Stump Anvil

    Today I tackled an industrial job at the forge. This was a learning experience for me, and one of the most important things I realized was that I am a foolhardy young man who should have gotten a friend to strike for me. However, because I am foolhardy, I went ahead and moved all of this metal by myself (with the help of a 4 pound hand-sledge).

My starting stock was 1090 Railroad Rail.

 

The next step was fitting my tongs to the stock:

 

 

I will pause here and mention to any smiths looking to use railroad rail as stock: It is in the 10XX series of carbon steels, so it is plain carbon steel. Nevertheless, it is in the 1080-1090 range, and must be handled like a tool steel. I had no experience forging tool steel when I began, and made a terrible mistake a little ways in. (In my defense, I thought it was 1050-1060 steel, like the clips are.)

 

This steel needs only to be worked at a yellow heat, not a sparking white heat. I burned the metal and wasted some fuel, metal, and work. Don't be stupid, a yellow heat is good enough.

 

Anyways, back to my story here.

I got the metal hot (as naturally a blacksmith would do!) and let it soak in the heat after I cut the blast. Then, using my hot cut (which is now unfortunately unhardened and untempered thanks to today's work) I cut the webbing.

 

Heat and Beat session next! The steel is too hot.

 

Because my steel was too hot, the grain structure grew to be too large, and cracked when I let it reaching a burning heat. I am not sure exactly what happened, but clearly my grain size was huge.

 

Here the grain size is evident:

 

 

 

After the little nugget was sheared off, I resumed forging, making sure to keep the steel a bit cooler.

 

The rail is taking shape! Now, the webs of these things are about 3/4" wide, and this one was 1 1/2" deep. So, hand-forging 1090 steel is extremely slow business.

 

 

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it being quenched, but it was a lot of steam. I used a running stream of water from the spigot. (Fancy french word for pipe sticking out of the ground with water pouring forth: Spigot!)

Here it is, embedded in a stump!

 

 

 

That was today's work: A stump anvil! I have not weighed it yet, but I believe it to weigh around 3- 4 lbs, at least I hope. Usually stump anvils are heavier than that. Oh well, I will make do. Determination is my strong point. I used to forge in a campfire with a plastic 5-gallon bucket lid (of yellow color, I might irrelevantly add) to fan the flames. So, I know hard work, and it knows me. We happen to be on a first name basis. So, whatever I make on this stump anvil will be hard work. Nevertheless, we can't all be spoiled with a #400 perfect Armitage Mousehole Anvil and a three burner gas forge, now can we?

 

Hm, this anvil appears to be perfect for a portable forge, don't you think?

(hey wait a minute! Didn't I make a pair of tongs that would be perfect as well? What is going on here?!? Are these Spoilers?!?)

 

 

I am going to end this blog post with a link to my facebook page. That is a hint, dearest readers.

www.facebook.com/ridgewayforge

 

 

Tongs!

     I would like to meet Samuel Yellin. Unfortunately, I can't do that. But, I can observe his legacy. His work. His iron. It speaks, in a way, and tells stories of how the master of the craft made a lasting mark of steel on the world. He was a master blacksmith. He's a role model of mine. Yellin was able to manipulate steel, at his will, and form it into whatever his mind could think up. Everyday I am going to take one step to rivaling his mastery of his craft. I do not want to be him, nor do I want to reproduce his work. Contrarily, I want to take a bar and make from it what my mind fathoms, so as to express myself in a medium which is lasting.

  ...Well THIS post got off on an entirely too philosophical note! I really was not intending for it to be that deep, goodness!

On Saturday I made myself my very first pair of tongs. They work, though not well, and are ugly. I am not ashamed to say that they are terrible, because I jumped in and did it.

 

I made several mistakes which make these tongs poorly designed. They will now hang on my wall of shame.

Today, however, I made a nice small pair of tongs to hold small hooks which I forge.

 

Here are the tong blanks rough-forged, not cleaned up yet

Each one ended up being close to 11" long, and nearly identical. I didn't have to file or grind it any, which surprised me. I used the method of Brian Brazeal as seen here.

 

 

I like these tongs a lot, and I know I will spend many quality hours with them.



He's a cute little guy, for sure. Perhaps he needs a name! (do people usually name their blacksmith tongs?)

 

 

As I may have mentioned, these are light duty tongs only. They were forged from 13 inches of 1/2" Round Stock, and will be used on 3/16" to 3/4" stock.

 

I had to make sure they work, of course, and so I made two small drive hooks for my new forge (Work in progress... May be some months yet.)

These hooks were quickly thrown together for fun; I burned the top hook and the bottom hook was made a long time ago, but never finished.

 

 

Those tongs are so small and lightweight, they'd be perfect for a portable forge kit, wouldn't they?

I wonder if that previous statement was a hint at something....

 

Well, my post must come to a close. Only one parentheses in this post! (okay, let's make it two!)

Thank you dear readers! I always encourage feedback and critique, by the way.

Happy Hammering!

 



 

 



Seeing Double!

(Warning: Long winded and full of pictures!)


Today I performed an exercise which I found to be quite enlivening!

I began with two lengths of 3/8" square stock, each 6" long. I put both of them in the forge simultaneously, and cranked my Champion 400 blower. (By the way, I am now using brand new coal compliments of my friend Matt at The Rough Country Home Studio- He gave me coal for Christmas!)

I then tapered each piece, to roughly the same dimensions. (in fact, I believe my tolerances were within 3/16" or less!) 

 

 

I scrolled the ends of the pieces, and although I was aiming at them being identical twin scrolls, I suppose they'll just be fraternal.

 

 

Using my vise-mounted bending forks, I made some nice, fluid curves. (This would be so much easier on a London pattern anvil. How I wish earnestly for the chance to forge on one! But, now I'm resourceful, since I lack many standard tools! But, I digress...)

 

 

Flattening out the screw-hole was next. I drew a line in charcoal one inch in from the edge of my anvil, and placed the hot steel against that line. The finished flat was longer than the mark and wider than the rest of the steel, but still came out fairly well. After I flattened it (to roughly 1/8"), I made a double twist. It was a sharp looking twist, and is big and beefy-the kind of twist which I like!

Some final adjustments, wire-brushing and air-cooling, and the two twin hooks are ready to be seen!

 

The twists were heated slightly unevenly, so they are a bit kittywampus. (If you're from the northwest, Cattywampus if you're from the southeast. Go figure! Eytemology at work, I tell you!)

The two are not completely identical, but are close enough for my happiness. Right now they, and some other recent work, are soaking in a solution of water and vinegar, 2:1. Once the scale and oxidation is removed, I will neutralize it with soap and wire-wheel it to give it a shine. I may prime and paint it, if I so feel like it, and have yet to drill screw holes in it.

 

Aha! Now, dear reader, you may be asking yourself: "what is that other unsightly piece of iron of a darker hue that is in the last picture? It looks rather like a coiled snake with back problems! It ruins the picture!" (you might also be asking yourself: "Is this man crazy? And why does he keep using parentheses?" [or, you could be asking, "Wait, did he just add brackets? Why am I still reading?])

 

Never fear, goodly reader! I am going to elaborate with pictures and words that seemingly unsightly mass of steel.

 

 

The picture is of a spiral candle holder. I didn't have the recommended 42", I had only about 24" of it. Therefore, what I made could scarcely be called true to the model. Nevertheless, I learned an important lesson on how to do it. It takes many heats and is kind of labor intensive, and I'm not very good at doing it. Nevertheless, it is a gift for a friend, and I'm sure it will be pleasing to that person when they receive it. I used beeswax finish, and had it burning for a while. It dripped some beeswax past the edge of the spiral though, I blame my stingy use of material for that one.

But, enough with the typed words, let's see some pictures, shall we?

Aha! Candlelight! So romantic! Seems so warm, yet mysterious, don't you think? Amazing what power a single flame burning can have on a room. I like those pictures. They're simply virile.

 

All in all, a great day at the forge! Stay tuned for a couple of exciting posts coming up: Forge construction, fire-making tutorial, perhaps more knives? Who knows! Alas, for now, I have written enough, and you, dear reader, should go to sleep. (No matter what the time! Ah! Naps, such great inventions, don't you think?)

 

This post was sponsored by Ridgeway Forge Co.

Please buy things from me: I'm a poor starving college kid who wants to continue my passion for art in blacksmithing!