blacksmithing

[prairie dog]

I tried my hand at blacksmithing this weekend.  I made some S hooks, turnscrews, and other do-dads.

I tried my dangest to post a photo but that seems more difficult to do on this forum than skinning a live wildcat.     I hope that gets fixed soon.  It sure makes this place difficult to live in.

[rickevans]

Good on you there PD. If you need some help or have some questions, post away. There are a few of us blacksmith types here.

[prairie dog]

Finally, I got photos to upload again.

These are the S hooks and turn-screws I made.   I've laid them out from left to right in the order I made them.  I think I got better with practice.



Here is a larger S hook and a lantern hanger.

[Hota]

Nice stuff man! I'll take one of them flat head screw drivers!

[Roaddog]

They look like ya been doing all your life. Nice work.

[rickevans]

Nice work....

[Spotted Bull]

Dang PD! That looks like natural born talent there!

[Riley/MN]

Good job there prairie dog!

[Bison Horn]

Dang PD didn't know ya had it in ya. Great job!  BH

[prairie dog]

Thanks guys.

I have some questions for the blacksmiths;  how do you weld two pieces together and what do p/c pliers look like?  Not forge tongs, but a small pliers to work on guns.

[rickevans]

Ah...they mystery of forge welding. How much time do you have? It is really very simple, get the metal hot enough, put some flux on it and stick it together. It depends on the material as to how hot, but I can tell you it's hot enough when I see it. The two pieces will actually "stick" together, forge welding does not require hard heavy blows if the material is at the suffecient temp and properly fluxed. Hammer blows just seat the two pieces to each other, and drive out the flux (and crud) between the two surfaces to make a clean, solid weld.  PC pliers look a lot like smaller versions of tongs. No slip joints, just a flat gripping surface on each half.

[gunmaker]

Man ain't nothig better than beating on a chunk a iron..............Tom

[gunmaker]

What Ric said,  use borax handsoap, mixed with all the metal dust on yer bench, floor...........Tom

[shootrj2003]

Best way to learn is to make rings of mild steel overlap the ends about half an inch  and make em 'fit tight at the lap dip the lap in borax stick it down inside your coke mound or bury in your charcoal bury it good right where your air comes in at and crank it nice and steady and wait when you see the metal start sizzling and sparking get a grip on the piece with the tongs  but do't move the piece yet-when the sparks are kicking up about 16-18 inches yank it out slap it on the anvil and give it hit with the hammer -not real hard no harder thansettin a roof nail immediately flip and whack it again on the opposite side if the heat was right you don,t have to hit it hard at all and if you do you ' ll just flatten out e work you won't get the shape you want. I practiced rings for two weeks or so before I finally got the heat right.
The thing is steel and iron are different by carbon content and the more carbon it has the quicker and easier it will burn(the sizzling and sparkling)and if you need to keep the hardness you must adjust your burning time so it welds but doesn't burn the carbon out of the steel(say a knife blade)ornamental stuff is easier because you can use mild steel(almost iron-low carbon)or hunt old barn sites and yard sales for true wrought iron you can use this for anything if you know what to do!but I digress and will wander on babbling about this,take this that I've told you and work with it,iron banging is a world of its own and if you go to far on that trail you might not have time to shoot stuff!