July 1, 2025Jul 1 Last ABANA conference I spoke with Pat from the CMA and he invited me down to teach a class.. I threw out a few ideas, and we landed on Socketed timber framing chisels.. So April 2025 I headed down. What a great facility.. If you guys have a chance to go.. GO. Like any place I go there was some funk with equipment but it all worked out.. 4 students signed up but sadly one guy had to leave after the first day. Family emergency. 1 new person with no experience, 1 person with about 10 years and another person with about 6. The new person got his fire management down right away and had forge welds day 1.. The others had experience, though they were shaky on the forge welding.. After instructions and some mentorship, they were able to get the sockets welded and the steel put on the steel blade. Tongs, bickerens and chisels..
July 1, 2025Jul 1 That sounds like quite a class. How long does it take you to make a framing chisel if you were just making one instead of teaching? Frosty The Lucky.
July 1, 2025Jul 1 Author about 2hrs start to finish by hand to forge it and steel it using 1/2x1.5".. Really its under 2hrs but.. Making 2 or 3 in a row really speeds up the forging time.
August 27, 2025Aug 27 I taught a socket chisel class as well this summer. My students were having a hard time getting the very end of the sockets to bond together. We started with small stock (1/4 x 3/4), drew out a triangle, folded into a cone and welded. My demos welded ok, but students don't move as fast. The narrow end of their sockets welded successfully at the anvil, but the wider section formed over a bickiron did not. I think they just weren't getting onto the bickiron in time with sufficient heat. I have ideas for the next time I run this class and I'd love any thoughts or suggestions you have! Make bigger chisels, starting with thicker material so it retains heat longer. Preheat the bickirons. Not to red, just a few hundred degrees to prevent them from sinking as much heat. Try to set the weld with tongs while it's still in the forge (gas unfortunately). Once the wide end of the cone is stuck I think the rest would go more smoothly.
October 2, 2025Oct 2 Author Yes, getting the large end tacked solidly is super important. The welding at the chisel blade is a butt weld about 1/2" to 5/8" and then transitions to a scarf weld. Im bot a fan of this type of work in most gas forges. Especially at a place I'm not familiar with. Coal nearly 100% of the time you can get a weld. Gas fires can be troublesome.
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