Improved Version with more and better footage of Thijs van de Manakker & Reinhard Rubenkamp welding the steel/iron billet and forging a spearhead. Part 5 of 5 Previous Part: • Forging the iron bloom... www.thijsvandem...
Damn- Three things. 1. This magnificent bastard isn't using more than about a two-pounder, and look how much steel he's moving. 2. Right around the six-minute mark, see how clean and even is isolation is? 3. And using a drift for his socket-form is so obvious, it's brilliant. We'd use a hardy for that nowadays, and wouldn't even consider taking it on by hand. Life goals, people.
The large size of old blades were for another purpose besides aesthetics. Over time blades became smaller and smaller due to resharpening and breakage. Starting off with a overly large blade allowed the owner to pass his weapons down to his sons, who also passed them down. There are many instances where antique swords and spears are much smaller than the day they were made.
Aspiring blacksmith, my anvil was a truck-frame that I drawfiled dead flat in one area...Now I've got a pair from old world anvil similar to yours, a fuller tool and a 1.5x1.5 faced anvil that works fairly well for small things. I tend to do work in mild steel. I also do a fair bit of blademaking, but wouldn't say I'm Don Fogg. I mostly do stock removal when it comes to blades, I'm afraid of making the perfect knife and then ruining it by overheating it or cold-working it.
Wrap the middle and rear portion. Forge weld the forward section. Reverse and repeat. The video makes a good demonstration of this as you see the heated section localized to the front at the beginning. Once you have a decent weld you no longer need any wire. If you're trying to do small sections then don't bother. You're better off using long sections and then cutting whatever piece you need on your hardy. If need be then forge weld the front section and cut it away from the other sections and work it. You'll need to watch for drift but that's just taking your time and some extra effort. And don't forget to be very liberal with your flux.
all you need is a slave to quench the blade and you are all set....lol..Nice work, you are a hammer swinging dude. You handle that hammer like it is an extension of your arm.
I forged a small belt-kitchen knife, and just finished doing final sharpening, 5.1" blade, flat-forged-ground-whatever....It seems to have worked out well, made it a through-tang.
Do we know how most bellows and forges were installed? Did the Celtic people operate the bellows on the ground as shown in the video or is there evidence of bellows for this time period being installed at an elevated position to allow for operation while standing instead of kneeling?
what was the steel/iron mix? for being steel that sure looks malleable... I'm hammering out a hand and a half with high carbon using a propane forge I run at 15 psi 0.o
The thing with simple steels like this would be is that it will bend before it will ever break and the grain of the steel adds to that structural integrity. the only remotely brittle part here is the point and even there it's just harder than the rest.
