Blacksmithing
dan's blog

S-hook (first try)

11/03/2010 21:56

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Blacksmith lessons

10/22/2010 08:21


I’ve started up again, with the blacksmithing lessons. I was a little rusty, but had a lot of fun the other night. Used 3/8 inch stock, and practiced some basic stuff.
Points, both on the flat and the angle -- which seemed trickier, but actually wasn’t, because you’re moving less metal. In both cases, I need to get better at making a shorter point -- they tend to drift longer...

Twists are fun! It’s great to get the bar into the vice, and then get the wrench on the top and turn it. The way the metal moves is immediate satisfaction. And then straightening the bar between the vice jaws is fun, too. It’s great to see things change like that.
The bottom one is a 540 degree twist. The top one is a 360 degree veined twist. You use a chisel (or a sharp straight peen on the back of a second hammer) to score a vein on each side of your stock, then you twist it. If you hammer the bar flat again, you can vein it again, and then twist the other direction, and you end up with diamonds. But you need bigger stock for that -- there’s not a lot of room to work on 3/8”. I love this stuff!

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another ten

08/19/2010 08:26
Skated another ten miles in the morning, then worked all day on my reading (Gates) and documents for the book. Then did a little blacksmith lesson at the Greenfield Forge, Where Vinny cut up a big steel truck spring into chunks, and we straightened it to make tools (a chisel and a punch).



We worked on the coal and the propane forges, today.

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