Creating an S-Bend in Wrought Guard - NOW SCHWACKED

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

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Jan 27, 2008
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Its not the best photo, but this is a wrought iron guard slotted for the blade beside it. I need to put and "S" bend into the guard. Previously I have tried this task by: A- heating it in my forge then carefully clamping in a vice and bending the ends with tongs: B- clamping in a vice then heating each individual end with a torch then bending with tongs.

Neither method has worked entirely as planned.

Any tips?

Thanks,

-Peter

 
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I just put a bend in a wrought iron guard by first welding a 1/2" piece of round stock to some flat stock. I then placed the guard in a vice with the round stock. I heated up the guard and taped it over the round stock. If you like I can take a picture of the set up.
 

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I would think you could rig up some type of three point jig, like the ones we use to straighten warped blades. Using it the the vise for power, you should be able to get nice smooth curves.
 
I haven't done an S guard yet, but am planning to go there as well with my next wrought guard.
I would imagine that you would want to clamp the section that seats against the shoulder in order to retain its flatness while you work the ends.
 
Weld two rods side by side, use a third rod in a vice to do a three point bend. Depending on thickness you might be able to do it cold.

Hoss
 
I just heat one end up to 1900-2000F and bend it over a round bar that matches the desired radius. Repeat for the other end. This is a good place to use the Schwacker.

If you have a swage block available, it works even better to forge from the inside of the curve.
 
I would have put the bends in it before the slot...

The best way is forged them over a radius on your anvil face... or the horn if you are mindful of the conical taper. You could also work up a bending jig by talking a flat bar of thick stock and grinding a rad on one end. Clamp it in a vice together with the guard so the end sticks out past and schwack it.

The anvil works better, imo. Eyeball it, for Pete's sake!
 
I would have put the bends in it before the slot...
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hmmmmmmm??

You could also work up a bending jig by talking a flat bar of thick stock and grinding a rad on one end. Clamp it in a vice together with the guard so the end sticks out past and schwack it.
Click to expand...
"Rad", "schwack".... slow down prof, you have a tendency to get a bit too technical at times.:p
I just made exactly that jig and will be using it. I'm going to get a neighbor to help heat the ends carefully with his ascetalene(sp?) torch.

The anvil works better, imo. Eyeball it, for Pete's sake!
Click to expand...
No, YOU eyeball it. :D
That's how I screwed up the first two pieces on this build!:mad:

I built a "jig" with a 1 1/2" x 2" chunk of flat wrought scrap with a "rad" ground on one edge. Coupled with a similar backing block, I should have enough flat contact surface when clamped into a vice to prevent the slot area from deforming while bending. That's the hope anyway so this doesn't becomes a guard-less bowie!
-Peter
 
Also if the final goal is not a flat "s", the idea is to grind the relevant tapers before shwacking, as it would help getting the nice, progressive bend more easily.
 
This morning my neighbor fired up his torch while I clamped the pieces in place into his HUGE rotary vice(likely 200lbs!!). I heated the exposed ends to bright orange, handed him the torch and using a pair a 1/4" flat-jaw blacksmith tongs I bent the ends to shape over the radius block. It took two heats for each end to get the bend square and flat, but I happy with the result. On the smaller knife, I probably could have placed the bend a 1/4" higher towards the handle, but I think I can work that out(in?) later.

edit to add: The top end on the larger knife's guard was bent using a flat faced hammer. I just needed to tap(lightly schwack) it a few times to get it to form to the radius.

I just did a quick clean up with a 36 grit belt to square up the pieces, and I've drawn out the shapes. Tomorrow I'll grind and file both guards to shape and see if I can tweak that little bend a bit.

The radius block has been carefully squared so I can align the guard with the square edge to help keep everything true while bending.
I think it worked "ok" for a quick hack -job!

Here's the two pieces I'm working on. Both were forged out of the same farrier's rasp:



















-Peter
 
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Nicely done, Peter. For what it's worth, I don't know how to eyeball anything, either.:)
 
P. McKinley, very nice job. I welded a 1/2" round bar on flat stock to do what you did. I think your method is better than mine. I hope you will post pictures of the completed knives.
Thanks for the pictures. Some on this forum talk a lot, but I have never seen any pictures of their work.
 
What are you doing with the deer/moose teeth, Peter? I guess getting those guard ends bent up was exactly like pulling teeth.
 
Oh deer, I didn't mean to hooffend you. I'm always talking bull. Buck up and don't have a cow there, Prancer... you know how fawned I am of your work.
 
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