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I Forge Iron

What did you do in the shop today?


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  • JHCC

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Thomas is right.. Mild steel with HC cap..  

A flatter can get away pretty easily with just being mild steel..  A set hammer on the other hand unless the metal is hot enough will deform in use since you are usually working one edge of the set hammer more than the middle of the face like a flatter... so unless case hardened or having a HC steel face or being used appropriately. . well in this case medium carbon steel.. 5160... 

I figured some would find the Steeling interesting as it's an  old school skill set and is not talked about nor shown much anymore... 

I think its a great skill set to have, but being an old fashioned trade smith..  I prefer a hot punch for accurately sized holes verse a drill.. ( Joke, well partially)

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That is beautiful Alexandr, I can not imagine the customer being anything but thrilled. Did hi order fire tools and maybe a fire wood rack too? I love his fire place but our climate isn't really the place for something like that.

Bob: Those are really good tools for chasing critter heads. The part I found really did the trick was putting an angle downwards at the top to act as a stop. It prevents the head from sliding down in the vise and being scored and you don't have to clamp HARD with the vise. When the steel is HOT it's easy to smoosh or score the work deeply.

I have one similar to the one you made and it works well. The one I used most though was just a piece of 2" x 2" angle iron. 2" because I don't chase stock larger than that so it bridges the gap in the jaws and rests on both. I'd learned what angle I like best for working clamped it in the vise and welded a short length of 1/2" square to the vertical flange as a story mark and rest. The last mod was to skip trying to cut and bent for a stop or forging surface or whatever for the head to rest against. Instead I welded a piece of 5/8" maybe, I didn't measure,  where the head hangs off the end. 

The one real PITA that takes the super simple out of it is having to weld an extension to the vertical flange so it all clamps in the vise properly. If I make another I'll just cut a section out of the angle iron instead but I had that one all welded up before the light came on. 

Forgetting obvious things like this is why I try not to get upset when someone points out the obvious to me AND why I tend to point it out to others. It can be too easy to forget the thing that's so obvious you just assume you included or excluded whatever.

These are super handy attachments to have on or near your vise.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Das, those are some great roses.  I like the leaf details too. 

Frosty, do you have a photo of your vise rest?  I'm not picturing it, but it sounds handy.  I used mine today to make my first dragon head, and you're right about it slipping in the vise and scarring the shaft:

DSC_1844.JPG

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Greetings JHCC. 

        A new rivet would look better. While your at it re-forge your reigns to round than to oval. I make all my tongs with oval reigns . So much easier on the hands. Just this ol boys suggestion. 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

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On 1/25/2019 at 9:05 PM, bobasaurus said:

Frosty, do you have a photo of your vise rest?

I'll try to remember Bob, the shop's still pretty scrambled after the quake and being unheated in winter I don't go out too often. I THINK I know where it "should" be. If not I'll whip up another one, they're super simple. I just have to remember, remind me if I take too long. If that stupid 3D cad ware weren't so incredibly full of waste "features" I'd just draw one but . . . <sigh>

Anyway, yell at me if I don't post a pic in a week or two okay? The shop really IS a wreck not horrible but still a mess.

7 hours ago, JHCC said:

Also finished forging another yarn bowl.

John: You're going to clean the scale out of the yarn bowl aren't you? It really looks like it'd snag yard as it is.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Mudman:  Nice job on the block..      Your first sounds are excellent...  Looking forwards to you next sounds.. 

 Did you end up making wooden male patterns to get the results or special hammer? Or ball peen..   

The fastest way with spoons I found was with a hardwood male form or a steel one..  the steel ones are easier to make as you just take a round or rectangular, heat it yellow hot and then drive it into the bottom of the swage block depression..  few times and it will give that wonderful form so next time around a few hits and it's done.. 

How many annealing sessions did you do to get to your finished results?    I personally like the looks of the smaller sound.. the lines to my eye is very attractive.. 

14 hours ago, Oricalcum said:

Forged a fork and a knife. I wish I had done the knife a bit longer and wider, but I'm pretty content with how it turned out otherwise.

Nice work..  I like the matched set..     Next time you can adjust and be a happier camper.. :) 

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