The Pedal Hammer at Pieh Tool

Recently I visited the Pieh Tool website and was looking over some tools and found the page relating to the pedal hammer I developed. The tool is available there for a try out. That would be handy for those in the southwest. http://www.piehtoolco.com/contents/en-us/d1519.html

Pieh tool is located in Camp Verde, Arizona near Sedona.

Gordon Williams is the resident blacksmithing instructor. I had the pleasure of watching him demonstrate at a BAM conference several years ago. I learned a lot about technique and he also was very entertaining and had several good business tips.

You can find out more information about his classes at

http://www.piehtoolco.com/contents/en-us/d1460.html.

I use the pedal hammer a lot for striking detail lines in botanicals. The dogwood motif napkin holder pictured is a recent example.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

My First Blacksmith Souvenir

One of our sons lived in the Chicago area for several years so we would make a couple of trips a year or more for short visits. Each time we took a couple of days for the 10 hour drive and stopped along the way to explore small towns. We did some family history research, visited museums and ate our lunches in small local cafes.

I was mostly interested in wood working at the time but in flea markets, antique stores and living history demonstrations we bumped into blacksmithing. We stopped for a meal in the Amana Colonies and to walk around and see the shops. Roger Quaintance was working at his forge when we arrived in the blacksmith shop. He had a nice display of forged work set up and I bought a small dinner bell set with hanger and striker hung with a leather strap.

The 3/8” round triangle is only approximately 8” on each limb so it is for inside the house use. I use it in the studio as a demonstration of simple elegance. The crook hangers are attractively shaped with long graceful tapers ending with delicate scrolls. Two ends have rivet head shaped upsets which are nicely symmetrical. The round stock striker was slightly flattened as long as the hammer face is wide then twisted and trued back to the original 5/16” diameter and straightness.

It is a simple souvenir but it’s the expert execution of the forging processes which make it information rich.

http://homepage.mac.com/customcutlery/oldsite/Rogersanvil.htm

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Superglue Rescue

This is not the first time I used this first aid technique which says more than some people would reveal about their clumsiness. Here I go again the suffering associated with another wound as trivial as the paper cut, steel splinter, the hang nail and the blood blister.

The fingernail fold back and rip into the nail bed is one of those nasty minor mishaps which robs the work day of splendor. Expletive! Expletive! Now this nail edge split will catch on everything which passes nearby repeating the original pain experience.

Relax. Let reason prevail. I know how to fix this problem. One drop of my old faithful Gorilla super glue and in five minutes the wound is sealed. The rest of the day proceeds painlessly. In a week or so the nail will grow out and I will clip off the end with the rip and the superglue.

I think it was in 1969 when I heard about my medical colleagues serving in the Vietnam combat theatre using isobutyl cyanoacrylate as a tissue adhesive in war surgery. It seemed a minor miracle that the fast drying polymer could hold together tissue which would otherwise be impossible to suture and helping to save life and limb. But it’s true and a long stretch in significance from the use to which I applied it in my minor wound today.

This has been a hard week struggling with an awkward project and I have managed to shave off the skin on the dorsal surface of my right index and middle finger dip joints as well. There are a thousand ways to get injured doing hot iron work yet the rewards of successful creation propel me onward. It’s a good day when all I need is superglue and ibuprofen to rescue me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobutyl_cyanoacrylate

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2187/was-super-glue-invented-to-seal-battle-wounds-in-vietnam

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Buying My Little Giant

I recently put my 50 pound Little Giant up for sale and when visiting with a prospective buyer I recalled something which struck me funny and I have retold the story a lot of times.

I was in Grapevine, Texas June 1-3, 2001 attending the IronFest Blacksmithing Regional Conference when I saw a 50 pound Little Giant chained on a vendor’s trailer. I had never used one but was interested and I lingered for some time studying it and trying to determine it’s condition. I was startled by a fellow who came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder and said, “That the one you want.” “Really”, I said, “why?” He replied, “Because it will kill you instantly - no suffering.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly the encouragement and advice I was looking for. Eventually, I met Mike George from Alva, Oklahoma who owned the machine and was offering it for sale. I explained that I didn’t know much about them and he explained he didn’t know much about that particular one because he hadn’t done any rebuilding but had just confirmed the motor would run it.

After a while we worked out an arrangement in which neither of us had much to lose. I’d pay him when he delivered it and If I tried it and wasn’t satisfied he’d take it back and pick it up and repay me. Everything worked fine and that was the beginning of a nice friendship and ten year of enjoyment using my Little Giant before I started making my own power hammers.

It was also a very enjoyable conference, a bit hot, but Frank Turley, Mike Boone, Wendel Broussard and Jeff Mohr gave nice demonstrations and I learned quite a bit and was lucky to buy the Boone-Broussard collaborative grille at the fund-raising auction. It’s a really nicely executed piece and I’ve enjoyed having it on the wall in our entry hall where I see it every day.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Punch Lubrication Hazard

This is an incident report of a potentially dangerous shop operation which I experienced. It was not so much a surprise that it happened but the violence caught me off guard.

I was working on a very simple taper candle holder design using a 3” compressed sphere which had been chamfered and textured. I wanted to punch a socket in the center to hold a standard taper candle. This is the link to the source of the compressed sphere stock and images.

http://www.kingmetals.com/productSearch.aspx?SearchCriteria=compressed%20sphere

The first step was making a series of punches to be dedicated to the project. I forged a 3” round taper in a piece of 7/8” round tool steel, polished it, then cut it into three sections of about 1” length and welded on utility handles. After the faces were dressed by putting a radius on the edges I was ready to test them. I did no heat treatment. See illustration.

With an even coal fire heat I put the compressed sphere in the hydraulic forging press, lubricated the punch with the coal dust grease, which I wrote about on the 25th of October, and punched the smallest starter punch. The press moves slowly but is very powerful and the punch sunk a bit deeper than I wanted so it hung up a couple of seconds before I could knock the punch out. It came out at a dull red heat but fortunately did not upset.

On the second heat I followed with the middle punch with no problem. On the third heat, when I began to reverse the press and come off the punch the grease lubrication exploded and backed the punch out for me with the “muzzle flash” and loud bang. The confined work space didn’t give the punch anywhere to go so it couldn’t become a projectile in this case.

This was exciting enough to stimulate some forensic examination. So what are the factors to consider? Without the lubricant the explosion wouldn’t occur. If I had drilled a small through-and-through pilot hole the hot gas would have escaped at the bottom. Perhaps if the punches were wider relative to their length the escape would be easier. Perhaps of the face had more radius - more ball shaped and less flat - no chamber could form to trap the gas.

When I return to the project the plan will be modified in some way which I haven’t settled on yet. Safety First!

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

My Little Giant Platform

I recently advertised my Little Giant in the BAM newsletter.

For sale: 50- LB Little Giant Power Hammer Number K-7062. I added a fused Square D disconnect switch, new power cord and plug, a pitman wrench, wood base, belt guard, oil reservoir caps, a step to aid top oiling, a dual tang die carriage, flywheel brake and swing-away spring guard. I oiled it daily with Stihl chainsaw bar oil. Also have spare parts worth several hundred dollars. $3500. Contact Persimmon Forge, David or Betty Edwards, 3008 Hacienda Ct., Emporia, Kansas 66801, (620) 343-1947, djedwards@cableone.net.

Soon an email arrived inquiring about how the wood base was constructed and I offered the following information in reply.

“When I brought home my first power hammer (the advertised one) I didn’t know much more than I needed one to make money because I wasn’t going to be able to crank out enough work with a three pound hammer on a Peter Wright anvil. I signed up for Harlan "Sid" Suedmeier’s Little Giant rebuilding course in Nebraska City and learned a lot (all about the 25 pound type).

I can’t recall who gave me the advice about how to mount my hammer so I can’t credit them. I had read about needing a foot or two of concrete footing under the hammer and was prepared to do that if I had to do it but I decided to try the recommended “poor man’s compromise.” I had access to some 3/4” plywood and cut three pieces and slabbed them together with glue and bolted them to my 6” thick shop floor with four corner anchor bolts.

I used the hammer about two hours a day for perhaps 10 years and the floor never cracked. Currently, neither of my power hammers have any wood cushioning so I’m running a greater risk now.

Since the wood underlayment raised the treadle over 2 inches, I had to make a couple of toe brackets to attach to the treadle so I didn’t have to lift my toe so high.

I’m glad I didn’t bust up my floor and put in that massive footing and just used the plywood instead.”

Ultimately, each user must decide for themselves how to deal with the mounting. I’m sure the wood cushioning robbed my hammer of some of it’s potential striking power but on the other hand it worked well for me and the floor never cracked.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

More About Hammer Care

While thinking about hammers some thoughts came back to me from over 30 years ago when I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. It is one of the few books I have read more than once. It explores the notion of quality from the perspectives of romanticism and rationality. It seems to conclude that striving to combine the views may result in the greatest satisfaction. I suppose it appealed to me because I regard some concepts such as art/craft metaphorically as poles of a bar magnet. The poles can be stretched very far apart yet the field is never broken. Art isn’t worth much unless crafted well and craft is worth much is not artful.

So part of any project is forming the creative vision of the tactical goal and part is planning the strategic approach. I was thinking about an extension of the “Choosing a Hammer” ideas and the maintenance issues crept in.

It didn’t take long for me to learn to treat my forging hammers with special care and not use them for demolition, chipping slag, driving and stamping which are better accomplished with hammers whose face polish isn’t as critical. Appropriate segregation of use for each hammer is a starting point for maintenance.

Keeping the head solidly connected to the handle hasn’t been any problem for me since I switched to the Gorilla super glue bonding technique.

With use the handles of my forging hammers get worn slick and hard to grip so I lightly sand them to increase the friction. I like the flexible pads about 1/4” thick and 4.5” x 5.5”. Some handles have been spray painted for identification and that seems to do about the same thing as sanding.

The faces of the frequently used hammers get dressed about monthly. Sometimes I have to use a zirconia flap wheel or sanding belt but usually only the silicon carbide wheel and hard felt wheel with chromium oxide buffing compound will do the job.

With the tools in good shape I can turn my imagination loose to do some creating.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Ironwork Today 3

Yesterday I received my copy of this new Schiffer LTD publication and was pleased to find it included six images of my work from several years ago. They even used a grapevine wreath image on the title page. http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer//book_template.php?isbn=9780764338762

It seems like every five years or so they publish a new addition to the ironwork series. So far I have bought them all. I find it interesting to see them as representing the state of the art in a particular slice of time. A lot of nice work with a lot of variety is included and I often find ideas I can adapt to current work.

It seems as if there were many more artists represented whose names were unfamiliar in this addition. I don’t get to as many conferences as I once did and probably a lot of new people are joining the ranks.

The publisher’s description online is as follows.

“Over 450 vivid color photos provide a sweeping overview of the amazing range of iron artwork being created by 82 of today’s artist-blacksmiths. These works in metal are found in public spaces, offices, and homes. They vary in size from small, everyday objects to staggering public monuments. The pieces, discussed by the artists who made them, include sculpture, gates, railings, furniture, lighting fixtures, doors, locks, and much more. This book, the third in an ongoing series, has artwork arranged by the artist alphabetically, rather than in categories. This allows readers to see the full scope of each artist’s work together on adjoining pages. Here readers will find some artists whose work they have seen in other books in this series; others they are meeting for the first time. This book will be a prized reference guide and source of inspiration for homeowners, designers, artists, and blacksmiths as a fascinating snapshot of current trends in this dynamic, growing field of artistic endeavor.”

I hope they are right that this is a growing field of artistic endeavor and that it attracts young talented people who can make a living and will continue experimenting and developing new methods and designs.

My friend, Jerry, of J. Schrock Photography prepared the images I submitted. Check out more of his work at http://kansasartistsonline.com/?sproofing_id=1 and http://www.jschrock.com/.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Choosing a Hammer

I started with what I viewed as a “standard blacksmith’s hammer.” It was the commonly available American (also called British or German) style weighing about 2.5 pounds with an octagonal face and cross peen. It worked well but as time passed I got more picky and acquired and made more hammers.

Every day I work off of two Peter Wright anvils. The larger one is beside the coal forge. A slightly smaller one is at my torch station where I work on small pieces. At the coal forge anvil the primary forging hammer is a Swedish pattern with a mushroomed cross peen. I described it in the April 26, 2011 post. I use a slightly lighter version on the other anvil.

Around each anvil is an assortment of hammers of various styles, weight, handle length and face radius. After 10 years in the studio they have all found their resting places and don’t travel around much.

Selecting the hammer of choice for a task has become something like an intuition and a bit difficult to explicate rationally. Yesterday, I drifted some holes for lag screw mounting of plant hangers. I used an antique hand sledge weighing about eight pounds. I think some people call it a drill hammer. It is great for driving a drift but I couldn’t use it for a forging hammer because I couldn’t swing it fast and accurately enough and it would wear me out in no time.

If I want to upset the end of a 3/8” round rod, I’ll get a one pound ball peen with which I can hit a lot of light blows quickly. For fire welding I use lighter hammers and have several even lighter Repoussé hammers with elongated heads.

I rarely use the striker’s sledge as the power hammers seem adequate for most purposes. My only rounding hammer and an antique three pound ball peen lay by one of the smaller swage blocks. They have the shortest radius faces (most curvature) of all my hammers.

On June 23, 2011 I wrote about how I like to modify the end of the forging hammer handles to fit in the hardy hole. The optimal handle length varies for me I don’t have a good formula for it. The same thing goes for the point of grip. Most of the time, especially with a Hofi style hammer, a short grip can deliver enough power with accuracy to do the work. If I’m wailing away on something my grip slides back to the end of the hammer like a carpenter using a framing hammer to get the velocity for powerful blows but accuracy can be compromised.

With experience and experimenting I have decided on the handle circumference which feels best for my hand. It is a subtle thing to get optimal. A large circumference gives the best mechanical advantage to controlling rotation but most of the hammers I have bought I put on the belt sander and reduced the diameter of the grip area to fit me more comfortably.

Considering how radius is used to move hot steel, I rely more on selecting the backup radius on the anvil than by varying the edge of the hammer face striking position. Trying to use the toe or heel positions, particularly, seems to cause more wrist strain. The worst strain risk, though, probably comes from working too cold. Work hot. Take another heat.

Making a hammer is a good lesson for a student and an image shows one of three hammers made in the studio by a glass artist friend for his sculpture work. But, today, if I needed another, I’d just buy one from a smith who specializes in hammer making. Their prices are very reasonable.

The other image shows me with my first hammer at age two. There is a lot to learn about using a Birmingham screwdriver. Start while you’re young.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Choosing an Anvil

From time to time someone asks me for advice about buying an anvil. My first question is, “What are you using for a hammer?” It seems to me like a hammer and anvil are a pair of things which separately aren’t of much use.

Let’s get first things first. I once heard Steve Martin say, “Do you want to know how you can make a million dollars and not pay any taxes? First, make a million dollars. Then, don't pay any taxes!” In this case it’s, “First, get a hammer.”

If it seems the person is serious about buying an anvil for forge work, I suggest that they decide the hammer weight they will use most of the time. That will probably be 2.5 pounds plus or minus a half pound or so. I was taught, and have confirmed from experience, that a good forging hammer/anvil ratio is 1:40. Up to a point, larger may be better if the person is going to do some sledge work and has the extra money. But, the anvil mass issue can often be addressed less expensively in a good massive base.

After the size, quantity, has been sketched in then quality is the next thing to consider. Personally, I’d pick a London pattern shape and want it to have a flat face which is solidly welded to the body and has a good steel ball rebound. There shouldn’t be any cracks or missing parts.

I’d look for an old Peter Wright, Hay-Budden or Trenton brand. I don’t worry too much about some dings in the face edges or the top of the horn if they can be dressed and serve as a working radius or be filled. I take notice of the ring, first, to verify the steel ball rebound test. It shouldn’t have a “cracked pot” sound suggesting the face is delaminated from the body. Secondly, is it annoyingly loud and begging for a sound dampening device? That is a problem I have had with some of the new cast steel anvils.

I’d be willing to pay $2/pound for an anvil that suited me. Generally, I see asking prices run between $1 and $3 per pound.

This site has further information on anvil brands, age, etc.

http://habairon.org/Digest/Balcones%20Forge/Sept07%20-%20A%20Guide%20to%20Anvils.pdf

This site discusses the physics of the hammer/anvil relationship.

http://assets.calsmith.org/cba-cdn/647/anvilph_update_4-18_original.pdf

The conversation would go in a different direction if I found the person was only looking for a unique door stop.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

An Old Welder

About the time I bought my first MIG welder the welding supply store manager and I were just making conversation and he was relating stories about customers. At one point he remarked that he could spot an old experienced welder when he pulled a piece of soapstone out of his pocket no bigger than his fingernail. This image seemed curious enough to me that I have remembered it probably because I didn’t really understand it at the time. Soapstone came in long sticks and it was inexpensive so why the little piece? It seemed like a frugal oddity.

When I load up my overalls pockets each morning, soapstone is one of the items which goes in. The title phrase jumped out at me when I looked and saw I was putting in several little pieces of soapstone that were approaching finger nail size. If soapstone came in long sticks and was inexpensive, why was I still carrying the nubbins? The answer is because they still work and the smaller they are the easier they are to carry around. So now it didn’t seem so much a matter of frugality as a matter of savvy convenience.

Each marking method has something to recommend it. Back on September 19, 2010 I wrote about how much I like using a presto pen. One of the disadvantages of the correction fluid line is that often I need to use lacquer thinner to remove it so it doesn’t leave a permanent ghost image on the steel after being heated.

I use soapstone a lot. It’s clean, more durable than white chalk, erasable, good for sketching on a rusted sheet but not as good, in my opinion, as charcoal on paper.

I carry a silver pencil too. It’s not as good for sketching as soapstone but easier to draw a clean thin line.

If a really accurate line is needed a scribe is hard to beat but it will often leave a process mark which may be desirable or not. I already spent some time last July 20th writing about witness marks of various kinds so no more here.

The little pieces of soapstone are probably have a permanent home in the bottom of my pocket. I have never been able to adapt to the holders that clip onto a shirt pocket. For me, that is an example of gilding the lily.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Playing The Tower of Hanoi

Before winter, while I can still have the studio doors open on some days, I plan to do some rearranging. The space is too crowded. The forge room is okay but the north porch and assembly room and east walk area are packed.

I have some salvaged hydraulic equipment on the porch which needs to be cobbled into a pipe bender. There is a Champion 1880 lever action forge blower which I haven’t used since 2004, a wood stove unused since I installed electric heat in the studio, a large post vise on a heavy concrete base which has never been used, a small railroad rail anvil on a stand which has also never been used, and an antique treadle grinder. Those things just need to go away.

Most of the rest is good stuff used occasionally but poorly arranged. In my mind I have started planning the shuffling process and I was reminded of playing a game called the Tower of Hanoi when our boys were toddlers. Here is a link which shows a nice animation of the solution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

I have a break on the porch which I built to make a 22.5º bend in a 24” wide piece of 7 gauge sheet. To get to it and have space to work I have to move two gas forges and a rolling base. Then they have to be moved again to get out. The break is a crude, but effective, contraption built from some sturdy scrap. The grader blade section is the pushing edge and a 30 ton bottle jack provides the force. A piece of round stock in the crotch of the piece of angle serves as a stop. With it removed the bend will go on to about 90º

I wish it were easier to get rid of those things I don’t need. The demonstration trailer is parked in the woods north of the studio and I should empty it and use that space for storing things I might actually use again.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Making Black Lag Screws

I wrote some about this back in late May. Today the issue came up again as I had to make about 100 black lag screws, 5/16” x 1.5” and 5/16” x 2.5” and decided to take a couple of images to better explain the technique. Since almost everything I make has a black finish I like to make sure the mounting hardware matches. I have square head hardware to use when it seems most appropriate but most things mount with standard hex head lag screws which I modify to get the right color finish.

Step one is to remove the galvanizing with a 10 minute soak in hydrochloric acid. I explained that last April in “The Pickling Bucket”.

Step two is rinsing with water and drying. A light rust color appears.

Step three is shown in the image showing the screws inserted in the vise jig I use to hold nine at a time to dress the heads.

Step four is to polish off the factory lettering on the heads with a flap disc on an angle grinder.

Step five is to heat each head with the torch using a slightly reducing flame to barely melt the surface surface and glaze to remove the abrasive streaks.

The final step is to spread them out in a pan and spray them with Minwax clear satin polyurethane.

I got this tip back in my woodworking days. When I’m gathering things to do a mounting project I stick the screws into a toilet bowl wax ring. The urethane wax is an excellent lubricant which, in addition to a pilot hole, makes screw insertion easy. Here is a picture of the type of ring I’m describing if it’s not already clear.

http://www.oatey.com/apps/catalog/instance_assets/assets/Photo/Wax_Ring_31195.jpg

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

How to Find A Hook Jig

It is a disturbing fact that from time to time I need something I can’t find. It’s disturbing because I’ve put a lot of time and effort into making sure that doesn’t happen.

I have been requested to make a coat rack similar to one I made several years ago. Actually, it was quite a few years ago. Back then I didn’t keep any records, so this was like starting from scratch and figuring it out all over again. I really don’t like that, but I can do it.

First, I queried my inventory and found where two coat hooks jigs were located. I found them and one was made for a very specific project which I probably will never repeat and the other was an enigma so I disassembled it.

So, not actually finding a suitable hook jig, I designed the type of hook I needed for this job and did two test pieces and made a new jig to duplicate the prototype hook.

This is a summary of what I did. First I cut 8” of 3/8” square bar and forged a 2” fishtail taper then rolled it into a scroll. Then I cut a piece of angle, a piece of pipe and a piece of round bar and welded up the radius jig. With the mass of the fishtail hooked on the round bar I torch heated as I pulled the radius with a cheater pipe. When the tangent looked right I welded on another little piece of angle as a stop. I made a twisting wrench by heating a piece of pipe which I thought would slip over the square stock when forged to square shape. With torch heat I made a snug fit onto a short piece of 3/8” square then used that piece to MIG weld on as the T handle. I torch heated the hook in the little triangular gap between the pipe and the angle stop and added a 180º twist.

Later, I’ll swell the top end with half face blows and punch a rivet hole so the hooks can be fixed to the mounting bar,

When I finish I’ll stamp a name, such as, "coat hook" and the A02 grid number on the jig designating what it’s for and where it will hang. Then I'll record that information on the inventory spreadsheet. It’s the old “a name and a home” strategy again. Next time, maybe I’ll be able to find it.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Coal Dust Punch Lubricant

This week I made some forming dies with the hydraulic forging press. The depressions were sunk in several heats with progressively larger top tool positive forms. Slight upsetting and entrapment of the pushing form is always a possibility and a problem if it occurs. I thought about how I sometimes use a pinch of coal dust in the hole when hot punching to prevent the punch from sticking and how sometimes dipping the punch in grease or Anti-seize also helps.

When I first was setting up the shop I needed a 55 gallon drum to build a small tumbler. I went to a local bakery, which gave me the drum, but it still had about 5 gallons of grease inside. They said it was edible grease - Linoleic acid - and was really high quality. I scraped it all out and filled a 5 gallon drum and filled several more clear plastic jars with it and have used it ever since for general lubrication.

I mixed some of the grease with some sifted coal dust about 50/50 and filled two small cans. It seemed to entirely prevent sticking as I worked with the press so I’ll continue using it. Apparently the escaping gases from the combusting grease prevent the punch from binding.

I looked up linoleic acid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid and found it is a colorless liquid at room temperature and what I scraped from the drum was a pale green soft solid so it must be mixed with something else. Any cooking grease or canola oil probably would work too. Use good ventilation. I have no idea what is in the fumes.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Carhartt Shirts and Fried Green Tomatoes

It’s fall. Every creature is looking for winter quarters. I ran a blacksnake out of the studio a few days ago. The monarch butterflies are gone. Tree frogs have gathered near the creek. The turkey vulture and herring gulls migrations have passed through and we’ve had one light frost now. It came on about the expected date and nipped the tender plants. I went out at dusk in the windy chill and picked the green tomatoes. It was a poor garden year for us with about thirty days over 100º and very little rain so there was only enough for a couple of servings of fried green tomatoes. I was worried that this might be the first year in my life without tasting them. Betty fixed them just right and they were great.

I’m pretty tolerant of cold and probably only put on a coat a half dozen times a winter but I like sweaters, jackets and my Carhartt sandstone twill long sleeve work shirts. I have several and they are well worn and getting faded and one has a big elbow patch but they are comfort clothes as sure as fried green tomatoes are comfort food.

I love autumn and today I paid attention to the beautiful colors in the sugar maples, the Virginia creeper and the poison ivy vines. Some ripe persimmons are dropping now and, while the crop is sparse this year, the flavor is wonderful.

It’s perfect forging weather and I treasure every day of it.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Flat Bar Scroll End

What appeals to one client won’t necessarily appeal to another. That, to me, is a good thing as it drives creativity. Several years ago I made a simple flat bar coat rack with four hooks for a client. I textured the bar but it still looked rather generic so I added scroll ends. Naturally, they didn’t like the scrolls and wanted just the plain flat bar.

The scroll end hanger eventually wound up in a gallery where it sold recently. As soon as it was sold I was requested to make another one like it. So much time had passed that I couldn’t recall immediately how I made the scroll but I remembered it was simple to accomplish.

I got out a scrap of tar paper and cut it in the shape of the 2” wide flat bar and confirmed it just required trimming the end off at a 45º angle, texturing both sides and rolling the scroll by pulling the point down while twisting. I thought a reversing scroll might be interesting so I rolled one on the same piece of tar paper and snapped an image of it for the record.

The roll of tar paper was purchased 15 years ago and I have used it to make numerous patterns and I still have most of the roll left. The soapstone, silver pencil, correction fluid lines show with nice contrast when drawing. But, I still need the large white grid paper pad for charcoal sketching.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Blacksmith Dirt

On Saturday a crew is coming for an interview and some filming in the studio and I have been trying to do a little cleanup and picking up to make it look less scary.

My wife says the studio produces a special kind of dirt. The most stubborn variety. It's true. My hands only look respectable after several days of vacation.

I suspect most of it is coal dust, soot, ash and the various iron oxides of fire scale. The tumbler is responsible for processing the most tenacious black stuff as it removes all manner of surface coatings such as paint, lacquer, oil, fire scale, rust, and more. I especially dislike having to deal with pickled and oiled stock.

The sticky products I handle such as silicone caulk, glue, Permalac, Polyurethane, paint, sanding sealer, oil, Goop, etc. serve to attach the blackness nearly permanently to skin cells.

Even after I empty 20 pounds of black powder the place isn’t going to look clean to a new visitor and even I won’t be able to tell much difference but it will be 20 pounds cleaner.

The dirt is generated in the forge room and tumbler room but travels everywhere throughout the shop. Putting the tarp and drum shell around the tumbler helped some. Probably I need to get a vacuum attached to the tumbler. That would be a good project for the winter.

In reality I know I’m never going to get a clean workspace - it’s a blacksmith shop. Francis Whitaker was shown a piece of work and asked, “Is this straight enough?” He responded, “There is no such thing as straight enough. It is either straight or not.” The same goes here. Clean enough is never clean.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

It Bends Where?

When I was bending these spikes I thought I was witnessing a violation of an axiom I learned as a beginner - steel bends where it is thinnest or hottest. In this case neither was true. The axiom needs an amendment. Steel also bends where the bending force is isolated.

This story is a progression of the “picture or 1000 words” post. To complete the spikes I needed to bend the kink point to a right angle. I could have used localized torch heat to do this and if I only had a couple to finish that’s how I’d do it. In this case there was a pile, I had a bending jig and I had other forge work to do so using the coal fire was quickest. The way I was working it wasn’t possible to get a heat localized at the desired bend point like a torch heat. However, the jig effectively did that isolation of the bend point.

I used the power hammer to draw out the spikes in a single heat and did the 90º bend in the second heat then ran them through the tumbler. Now they are ready for welding into a tripod base, This is a component of what I would call a functional piece and isn’t particularly artful, but, the subtle stretch-buldge of the 90º bend is a tiny detail which appeals to me.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

A Picture or 1000 Words

Last week I downloaded a few images from my old shop camera then it expired. New batteries couldn’t shock it back to life. So after many years of service in a harsh environment I let it go to R.I.P. in the realm where expired electronic devices go.

I understood immediately that this was not a crisis since it seems like almost everything with a battery is now capable of taking a picture. My older son, Keith, tells me my iPhone has a better camera than my camera. That sounds circular but you get he idea,

My actual solution was to take my wife’s old camera which she never uses as she prefers the one on the iPhone and I traded her a newer camera which I have used to take “professional” images in my mini photo studio. Incidentally, that camera was obtained at Stapes in response to my request for their “least expensive Canon camera.” I will never take the time to figure out anything more complicated a don’t use most of the features built into the inexpensive one.

Today, I took several images of the steps used in preparing some spikes for tapering. It was a pleasure to look in the viewfinder and actually see a large clear image of the target, It was also neat to hear the click sound which indicated the image had been captured. It gave me a comfort sensation similar to the old days when I picked up the phone receiver and an operator asked. “number please.”

I don’t know if a picture is really worth a thousand words or how anyone would know. I do know that the images I take are a great help in documenting my work processes. They save time and provide more information than my written notes.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/