Blacksmithing Class Number Seven & Eight

I had to travel for work so much to my chagrin, I missed Class Number Six. The project for that week was to make a BBQ grilling fork. Jonathan Nedbor, the instructor and owner of Canal Forge, was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to do a make up session to forge one. The following two classes went by far too quickly. I can't believe eight weeks have gone by...

In the last two classes, we went over metal identification by grinding metal and studying the spark patterns. That was pretty exciting! I saw my first grinding wheel break, which caught everyone off guard. Unexpected events like that are why you wear safety glasses. We also went over tempering, which is the process of bringing metal to a certain temperature and cooling it properly to cause it to become harder. This process is used to make tools.

Our final project was to make a cold chisel out of hex rod tool steel. We used the tempering technique to harden the chisel edge.

This is my final product! Every tool box should have one and I never bought one. So, I'm excited to now have one I made. Anyone need something chiseled?

I wish I could give a link to Jonathan Nedbor, our instructor's, work. Unfortunately, he doesn't currently have a website. Once he does have one, I will update this post with the information. Jonathan owns Canal Forge in High Falls, NY. I highly recommend taking a Blacksmithing course with him. Besides being a great teacher, he is extremely talented and very generous with his knowledge! 

Blacksmithing Class Number Five

 By popular demand, here is a photo of yours truly - forging!

Yup, here I am toiling away and working on an S hook. Jonathan Nedbor was kind enough to take a photo of me in action. The weather was pretty cold that class, so the shop was a bit chilly. Hence, the hat and scarf.

I got to use a gas furnace, which I love! The temperature is constant, you don't have to continually work your fire, and the whole unit doesn't take up much room, which is ideal for a small shop. I am going to look into purchasing one of these.

Et voila! Here is my finished S hook. Not too shabby... 

I had to travel for work, so I missed Class Number Six. I am really bummed out. Hopefully I will be able to make that class up and get a lot done in Class Number Seven.

Blacksmithing Class Number Four

Now that I am taking this blacksmithing class, I am noticing ironwork everywhere! This gate is at the BOK Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, FL. I visited the garden, recently, while in FL.

The gates were designed and built by Samuel Yellin from Philadelphia. His granddaughter, Claire Yellin, still runs the business he started. The company does conservation, restoration and new work.

Detail of the latch. This is the notorious shot that almost got me bitten by a swan.

Detail of the end of one fence.

Mr. Yellin in his office. Photo via http://www.samuelyellin.com.

Yellin Forge Shop. Photo via http://www.samuelyellin.com.

 I love these old photos of people working in shops.

This is what came out of my fourth class. I finished my Drive Hook! They were originally designed so that you could drive the point into mortar, such as a stone fireplace, and hang your pots and pans. Ironically, I have no fireplace. If I were to nail it into my drywall, my landlord would probably have a fit at the gapping hole I would leave when I moved out. So, I have been carrying around the hook in my pocketbook and whipping it out on a moments notice to show anyone who will listen to me. I'm awfully proud of my first true blacksmith product...

Blacksmithing Class Number Three

Although no one posted a comment, many people asked to see my finished project that I had forgotten to take a photo of at the end of Class Number Two. SO,..... Here it is!

It may not be very exciting to the casual observer, but I am very proud of it! I am making progress in understanding the basics of smithing. The object was to take two horseshoes, straighten them out, fold one horseshoe over the other and weld them together, and then draw the metal out to the original thickness of one horseshoe. The project makes you work on straightening, welding, moving metal, and forging a taper. The close up picture shows the left side is welded and how it moves to showing the three layers of metal; proof that it isn't one piece of metal!

Class Number Three, we spent the first part going over tools in the shop. The tool above is called a power hammer. Instead of hammering a piece by hand, a person brings it over to this machine and with a foot pedal controls a 'hammer head' that drops down to sandwich your metal between the head and a surface. Its loud, dangerous, archaic, and very cool. Plus, it keeps you from getting tired from hammering.

This tool is called a Screw Press. Its a little hard to see from the photo, but on the table surface you set dies, place your metal across it, then turn the screw handle up top. As the top portion compresses against the table it forms your metal into shapes. You can create waves, hard angles, divets in plate, etc.

We also went over anvils. Who knew there were so many different types? Italian pattern, London pattern,... I can only imagine a bad joke starting as, there was an Italian, an Englishman, and a Frenchman standing around a blacksmith shop... (I don't know where that goes. I need my friend Reed Karen around to tell me the punch line! He is the ultimate joke teller and also a super talented woodworker/designer.)

The second half of the class we started to make a drive hook. This piece started off as a piece of 1/4" round stock. I beat it into square stock and formed the right angle. While this looks pretty simple, it is quite tricky to get a right angle. The hook portion also is shaped into a taper on all four sides, which is hard to see in the photograph. I cannot wait to finish this piece.

Blacksmithing Class Number Two

Because I will be traveling for work, I was going to miss my second blacksmith class. Luckily my instructor, Jonathan Nebor, let me come in over the weekend and he gave me a private lesson, so I won't be behind in class when I return. Again, it was AWESOME!

I continued to work on the horseshoe project. I tried to build my own fire and set up the chimney. I then worked on forging and learned how to weld with flux. Welding through a fire is very different then welding with a machine, like TIG welding. The principle is the same between the different methods. Welding is bringing different pieces of metal together to become one piece.

I kept laying the hammer down in the wrong direction on the anvil. The brush is to take the scale off when finishing a piece. It was really nice to be able to work by myself at the fire. I felt like I had the time to try different ways of holding the piece and working the metal. Jonathan is a great teacher. He knows how to give instruction and then to back off so you can take your time to absorb the information and try it out.

I got to throw some big sparks, which was exciting. I need to work on the positioning of my body in relation to the anvil and piece. I kept standing too far from the work and not having enough leverage to hammer properly. Because I am a small person, I have to be especially cognizant of where I am working so I don't have to do extra work to make a piece or tire my muscles out. I finished my project and forgot to take a photo of it! I did get some nice shots of Jonathan's shop.

Intro to Blacksmithing

Last night was my first blacksmithing class and it was AWESOME! The class is being taught by Jonathan Nedbor of Canal Forge who has 35 + years as a blacksmith. There are only six people in the class, including me, so the student to teacher ratio is perfect. The students range from 14 to 70 in age. Its a nice mix of personalities. Jonathan has a great shop, albeit dusty. It ends up that as you heat the metal and then it cools, it can shed a scale that turns to dust when you strike it with a hammer. Everywhere you look within the shop, there is an interesting tool or project. I'm really looking forward to figuring out what some of the odd shaped tools and machines do.

By the end of the first night, Jonathan had us squishing metal. Yes, squishing is a technical term. I made him repeat it twice. Our first project is to take two horse shoes and straighten them out. My two shoes are above. I got through 1 and 1/4 of the second. In the next class, I will continue to straighten the second shoe. Then, I will weld the two shoes together and work on making it a bar of steel. Although it feels awkward right now to handle the metal with tongs, it is incredibly satisfying to see the metal glowing red and shaping it with a hammer on an anvil. It really got my creative juices flowing. 24hrs later and I'm still high off the experience! I will continue to post on my progression and I hope, by the end of the class, to have some finished projects to share.