That second one was not a mistake, it just has some character that the first one does not have and possibly the customer will not find desirable. Or it's a small wall hook needing cut in half. That Swage Block is a dandy that's for sure. And on a final note, a handle on the counter may be handy to get your balance while pouring your Sunday morning coffee after a Saturday night bender.
Nice work John, I like those tong for holding that handle stock, any chance of one time maybe making a pair of those to show us. That would be awesome mate. Cheers Len.
New Years Eve and my wife and I are watching your videos while everyone is out celebrating. Oddly enough, I think we are the lucky ones. Thank you for the wonderful video, I can see uses for swages in my shop. Gonna give it a try.
One of the first real-time lessons I learned was burning up a piece in the coal fire. It sure happens fast with small stock! In the few forging sessions since, I’ve only burned up two more....
Well done. You have taught me another technique for bending the handles, thank you. I use a hand crank blower which greatly limits the pieces I burn up, but when I use the electric blower it wants my undivided attention. The swage was a great success.
You just can't beat having a good swedge for a job. Great video. I make a similar cabinet handle by hand. I'll probably be making a swedge pretty soon after seeing yours work out as well as it did.
Would it be worth the time to make a swedge that is the shape of the entire piece and form the piece on the power hammer? A lot of work up front, but you could bang them out in minutes and they would all be exactly the same. What do you think?
You could certainly do these under the power hammer, but I don't think it would be just a matter of putting a piece of raw stock in a swedge and banging them out. You would still need to shape the finials and start the taper in the handle before going to a swedge. A series or tools under the power hammer would make the job faster if you needed to make enough to justify making the tooling.
Extremely interesting/informative video John, thank you. I really appreciate you sharing the burned up handle at the end. How many times am I going to have to learn to never put something into a coal fire and then allow myself to get distracted? I wonder if you would share with us what happened the first two times that you attempted the jump weld for the swedge tool. Was there a lesson learned in the first two attempts that we could profit from?
I would REALLY like to see you put refractory over that wool, if anything for safety reasons. That wool has particles that are a minute barb. Every time you turn it on it blows those particles around from gas. We already have a ABS mastersmith who has a ongoing lung issue which is believed to be from breathing in those particles from a non refractory forge which barb in the lungs and do not absorb. He has had a hell of a time the last few years near to life threatening.
While i understand what you are saying and agree that ceramic wool should be treated with a coating or ridgidizer, I use ITC-100 and will be coating this forge lining before it goes into service in the shop. Your statement is essentially incorrect and may be confusing or misleading to people that don't know what you are referring to. The ceramic wool is the refractory for this forge. Putting refractory over it could just as easily mean a second layer of the ceramic wool. ITC-100 and Satanite are coatings used to seal and ridgidize the refractory and while they are a form of refractory they serve a specific purpose. The term refractory includes a wide range of products from ceramic wool, ceramic boards, castable, ramable, soft brick and hard brick. None of which would be the proper thing to coat the kaowool with. Perhaps I'm being picky, but proper terminology can be very important.
If semantics are in question I would suggest its you that has it backward, the wool is just that, an insulation and ITC100 IS a refractory that actually refracts heat. Ie from ITC Coatings inc Manufacture website "Re-reflects Radiant Heat and Saves Energy,Achieve a higher cone with less energy" where as Kao Wool and like products are FROM THE MANUFACTURE "High Heat resistance to 2300 degrees". Where Satinite, though labeled a refractory is little more then alumina mortor. There are MDS ratings with specifics to refractablity for both direct heat and infrared if one wants to look. Regaurdless to any of it having a uncoated fire insulation blowing particles into your lungs is highly dangerous in long term health. I greatly enjoy and appreciate your videos thank you for taking that time
hello John Eddy from Holland Europe.I like watching craftsman,Question- I saw a clip where you all met up at a smithies and made some engraving tools.Would i be wrong in saying if you made a swedge and engraved it.would that not save a lot of time in individually decorating them or would the metal not be hot enough to take the decoration.if you get what i mean.
If you engrave the the inside it would leave raised lines on the final forging which would be fine if you wanted that. Having any detail of that sort does require that you keep your position in the die exact or the piece ends up with multiple partial impressions. For this swedge I felt it would be more versatile without the added decorations. I have seen old example with more detail, so it doers work.
Have to say I am enjoying the series of videos here. And yes, I am devouring the entire library all in one go! Great quality, very well presented in an understandable "matter of fact" manner and it's just as well you keep reminding us we should actually get out there and start doing some stuff. It's so easy to sit here and watch just one more...
