Forges OT [Sca-cooks] cordials

[marilyn traber 011221]

> > -----Original Message-----
> > Yeah, understand where you're coming from. While I have no
> > intention of going down the road of research as far as cordials and that
> sort of
> > thing go, I'm taking the same path with my interest in smithing. Most
> people stop
> > with "heat it up and hit it with a hammer and make something
> > kewl" where I'm looking at what style of hammer/heat/anvil, where and
> when, what
> > types/usages/characteristics of ores available, in which
> > areas, the economic worth of iron goods, as well as their
> origins/usages/methods
> > of dispersion.
> >
> > The symbol is the forge, or the finished cordial, but what the symbol
> > actually stands for- now that is what we're looking for ;-)
> >
> > Phlip
> 
> So, what do you use as your basic forge pan.  Or what did you start 
> with? I have a passing fancy for hitting hot metal to make kitchen 
> tools and fire pit cooking utensils.  I have a decent blower, and 
> source for old iron.  I can live with purchased or borrowed tools to 
> start with . . . but the forge. someone recommended a discarded 
> brake drum form a full size pickup truck for making smaller pieces.
> 
> niccolo difrancesco
> (my 1861 house could use some period pieces as well)

Strongly suggest you join our EKMetalsmiths List:

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Started out fro people in the EK, but I know too many people, so anyone from 
anywhere is welcome, as long as they're interested in some aspect of 
metalsmithing.

As far as a forge, you can use damn near anything, as long as it doesn't 
burn. My forge is a brake drum with a piece of Duke Andrew's old furnace pipe 
as a down pipe, and assorted bits and pieces welded together, but I'm working 
on building a period style forge in a wooden box lined with clay. All you 
need is a container that won't burn, and a direct source of air to the fire- 
anything else is just details for convenbience.

To make one easily without having to weld, get a brake drum. Inside it, have 
a flange on the end of a 6" pipe nipple, a T fitting, and 2 more nipples for 
the other ends of the T. Attach one of the top branches of the T to the 
nipple coming out of the bottom of the brake drum, one to the stem of the T 
(thats where you put the air input) and one to the other branch of the T, 
with an end cap to catch the ashes, so you can unscrew it and clean the ashes 
out. You can also make a gravity controlled door for r4emoving the ashes, but 
that's a bit more complex. For a grate, so your fire doesn't fall down the 
pipe, you can use one of those cast iron shower grates that you can get at 
and hardware store.

Once you have all that put together, you need to set it on some sort of 
stand. Mine is a 2' X 3' table made of 11 guage sheet metal, with angle iron 
(from an old bed frame) around the edges to stabilize it (Andy welded mine 
together for me, but it could easily be bolted together) with legs made of 
more old bed frame bolted together with 1/4" bolts and fly nuts (for easy 
disassembly for transport) but you could easily enough make a tripod out of 
bar stock, or do what one friend of mine does, and set it down inside an old 
gas bbq grill.

Best fuel is charcoal- for one thing, it's more period- but you can, of 
course, use coke, smithing coal, or for that matter, any coal, but coal, 
unless it's smithing quality, is WAY too much hassle per BTU- at least in my 
opinion- I don't like having to spend all my time setting up the fire and 
cleaning out clinkers- I'd rather gossip, teach, and hit metal ;-)

And, it depends on what you mean by smaller pieces. The advantage to a 
coal/charcoal forge is that you can heat things in a limited area- you're not 
heating the whole piece, whereas with most propane forges, you're heating 
more than you're actually working on, which often means you need to cool the 
area you don't want to shape. No, I couldn't make an anchor to hold the Queen 
Mary in my little forge, but I can, and have, made various pieces 6 and 8 ft 
long- just depends how I arrange the fire.

If you make it to Pennsic this year, I'll be happy to give you lessons, 
either on my forge, if I bring it, or on any of an assortment of other forges 
I have access to. Spent most of last Pennsic either in Chirurgeon's Point, or 
someone's forge teaching people ;-)

Phlip