Rev. ... 2002-12-15, 2003-02-08, -06-21, -08-28
2004-12-10, 2005-01-06, 2006-08-14
I became interested in forging out of glass work in part because of wanting to make some metal shapes to blow into. (Also, Foundry work.) In particular, one of the variations I wanted to try was to twist up stems from steel that would look like the exposed roots, trunk and limbs of a tree and blow glass into the shape formed by the limbs.
| Metal Center |
The piece shown uses
part of a piece of wire rope (about 15 feet long I found by
the road and dragged home in a big loop on the bus) that has 7
wires, a central straight wire and 6 twisted tightly around it.
This is the natural tight pack. (By counting on a copper stranded
wire, the next layer apparently has 12 wires in it.)
I explored other packs for having choices in design and having a central wire for grip if I needed it.
| Number of wires | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Center wire dia. (fraction of D) | 0.151 | 0.407 | 0.707 |
| Center wire gauge for 9 gauge wire | <24 | 17 | 12 |
Two images taken with different cheap
video cameras (one a USB digital link, the other an X-10 analog
remote cast camera.)
An attempt at twisting up a piece out of
(much too thin) 18 ga. stainless wire. It blew ok, but barely
stands up.
Punty
built for wire stem goblets
- there is a hole in the soldered core of the all-thread pipe the size of the
center wire, so the middle wire of the stem is centered on the foot
plate/floor flange at left. There is a hole drilled in the side of the all
thread (on the other side) to permit running a wire down the
inside to hold a leg of the punty, but both so far I have used
light wire twisted through one of the holes in the plate to hold
the wire stem, cutting it with diagonal cutters just before
putting it in the annealer.
 |
 |
 |
This is the third
goblet blown into wire, a smaller gauge than above, using part of a batch of
wire found being thrown out and bent up with a plate with 7 holes drilled into
it
Problems discovered while working the piece
- the hole in the punty was larger than the wire and it wobbled
- the wire is galvanized and the finish should have been removed
after soldering or will have to be removed
- leaving the feet unset, at this angle, did not provide enough
stability, although it could have been better tuned by trimming
the ends.
Additional goblets have been made with cast feet and stems.
Back in the distant past (4 years?), I started collecting stuff so I could do some forging. I found a place over in Ft. Worth that sells actual hard coal for blacksmith work, bought a couple of tools, read several books, built a flat tray on legs to hold coal and take in air and attended a couple of meetings of the blacksmiths and bought a small anvil. After a bit of fooling around that is about as far as it went.
Here is the anvil newly mounted on its 5'
pecan post after the previous 5 foot whatever wood post turned to punk.
I had to take a tree down in my backyard and carefully cut the
longest section of trunk for this purpose. The top of the anvil
is about 26" off the ground, so about 3 feet of the post are
in the ground. The anvil is held to the post with a thickish
steel strap across the feet with drilled holes and long (6-8")
3/8" lag screws into the stump. The top of the stump is
treated with boiled linseed oil. Since the anvil is outside, to
the right is the rough sheet metal cover that protects it when
not in use.
This is only a 65# anvil, but it seems enough for me, especially when fastened to the post instead of loose. The post was carefully positioned and the top trimmed with a router to make sure it was level. The worst thing about the anvil is the 3/4" hardie [square] hole for which no one makes fittings so I am forging my own.
These
two tools for use in the 3/4" hardie hole were made from 3/4" solid bar stock,
round and square to have smaller surfaces to work on than the anvil. I had
tried gas welding pieces to tubing, but broke it free on pounding. These
two were worked in the coal forge to bend in the middle and square, reduce and
fit the lower end. 2005-01-06
This is the forge. The coal forge design was scrounged from a couple
of online descriptions and is basically a square pyramid welded of 4 pieces of
1/8th
inch steel and turned up side down. What would be the point of
the pyramid has a square tube welded for air intake, coals
shaker, and cleanout. The tray was lined with concrete. A lip on the back and
side restrains coal from getting out. To show you the pace I sometimes work
at, when I went to my webpage on forging I found a note from 2002 saying I
should try the push button on the blower and here I finally did it!
Unfortunately, the simple design for a shaker is
bad and the air flow is hard to step up and down. I simply use
one of the blowers from my glass work. Either I need a manual
device that gradually slows down (a bellows, pipe pump, or hand
spun blower) or I need to counter weight my valve so that when I
open it, it gradually closes when I ignore it. [I am thinking a foot switch to
turn on the blower briefly might be useful 2002-10-12 Worked very well
2004-12-09.] Legs and cross
bars are welded under the tray so that it sits on a level
surface, most importantly in the BBQ grill space where its
surroundings are fire resistant.
This is the spiral shaft after forging. The 1/4" rod is threaded into a
tapped hole in the end of the 1/2" shaft of the fan blades. Forging was about
as much of a challenge than I expected, getting the twist in place and working
it smooth, and getting the balance was a challenge. Even cold, I had to
jigger for several minutes of bending to get it centered.Many blacksmiths and most farriers (horseshoers) use propane forges more or less all the time. I have built a cylinder for use as a propane forge and gloryhole, but have also done some coal work. I hope to do more.
A required catalog is from Centaur Forge http://www.centaurforge.com/ which has blacksmith, tinners, and farrier tools as well as equipment, books, videos, and coal (if you can afford the shipping.)
A major source of information on the web is anvilfire.com - Blacksmithing and Metalworkers Reference
In the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, most of the resources are near Ft. Worth. Texas Farrier Supply 603 S New Hope Rd Kennedale, TX 76060 (817) 478-6105 have tools and coal, has anvils. Verified 2006-08-14