I’ve been working on building out a viking demonstration kit.

Last weekend I got a stump anvil finished up:

Then today started a bick to go with it:

The bick still needs cleaned up after hardening and tempering. Both we made out of forklift tine, and I drilled a 3/8” pritchnell hole in the anvil before heat treating.

Ive been considering starting a new thread on this whole adventure…

Keep it fun,

David

Looks great, David! Have you used/installed stump anvils like these before? I've never done it and I'm curious to know what sort of prep you have to do to the stump before driving it in, to avoid splitting the stump. Do you just drill an undersized hole and then drive it in to wedge the square corners in the hole? Or is it a non-issue and you just drive it straight in to the stump?

David- 

 

PLEASE start a new thread!!!! This is my bread and butter of blacksmith photo love. I want bothing but more documentation!!  

Mod note: Ask, and you shall receive.

Hefty, I have never used a stump anvil myself. So this will be a learning experience for me. 

It’s have seen the hold pre-drilled and then burnt in. I’ll probably step drill the hole, burn them in down to the last 1/2”, then chisel retaining burrs on the shank and drive the rest of the way.

I’ll post my forging sequence for the bick later today, but I didn’t take progress pictures for the anvil.

I’ll also post pictures of other related Viking camp setups pictures here even though the aren’t directly blacksmith related. (This thread could get lengthy and picture heavy!)

Keep it fun,

David

I am also very open to input and criticism. As a family we’ve joined a Viking reenactment group and I will be forging at our events. We plan on trying to be reasonably historically accurate, but I am by no means an expert on this and time/funds are limited.

Keep it fun,

David

13 hours ago, Goods said:

Ive been considering starting a new thread on this whole adventure…

I think that would be great, and if it were in say Blacksmithing General Discussion it would get a lot more views.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970

OK, I’m here is the forging sequence I used on the bick. Note, I did do initial volume calculations on this just to get the basics worked out, but in the end, I only stuck to a few dimensions in the forging process. Basic items 2” base, 1-1/2” square or the upright and 1-1/4” for the stake before the taper. The proceed key item was 3” from the base to the center of the extra mass for the upset corner any extra on the bick or stake could be cut off…

Starting with 2”x2”x6, I marked about 1” for fullering in and drawing out the stake, and mark 1/2” about that for the upright portion. 
1st picture after fullering and drawing the stake to 1-1/2” square:

No picture after the next steps of upsetting with a sledge at the swage block and re-squaring to clean up the shoulders.

Then I fullered in to 1-1/2” square for the upright:

Then I drew out the upright to 1-1/2”x2”:

Now I had to think about how to get the mass were I needed it. I started with flat dies on the power hammer to draw the top to 1-1/2” square leaving a little a taper for the extra mass. The switched to 1” fullering dies to draw between the shoulders and the extra mass. Then switched back to flat dies and finished forging every the the correct shape with a 1” fuller:

(I also forged just the end to 1-1/2” round to accommodate the tongs I currently have available… “work with hat you have”)

Then it got interesting. Lots of sledge hammer work to bend the bick. I really didn’t consider how much work it would take to forge a square corner with medium carbon 1-1/2” square:

I went back and forth between the power hammer (to maintain thickness), the swage block and the anvil quite a lot!

I eventually got it to a reasonable working point and cut off the extra mass:

Next step was drawing the taper on the bick. This was done on the power hammer, and bothe the horn and face of the anvil:

From this point I did some more refining with the horn and face to round it up more and moved to grinding. I used a 36 grit belt on a 2x72 grinder with a 1” wheel, an angle grinder with a course stand and 50 grit sheet. Then moved to course and fine files. 

The last step before heat treating was to draw the stake out to a point:

(Picture here is normalizing.)

After normalizing, I hardened in water, wire wheel it, coated it with BLO and then tempered at 375F for 1-1/2hrs. Finish up with a scotch bright belt on the 2x72 grinder:

It took me about 7hrs of forging to get this done and I was beat by the time I was finished. I’m not accustomed to do much sledge hammer work! Overall it turned out pretty good, but it’s a little wonky… It’s bent over to the side little and the bick isn’t quite square to the base, but it should do the job.

My next big hurdle is making the dual hand bellows.

Keep it fun,

David

Excellent ! Love the photos and the bick is perfect. Goods job :-)

Photos and descriptions are extremely helpful (and inspirational!!), thank you David!!

--Larry

And now for that next hurdle. I’ve started on the bellows:

Starting material was 1”x8”x8ft of quarter sawn white oak left around for years from another project. 2’ long and 2-1/2” for the outlet end and left 3” for the block the nozzle off the top plate. Only rough sawn at this point, and I’ll cut the wood for the outlet block later and clean everything up at the same time.

Hope you don’t mind coming along for the ride…

 

Keep it fun,

David

16 hours ago, Goods said:

Hope you don’t mind coming along for the ride…

I find this very interesting and you are doing a bang up job of documenting it.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970

Some more progress on the bellows:

I cut the center boards, valves and glued in the valves and leather hinges. (Can’t really get a good view with how I have everything clamped up right now.)

Keep it fun,

David

Why does tv even exist? This is real entertainment, and educational to boot. Thank you for updating us on the build. This is so cool.

In your estimation, how large of stock will you be able to forge on the anvil?

I probably won’t forge anything great that 1/2” square on this. I can’t see myself getting in to any real big projects at demonstration. You never know though… I may end up forging some large stock just to get the setup completed. I don’t really have period appropriate tong, hammers, etc… All in time I guess.

Keep it fun,

David

A little more progress on the bellows:

I got the leather glued, tacked, and trimmed to the bottom boards. (This is the first of the double bellows…) I used a soft dear suede. I would prefer a smooth tanned skin, but I didn’t have any large enough. Yes, I put the intake valve on the bottom. I’ve seen it done both ways, and wanted to use a hinged valve as opposed to the leather one way valves I have often seen used. I expect to have less air restriction this way. I will also always use these on a stand on the forge, not on the ground. I’m also using cheap carpet nails/tacks to secure the leather (along with glue), they are very roughly formed and almost look hand forged.

Keep it fun,

David

Ok, bellows are now basically done:

Here the last of the leather work is done an the first strip of steam bent 1/4” x 3/4” oak strip is tacked on.

 

Then all the oak strips tacked in place and handles glued down.

And how they look currently:

Just have some sanding and finishing. Probably just going to use BLO. (Carefully!). I also have 3/4” copper pipe to use a nozzles, but have decided if I’m going to forge a tape to 1/2” into them yet or not. (I don’t think I need more velocity, but the velocity should entrain more air.)

Keep it fun

David

Love it David, your bellows are a work of art!

--Larry

Wow! Those bellows really steal the show!

Not a work of art, but they will move some air.

I got the sanding done and first coat of BLO on tonight:

I also went ahead and cold forged the nozzles down to 1/2” diameter on the end:

Should move more air that way, but also keeps them from just looking like copper pipe from Home Depot. (Which they are…)

Keep it fun,

David

Well tonight I got the anvil and bick in a log. Not the best log/stump, but I’m out of time and it was available:

I also added a make shift twisting clamp with a couple staples and a wedge. It will hold from 1/4” up to 1/2”. I will messed up and drilled the hold down staples 1/2”, forgetting that I used 3/8” for those… For now, I forged large burrs onto the staples, put extra wood carvings, and wood glue in the holes  before I drove it down. It’s holding for now, and I think the staples will out last the stump that’s not in the best of shape.

Now, all I have left is to finish sewing our tent canvas, finish building the forge stand, and pack up. I’m leaving to setup for the first big 3day event Thursday. (I’m cutting it close!)

Keep it fun,

David

Ok, almost ready. I got the forge stand built, and the forge box lined:

Now, I’ll just have to get all my stuff packed up tomorrow… (I can’t believe how much I’m going to need to take!)

Keep it fun,

David

Love the meticulous attention to detail. It is going to be fun to see your pics and report! Godspeed David!

--Larry

Ooh! I quite like the joinery on the stand! Held together by wedges for quick assembly and disassembly?

The joinery is rough, but yes quick tear down and reduction of space in the truck bed.

Larry, I’ll do my best to get pictures. I’m not very good at taking time at events to do so, but I think it’s important this time.

Keep it fun,

David

 

David, are you going to have a thrall to pump the bellows or are you going to do it all yourself?

The festival went very well for me. The  forge performed beautifully. I was able to forge weld up a basket for a handle, but couldn’t pull of the drop tong weld to finish it off. I may need to reconfigure it a little or just get more experience with it. My main struggle with that was the size of the fireball. I couldn’t seem to get both pieces up to temperature without making a really oxidizing fire… I will say I really liked the rhythm of operating the bellow and the sound that came from the woosh of air and flame. Sorry George, no thrall to operate the bellows. Not much for me to do while the pieces were heating anyway. (Although a new film crew did try operating the bellows and I found it so comical that I couldn’t answer there questions. I’m sure I looked rather foolish on live TV…)

Working with the stake anvil and bick was a little limiting but didn’t cause any major issues. I was still able to get some good work done, but not necessarily to my liking. As I was afraid, the stump started deteriorating and both anvil and bick loosened up. The stump could also have been more stable. Often I found myself aiming at a moving target.

When it was all said and done a had 3 good days forging and talking up the crowd, sold a decent amount considering I had very limited inventory, and was able to hang out this my family and other reenactors after I put everything up. Oh, almost forgot the food we all shared was fantastic. I ate good all weekend!

Here are a few pictures of it all:

This was the load I took up. The sleeping tent, forge tent, forge equipment and basic needs for one night. My wife came up the next day with another full load of crafting materials, food, and other kit.

 

Basic overview of my setup, with both of my sons hanging out. We had a decent rain on Friday afternoon and the tent (more of a canopy currently, side does fold closed, but I didn’t have enough time to make and attach the end doors) kept everything dry. The rest of the weekend was sunny and the shade was very helpful while forging. (I know, I need to get some wooden buckets and get rid of the plastic ones.)

 

Better view of the forge in action.

 

Better view of the anvil setup (and shabby stump). One thing that I’m sure didn’t help was how soft the ground was. The much was 12” deep!

I’m looking forward to our next outing with the Vikings!

Keep it fun,

David