| Author |
Message |
Greyson Brown
|
 Posted: Fri 08 Sep, 2006 6:20 am Post subject: |
 |
|
Bruno,
Nice work! I wish my first forsged guard had turned out that nicely.
| Bruno Giordan wrote: | A first blank had gone awry, I left it one minute too much in the forge when i switched from coke to charcoal, when I was back one of the arms had been burnt away.
I had made an igloo style mound to betetr heat the pieces, estimating low the power of such forge.
It revealed more powerful than a gas one!
Actyually igloos were used for welding by brazing .... when the piece emerged broken it was white hot.
there was no way to work in the dark, since here it is again stifling hot, it is impossible to keep a forge inside a hall, however big. |
You have to be careful with the misconception that coal/coke forges are not as hot as gas. Most of the people I know who have worked on both will testify that coal forges are just as hot. The biggest trick with a coal forge is getting people to understand that they don't have to turn the handle on the blower (in the case of the circa 1800 style blowers that many smiths use) or pump the bellows (in the case of my forge) relentlessly. With either one, one rotation/pump a second is more than plenty. Even then, you can burn up mild steel really quick (and the higher the carbon content, the easier it is to burn).
Even if you are not able to work indoors, try to work in the shade. A canvas tarp supported by about 6 poles and some guy ropes will still allow for a cooling breeze, and block out the sun a bit. Having shade will then allow you to watch your piece in the fire (in my experience, it is worth it to poke a small hole in the 'igloo' so that you can watch you metal, even if that does mean some heat is getting by). As a general rule, if the piece you are heating 'disappears' against the coals (it will be heated to the point that the metal and the coal are glowing the same color, and that can make your metal seem to disappear), then you are at welding temperature. If you leave the piece in much longer than that, you will burn your material. While it can be fun to see all those little sparks shooting off of a piece of steel, it is really rather detrimental to project completion.
You are obviously a good smith, so I am probably repeating a bunch of stuff you already know, but working with coal is a different creature than gas. The basics are still the same, just wathc out for the things I mentioned above, and don't get carried away pumping air into your forge. I've lost and seen more projects lost to over zealeous apprentices than almost any other reason.
-Grey
"So long as I can keep the path of honor I am well content."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company
|
|
  |
 |
Alexander Hinman
|
| Posted: Fri 08 Sep, 2006 10:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
That looks amazing so far, Bruno! I can't wait to see the finished product, especially after case hardening, because it's something I've never actually seen before.
How long are you going to leave it in the carbon for? And how deep of a carburisation are you going for?
Coal and charcoal forges are much hotter than gas, in my experience, or have the potential to be, I should say. If you pump constantly, in a igloo or 'bee's hive' fire, you're going to get a *lot* of heat. I actually prefer coal forges by a large margin. Part of it is the noise (the gas forge I use is looooud) and the ability to heat up areas of varying size very quickly in a coal forge. The rest is aesthetic. Not to say gas forges are bad, I think they're great... It's just that their advantages aren't as high on my list as the advantages provided by coal.
|
|
|
|
|
Bruno Giordan
|
| Posted: Fri 08 Sep, 2006 11:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Greyson Brown wrote: | Bruno,
Nice work! I wish my first forsged guard had turned out that nicely.
You are obviously a good smith, so I am probably repeating a bunch of stuff you already know, but working with coal is a different creature than gas. The basics are still the same, just wathc out for the things I mentioned above, and don't get carried away pumping air into your forge. I've lost and seen more projects lost to over zealeous apprentices than almost any other reason.
-Grey |
No, thank you instead for your advice, i may have the right genes for smithing but actually I have been smithing for one month ...
|
|
|
|
|
Bruno Giordan
|
| Posted: Tue 26 Sep, 2006 10:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Update
I worked a whole day on the cross and the blade.
After shaping the cross I polished it with 120 grit paper, also I polished likewise the blade.
Tang had already been reshaped at the forge by hammering the last wings of the blade slyghtly and grinding a wider tang, so shortening the blade to 48 cm.
Now the blade is six times eight centimeters (eight is a Fibonacci number ...), so the cross was made as wide as two by eight centimetres ( two is a Fib number as well).
Guess what the handle will be long?
As ever, pardon my low level digital camera, the polish isn't finished a of yet.
[/b]
 Attachment: 86.8 KB
Last edited by Bruno Giordan on Tue 26 Sep, 2006 10:37 am; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
Bruno Giordan
|
| Posted: Tue 26 Sep, 2006 10:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
Cross shape
Attachment: 64.47 KB
Attachment: 70.32 KB
|
|
|
|
|
Torsten F.H. Wilke
Location: Irvine Spectrum, CA Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 250
|
| Posted: Tue 26 Sep, 2006 11:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
Bruno, I was curious as to how tightly the crossguard fits onto the tang? Did you have to take steps to tighten it up from the original piercing? Question; What if the handle needs a prime factor to fit your hand well? 
|
|
|
|
|
Bruno Giordan
|
| Posted: Tue 26 Sep, 2006 11:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Torsten F.H. Wilke wrote: | | Bruno, I was curious as to how tightly the crossguard fits onto the tang? Did you have to take steps to tighten it up from the original piercing? Question; What if the handle needs a prime factor to fit your hand well? |
Eh eh, there is still hot peening of the cross to do .. I will do it after the carburization and first hardening but befor the last drawing-back.
For the moment it fits a little loose, even if I could use the compression method to secure it, but I will humbly follow P. Johnson footsteps.
Hot peening will put it in place, hopefully forever.
For my next blade I will build a custom piercing tool, the one I used is a traditional one but more apt for generic work, baldesmithing is a fine art, it has not much in common with hammering out carpentry buckets and spades;
I decided for a 13 cm handle.
I have a small hand size, with a glove it will leave one - on and half cm of total ease: but other people with normal or big hands will appreciate: so this blade could be used by other people.
I'm jus 170 cm tall so I'm not average.
|
|
|
|
|
Torsten F.H. Wilke
Location: Irvine Spectrum, CA Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 250
|
| Posted: Tue 26 Sep, 2006 1:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
13 centimeters it is, and shall be a lucky number for you...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum
|
This is a standard topic