The Armour Archive

The Iron Dwarf

I have seen a picture of a horseshoe nail ring, it was in a childrens book by an author I like. have thought about making a few sometime. do you have any pictures handy of such rings Hal? the little silversmiths stake turned out quite good and I expect it will soon go. today I made a hatchet stake o...

The Iron Dwarf

I'd love to, but RSI in my hands means much hammer work is right out for me. I'm stuck with stock removal for weapons etc, as I could do 4-5 hours, but I'd be crippled for a week after if its heavy stuff. hope its a success, I'm sure there would be others interested. well we do have a power hammer ...

The Iron Dwarf

hope you get the hammer done Hal and that with it you pound metal into interesting shapes. here is what I have done today with a kango chisel. bought a new chisel and cut off 3" from the working end to make another hot cutter then with what is left I used my lathe and grinder to produce this ht...

The Iron Dwarf

Vaughans of birmingham / wolverhampton have a few I think

The Iron Dwarf

sometimes I want to make things look like they were made 1000 to 1500 years ago and then transported in a time machine so they are also still new other times I want to add wear and use to them. I have in the past had to file away quite a bit of the thickness of a hasp and staple where a lock would h...

The Iron Dwarf

I think maybe you are right. I will have a go at making different heads but untill people tell me what they want I will have to guess. maybe I will offer either the eye or a custom hammer head and make them to order. whatever I make will be on sale at events I go to or online and it normally sells. ...

The Iron Dwarf

well I try to be different the eye hole in the prototype is about 3/4" by 1" yes it is for a wooden handle and like normal hammer heads the eye is slightly bigger at the outsides than the middle. the old hammer in my pic has 2 small balls on it for peening rivets I think, that or something...

The Iron Dwarf

thank you. we have a selection of hammers of that type around the workshop. with my idea I could make heads any weight you want and the wall thickness of the eye or size of the eye could be easily varied. I will make a batch of these soon and see how they go at maybe 5 uk pounds ( 7 USD ) each for j...

The Iron Dwarf

I supply microcrystalline wax ( paraffin wax is macrocrystalline )
it melts at a higher temp, is harder and more adhesive than paraffin wax and is used to modify other waxes as well as in conservation of artefacts.

you may be able to get some locally

The Iron Dwarf

Halberds wrote:A hot forge cutter?
I like it.
Hal

for those interested
http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/hot-cut-stake-tool-blacksmith-forgework-35113691.htm
will make more parts for hammers next

The Iron Dwarf

ok we have some progress today the following pic has in it an old hammer that made me think about fabricating them. also many pix of a head I made today also on the right hand side the eye I made to take a shaft, it is slightly belled out on both sides and oval at the middle bottom is something I ma...

The Iron Dwarf

I will post a pic tommorow of something I made a while ago, it is the same shape but much too thin walled but it will give you an idea.
I cant get a pic tonite as it is at my shop 7 miles away.
I will also get pix of some fabricated hammer heads we have that I will see if I can make more of.

The Iron Dwarf

am sure some there could do it better than me. but I may send you the prototype head I make my way if it works out ok for you to use to make yourself a hammer. as to forgework I am just a begginer but I have spent 35 years fabricating things and often making things look like they are made one way wh...

The Iron Dwarf

yes I think the traditional way is to use a drift to make the hole in a hot piece of metal. a tapered oval drift used first from one side then the other will produce ( if done right and you are lucky an oval hole the slightly bells out each side) . in cross section a bit like ) ( but no where near a...

The Iron Dwarf

people have often asked me about making hammer heads for various odd purposes and after a post on another thread I am going to first have a go at making the eye and surrounding area of a hammer head that either you or I could add to as needed by welding bits on. at work we have some that as well as ...

The Iron Dwarf

well 7 days seems about right as some folks may only be here once in a while

The Iron Dwarf

you could cut down an existing hammer head and weld on what you want to. I have thought of using some very heavy gauge hydraulic tube and first opening out both ends of a short section to a bell by placing a ball bearing on the hot piece of tube and hitting it with a hammer and then making the whole...

The Iron Dwarf

it looks good to me Hal, will you now be auctioning your used ( tried and tested ) vambrace tool, I know there are some here who want to buy it.

The Iron Dwarf

a hot cut stake to fit my 20mm stake holders shown here with the stump mount single stake holder http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/hodgesaargh/Image008.jpg it is a chisel from a large air hammer and is just over 1 1/2" wide and is 7 1/4" tall of which 4" goes in the holder ( or y...

The Iron Dwarf

a tool that has been tested and works is worth more than an untried one

The Iron Dwarf

looks good Hal

The Iron Dwarf

Steak: What one tosses on the grill... IE meat. http://home.armourarchive.org/members/halberds/Tboned.jpg well in a couple of weeks we are having a meet at the workshop where there will be steaks and stakes and metal to pound. at least one from here is attending a forgework course run by the blacks...

The Iron Dwarf

here is a stake I made a while ago, people seem to like it http://im1.ebidst.com/upload_big/1/8/6/1271600449-19987-0.jpg the disc is about 2 1/4" diameter and 3/4" thick ( 55 by 20mm ) and is hard. here is an S cam stake, have also done a worm stake but may have made the worm too short htt...

The Iron Dwarf

Iron Dwarf, That is a cool squiggly pump thing. I have seen art stakes forged squiggly and tapered. I bet you can make a cool tool out of that. Yes? Hal the pump part I have used before, it is hard and polished but has no taper and I have them from 4" long and 1/4" thick up to the one in ...

The Iron Dwarf

ok so we know it is all Hal's fault here is a little something I made today http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/hodgesaargh/Image004.jpg the longer thinner side is the spike from a spanner for lining up holes when erecting steelwork ( drop forged steel ) and the shorter fatter side is a wear part...

The Iron Dwarf

to use that you really need the two balls that go on the top spikes.
replacements can be made but without them the force is greatly reduced.
I would not pay more than it is now unless it has those balls

The Iron Dwarf

you can also try a shot bag for the bottom or a block of lead or rubber, all will work for some things. even try a box with sand in it as a bottom tool. experiment and you may discover an easy way to make something and nothing new is discovered by following percieved wisdom. some of the press work I...

The Iron Dwarf

the hydraulic pump on mine is not loud at all and the same pump runs another machine as well, a 20 ton steelworker I got for about $20 many years ago, its american made a scotchman 207 and depending on how far you are pushing the metal the contact will only be a second or two. will one day try dishi...

The Iron Dwarf

it was actually for a historic structure but was what was specified by the customer, they would not accept anything else. we also have in stock large quantities of old WI and lots of cast iron which we frequently have to reshape for jobs, at the moment we have several CI benches that are very old an...

The Iron Dwarf

when welding hardened balls to mild steel I find the small ones are no problem if I turn the power up and do them quickly with either mig or stick. if I weld part of it and wait a few seconds before doing the rest it can crack. over 60mm balls ( 2 3/8" ) and I have to pre heat them as well as w...

The Iron Dwarf

a lot of tooling can be made from scrap, a pipe flange or short piece of pipe can be a bottom tool for dishing and a ball on a suitable spigot can be a top tool, how deep you dish and if doing it larger than the ball how lumpy it ends up depend on how you use it. you can also punch, crop, bend and a...

The Iron Dwarf

I made a 30 ton powered hydraulic press, I can control the movement with a foot switch to maybe 1/32" and also have switches set for preset depth and height that can be set a lot finer. with this I have both hands free for the work and can dish 3/8" plate easily cold, I have a lot of tooli...

The Iron Dwarf

I really like that Mole plow anvil, but I would shift the fork lift tine piece back another couple of inches and allow use of the hole right in front of it... the hole you see in front of the flat block is only a shallow step, where the front leg is is the start of the slot for originally mounting ...

The Iron Dwarf

we got a couple of tons of 'pure iron' in for a job a couple of years ago, still quite a few bits around the workshop.
will post a link to the supplier when I get home from work tommorow

The Iron Dwarf

well the rather ' agricultural anvil I make as a horn that is very hard and at least 2 1/2" diameter ( it is from a not very common type of plough ). the flat area is made from EN 45 spring steel that has been hardened and is about 4" by 8" and 2" thick ( fork lift tine ) and in ...

Re: Forgework courses in december ( England )

hammer heads?