A fresh start...

  So, laying in bed last night as I drifted off to sleep I came to the realization that I should start over on the corner post.  This is not an artistic "it's not good enough", this is a practical "it's not good enough".  I really do think that I have what it takes to make these corner posts now.  I just had to make the most recent one to find the final mistakes I was making.

  Hopefully tonight but more likely Thursday or Friday I will be starting over.  This time, instead of doing one, I will do all four.  This will help me to keep them all uniform.  Second mistake I will correct is with my hot set.  The current one does not give me the clean edge that I want so I have to do a lot of hammer work to correct it.  That hammerwork changes the size of the post.  If I do all four at once and I need to do cleanup hammerwork, the should all be about the same amount of size difference...

Not the sharpest spoon...

  Who would have thought it?  I was doing some of the decorative work on the corner post which involves using a hacksaw and files.  I was killing myself with the hacksaw as it was very difficult to get any work done.  Then, I remembered it still had the original blade and that I had bought some replacement blades when I first bought the saw.  I put in a new blade and suddenly I was able to cut with very little effort.  I really have to think more but it hurts so much...

On schedule...

  Just as I hoped, I finished the forge work on the first corner post.  I am annealing one end now in preperation for doing filing and cutting for the decorative work.  I hope to pick up some better files and some new hacksaw blades tomorrow.

  Also, purchased a swage block yesterday.  A swage is like an anvil with a major exception.  An anvil is essentially a flat hard piece of metal to hammer against.  A swage block has shapes cut into it allow different shaping for metal such as cylinders, dishing, spoons, etc...

Things going well...

  Spent some more time working on the corner post.  It has some decorative elements so I imagine it will take some time.  I hope to finish the corner post by the end of next week.  The actual forge work will be done by Sunday night.  After that, I have to some filing and cutting for the decorative parts.

  Also, learned something important with the hot set.  I did not leave enough material between the eye for the handle and the striking surface.  I think I started with about an inch but it is already compressing a fair amount.  With future tools of this nature, I will have to remember to leave a bit more material.  Also, I did not put enough of an hourglass shape to the inside of the eye.  This means the handle doesn't have as good of a grip as it should.  Not a real problem with this tool but other tools I will need to be better about it.

  Brian Price's armor book arrived in the mail today.  I also picked up an angle grinder for general metal working.  The grinder will not be used on the clock but I may use it for some general tool production.

Success!!!

  I have finally found a workable way to do the corner posts of the clock.  As mentioned in a previous post, I decided to try to chisel away the excess material as opposed to doing a lot of hammering...  Well, it worked.

  This evening I used my new hot set to work on the corner post.  I had to stop early due to an oncoming storm but I did manage to cut about half the distance down.  It did take some work and time but it worked pretty well.  I will have to do some cleanup but that should be basic blacksmithing.

"Oh yes...  you will be mine..."  - Wayne Campbell

Not yet but soon...   Shipping would be about $200.  But this is a company in Mississippi so I can wait until next spring when I should be in the area to pick it up.

Wrapped a few things up...

  I was able to complete the drift this morning after sometime on the grinder.  Then I turned my attention back to the hot set.  I had mostly completed the hot set last night including all the shaping and some initial cleanup grinding(as I get better, I will have to do less grinding).  I even started the hole for the handle.  To do the hole for the handle, a chisel is used to start the hole from either side and hopefully you meet somewhere in the middle.  Then I used the newly finished drift to finish off the tool.  I added a pre-made handle from Home Depot and the tool is finished.

Get my drift?

  Today I worked mostly on a "hot set".  Essentially a chisel with a handle that looks like a hammer with a pointy face.  I shaped the tool and started the hole for the handle.  In order to make the hole the proper size I needed to make a drift.  A drift is a tool that is hammered through a hole.  The drift has a particular shape that the hole takes on after the drift has been hammered through.  So, after making the set, I started the drift.  My arm got a little tired so I'm currently taking a break.  I'm probably going to go back out for just a little while to see if I can finish the drift before sundown.

  Then, its off to see Dodgeball...

Game, Set, Match...

  So today I picked up 50 pounds of tool steel.  Specifically the S-7 steel mentioned in a previous post.  I decided to try and make a set hammer.  A set hammer is a tool used to square up the inside of corners.  It is placed in a corner and struck with another hammer.  Well, I ran into a problem for about the first half hour.  I had trouble heating the steel.  At first I just throught it was because I was using a different alloy of steel and the thickness of the metal.  Then, once my stupidty had faded a bit, I realized that I had not closed the ash dump.  Most of the air was not going into the first but out of the bottom of the forge.

  I didn't allow myself enough metal when I started the hammer so I stopped about halfway through.  So, I picked out a piece of metal for a hot set (essentially a big chisel with a handle used to cut metal) and tossed it in the fire to remove any stress that might have been introduced at manufactoring.

Posting, part deux...

  Due to a techincal problem, my posting yesterday is now resting six feet under.  I had a nice typed out posting when I got a non responsive server so from here on out, will copy the post before I actually post.  Safety lesson for all you boys and girls...

  Anyway, it is time to revisit the clock.  Last week and I was in San Angelo Texas.  Nice little city(or big town...).  While I was there, one of my students hooked me up with an older gentleman who does armor.  Although the armor wasn't all that impressive, it was impressive in the sense that the guy was pretty much self taught.  Also, he has no affiliation with the SCA or any other medieval organization.  He just does it for the fun of it.  I was also impressed with how much he was able to do in a small space.  The final bit, which made it all worth it, was he showed me somes book that I do not own.  The first is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1581600984/qid=1087392524/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6918663-5595210?v=glance&s=books  This book is by a guy that I've chatted with a few times a few years back.  He runs the www.chronique.com website.  I have to say the illustrations in the book make it worth the purchase.  I've read some reviews that maybe he takes some shortcuts that he shouldn't but he definitely has some very good tips and ideas in the book.  I'm not looking to make armor(yet) but a lot of his information is good general metal working info.  The other books that he showed I had seen years ago but had completely forgotten about.  The first is a book on western crusader era armor.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1853673471/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-6918663-5595210?v=glance&s=books&st=*  The second book in the series is on eastern and Islamic armor.  Now, these are definitely acadamia books but the line drawings in it are invaluable.  It was funny because I actually found several line drawings of the axe that I made a few weeks earlier.  So, time to spend some money on some books.

  Back to the clock, and this time I mean it.  When I learn something new I like to have a major project in mind as my ultimate goal.  To me, it is easier to learn something if I am working towards a very complex project.  The main reason is that while I'm doing very repetitive simple stuff(like making tent stakes) is that I can think about how this simple method can be used on the big project.  It is a way that I keep myself from getting bored to tears...  My first wooden clock was actually one of my first woodworking projects.

  As a result of this mindset, I have many times that I have to step back and look at a problem again.  For example, when I first was looking into doing the clock I was CONVINCED (note huge letters to emphasis my arrogance when I think I know something) that the gears for the clock were made from cast metal (pouring liquid iron into molds).  After I started actually researching (reading makes Mongo's brain hurt...) the clocks of the middle ages, I found a few references that all pointed to the fact that the gears are forged (heated and hammered into shape.)  The final straw was the information I received from the British Musuem that send all evidence indicates that clock gears were always forged.  So, after sitting on my self made altar for a few years I had to humbly climb down and starting building a new one...

  Will you just shut and make your point?  Allright, so that brings us to the present day.  Between my trip to San Angelo and the sucky weather recently, I have had a chance to rethink the first parts I am making for the clock.  Specifically, the clock's corner posts on the frame.  For those joining this program already in progress, here is a photo of one of the clocks that I am using as inspiration for mine.  It should be noted that I am not making and exact replica of any particular clock.  But I like the corner posts on this one.  This is the Cassiobury Park Clock located in the British Museum and its the clock that got me started.



  Now, the corner posts are not easily seen in this photo but you might be able to make out that on the ends it is wider than in the middle.  In the past I have tried two techniques to achieve this.  The first was to use lots of hammer work to thin out the middle part.  Since I work alone that is a lot of hammering...  The second method was to fold the steel back on itself on the ends, weld it together then use that extra thickness to spread out the width.  This also involved a lot of hammering.

  I think I have decided to try a third method.  Simply to use a chisel to cut away the material in the middle part of the stock.  Rather than hammer for hours, I'm thinking that I can just chisel the middle part away.  For those who don't do blacksmithing, it is very common to chisel hot metal.  As a matter of fact, one of the most common motifs the Fleur, is created partly by using a chisel.  I will essentially heat up a portion of the bar, use the chisel and cut down the length.  After I have cut away the excess, what little is left should be easy to finish up with the hammer.

  Finally, I am going to take a tip from one of the guys on www.anvilfire.com.  I have been having some problems with my made tools in that I was getting inconsistant results.  Not surprising since I've been using scrap metal.  He recommded picking up some S7 stock(a grade of tool steel)  This steel has several important qualities to the smith.  The first and biggest is that it remains hard until it gets very hot.  Most steels will begin to soften significantly at around 550 degrees.  S7 remains hard at a much higher temp.  Since I don't have a helper, it is more difficult for me to insure that I don't heat up the tools too much while I'm working.  Also, S7 is air hardened which means if I do let it get to hot I simply set it aside and it will reharden.  Most metals you have to go through a process to reharden them.  Its not a medieval grade steel but its my concession because I don't have a helper in the shop.  I don't have someone I can turn to to hold the metal while I cool the tool or juggle with the hammer.  So I hope to hit the metal store either this week or next.