

[Mark Ling]

15 minutes ago, boisdarc said:

I still cant figure out that flatter hammer.

well it is a flatter! you hold it over your work piece while it is hot and strike the top end of the tool to smooth out what you are making (ex.Knife). I really like that ball pein hammer, never seen one quite like it.

                                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith

[Frosty]

That type air blast has mixed reviews but is being used by some. If you're going to burn charcoal you want the fire deeper and narrower. Controlling the air grate like Thomas suggests is probably THE most popular method I'm familiar with.

You have two top tools the flatter used as described and the swage also used by placing on the HOT stock and striking with a hammer.

Pretty decent start, have you built a fire and taken it for a beating yet?

Frosty The Lucky.

[boisdarc]

I have been using coal. Honestly, next to parts of Kentucky, I live in what is one of the most coal rich areas of the u.s. Everyone in my small city has mine subsidance insurance. There is more than likely part of a coal mine directly below my house as I type this. I think Peabody #7 in under this part of town. However, now I drive about thirty miles to buy coal that is probably imported from somewhere else-its a mixed up world. Here are a few more pics of stuff I am using.The tongs in back are enormous, I can't imagine the dude that must of used them, and I know that it isn't really "traditional", but I use the locking pliars more than anything. Again, mods or Glenn if these pics are too humongous, I apologize(I don't want to be "that guy" that uses a bunch of band width that I'm not paying for). The anvil is a HF, and after I've used it several times, I realized that the rule of anvil height to be equal to the standing knuckle height isn't that comfortable- I feel like I'm squatting down or hunching down. I will be hopefully adjusting that with a new anvil stand I'm making. Next pic, I don't want to get too off topic but, is some of the machete styled blades in various degrees of finished, along with one sheath(wood). I will elaborate more on that in a first knife post. Some of these unfinished blades were worked on before I started using the blower control,(and there is also the fact that I still don't really know what I'm doing). I am learning that to much air on steel, is quite similar(but less expensive) than the lesson that to much air in a 2stroke engines ALSO is a  bad thing. I would like to give my appreciation to the folks on this site that are taking the time to mentor and share their experience and knowledge here with people that they don't know, or know anything about. To L.B.S. the ball pein, swage and flatter were given to me by a friend, apparently somewhere along the way I made enough good karma to have really good people that I call friends.

[D.C.]

Looks like your putting the tools you have to good use!

[Glenn]

Photo size is good. Thanks for the concern.

[Frosty]

The too big tongs were probably intended to use under a power hammer, maybe in conjunction with a crane, I have a few pair one made to hold 4" sq. they just hang there decoratively.

Too much air does the same thing to steel it does to a piston just not as loudly.

You're going to want to keep your eyes open for something better than the ASO for an anvil. Almost anything made of steel is superior to cast iron Anvil Shaped Objects. That's NOT to say all cast anvils are lousy, some are as good as it gets they're just not solid cast iron. I use a cast Swedish steel anvil and there are anvils like Fisher with a high carbon steel face plate and steel horn welded in the mold during the pour to a cast iron body. These are not only top shelf anvils they're quiet, very civilized if you have neighbors or a baby or . . .

Till you find a choice anvil of some sort of "traditional" shape any reasonably heavy piece of steel with a smooth face works a treat.

Vise grips were invented by a blacksmith so he wouldn't drop as much as he did using tongs. In reality the entire concept of "tradition" is an invention by guilds and the ilk to prevent competition from costing them money. Blacksmithing it's part of the theater of demonstration limiting the smith to a time period. Current day "traditional" is marketing more than reality. You have to be careful what you believe on the internet, it's the time vault of urban myth.

Frosty The Lucky.

[boisdarc]

Mr. Powers, I took your advise and canted the edge bricks up at a 45 degree. It has helped with keeping my coal piled up better. I call the coal between the air and where I slide the steel in my "buffer zone" coal. Have you ever taken a little kid fishing, like with a worm and bobber? I don't mean casting style fishing. You know that somehow that kid is going to find a reason to start cranking on that zebco. Like " the bobber was moving" or " I thought I had a bite". That's how I feel like I'm behaving while I tend my fire. For some reason, I can't not mess with it. I constantly "move a little here" and "push a little there". It's like a compulsion.

[ThomasPowers]

one of the difficult aspects of smithing is that it's very much a hurry up and wait endeavor: when you pull the steel out you need to be moving *fast* and *controlled* and strike while the iron is hot!  When it's in the fire you need to let it come all the way up to forging temp before taking it out.  One way to deal with this is to have a second (or more) piece(s) in the fire and trade off---and learning how to work more pieces without  messing one or both up is necessary too. (I will often have the "important" piece and a "not so important" piece and at times the NSI piece will get put to the side to concentrate on a fussy bit with the "important" piece.

[boisdarc]

llittle blacksmith, that little ball pein has become my favorite. I believe that it was made possibly 3 generations ago, in Ausable New York by a man with the last name Akey-his son is Exel and grand son is Harold Akey. Neither of whom I've met.