Jump to content
I Forge Iron

fayette r plumb hammer from late 1800's


CheechWizard

Recommended Posts

Also a bit of historical trivia:  Cast Steel does NOT mean they were cast to shape. Cast Steel means that an ingot of steel was teemed and the clean ingot was then forged into various items. Forging after casting was necessary in the early days to deal with grain refinement.

So "cast steel" indicates the material it was made from and that it was higher quality than blister steel or shear steel.  (See Benjamin_Huntsman or Crucible_steel in wikipedia for a bit more info.)

I try to pick up damaged cast steel items to use as starter materials for 19th century edge tool and blade replicas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

thomas thats nice to know. any idea how that heat treated back then? i made a xxxxx xxxxx hammer eye drift i mean to use soon and ill need to chench the sob sob. (hammer not drift, drift came out harder then kenshiro's finger tips) fist of the north star? eh? anyone? anyway i kinda want to go for a harden whats crucial and maybe a bit more. the steel was a bust knuckle pin sparked 1055-1016, ive heard they would hardened them near the tope where the head was for some safety reasons i forget,. i however got a beautiful 2 1/2 piece of stock, also friend gave me another one the other day still intact. different model little thinner but sparks the same

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on the alloy!   If I don't know the alloy I start with warm oil, if that's not hard enough, then I re-do it with brine.  Some alloys like old time shallow hardening alloys will need moving quenchant---like a hose playing on the center of the face to get that hard enough. (Also helps with larger items needing quenching---anvils were quenched under a flume and the height needed depended on the size of the anvil back in the real wrought iron and simple steels day..)

Now on tempering, (drawing the temper), I'd suggest either a snap temper in an oven or a heated tempering drift placed in the eye to temper softer at the eye and going harder towards the face.  Then depending on the alloy, preferences, intended use, etc and so on; some folks use a "tempering ring" to draw the edges of the hammer face just a bit further as they are the areas most likely to spall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh man i was a bit off my rocker when i posted that, managed to get a well deserved notice. and not in the side glare wink, followed by a frothy one one flung right into my gnurrled flesh crains ... slurring his words about ancient artifacts used by The Son of God himself.... i deserved one just for typos alone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many of us have been dope slapped by the moderators before, (eg: one time it was for a typo I made!).  Don't get worked up over it just strive to do better in the future---I try to proof read every post I make now to be sure my system is not trying to help me in ways I don't want!  Helps too that a bunch of us don't track names well so someone's early posts don't start getting hooked to their moniker for a while...

It's kind of nice to be able to point kids in single digits to this site and not have to worry that their parents will throw a fit. 

(Actually I think Glenn is running some devious psychological experiment to see if he can behaviorally modify earthy blacksmiths into fine upstanding folks; come to think of it I have never seen a picture of Glenn and B.F.Skinner standing side by side, hmmmmmm. I wonder if when we get to the end of the maze we will get an anvil shaped piece of cheese...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If a grandfather has problems seeing, the grandchild can sit on his knee and read the site to him. He keeps current, the child learns to read, and interacts with the grandfather. Both are happy and enjoy the time they spend together.  When the child goes to the forge, they will already know how to do many things. With a little practice they will become awesome as a blacksmith.  They CAN say they learned blacksmithing from their grandfather.

We never know who will be out next master blacksmith.  Ladies, kids, parents, and those interested are welcome and encouraged to visit the site. 

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...