Blacksmithing Guide. Blacksmith's Tools.

 Blacksmithing Guide.Blacksmith's Tools Diy.

Today’s “economy of waste” presents craftsmen with an abundance of scrap steel from which to forge useful and beautiful things.

In the light of today’s renaissance of handicrafts the ancient art of blacksmithing takes on a new interest . The modern blacksmith must to perfect their forging skills and knowlenge, learn to do by himself what the old-time blacksmith and his helper did as a trade. Anyone who is dexterous by nature can become Experienced Blacksmith. Reveals secrets, How to use the basic techniques and tools to make “things” out of “nothing.” The equipment, tools and the procedure for work are described in this manual.

Blacksmith's Tools

Hammers

Three types of hammers (fig. 10) are used by the blacksmith: ball peen, straight peen, and cross peen. The ball peen hammer is the one generally used; the other two are little used. The straight peen hammer is used mainly for spreading or drawing out stock at right angles to the hammer handle. The cross peen hammer is used for drawing out metal in line with the hammer handle. Ball peen is used for ordinary light work.

Blacksmiths’ hammers are available through hardware stores and mail-order houses. They have changed little in design, although the steel composition may have improved through modem metallurgy.

The cross-peen-type hammer is the most useful. One end of the hammer has the cross peen, which is used to draw out steel, while the other end has a flat, octagonal face, slightly rounded off at its edges to leave an almost circular face. The face itself is very slightly convex, so that any minor inaccurate blows by the hammer's edge, not parallel to the anvil face, will not leave deep local markings in the steel.

Several hammer sizes (weights) and designs are used, but the beginner will not need more than a few at the outset.

The flat and cross peen, and the flat and ball peen are the all-round blacksmiths’ hammers. Sizes of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pounds are preferred.

The heavier hammers, as a rule, are the sledgehammers. In olden times the smith had his apprentice helper to swing the sledge when heavy stock was to be forged. There is a limit, therefore, to the weight of hammer you can use by yourself. If you can acquire a small-caliber mechanical hammer, it will do the heavy sledging for you. 

Fig. 10.—Types of blacksmith's hammers.

Sledges

A sledge is a hammer weighing from 5 to 20 pounds, having a handle 30 to 36 inches long. It is usually of the straight peen or cross peen type as shown in figure 11. Sledges are ordinarily used by the blacksmith's helper to deliver heavy blows either directly on the work or on some other tool such as a swage, fuller, or natter. 

Fig. 11. —Sledges.

Tongs

The blacksmith uses various tongs, essential tools in the blacksmith shop, to hold hot work while he is forging it on the anvil. They should be well made and fitted to the work they are designed to hold. They are usually made by the blacksmith, either for general use or for special purposes. Both sides of most pairs of tongs are alike, that is, all of the dimensions, offsets, projections, and curves are in the same direction, and one side is turned over when the tongs are riveted together. There are seven different types of tongs in common use in the blacksmith shop. Six have definite form as shown in figure 12. The seventh type includes all tongs that a blacksmith makes for special purposes. Figure 13 shows a few examples of special tongs made by the blacksmith. The variety and number of such tongs are limited only by his imagination and ability.

You can see old collections of tongs displayed in blacksmiths’ shops in museum towns such as Williamsburg, Virginia, and Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento, California. They are of every conceivable size and shape, revealing how the smith would make a special pair for each new forging problem. The jaws are made in infinite variety, to hold each particular steel workpiece firmly and easily during forging. And today, as in the past, there is no limit to the usefulness of having many designs at hand as you work. You will learn to make a pair of tongs in the same way that the early blacksmith did, and thus gradually be able to build up your own set exactly as you want it.

The old smith did not have our modern visegrip self-locking pliers, a very welcome, practical addition to the blacksmith’s shop. It can be used most successfully in place of the old type of tongs which had a clamping ring that held the jaws firmly together. Visegrip pliers can hold the widest range of sizes and shapes of stock during forging, more easily and better than the old tongs.

Fig. 12—Common tongs.

Fig. 13. —Special purpose tongs.

(1) Flat tongs are used for holding -flat stock.

(2) Lip tongs are used to hold rectagular stock to be bent or worked on its edge.

(3) Bolt tongs are suitable for holding stock having a larger end than body. The jaws can be made with either round or square grooves. Square jaws are preferable because they hold either round or square stock and will hold different sizes or round stock firmly, while round jaws will hold only one size of round stock.

(4) Pick-up tongs are used for picking up hot work or tools and for holding stock being worked on the end.

(5) Pincer tongs, sometimes called barrel tongs, are used mainly to hold round stock while it is worked on the ends.

(6) Link tongs are used for holding chain links or for similar work while they are being forged.

Vise grip (self-locking) pliers

Fullers

(1) The top fuller (fig. 14) is used to make depressions in the upper side of a forging as it lies flat on the anvil or for drawing out or spreading stock. Like the similar tools described below, it has a handle like a hammer and is held on the work by the black smith while his helper strikes it with a sledge.

Fig. 14. —Top fuller.

(2) The bottom fuller (fig. 15) fits into the hardy hole of the anvil. It is used for the same purposes as the top fuller, except that it works on the bottom of the forging. It is used with the top fuller, or the stock is struck directly on top with a sledge. Fullers are ordinarily made with radii from ½ inch to 1½ inches. 

Fig. 15. —Bottom fuller.

Set hammer

The set hammer (fig. 16) is used for setting down work, working in small spaces, or producing sharp inside corners. It is usually made with sharp edges, although some set hammers have rounded edges and are called round edge set hammers. The top fuller and the set hammer are the most useful tools for forge work. Their use, however, requires a helper. 

Fig. 16. —Set hammer.

Flatter

The flatter (fig. 17) is like the set hammer except that the face is larger than the body. It is used in much the same way, for smoothing work and producing a finished appearance by taking out the unevenness left on stock by the hammer or other tools. Its use requires a helper. 

Fig. 17. —Flatter.

Chisels

Chisels (fig. 18) are used for splitting or cutting off stock. The hot chisel is for cutting hot metal, the cold chisel for cut ting cold stock. The edge of the hot chisel is made thin so that it will penetrate heated metal quickly without getting hot enough to lose its temper. The edge can be made thin because great strength is not re quired of a tool for cutting hot metal. The cutting edge of the hot chisel is ground to an (included cutting) angle of about 30°. The cold chisel is made blunt and stubby in order to give it great strength. The cutting edge is ground to an (included cutting) angle of about 60°. 

Fig. 18. —Chisels.

Hardy

The hardy (fig. 19) is a hot or cold chisel made to fit into the hardy hole of the anvil and is used as a bottom cutting tool. 

Fig. 19. —Hardy.

Swages

Swages (fig. 20) are used for smoothing and finishing and are made in all shapes and sizes depending upon the work to be done. They are used in pairs, each pair consisting of a bottom swage and a top swage. The bottom swage is inserted in the anvil. The groove in the top swage is the same as that in the bottom swage. The grooves are usually half round, octagonal, and square, although they may be any other shape. The hot forging is placed in the groove of the bottom swage, and the top swage held on top of the work by the smith while his helper strikes it with a sledge. 

Fig. 20. — Swages.

Swage block

The swage block (fig. 21) is a block commonly made of cast iron weighing about 150 pounds, usually mounted on a stand. It is pierced with a number of round, square, and rectangular holes and provided with grooves of various shapes and sizes around the edge. The holes are mostly used for the insertion of work that is being headed, such as a bolt, for example. The grooves are used principally as bottom swages. 

Fig 21. — Swage block.

Punches, bob, and cupping tool

Punches (fig. 22) are used for making round, square, or odd-shaped holes in hot stock. Like most of the other forging tools described, they are provided with handles and are held on the work by the blacksmith while being struck with a sledge by his helper. When finishing a hole, the punch is held on the work over the pritchel hole in the anvil, which provides a place for the slug of removed stock to go. Two other tools are the bob or counterpunch and the cupping tool (fig. 23). The counterpunch is used mainly for countersinking holes and making depressions for jump welds. The cupping tool is used for rounding off or finishing the heads of rivets. 

Fig. 22. —Punches. 

Fig 23. —Bob and cupping tool.

Vise

A vise has many uses in the blacksmith shop, such as holding work while it is being laid out or being bent, twisted, or filed. A good type of vise for this use is shown in figure 24.

The gradual abandonment of equipment from old blacksmith shops has left fewer and fewer used post vises available. New ones can still be ordered, of course, but at great expense.

A heavy machinist’s bench vise (35 pounds or over) will do very well for a simple shop. If you should be lucky and find a secondhand 100-pound monster (even a somewhat damaged but still functioning one), do not hesitate to acquire it. The heavy mass of a vise (as with the anvil) must be great enough that each blow on the hot steel held in it will be fully effective.

Fig. 24. —Blacksmith's vise.

Drill press

A drill press of either the wall or pedestal type is also usually part of the equipment of a blacksmith shop.

Special tools

Figure 25 shows a few special tools: a fork for bending flat stock; a saddle for drawing out forked stock; and a hand heading tool for making heads on bolts. The swage block takes the place of many such special tools. 

Fig. 25. — Special tools.

Containers for Quenching Liquids

The Water Trough or Bucket. This is for the quenching of hot steel to cool it or temper it. It should hold not less than five gallons of water, and should be deep enough so that a long, hot section of steel bar can easily be quenched.

The Oil Container. This too should be generously large, holding not less than five gallons. It must have a hinging lid that can be closed quickly to snuff out any flash fire. (Sometimes, through misjudgment, too large a piece of hot steel is quenched in too small a quantity of oil, which could bring the oil smoke up to its flash point.)

The oil-quenching container should remain either out-of-doors or in a separate area of the shop, away from wood or other combustible objects. A metal, or metal with asbestos, sheet should surround the forge and oil bucket, between them and the wall. If the floor is wood, metal sheet should cover it where hot steel or coal might fall accidentally. An earth or stone floor and walls are ideal for this area of the shop.

Auxiliary Tools

Cutoff hardies, hot chisels, top and bottom swages of various sizes, top and bottom fullers, heading plates, hot punches, and forming dies all are useful and often necessary tools. These and others will be introduced in succeeding chapters as they are needed to make the things we want. The blacksmith’s craft thus proves perfect for making just about any “tool to make a tool.”

Auxiliary tools, swages fullers, hot punches, etc. Cut off hardy. Hot chisel. 

Top & bottom. Swages. 

Top fullers. Top swage. Bottom fuller. Bottom swage. 

Single-hole or multiple-hole. Heading. Plates.

Hot punches.

Forming dies.

Recommended Power Tools

The Mechanical Steel-cutting Saw

Although steel-cutting bandsaws and reciprocating hacksaws can be bought fairly cheap new, the hobbyist may be challenged to make his own.

I recommend converting a salvaged 12-inch-diameter woodworking bandsaw by first reducing the saw speed, following the scheme in the illustration. Bandsaw blades with fine teeth serve best. The hardness of the teeth is the same for the cutting of wood or mild steel; hardened steel must never be cut on such saws. (For hardened steel, use the abrasive cutoff wheel.) You will find that these worn, discarded mechanical saws, found in secondhand shops, generally have all their vital parts in good condition: the motor, wheels, bearings, pulleys, and adjusting mechanisms. The parts requiring renewal usually are the rubber wheel-linings on which the steel bands ride, the drive or pulley belts, and the two small brass guides between which the bandsaw rides.

The Rubber Wheel-Linings. Rummage through a tire-repair shop’s scrap can and salvage a large rubber inner tube. With scissors, cut it into large rubber bands the width of the bandsaw wheel. You may need two or three for each wheel. Forcibly stretch these over the wheel rim. If tight-fitting, they do not need to be bonded together with any cement, and the wheels do not need to be dismounted for this operation.

Drive Belts. Belts that are not too worn and frayed are often found strewn around auto-wrecking yards. Keep a collection in various sizes and adapt them to your shop improvisations for driving odd transmission setups.

Adjustable Brass Band-Guides. Remove the old ones (but only if you see that hardly anything is left to warrant prolonging their use). If no brass is available to you, salvage some harder variety pot-metal parts of cast instruments and machine housings found lying around scrap yards. They can easily be hand-sawed into the size of these insets. If you find that they wear down too fast, look for scrap fine-grain cast iron from which to saw out the parts. 

Salvaged wood. Working band-saw slowed to 30 rpm as shown takes standard wood-saw blades to cut unhardened steel. (fine tooth blades). 1/3 to ½ hp electric motor, 1750 rpm.

The Abrasive Cutoff Machine 

Follow the illustration exactly to make this indispensable tool for cutting steel of great hardness. The skeleton frames of many discarded home utility machines (dishwashers, washing machines, bench-level refrigerators) can be adapted for this purpose. In combination with the converted bandsaw, the two machines will meet all of your powercutting needs, saving a great deal of time, as well as your back and energy.

Cutoff Discs

These can be located as waste items in large steel construction plants that use discs 18 to 24 inches in diameter, Vs to 3 /i6-inch thick. The washers that clamp these large, high-speed discs securely are approximately 6 to 8 inches in diameter. In time the part of the disc outside the washer becomes worn down to the washer rim, therefore becoming useless in those plants. Barrels full of the remaining 6- to 8-inch discs therefore become waste. The company will either give you some, or sell them to you for much less than if you had to buy them new in that size. These industrial wheels, being of the highest quality, will not shatter easily. Use 1750 rpm wheel speed as further precaution against accidents, however.

Although high-speed machines may save time, they are also more dangerous. After all, we are not in that much of a hurry. Therefore, a one-to-one drive by a secondhand 1750 rpm, 1/4 hp motor will work fine and be safer.

The Large Motor Grinder

Seriously consider having one large power grinder in your shop; it will give you great satisfaction. You might choose either one of the illustrated setups, whichever fits your personal circumstances.

First Example. Your electrical wiring must be able to pull a 1 hp, 110 V, 1750 rpm motor easily. Use secondhand remnants of industrial grinding wheels, about 2 to 3 inches thick, 8 to 12 inches in diameter. The setup shown has proved to be a very great asset around my shop. Once you have it, you will wonder how you could ever have done without.

Second Example. I have also used this system very satisfactorily, although it is somewhat more complicated to set up. The center part of the old motor housing is cut in half horizontally on the abrasive cutoff machine after discarding the motor’s “innards.” Both bearing side-frames are kept intact. Cut an opening in the rear center, for passage of the two belts from the driver motor to the pulleys mounted on the arbor shaft within the old motor housing. Reassembled, this is the finest sturdy arbor that one could wish for.

On the metal-turning lathe, turn a shaft to fit the salvaged motor bearings. (If you have no such lathe, you may need to get help on this.) Thread both ends of the shaft to receive a fine-grain wheel on one and a very coarse-grain on the other. Two V-belt pulleys are mounted on the center of the shaft.

The Cotton Buffer and the Rotary Steel Brush

You will find that these are invaluable mechanical devices. The arrangement shown is constructed from scrap pipe, with a ball bearing used at the ends. The buffer or steel brush is mounted on one end, and the other holds the driven pulley.

The Double-ended Arbor

A drill chuck is mounted on one end and the other may hold whatever grinding wheel is needed. (The table drill press can be adapted for this purpose, but it is preferable to have the double-ended arbor to save the drill press from overwork.) The arbor will accommodate the endless variety of small auxiliary insert grinding points, sanding discs, and sleeves. With it, the widest range of grinding problems can be met. Tool blades or odd-shaped freeform articles that start as blanks from the forge are rough-ground, then refined, on the double-ended arbor inserts, and finally polished on the buffer.

Arbors can be bought ready made through mail-order houses. Be warned, though, to avoid the types with plastic bearing sleeves that wear down in short order when abrasive grit dust gets into them. As a rule, sleeve bearings lack a good seal against abrasive matter. Make sure to choose only arbors with well-sealed ball bearings, if you can afford them. If a bronze sleeve bearing comes your way, improvise a simple seal with oiled felt wrapping, binding it around the bearings with string. This will be effective even if it looks junky. Always be sure to keep oiling holes closed against abrasive dust.

Using the Drill Press as a Wood Lathe

Temporarily converting the drill press into a wood lathe is a simple arrangement, particularly useful for those craftsmen keenly interested in expanding their projects with the making of carving tools. As shown in the illustration, the parts needed are not very difficult to make.

With this setup, tool handles can be made without a horizontal lathe. However, well-functioning wooden handles also can be freely shaped with saws, chisels, and disc sanders, and often look more attractive than lathe-turned ones.

Measuring tools

Measuring tools commonly used in the black smith shop are a steel rule, a carpenter's 2-foot steel square, calipers, and dividers. A blacksmith usually has a pair of double or twin calipers similar to those shown in figure 26, in addition to the ordinary calipers. Two dimensions may be set on these calipers, such as width and thickness. Another useful tool is the measuring wheel shown in figure 27. Dimensions are obtained by rolling the wheel over the lines to be measured.

Fig. 26. —Blacksmith's twin calipers.

 Fig. 27. —Measuring wheel.