Tuesday Night Hand Tool Chat

Re: Tuesday Night Hand Tool Chat

Larry Williams

>a topic suggestion: avoiding dubbing during sharpening and the value of intentional dubbing of plane irons aka "the ruler trick"?

Re: Tuesday Night Hand Tool Chat

TiO

>I'll probably be joining the chat much later tonight. But, I'd like to ask about blacksmithing. I'm trying to set up a a training session for some members of our woodworking club with a local blacksmith. I'm not sure what to expect for a bunch of amateurs, but if anyone here can give any hints or suggestions, it'd be much appreciated.

Talk to you later.

TiO

Re: Tuesday Night Hand Tool Chat

Frank D. in Montreal

>Basic home forge setup (I'm talking larger forges for smithing, not just a brick furnace for heat treatment), forge welding, forming eyes and basic shaping. Heat treatment could also be touched on, although I personally would be less interested in that (I would guess it's something that a lot of people start reading up on before they actually take the plunge into blacksmithing). I'm in the process of looking for smithing workshops now.

I can arrange for a Blacksmith to be a guest ...

Stephen in Utah

>on our hand tool chat. Brian Westover is the Blacksmith at the Living History Museum where I work and he has agreed to do a chat in the future. We are changing things around here so I will let you know when we can schedule the chat.

Stephen

You are not referring to rabbit fur...

Stephen in Utah

>dubbing on artificial fishing flies are you Larry?

Stephen

That would be neat Stephen

Frank D. in Montreal

>

Re: Tuesday Night Hand Tool Chat

ThomD

>"Basic home forge setup (I'm talking larger forges for smithing, not just a brick furnace for heat treatment)"

You can forge on the one brick forge. I think someone made a bowie on one, the technique it to create a ring of heat and then draw out and shape your piece a bit at a time. But I couldn't do a piece anywhere near that size... You can certainly forge smaller knives in the hunting utility size. You could certainly forge a chisel. The most efficient approach is to have the smallest forge possible for the parts being heated, which is why people get various sizes.

It's hard to talk about home forges as a one thing does it all, just scale it up or down thing. There is certainly some of that, but I think people end up with a bunch of them, rather like plane collecting. In the end the propane ones are pretty simple and probably about the same works as a plane, so other than space concerns it does work out for some to have specialty "forges" for hardening, forging, welding, tempering, swords, etc...

", forge welding, forming eyes and basic shaping."

I'm not a blacksmith at all, but occasionally I take on one of those simple tasks that scare some people who just make tools. The solution for me is to see whether iforge has the tutorial I want or not. Then I grab a light hammer, a flat surface, and modeling clay, and just smack it out. Between some practice and getting the right heat, most jobs are pretty easy.

"Heat treatment could also be touched on, although I personally would be less interested in that (I would guess it's something that a lot of people start reading up on before they actually take the plunge into blacksmithing)."

It's really easy to HT. I used to make little things like screw drivers, long before I could figure out how to set up a forge. I think it's just one of those miracles of human existence, how lucky can you get. If you own a propane torch, a can of bacon fat, and a piece of drill rod, you can do some heat treating in a few minutes. Make something you need like a fitted screw drive, or punch. Sometmes I see soft things that need improvement like the wheel in a pipe cutter, or the swivel stud in a pair of nail clippers. The beauty of it is that unlike wood, metal is cheap, useally free on this scale, and unremarkable. Every piece of wood can have a precious use, while metal just looks like the next piece, hard to get attached if you ruin it.

"I'm in the process of looking for smithing workshops now."

A lot of backyard practice is not really the same as the local smithy. They have the scale/funding to use stuff like coal, and seem able to dig up proper iron. You want to read about how to forge with left over 2x4 pieces or cow pats, your better off hitting the internet.

I'm not sure who travels the earth doing propane workshops, there is certailly lots of stuff happening out there, hammer-ins etc... I think the fastest route is to look at videos and then surf the net for specifics. There are lots of very good knifemaking videos out there.