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- Nov 16, 2013
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I've been really busy with home renovations, my day job as a test engineer, selling guns, chicken farming, honey production....etc, etc.... But I recently took 3 days out to complete Blacksmithing I and II at the Ploughshare Institute.
http://www.sustainlife.org/catalog/classes/traditional-crafts/blacksmithing/
The classes are put on by a religious community just north of Waco. They dress and have some of the practices similar to the Amish, but don't have issues with modern technology either. The focus is more on being self-sufficient and sustainable.
Here is the forge that is used for class. The instructor uses the fire on the end. There are 4 forges on each side, so each of the 8 students has their own fire. They have a central fan to provide forced air that is controlled by a damper at each work station.
We used coal for the fuel. (I accidentally named the pic "charcoal", but it was coal, which cooked down into coke for the forging.)
Here is the one (and only) shot of me working since my wife took a break from her knitting to visit just before lunch. No sparks or glowing metal since we were working on the pan for the shovel which we worked cold after annealing it in the forge. Note the stylish Beckerhead hat and Brownells apron.
We started with a flat bar 1.5" X 21" X 1/4" thick (for the second class) which was the back plate for the tool rack. The first day, we used a slightly shorter one to make a coat rack. We also used 1/4" square rod for the hooks and steel (cold) rivets to attach them. The fireplace tools were made with 3/8" square rod, plus the sheet metal for the shovel pan and a cut off whisk broom.
We marked out a notch in each end of the plate, marked it with a cold chisel, then heated it and cut it out with a hot chisel.
Once heated, we curled the ends. The instructor, of course, could do it in one heat, but us students took 2 or 3 heats to get it done.
The J-hooks were made from the 1/4" square rod. The end was curled under, then bent into a "J" and cut to 4" in length. Then the top was flattened and the full twist put in the middle. Finally, a hole drilled and the three hooked cold riveted to the crossbar. The first class (Blacksmithing I) took all day to learn and make a shorter coat rack. For the second class, we made the slightly longer (wider?) rack to hold the tools during the first morning. The remainder of that day and the next day were spent making a cold chisel and the fireplace tools.
We started each tool with pounding out a leaf (with veins) on one end. I should get a better photo of the leaves, but they weren't very good...
The cold chisel was made from half a coil from a truck spring. We heated it and pounded it strait, then tapered one end and (tried to) put an octagon on the striking end. After than, we heated until it was not magnetic, then put it in a bucket of vermiculite to cool overnight. After that, we ground the tip, heated it again and quenched the tip in oil. It was tempered by allowing the residual heat to return to the tip, and quench again, several times. The quench was done with a bit of "up and down" motion so we'd get a gradual temper and not a single point of transition.
As you can see, I made a few extra hooks with the spare 1/4" rod, including a long one with 5 twists in alternating directions.
Certainly not professional work, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out after 3 days of learning. Now I'm shopping for an anvil, leg vice, and portable forge....
http://www.sustainlife.org/catalog/classes/traditional-crafts/blacksmithing/
The classes are put on by a religious community just north of Waco. They dress and have some of the practices similar to the Amish, but don't have issues with modern technology either. The focus is more on being self-sufficient and sustainable.
Here is the forge that is used for class. The instructor uses the fire on the end. There are 4 forges on each side, so each of the 8 students has their own fire. They have a central fan to provide forced air that is controlled by a damper at each work station.
We used coal for the fuel. (I accidentally named the pic "charcoal", but it was coal, which cooked down into coke for the forging.)
Here is the one (and only) shot of me working since my wife took a break from her knitting to visit just before lunch. No sparks or glowing metal since we were working on the pan for the shovel which we worked cold after annealing it in the forge. Note the stylish Beckerhead hat and Brownells apron.
We started with a flat bar 1.5" X 21" X 1/4" thick (for the second class) which was the back plate for the tool rack. The first day, we used a slightly shorter one to make a coat rack. We also used 1/4" square rod for the hooks and steel (cold) rivets to attach them. The fireplace tools were made with 3/8" square rod, plus the sheet metal for the shovel pan and a cut off whisk broom.
We marked out a notch in each end of the plate, marked it with a cold chisel, then heated it and cut it out with a hot chisel.
Once heated, we curled the ends. The instructor, of course, could do it in one heat, but us students took 2 or 3 heats to get it done.
The J-hooks were made from the 1/4" square rod. The end was curled under, then bent into a "J" and cut to 4" in length. Then the top was flattened and the full twist put in the middle. Finally, a hole drilled and the three hooked cold riveted to the crossbar. The first class (Blacksmithing I) took all day to learn and make a shorter coat rack. For the second class, we made the slightly longer (wider?) rack to hold the tools during the first morning. The remainder of that day and the next day were spent making a cold chisel and the fireplace tools.
We started each tool with pounding out a leaf (with veins) on one end. I should get a better photo of the leaves, but they weren't very good...
The cold chisel was made from half a coil from a truck spring. We heated it and pounded it strait, then tapered one end and (tried to) put an octagon on the striking end. After than, we heated until it was not magnetic, then put it in a bucket of vermiculite to cool overnight. After that, we ground the tip, heated it again and quenched the tip in oil. It was tempered by allowing the residual heat to return to the tip, and quench again, several times. The quench was done with a bit of "up and down" motion so we'd get a gradual temper and not a single point of transition.
As you can see, I made a few extra hooks with the spare 1/4" rod, including a long one with 5 twists in alternating directions.
Certainly not professional work, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out after 3 days of learning. Now I'm shopping for an anvil, leg vice, and portable forge....
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