COA Forge

BYU Logo for a Gift

2009-12-17T22:12:00.000-08:00

Pretty simple, really... First you make templates of paper and decide what will be negative/positive and why. In this case the metal is 20" round of 30" pipe wall.Then you trace the shape onto the metal with soap stone, which is great stuff in that it's still quite visible when you've got it up hot enough to start cutting the metal.

Next you cut the metal and finish it; in this case I started by grinding it with an angle grinder, which is a marvelous tool to say the least. I liked the rough brushed shiny look but opted to polish it a bit with 80-120-220-buffing wheel abrasion in that order. I could easily see where someone might like a less polished look and go back to the flap wheel look.

The Rod of Asklepius

2009-11-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

Finally completed after several false starts:

Anvil Stand - Quick and Easy

2009-11-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

Here's the new anvil stand - not fireproof but I doubt it's an issue. Lots of tool storage possibilities.

Archer's Bracer with quasi-Urnes motif (WIP)

2009-05-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

The green is brighter than I would have liked but it's what I had on hand. For about three dollars in materials I can't gripe too much.I'm going to use a wood burner to clean up and darken a lot of the lines, but other than that it's mostly done.

Ingredients:

Veggie tanned leather (fairly light)
Artificial Sinew
Cuttings from a broken arrow
Leather dye

Bone Spear

2009-04-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

This spear came out pretty well. It's cool to me not so much because of the bone (we all know how to use a belt sander and files) but because the rest of the spear is made entirely from a locust tree sapling I cut in my back yard. The rope you see holding on the head is actually the fibrous underbark of the sapling, which I twisted together using the technique that Clay showed me last night for making bow strings. He said that it would work with any long plant fibers, and he was right.

Blacksmith's Apron Part I

2009-03-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

Pictured: the distressed leather along side the original side. Distressing gives the leather a wrinkled, used look but it also lets it move like cloth.

Materials (so far)
1 side of 4/5s oz vegetable tanned cow hide
1 bottle of neatsfoot oil
1 spraybottle
1 ton of work

As I've mentioned, veggie tanned leather is pretty stiff stuff until you relax the fibers. Chrome tanned leather is cheaper, and softer to start with, but you chant really change it. Veggie tanned you can really soften to an almost cloth-like softness, and you can dye it, carve it, tool it, and so on.

I asked the guy at Tandy leather how I should go about softening and preserving the leather,and he showed me neatsfoot oil.

neat \ˈnēt\ noun plural neat or neats
: the common domestic bovine (Bos taurus)
Middle English neet, from Old English nēat; akin to Old High German nōz head of cattle, Old English nēotan to make use of, Lithuanian nauda use

Neatsfoot oil is literally oil squeezed out of cow's feet. Apparently the fats from the lower legs of a bovine have a very low melting temperature and are used as a treatment/preservative.

Basically I spray the oil on and work it in by hand, bending and working the leather until the fibers relax. Distressing leather to a good softness took me about two hours of work. For part of the softening I scraped the oiled leather back and forth over a corner of wood. Most of the time I just balled it up and squeezed it over and over. Next time someone tells me something is had distressed, I'll know why it costs twice as much.

Some interesting info on inlaying

2009-02-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is a fascinating picture of an original Viking sword hilt that to the modern eye isn't anything impressive, but to anyone who understands the work that went into this it's stunning.

I have also included have a modern sword with some inlay. this is from our friend Mikko Moilanen, via MyArmoury:

Below is pictured my version of the type H sword from the Netherlands. I have been experimenting on pattern-welded inlays for my doctoral thesis in archaeology, and this blade is one of those experiments. The blade is 18th-century steel and the inlays are pattern-welded. Having enough bare blades at the corner of my livingroom, I have been trying to make hilts according to some finds. The hilt for this sword, as well as the measurements of the blade, were taken from the find from Netherlands.

The hilt is iron, covered with copper a complete hilt to make sure the technique really works...

The guards were forged, as well as the hollow pommel. I used a kind of resin to attach the U-shaped rivet inside the pommel. The resin was quite the same as previously talked about in this thread: mainly pitch, some beeswax and wood filings as binder. The mixture held surprisingly well, although it is very sensitive to changes in temperature.

The decorative wire between the pommel and the upper guard is beaded silver wire.

Here is the thread that he refers to:

http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=5386&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

It includes some very interesting dialogue on the subject of inlay, which I reccommend.

Big anvil for me

2009-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

At long last, the railroad track gave way to the anvil today - I am soooooo excited.

A Big stick for me

2009-01-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

I got a sudden urge to do something productive (other than the laundry)so I made a war club. The best part about it is that I already had all of the materials on hand, so all it cost me was 4 hours and sore hands.

Materials:
5' branch from a cherry tree
18ga steel sheeting
1/4" round barstock
Brass Rivets
Veggie tanned leather
Carpet tacks

Tools:
Large and small draw knives
Drill
Metal hand punch
Belt Sander
Peening hammer
Bolt cutters
Bench grinder

2009-01-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Here's the typical cutting. You can see with the smaller head (#1) it's about 1" per second, maybe a bit less.

Below is the so-far picture. A lot of the time spent is in reducing the 3/16"x1" barstock to a round tang. it takes forever. Overall the center section is still close to 1/4" which should be stout. It's not sharp yet but you could probably run someone through with it - if that became necessary.

I'd probably not bother to even begin sharpening the back taper of the head - what would be the point, and it would reduce weight and stiffness, both undesirable. Agreed?

Cleaning bone for crafting

2008-12-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

A helpful guide that may come in handy

http://www.bearmeadow.com/build/materials/html/bone-clean.html

Forge Burner Testing

2008-12-13T21:05:00.001-08:00

Of course I could buy a $115 burner from hybridburners.com - but I'm cheap so I've got this weed burner and stripped it down. I took out the orifice, the needle valve, and the hose with tank adapter. Then I mated it with a cut-down section of BBQ burner (sans the little holes in the sides that those always have). Here's the result, although I think I need a new orifice and I think the venturi cross section might limit its performance.

I noticed in this process that pretty much all of the components are 1/4" NPT brass, easily obtained from thet stores. I'm hoping to get brass end caps so to allow any orifice size I want.

Forging a Viking Age Broad Axe

2008-12-05T19:54:00.001-08:00

Note to self: Splitting Chisel

Stroller Bracket

2008-11-27T12:43:00.001-08:00

These pictures are a bit out of order but you probably get the idea. One of the neighbors broke a stroller's wheel bracket and couldn't fix it, so I made a bracket out of 16ga sheetmetal.

This was basically just cut the metal, bend in vise, mandrel around a smaller 3/4" pipe, then slip over the 1" frame tube and pinch it. I made the little "vise" pictured here to allow for an even crimp without too much warping. It was also a convenient way to apply force with the drill, going back and forth between bolts.

It's not done until I get the 7/16" drill bit needed for the axle, but it's a good start. You can see in one picture what he did, essentially wiring it together with coat hanger. Not a bad notion, really.

2008-10-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here's one approach to the brick pile forge - recognizing that a BBQ is designed to contain fire and comes pre-equipped with venturi burners, a coverable table, gas train wheels, etc.

The big issue is the regulator - I still have to get an adjustable one to get the pressure up. Ideally we'd find a way to use pure oxygen as well.

Chains and things

2008-10-25T23:27:00.000-07:00

What happened to this piece? It was designed to be a part of a medieval weapon, and I didn't like the way it turned out - 3/8" and 1/4" round stock.

Decorative piece

2008-10-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

Not sure what to call this - basically a candle or bottle holder, it's deceptively difficult to arrange. I had to spot weld the pieces at 120 degrees apart, and then bend it into alignment.
Materials:

Roughly 60" of 1/4" hot-rolled plain carbon (1018) steel.

The eventual idea was to buy copper fabric and line it like a torch for a candle holder that glows.

Stocking hangers

2008-10-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

This was a fast thought that turned into something quite useful very quick.

The tape kept ripping, and I wanted something that would last - so I took my extra barstock and spend about 1 hour forging and fitting these up. We kept them and I expect they'll last at least until the kids cease to buy into the whole Santa gig.

Materials:
5 pieces plain carbon 1/2"x1/8" barstock.

Pilum

2008-10-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

This little peach took about 30 minutes to make and really works well as a draw for the scouts. No one has been run through yet, amazingly enough.

Materials:

4"x4" 18ga plain carbon sheet steel (ferrule)

5' pine dowel, 1-1/2"

3/4" set screw

18" plain carbon (1018 hot rolled) 3/8" round stock

Acetylene torch

Cross Pein Hammer

18" rail section

Belt Grinder

Pre-Torch days

2008-10-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

The original project, a Falx, was started with essentially cold work on a low-carbon structural steel. This one curve took days. Seemingly. The blade was rough as could be because I didn't have a planishing hammer and didn't know what planishing was. I also didn't have anything like a stock removal tool.

I almost want to get some 1085 and bang this out again - it would take less than 2 hours of work to do as poor a job as I did then, and probably less than 6 to do a respectable job.

Note the peachy little "forge" - possibly the weakest little thing imaginable. I might as well have used the oven.

The amazing part is that you got any use out of it.

Materials:

(1) 1/4"x2"x36" 1018 Steel blank

(1) $3 sledge from the Ace bargain bin

(10) $3 Thermal Ceramics K23 firebricks

(2) Mapp torches

(30) days of frustration and discovery

How to punch holes in metal from a distance

2008-10-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

Materials: 50-cal rifle.

Relation to this blog: None.

Cool factor:27 on a scale of 10.

Feel Free to delete this.

Tempering Tricks

2008-10-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of what you can do with tempering. First of all, the temper color is a result of oxidation - the higher the temperature, that thicker the oxide layer. As the oxide layer gets thicker, its effect as a diffraction grating changes the color. See a chart here

The first picture is stripped - note the brass and copper inlay devices. The second shot is somewhere between 430F and 480F depending on the spot. The third is running up to 640F or so, showing the range. This was all done with the torch - set to and oxidizing flame to intentionally oxidize quickly and with a quick response. If you do this with a reducing flame, you don't oxidize fast enough to get feedback.

The last shot was after putting it into an over for 1 hour for a true temper - tempering with a torch is completely ineffective because it doesn't soak through. Note the color temperature is around 570F even though the oven was set to 525- they're not precision machines, to be sure. Better to undertemper and then crank it up later.

Note also the copper begins to oxidize, but the brass doesn't. If you wanted to keep a cool look, brass would be preferred for this reason although you might carefully knock off the copper oxides. Because this oxide layer is VERY thin, you might coat this for a work piece, even a decoration.

Materials:

4140 Steel

Yellow Brass, unknown alloy

Copper

Embossed leather Kite Shield for Russ

2008-10-24T18:26:00.001-07:00

This is a kite shield with tooled leather facing. The core is a plastic blank that performs fairly closely to a hardwood core (weightwise) but won't break any time soon. The basket on the back is a safety requirement. The angle of the grip is user specified, and everyone likes it a little different.

The zigzag pattern on the back allows me to wrap the leather around a curved surface without any bunching or folding.

Ingredients:

Plastic shield blank (PVC I think)
1/4 hide veggie tanned calf leather (thin and light)
2'x3'Black cloth (trigger)
100 or so 1/2inch carpet tacks
5 carriage bolts, nuts, and lock washers
1 steel shield basket cage
Yellow leather dye
Black leather dye
Leather dye sealant
Contact cement
2 copper rivets
1 brass buckle

Tools:
Dremel tool
Carving bit
Cotton Balls
Box razor
Ball peen hammer
Anvil
Rotary leather punch
Heavy craft shears
Carpenters T
Pencil
Cross stencil
Measuring tape
92 lb bronze plate
Belt sander

Important Information

2008-10-24T05:44:00.001-07:00

I was just looking up Silver properties, and I found this nifty little page on a site I've used in the past - pan over the periodic chart and it tells you the melting temp of all the elements. It's interesting to see it arranged this way.

Remember that Kelvin (K) temperature is an "absolute" scale, meaning it's indexed off and begins at absolute zero. It's the absolute form of Centigrade/Celsius (C). To get Celsius, subtract 273.15. To get Fahrenheit (F), get C and then multiply by 9/5, and then add 32. Or throw it into a converter.

Bottom line, I'm wrong about pure copper, but perhaps not about alloys. Here are the melting points:

Copper (Cu) - 1984F

Iron (Fe) - 2800F

Silver (Ag) - 1763F

Carbon (C) - 6381F

Aluminum (Al) - 1220F - very low

Zinc (Zn) - 787F - super-low but don't work it this way.

What's bizarre is that none of this is true when it's alloyed - see the phase diagram here. The melting point of pure iron becomes more apparent to the left where there's low carbon, which is intuitive. However, when yo add more carbon, you'd think the melting point rises but it drops. Very odd.

Brass is just the opposite - it's copper and zinc, and the zinc obviously lowers the mixture melting point. How the presence of a low-melting point element in solution with another lowers the melting point of the other is a mystery to me but I can accept the phenomenon because I have no choice.

One of the 2,000 plans I have it to get a legitimate foundry operation for up to 3000F. It makes all of this fascinating.

Leg armor for Richard

2008-10-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Richard was given some stainless steel kneecops for Christmas; but he's not an armorer and couldn't really do anything with them. He asked for help and this is what we came up with.

The cuisses are heavy upholstery over plastic. The fabric looks like velvet and covers the plastic very well. This could also have been done with cuirbolli leather but plastic is cheaper. The greaves are leather with padding underneath and are for incidental blows to the shins. For Rich this was important because he has adema in his right lower leg and can't afford a bruise to his calf or shin.

Ingredients:
Stainless steel five lame articulated knee cops
Plastic from an old barrel
Velvetine upholstery fabric
Spray glue
Carpet Tacks - lots and lots of carpet tacks
Chrome tanned leather for greaves
Veggie tanned leather for straps
8 buckles
About 30 copper post rivets
4 heavy brass post rivets
Mahogany leather dye

Tools
Peen hammer
Box Razor
Saber Saw
Heavy craft shears
Belt Sander
Sanding blocks
Anvil
Dikes
Linemans pliers
Torch for annealing brass rivets

Leather spangenhelm for a Valkyrie costume

2008-10-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

This is a leather Valkyrie helmet that I made for a co-worker's
girlfriend as part of a Haloween costume.

The leather is not hardened, as it's just a costume piece. It's a
basic spangenhelm pattern with leather and feather wings attached
using conchos.

Ingredients:

Veggie-tanned leather - Saddle Skirting for the frame and lighter leather for the plates
8 White feathers
48 Brass pop rivets
2 Conchos
White and Mahogany leather dye
Dye sealer
Hot Glue
Lots of water
Small bolts (these hold the parts in place while I build the helm. They are replaced with rivets once I've verified that the parts fit together)

Tools:
Rotary Leather punch
Box Razor
Heavy craft shears
Straight edge
Tailor's measuring tape
Peen Hammer
Anvil
Glue gun
Cotton Balls