TIDEWATER BLACKSMITH'S GUILD
BEGINNERS CLASS
Safety Clothing
SAFETY GLASSES to be worn in as soon as you come in the shop. Clear safety glasses, to see the color of hot metal
No Nylon or Polyester. Cotton, preferably long sleeve, and leather apron.
Gloves, good for the hand holding tongs, no rubber or plastic.
No Glove on the hammer hand, loss of grip.
Shoes, cover toes no sandles
Ear protaction as required
Shop Safety
Be aware of your surroundings, who's in the shop and what are they doing.
When walking with hot metalcall out "Hot Iron"
Use face sheild with all power tools
Do Not use galvanized metal or any other coated metals, as they will give off toxic fumes
Take hardy out if hole once finished, could cut off fingers
Use proper tongs to hold metal, metal could fly up and hit you
Keep floor clear of debris
Forging tube or pipe be carefule quenching, steam will shoot out one end
Remember even black metal is hot!
JUST USE COMMON SENSE
Fire management
Before starting any fire
Pick out clinkers (solidification of impurities in coal. Glassy globs)
Clean out grate in fire box
Turn clinker breaker in tuyere and empty.
Starting the fire
Turn on air, but close gate, careful not to blow out coal dust
Prepair paper, roll in to a donut or tight ball, Do not use glossy paper,
place paper donut in fire box and position coke around fire pot light paper and open air gate
cover paper with coke and coal
as you add air the smoke will intensify, may have to light another peice of paper to heat up the flue
Do not pack down coal keep it loose
you want a mound of coal with the fire in the middle area
if fire does not light turn off air-remove all coal(coke) from fire box- and start over.
Shutting down fire
Turn off air and push back all (green) coal from fire.
Remove coke from fire box and set along sides.
remove clinker and push to far side to cool.
Hammer control/Working at the anvil
Stand up strait (more power than leaning over)
Get a grip, thumb tucked in , relax grip. Hold just tight enough to control it.
Get close to the anvil, shoulders and hand need to be almost above the work. With tong arm at your side almost touching your hip.
Raise hammer high and give solid blows. Find your rhythm. The only way to get good at hammering is to practice.
When putting iron in the fire... leave hammer on the anvil face.
It's good practice to forge as much as you can while metal is still part of the original bar.
Conserve coal by turning down air just before removing iron. Try not to reheat then quench.
It's important to maintain concentration. Mentally rehearse what you are going to do when the metal is ready.
GET IT HOT, HIT IT HARD, AND QUIT WHEN YOU'RE DONE.
Hammer blows, FULL FACE, HALF FACE, EDGE, BACKFACE, SHEARING.
Drawing out
Using hammer face spreads metal in all directions.
Reduce its section to increase its length.
The tip of your work should be on the far edge of anvil, so not to hit hammer on anvil face.
Flat taper is forged on one side.
Square taper forge on two sides(turn 90).
Strait and solid blows , hit once or twice the rotate 90 degrees.
If not hit correctly it forms a diamond shape.
Start at the tip and form an abrupt taper 1st.
Avoid burning the tip , it heats up faster than thicker metal.
Using cross peen (spreads metal in two directions fwd/aft).
Forging bar increases length.
Notching the bar is called fullering.
Fuller over horn, fuller over edge, fuller with hammer edge (if squared face), Fuller with anvil edge, fuller with fuller tool.
Rounding bar by tapering square is faster than tapering round.
First draw out square tapered point, then hammer edges to form an octagon, then round up with quick blows as you rotate bar.
Upsetting
The bar is upset in order to thicken it locally.
Upseting on the end take a short heat,
Rotating bar keeps strait, slite taper on end
Hang end over edge of anvil and hit with back blows
Thinner bar can be upset in vise, take short heats and use small hammer. Long bar upseting can be done by hitting on top of anvil or iron plate on floor.
Bending
Bending is done after you've drawn out, punched, or spread. Bending will stretch the outside bar, and compress the inside. The middle section called (neutral axis) is where measurements are taken, it retains its original length.
Over anvil bend, on anvil bend,
Bending on the horn (must keep 90 degrees)
Making rings and eyelets
Bend over the anvil first, then move to the horn and forge down and hit off horn blows as you drop the hand that holds the iron.
Get a good heat then round up eye.
Twisting
Twisting is the process of taking a heat on a bar and placing one end in a vice. Then turn the other end using a twisting wrench or adjustable wrench with an extra handle. Remember to count the number of turns. Place wrench where iron is cold. If twist bends, it can be straitened using a wooden hammer on stump.
Hot Cutting
Use a hardie that fits the hole. Hardie with one side tapered will give you a flat edge. You can also rotate the bar on the hardie to cut through from all sides.
DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH! Once you see a black line develope use the tongs and break off. Remove after use.
File work
Hot filing is used to take off any burs formed after hot cutting.
They should be done with a "Hot file" or farrier's rasp.
Cold filing is uses a cold file.
Hand tool knowledge
Hammers come in many shapes. hammers typically have a flat side, called the face and the other side is called the peen. Hammers are usually classified by their weight and their peen end (ball peen, cross peen, strait peen)
Tongs- Large iron pliers that alow the smith to handle hot metal.
Leg vise- A stationary clamping device with a leg that transfers the force of the hammer blows to the floor.
Hot cutter or hot sets, flatter, fuller, top swages, bottom swages
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