What did you do in the shop today?

[Michael]

Hauled my heavy cast iron forge table and the massive cart it sits on up to Petaluma CA for the California Blacksmith Association's Spring Conference.  Caleb Kullman of Santa Fe New Mexico was one of the demonstrators and the site manager asked for the forge loan for his program. A gorgeous, Yellin inspired flower rosette out of 1 1/2 stock.

Great Conference, our first in 2 years! Everyone, all 300+ was in the same good mood at the same time.

Education set up an outstanding program that was accessible to both beginners and all the smiths working on their level 3 grills over zoom for the last 2 years.

A good time was had by all.

Shouldn't take more than a few days to reassemble my forge with a couple of improvements that having it apart allows for.

 

[M.J.Lampert]

22 hours ago, NH Hunter said:

Got my first forge time in today.   Basic drawing out, a bend and a loop.   My stock was to short but I made the best of it as I'm just learning.   A basic fire poker for the fire pit out back.  Have to figure out what was up with my forge tomorrow.  One burner started whistling and the forge wasn't getting hot enough so I shut it down and took that burner out, back in business.

I know it basic and rough but I've been waiting a long time to do this.  Was worth the wait.

what's your opinion on the Mr. Volcano forges? i saw Christ centered ironwork was giving them away and spoke highly of them

[Les L]

I have the single burner mr volcano and have no complaints 

[JHCC]

Got some work done on a long-delayed commission:

This will be fitted with legs to bring the total height to about seven feet. The 1/4” round bars are just spacers and will be removed later. 

[Chad J.]

So last year I came up with a pry bar for work that I specifically designed to make it easier to get 2 bolt bearings moved away from my equipment so we could get a puller on them.   We have a problem with low quality castings breaking.   I made my original bars from rail spikes.  The guys loved them and they are getting a bit beaten up. 

Well, I got the company to order some 5/8 inch 4140 for me and tonight I remade the first of 9.  I think there's a slight difference in wokmanship.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Definitely getting better.

[aaamax]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:48 PM, Mothman_c3w said:

I found that I could beat out one of the larger hooks in just under 6 minutes

impressive.  

It takes me two heats to make a decent hook with hot punches for the holes.

Can be done in one, but it is so much nicer to work with soft metal at heat.  And when you're doing a lot of them, I set up one side of the forge with the first heats, the opposite side is the second.  No down time and no fishing around. 

[Chimaera]

no forging, but did some grinding. Finished up my most recent knife with a cypress (or cedar. Can’t remember) handle. Unfortunately, one scale cracked but the other side is good. also remade my touch mark. Same fractal triangle design, just cleaner execution. Old on left, new on right. Do you guys harden your touch marks?

[NH Hunter]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:03 AM, M.J.Lampert said:

what's your opinion on the Mr. Volcano forges? i saw Christ centered ironwork was giving them away and spoke highly of them

I like it so far.  This is my first forge, but the directions were very good on the setup.   They also use the non toxic insulation which was nice.  Their customer service is excellent - I had a question on setup and was exchanging emails and was able to resolve my question quickly.  I hope to figure out what the issue with the burner was later this week.   Even with one burner running, it was plenty hot enough to get work done.

[George N. M.]

Chimera, I don't harden my touchmark punch or any other hot tool because the heat of the workpiece will immediately draw the temper.  Just rely on the inherent toughness of the steel.  Hardening and tempering are for tools such as knives and chisels that will be used on colder materials.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[HoosierBlacksmith]

New to the forums. I'm a very beginner in blacksmithing. Last night I started a backplate for some hooks I intend to mount. First time chiseling a slit in steel and then attempt at a ram's horn scroll. (I think my scrolls should have "scrolled" more - ha). However, I am pleased with the piece so far. Now to make a few hooks and my plan is to rivet them to the plate. I'm open to any criticism or thoughts. Thanks!

You can see my "anvil" is a piece of rail. I use a plate for cutting my steel on - that way I don't damage the anvil any more than it is. I have a simple one burner homemade forge. Been working on technique and smaller projects.

[Frazer]

George, I guess hardening and tempering your touchmark depends on the details that are there. Since Chimera's doesn't have too fine of details (that's not a critique, sometimes simple is good) I expect it would be just fine. The way I see it it doesn't hurt to harden and temper to brownish-purple.

I stamp either a Z or my initials with little 3mm letters with a bit of a script font.  I've used the B F and Z on hot steel most often by far. All of them will still stamp cold steel, which is their intended purpose. The key is to get in, get out, and cool. Don't let the punch sit there. (I know you know that, I'm just rambling...)

I'll probably make my own touchmark someday, but I haven't come up with anything that I like yet. When I do I'll probably make it out of S7 or H13.

[Chimaera]

George, that was kinda what I expected. But would it still be worth it to harden just so it lasts a little longer?

 

37 minutes ago, Frazer said:

that's not a critique, sometimes simple is good

I do have a little bit more complex design worked out, but I would probably outsource that to be made with a cnc edm. This one was done only with a dremel cut off wheel, plus a couple minutes on the belt grinder just to clean it up and taper it

[George N. M.]

Frazer, I don't disagree with your advice to quickly stamp hot work and immediately cool the stamp but I think much of the hardness of your letter stamps is due to the alloy of which they are made than any hardening and tempering.  In fact, I would bet that heat treating is not a step in the manufacturing process except possibly to normalize the stamps.  Some steels can remain pretty hard wthout heat treating, very tough to forge but gves a long lasting tool.

Frankly, a lot of letter and touchmark stamps really don't get used that much and won't degrade many details over time.  I will bet that Templehound's bird does not get used very often since he must spend a lot of time on each of his wonderful blades.

Erosion and wear is a valid consideration in choosing a touchmark.  A simple one like Cimaera's is easily touched up or replaced while one which involves lots of detail work, not so much.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[JHCC]

HB, that is very nice. Getting multiple elements to match/look good together can be challenging. 

[Anachronist58]

Hey Hoo (Hoosier), my wife is an Ohio Hooser.

I think you are a natural.

Good luck, have fun!

Robert Taylor

[ChiefLittleBair]

Welcome to the forums Hoosier! I'm just east of you in Columbia City

[Daswulf]

John, look forward to seeing it completed. What did you use to curve the main bars?

Hoosier, welcome aboard. I think it looks good and even.  Can't wait to see the finished product. 

 

[SHC]

On the Mr. Volcano forges mentioned, I have a single burner too and don’t really have any complaints. It seems to go through gas a bit quickly but I don’t have anything to compare it to. Obviously it’s not great for large or awkward pieces, but it is marketed as a knife maker’s forge so it’s specifically not built for larger or awkward pieces!

 Have a Facebook friend who has a two burner and added forced air to her single burner and loves them both. She has burned steel in the single burner with forced air after covering one end with a firebrick.

I can touch the outside of mine for a second without burning any skin off, with one inch of the provided wool and satanite. 

After a whole lot of online shopping I’d say it’s probably about the cheapest way to get into forging with gas. 
I really need to build or buy a solid fuel forge. The limbs for this bird feeder tree have got me stalled out at the moment. 

[JHCC]

4 hours ago, Daswulf said:

What did you use to curve the main bars?

I made a jig to bend about 8” of bar at a time. Final adjustments were made by spot heating with the oxypropane torch and tweaking the curve to match a line drawn on the floor with an improvised beam compass. 

[HoosierBlacksmith]

Anachronist58 - not sure I've heard of an Ohio Hoosier before! But us Hoosiers have to stick together! Thanks for the welcome!

ChiefLittleBlair - yeah, about a half hour - 40 mins away, I'd guess. I live on the south side of Warsaw. Thx for the welcome!

Daswulf - thx for the welcome - I appreciate the encouragement. I'll post final pics

Edited April 27, 2022 by Mod34
Removed @ tagging

[Anachronist58]

Hey Hoosier, I suggest you go into your post and remove the @ symbols from your post.  They confuse the Forum software and may get the Moderators on your case.

Use the three dots in the upper right corner of your post to bring up the edit feature...

Mrs. Taylor is a HOOSER, a little different! I am wondering if the two terms are related?

Robert Taylor

[HoosierBlacksmith]

Looks like they beat me to it - thanks for the tip though. Don't want to mess things up!

Edited April 27, 2022 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[ThomasPowers]

Yesterday I ran the 3/4" conduit for the 220 outlets on the far wall of the shop. I'm about ready to pull the wires and connect everything; but I need 3 more boxes---they place in the scrapyard I was finding them burned and so I may have to go buy them, shudder, *new*!  Luckily they got in a bunch of 20 amp 110 receptacles to finish off the 110 circuit.

I've been spitting my time working on Honey-Do's and my shop. Almost have the path clear to move the 600 gallon water tank into it's position, had to clear a wood pile and a scrap pile.  I doubled up today and cleared a space behind my shop for scrap, sieved the dirt for my wife's raised bed garden project and then took some corrugated  steel roofing from the pile I needed to clear and placed it on the ground so weeds don't grow through the scrap.  

Gotta get stuff done as Friday we are going to a Shearing east of Albuquerque!

[JHCC]

34 minutes ago, HoosierBlacksmith said:

 Don't want to mess things up!

If you haven't already, you should read READ THIS FIRST, paying special attention to The Quote Feature. (Hint: don't quote the post you're replying to -- especially if it's the immediately preceding comment -- unless you're referencing something very specific.)