More tongs

Another day of hard work. I actually made two tongs. One was a quicky, just some flatbar, bend over 90 degrees with the reins from 10 mm round steel, welded on. I needed these so I could hold the left over pieces of 15 mm round bar in the fire. They were too short to handle bare handed. These are too ugly to show...

Next was my attempt to improve on the previous tong making experience. I must say, I didn't really succeed. But I did turn out another very usefull tool, all be it not a very nice one. This blacksmithing business is really difficult! Or maybe I should behave like a real beginner and start doing a bunch of practice pieces.

Picture of tongs. Maybe you shouldn't zoom in too much.

And to enhance the blog a bit, another video of the roaring fire and hot steel. This time with some fire bricks to create a deeper fire.

Forging some tongs

A rite of passage for a blacksmith seems to be making your own tongs. So I looked around how to do that and found a great website from an American blacksmith organistation with a lot of educational material (scroll down to the bottom): https://www.abana.org/resources/chf.shtml

After a full afternoon of hard, sweaty and humiliating work, this is the result.

They don't look like much, but they work very well. I had a very hard time drawing down the reins. they should taper gradually down to the end, but they don't really do that at all. And they aren't very uniform either. Oh well, live and learn.

I also acquired a big old post vise for the princely sum of 25 euros. It has been standing on a graveyard for ages, not quite sure what they did with such a vise on a graveyard. With a bit of paint it looks like new again.

A new challenge. Blacksmithing!

Don't ask me why, but I am intrueged by the art of blacksmithing. I've postponed it for a long time, but now I couldn't let it rest any longer. I bought an anvil and fabricated a simple forge. And today was the first try out.

The forge is a disc brake, set into a steel table with some plumbing underneath so I can blow air through the fire. The blower is one of these bouncy castle blower things, cheap and effective. I am using charcoal at the moment, allthough real coal is probably better.

A quick video of the roaring fire:

And now I just have to decide what the heck I am going to make. I have no clear idea to be honest. First I will probably make some forging tools, like a few punches, a hardy, maybe some tongs. We'll see where this new adventure is leading me.

The first few things I made, a square and a round punch and two nail like things.