Ye Olde Forge

[Screwdriver]

I did find a suitable donor tube. A crap alloy random motorcycle spacer about 5 inches. Problem is the wood is trapezoidal so even if I start to drill perfectly square, it will still run out by the time it's gone half a metre. Similarly, the bit itself is quite flexible and will wander. One way around that is to use a hand brace (****** to that!)

What I did to try and even things up is use a predrilled hole in one piece to start the hole on the opposing part - complete with whatever offset I had ended up with. So even if the hole ran out, at least it would line up!

Remember I was drilling through the longer width of those 8 inch timbers. Next step is though the 4 inch sides which is trivially easy in comparison - should be easy enough to do on the pillar drill.

 

[Parm]

I did find a suitable donor tube. A crap alloy random motorcycle spacer about 5 inches. Problem is the wood is trapezoidal so even if I start to drill perfectly square, it will still run out by the time it's gone half a metre. Similarly, the bit itself is quite flexible and will wander. One way around that is to use a hand brace (****** to that!)

What I did to try and even things up is use a predrilled hole in one piece to start the hole on the opposing part - complete with whatever offset I had ended up with. So even if the hole ran out, at least it would line up!

Remember I was drilling through the longer width of those 8 inch timbers. Next step is though the 4 inch sides which is trivially easy in comparison - should be easy enough to do on the pillar drill.

I can’t imagine that wood will be particularly easy to drill through either

 

[Screwdriver]

A funny thing happened to me at the dump.

I'm doing a bit of a gardening job, borrowed a van to drop off two giant bags of ivy. Get to the green waste bins, jump out the van and a chap is walking towards me carrying "Oh!" I said, holding out my hands. "Here you go mate"

7 metres of M12 all thread! Thank goodness there weren't eight or I'd really have some fundamental questions for this universe to answer. But I need to cut them in half (under 500mm) anyway so I have plenty.

This job has stalled because turning rebar is horrible. Cutting thread in it is horrible and driving it into a 12mm hole is.... Well you get the picture. With this all-thread I can double nut one end and drive it through a 12mm hole no problem, then bolt it up.

What a stroke of luck.

PS for the same garden job I needed to pick up a couple of 4x4 fenceposts so I got an extra "fine cut" specimen for myself. B and Q fenceposts are way better than the rough sawn stuff at Wickes. I was never happy with those "perforated" 4x4 legs.

 

[Screwdriver]

Finally got around to sorting this out. I have a film crew turning up in a couple of days to do a documentary on me, so I need the space. Devil of a job lining up all the pieces so I can drill through from both sides until the holes meet. TBH I just assumed they would after pre drilling the outer holes on the drill press. And I'll be damned, it worked!

Probably better than I could have hoped for but there is some room for improvement.

It's got plenty of gravity holding it down so I might just leave it as-is for now. Looks like a really good height, if anything it may need to come down an inch.

Time will tell. I need to make something for the film thing, probably do a simple kiridashi from coil springs. Might have another go at doing a flower (especially if any decent totty turns up ).

 

[Screwdriver]

Well it wasn't a total disaster, at least it made me tidy up the forge (and incredibly, the main workshop)

My new neighbours are film students so we got chatting about YouTube ad stuff and they needed a film for their documentary so I offered my services.

I straightened out a car spring and on the spur of the moment turned it into a kiridashi.

Good test for my high rise anvil. The striking surface is perfect for me but it wasn't until I had a go with it I realise the tong handles are up by my ears when I am striking a bevel. Shorter tongs and about an inch less height to the top deck will sort that out I think.

I am looking forwards t seeing the footage which I can use for the new channel trailer.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Well it wasn't a total disaster, at least it made me tidy up the forge (and incredibly, the main workshop)

My new neighbours are film students so we got chatting about YouTube ad stuff and they needed a film for their documentary so I offered my services.

I straightened out a car spring and on the spur of the moment turned it into a kiridashi.

Good test for my high rise anvil. The striking surface is perfect for me but it wasn't until I had a go with it I realise the tong handles are up by my ears when I am striking a bevel. Shorter tongs and about an inch less height to the top deck will sort that out I think.

I am looking forwards t seeing the footage which I can use for the new channel trailer.

Brilliant! Will we get a link to the video in due course [please]?

 

[Screwdriver]

Brilliant! Will we get a link to the video in due course [please]?

So long as I don't come across as a complete idiot (I may need to edit it first )

Meanwhile I ran the router over a silhouette of the anvil base, about half an inch.

Has to be said, it works incredibly well! That anvil is stuck in there dead solid. I don't think it needs any special hold down, time will tell.

The kiridashi was less of a success. I tapped the tip against the vice to check it for hardness/toughness and the tip pinged off (about 1mm, just the needle point end). I figure if it's good for anything it's for robust use so I reconfigured the end and heat treated it again. It is definitely hard this time and only slightly over tempered

Because it's only a small blade I was able to get a decent grind, a good polish and a razor edge. Shame it looks a bit rubbish though...

 

[MattF]

So long as I don't come across as a complete idiot (I may need to edit it first )

A ten second video won't be much cop...

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I make large staples to hold my anvils onto their blocks, it's good to have the anvil physically fixed to the block as it means you can 'walk' the combined anvil and block across the floor if you have to.

 

[Screwdriver]

The anvil is securely held in the cutout, it won't budge. You can move the whole thing around too though that would be risky if it suddenly popped out. I think it's firmly embedded.

Seen the video and I have to say, it's pretty damned good! Not for the content per se, certainly not for my "off the top of the head nonsense" with steel "freezing" at 800 degrees duh (I was thinking about hardening/quench temps) but the editing is superb and the video production quality very good.

I'll pick up a copy asap and lob it onto YouTube.

 

[Screwdriver]

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Nice one!!

 

[Screwdriver]

Nice one!!

Thanks. I think they did a pretty slick job. I should be able to get my hands on the hours of rushes that didn't make it - so I can explain how I "make" tools for the workshop rather than make maker stuff which is where I was going with that comment. I think I use "freeze" in the vernacular when I had been previously talking about it as a material property. Thank goodness I skipped over the austenitic/martensitic phase, I can see myself thinking about it but I doubt if I could extemporise accurately so just called it something else!

Interestingly, you can see where the hardened blade has been over tempered right at the tip. I need to look up exactly what happens to overheated/overtempered steel. I think it burns out the carbon/softens the metal. Double whammy on that poor tip because I am pretty sure it also got overheated.

Eventually I took the whole thing way over red hot and dunked it in water because I have no idea what the correct process is for that mystery metal in car springs. It deffo got hard! I have resisted the temptation to test it by stabbing it into the vice, it's actually a really useful tool for marking wood for example.

 

[Turbo]

Enjoyed the video though the health & safety police may get on to you about doing forging in shorts & a tee shirt! I have to admit I did get slightly annoyed when I saw you using a grinder upside down with no guard fitted! (one of my pet hates!)

 

[Screwdriver]

Enjoyed the video though the health & safety police may get on to you about doing forging in shorts & a tee shirt! I have to admit I did get slightly annoyed when I saw you using a grinder upside down with no guard fitted! (one of my pet hates!)

It's a fair cop. I did actually burn my leg! Not been blacksmithing for long enough to remember the end of a tong is going to get hot and I managed to brush the back of my calf. I was ultra careful in my instruction later when I let one of the film guys have a go. I kept reminding him what was hot and to keep it in a particular zone in the forge.

Even though I specifically told him the middle of a bar will stay super hot even when the ends are quenched, he still managed to burn a new pair of gloves by holding it too far up.

The guardless grinder is of course inexcusable (though I still use it like that anyway).

 

[RichardM]

On the paving slabs with the forge on them, we put a disposable BBQ on one once and it blew up - literally, bits of flying concrete and a six inch diameter crater left in it

 

[Screwdriver]

Sure thanks. The forge is on stilts though, I would happily sit it on a wooden bench. It doesn't get that hot on the base.

Ideally I'd have a steel top if only so I could weld some fixtures onto it. There is still a bath sunk into the ground and I still haven't come up with anything interestign to do with the space.

Answers on a postcard. Huge hydraulic lifting platform not out of the question...


(or I could be boring and turn it into a coke forge)

 

[Screwdriver]

A few nips and tucks. I made a cube to block off the rear when not in use. It's a very light/soft fire brick which had started to crack. So I plastered it with fire cement, diluted with sodium silicate.

Cooked it dry.

Here's where it goes.

And after a few burns...

Today I have mostly been straightening coil spring

I don't really know why I did this but I had an almost complete car spring and decided to straighten the whole thing!

That was a right chore! It still needs a lot of straightening but at least I can choose a long length for tongs or maybe a holdfast.

Then I did my first ever "proper" forging, inch by half inch mild steel (?) bar. Set down the end with a view to making some bending forks.

I am shattered! Swinging that hammer and just manipulating those long lengths with inappropriate tongs is exhausting. My arms ache, my hands ache and my elbows are screaming.

Great fun.

 

[Screwdriver]

Must admit I am struggling here. Looking at the last picture above, looks like a cold shut. So I ground it back...

I opened up that crack by bending the tip in a vice. I have ground it out fully now but I am beginning to wonder what this mystery metal is!

I cleaned it up a bit here, the edges are slightly rounded by the aggressive wire wheel. On the original bar, the edges are crisp and razor sharp. I am beginning to wonder if this might be some sort of tool steel rather than cold rolled. Does CR come with perfectly square sharp corners? Also tool steel or a carbon alloy steel is (I believe) more likely to crack or mush if it is forged below the ideal temp. I'm also wondering about the deep blue/purple scale which look more like an effect you'd expect on a high carbon steel.

I am hoping beyond hope that this is some weird non-mild steel because if mild steel is that difficult to forge, I don't wanna play any more!

Here it is ground back

and here it is after I had used up every last ounce of energy hitting the damned thing.

I am isolating a tab I can forge out to become the bottom tine of a bending fork. It is unbelievably difficult. Arm aches, fingers ache, headaches...

Here's what I am attempting to copy.

But my metal doesn't move anything like that. Hit it as hard as you like and it just dents it, it hardly moves at all and I am committed to drawing out the whole length!

I have tried spark testing but results are inconclusive. I may chop a bit off and do a hardness test. I can do a quick video of a spark test if anyone might be willing to help. I have two of these bars, both about two feet long and exactly 1.00" wide. I am determined to finish this off now but never again. Not if it's going to be like this...

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Are you getting it hot enough?
I hate using gas forges as I never find they get enough heat into the workpiece or the heat is very localised.
Give me a coke forge any day.

And what size hammer are you forging with?