Blacksmith Course Pt.2

Things I learned in the two days at blacksmith school:


1. strike while the iron is hot has real meaning in a forge.  From the time that the piece comes out of the fire until it has cooled to were hitting it is a waste of time is a very short time, hence, strike while the iron is hot.


2. you have a short window of opportunity while the steel is hot, so you have to know what you are trying to achieve.  As a beginner I really had little clue of what to do, even though I had some idea of what I hoped would result from my efforts. Often I spend the next time I heated the steel fixing mistakes from the last time.  Daniel figures I took 5 to 10 times longer to complete  my pieces than he would.


3. I am not as good a hammerer as I thought.  Upon thinking about it I haven't swung a serious hammer, for any length of time in years.  I don't drive long spike, I drive long screws, so, when it came time to hammer steel I was inaccurate and did not hit the hot steel hard enough to accomplish much of anything some times.


4. when steel gets to 1440 degrees Fahrenheit it is no longer magnetic, very cool.  Daniel showed me that the steel piece would attract a magnet along it length until it got to the real hot section and then it would not hold.  When the section cooled, the magnet held. (very cool)


 5. steel can burn, not just discolour and look burned, but burn.  I had a small piece in the fire for too long and then suddenly, the piece was smaller and the tip was gone and the rest of the tip looked like charcoal more than steel.


6.The more practical things I learned is that I really admire what Daniel can do with steel in his forge, but I have no intention or desire to begin learning how to do those things myself.  If there is a tool that I really want and can't find I'll have Daniel make it rather than try and make it myself.  I have learned that it takes;
annealing the steel,
forging and shaping
cooling,
hardening
and tempering to make steel (like files and leaf springs) into useful tools.


Those are the steps, each step takes tools, many of which were new to me and skills, all of which were new to me.  

chisel blanks

 While at Forged  Link I made two lathe chisels, a large roughing gouge and a very large straight scraping chisel.  You can see the blanks sitting on the anvil.  The top piece was heated and shaped into the gouge on a swage block after first having the tang drawn out from the original rectangular piece of  leaf spring.  Drawing the tang was a hammer and tongs sort of experience and one that showed me just how poor a hammerer I really am. ( shaped photo to follow in part 3)


  The lower piece was cut to its basic shape with a grinder and cutting wheels.  Then all that was necessary was rounding some corners and shaping the rough bevel on the edge.  That was straight forward enough that it didn't take even me very long.


  After the pieces were formed, cooled and tempered there is still final shaping and sharpening, two tasks to be completed in my home workshop.  Tasks that will be attended to shortly and then handles will have to be made before the chisels can be used on my lathe.


  The chisels are bigger than any I have seen for sale and probably more cost effective, and....I made them. (with help) and making my own tools has proven to be an educational and rewarding experience.