Home Workshop Blacksmithing for Beginners E-Book

Andrew Pearce

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 73

Beschreibung

A complete blacksmithing guide for metalworkers that provides thorough and detailed overviews on a variety of blacksmithing tools, techniques, and projects. Learn by doing with Home Workshop Blacksmithing as you follow expert guidance that will walk you through everything you need to know. With informative sections on safety, taking heats, finishes, cutting steel, and buying a forge, also provided are step-by-step projects for making a tapered bar, prybar, spring puller, and more. Additionally, this guide features a tutorial for making your own forge and how to build, maintain, and use a suitable fire. The ultimate resource for anyone interested in gaining fundamental metalworking skills, Home Workshop Blacksmithing is a must-have, project-based, skill-building book to equip you with the understanding and knowledge you need to succeed!

Leseprobe

© 2023 by Andrew Pearce and Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Home Workshop Blacksmithing for Beginners is an original work, first published in 2023 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders.

Photo Credit: Front Cover, Pg. 3: hammer and sparks Mirko Kuzmanovic/Shutterstock.comPg. 7: hammer and anvilPg. 9: blacksmith shop backgroundFXQuadro/Shutterstock.comPg. 48: grinder and sparks Volodymyr Burdiak/Shutterstock.comPgs. 10, 26, 34, 46, 56, 64, 72, 80: hammer and anvil graphicJF_Saing/Shutterstock.com

Managing Editor: Gretchen Bacon

Acquisitions Editor: Shelley Carr

Editor: Joseph Borden

Designer: Chris Morrison

Indexer: Nancy Arndt

Print ISBN: 978-1-4971-0311-5eISBN: 978-1-63741-155-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022945210

To learn more about the other great books from Fox Chapel Publishing, or to find a retailer near you, call toll-free 800-457-9112 or visit us at www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

Table of Contents

Introduction

Overview of Blacksmithing Process

Chapter 1: The Hearth, Tools, and Safety

The Hearth: A Quick Tour

Make a Static Hearth

Safety First, Always!

Lighting the Fire

Tools

Using the Hammer

Chapter 2: Heat and Cutting

The Fire

Taking Heats: A Key Skill

Finishes

How to Cut Steel on the Anvil

Chapter 3: Make a Podger

The Big Picture

Six Steps to a Podger

Chapter 4: Make a Crowbar

Uncoil the Spring

Normalize

Forge to Shape

Harden and Temper

The Finishing Touch

Chapter 5: Make an Eye

The First Bend

Forge Start and End Points

Form the Bulk of the Eye

Problem? No Problem

Chapter 6: Make a Spring Puller

Form the Hook

Form the Handle

Chapter 7: Make an Edge Bend

Edge Bending

Gallery

About the Author

Introduction

The point of this book is to lay out the groundwork techniques to hot-work steel through the process of making six useful tools. Here in the 21st century, even humble workshops have welding inverters, plasma cutters, portable power tools, and expensive drill bits tipped with “Unobtainium.” Why, then, should we bother with blacksmithing? It’s soooo last millennium.

Simple. Any business or individual that needs to straighten, bend, or form steel—and that covers plenty of people—will be more self-sufficient, and end up with better results, if they see how to work with metal rather than against it.

Of course, a book can only take you so far. The best way to learn is to be shown what to do by an experienced smith, then practice what you’ve learned . . . and then practice some more. For that, a formal course is ideal. But, if you can’t find a course or a local smith willing to help, then work through each of this book’s chapters. When things go wrong (which they probably will at first), come back and double-check your technique. As your confidence grows, you’ll find that a job often needs a touch of artistry alongside manual skill, and that the blending of the two brings even more satisfaction in the finished product.

You don’t need complicated kit to get going. Every workshop in the land has a hammer or two. Many also have a way to bring steel to red heat, even if it’s only thin stuff. Quite a lot can be achieved with just a hammer, a gas blowtorch, and a few firebricks to trap heat. But to get thicker metal up to workable temperatures cost-effectively, you need either oxyacetylene gas or a blacksmith’s hearth. Of these, a hearth offers far more speed, capability, and flexibility. No problem if you’re starting from scratch—we’ll outline how to make a hearth in the first chapter.

What Is a Blacksmith?

You might be wondering what separates a blacksmith from a farrier, and there is a bit of a blur between the two. While both shape hot metal using heat, an anvil, and a hammer, a farrier principally shoes animals—but may also be a blacksmith. A blacksmith makes and repairs things made from metal, usually iron or steel, but may very well also shoe animals. So, there’s some overlap. To sort them out easily, it’s best to consider which sorts of tasks the individual undertakes most, and identify them thus.

Hearth vs. Forge

Another common question: is a forge the same as a hearth? There is a certain degree of interchangeability between the terms. In many uses, a forge has become synonymous with a hearth. In the most traditional sense, though, this is not the case, as the forge (sometimes called a smithy) is the workshop or structure that houses all of a blacksmith’s tools, including the hearth. A hearth is a structure that holds the fire; it typically lives in the forge but can be mobile. For clarity, we will refer to the apparatus used to heat your steel as a hearth throughout this book. Hearths come in many shapes and sizes, but all have two things in common: a fuel (originally charcoal, then coal, and finally coke) and a variable supply of air to control the fire. Metal items joined using only heat and pressure have been forged, whether this happens in a blacksmith’s shop or in a factory.

So, let’s get going. For starters, we’ll look at what makes a good hearth, how to best light and look after the fire, and take a run through some basic tools.

The words and pictures in this book come from Andrew Pearce, while David Skinner, an Associate of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, most excellently demonstrates the techniques. A skilled smith based near the border between the English counties of Kent and Sussex, he specializes in functional and decorative ironwork. See samples of David’s work at www.sussex-forge.com. Both Andrew and David are English and based in the UK.

Overview of Blacksmithing Process

How to Use This Book

The content of this book is structured to help build your blacksmithing skills incrementally. Each new chapter will build on concepts taught in the previous chapter. For this reason, it is best to follow this book chapter by chapter, only moving on once you have successfully created each project.

Measurements

Please note that all metric measurements relating to the thickness/diameter of metal are not exact conversions of the imperial measurements; they are the closest readily available metric sizes of those materials.

The Hearth, Tools, and Safety

The Hearth: A Quick Tour

Throughout this book, I will be using a traditional blacksmith’s hearth. These hearths come in two basic forms: vertical blast, where air enters below the fire, and back blast, where it enters from behind. The vertical blast option is the simplest to make yourself, but back blast is the most efficient and the easiest to use. In both cases, air reaches the fire through a tuyére, whose name in old French means “pipe.” In the UK, tuyere is often shortened to “tueiron” or just “tue.” While my preferred hearth is the traditional style, beginning blacksmiths might find a propane hearth more approachable. Many versions and sizes of these can be found online.

The simplest hearths can be portable, bringing in air from below via a tube and fan; the fan can be handcranked or electric. It’s fairly straightforward to make a very basic hearth that uses a large-diameter truck brake drum to hold the fire. Larger static hearths originally got their air from a set of manual bellows, but those have long since given way to an electric fan. Commercial units draw air into the base of the fire from the back, as that puts air exactly where needed and helps prevent blockage from clinker. In these versions, water cooling extends the tue’s life. The result is a tue that will withstand years of heavyduty use, though a plain, uncooled version is okay in a lightly used hearth.

You can buy a simple or commercial hearth in kit form—but given the time and inclination, making your own is cheaper. There’s also the middling option: fabricate the frame then buy the fan, tue, and other bits. Here are pictures of both approaches, showing the layout of components. First, let’s look at a commercially made double unit, part of a permanent training setup in a farming college.

This is where air enters the hearth. Air comes through underfloor ducting from a central fan. Individual units use a simple manual gate valve to regulate airflow to the fire (arrow).

A two-person hearth. This hearth is big enough for two students to use simultaneously. Shop-wide extraction sucks away fumes via the top hood and stack.