Bad work, good info.

  Well, after some serious examination, I have decided to scrap part of the hinges.  Part of the hinge, the way I made it, could suffer easily from metal fatigue.  This is were a piece of metal is flexed back and forth until it finally breaks.  Springs don't suffer from this as much as other metal.  In the case of the chest, the hinges may have held out for years or they may have broken the first time it was opened.  So, I've lost a lot of the past few days.
  However, I did learn something valuable from this experience.  When I first made some of my chisels, I tended to make them much more thicker than say a normal woodworking chisel.  Think of something in the shape of traffic cone.  Well, I decided to thin one of my chisels to be more in the shape of some of the ones I've seen other smiths using.  I was worried about taking the blade too thin because of the heat.  I was worried the thin metal would get too hot, too fast.  Well, I was surprised as hell when I used the thin chisel for the first time.  I was able to cut through almost 1/4" steel with one hit.  This compares to 5 or 6 hits using a thicker chisel.  Also, it tends to push less metal out of the way so cleanup is easier.  I guess all that experience of other smiths should be a lesson to me...  :)
  The second bit of good news, and this was a biggie, is that my recent contact sent me a detailed line drawing of the type of lock I need to make.  This came from the museum which houses the chest.  The line drawing answered all of my questions.  I am very happy to say that all my theories on the operation were correct.  The line drawing did show me a few features that will make the lock more reliable.  The line drawing is below.  The key is inserted, turned until teeth on the key push some springs up(top of the drawing), then the key is used to slide the lock to the left in this drawing.  The key cannot be removed until the bolt is back in the locked position.  Modern keyholes are the exact shape of the key.  The keyhole on this lock is actually used to slide the key to move the bolt.

Hot damn!  (no blacksmithing pun intended)

  Well, digging around on the internet paid off.  I found the gentleman who made a reproduction of the same chest.  He sent me some info along with some pics with promises to send me more.  The best part was that he sent me a close up of the key.  Its shape and cut is pretty much exactly what I expected.  He will hopefully be sending me more but the shape of the key confirms almost 100% my theory on the locks operation.  I've included the picture sent to me below.

One set of hinges done...

  I just finished one set of hinges.  While things didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, I learned some more methods.  I could have saved myself quite a bit of time today but had to restart a few times as I worked to figure out how to do things.

  Perhaps the best thing that I learned today involved a weld that I had to do.  Welding in blacksmithing is far more difficult than it is using a modern oxy/act or arc welder.  Well, I needed to weld a small piece of metal onto a part of the hinge.  The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to keep it there when doing the welding.  Then, I remembered something I saw on a special on making swords.

  When making authentic swords, you start with small billets of steel which are welded together, folded and rewelded over and over.  This is done for many reasons but what I remembered was that the small billets were held together in various ways.  The method that I utilized was to take steel wire and wrap around the pieces to hold them together.  I was able to use this to do one of the best welds I've ever done.  When I make the second hinge, I will post pictures and it should make more sense.

  The hinge is shown below.  It is about 14 inches long.
 

Good day, so far.

  Taking a lunch time break and also a break to look at a new CD that just arrived in the mail.  It is a lot of information on how to smelt iron(extract iron from ore).  A future project that I thought would be fun at an SCA event such as Gulf Wars is a multiple day demo of starting with ore and eventually producing some simple tools with the iron that was smelted.  Anyway, I'm getting off track.

  I was able to finish one half of a hinge.  I'm going to head back out and try to finish the other half.  It actually went pretty well.  I tried one technique for making the hinge which didn't come out like I wanted.  Tried a second way and that was fine.  I also punched the holes for the nails.  I'm not worried about perfectly centering the nail holes as the nail heads will not be centered on the nail shaft.  When I go to put the nails in I can rotate the nails to make everything look nice.  I went ahead and blackened the hinge with oil to protect it from rust.

Frustration...

  So, I've looked at the lock on the chest as much as I can.  The problem is that the catalog illustrations just are not that complete.  Well, I think I have found a gentleman that did a reproduction for ABANA (a national blacksmithing group) and I'm hoping he has some insight into the lock.  I sent an email hoping to get some insight from him.  I THINK I know how it works but I don't have enough confidence to proceed until I confirm it or have no other choice.  So, I'm going to put the lock part of the chest aside for the moment.  Between the hinges and nails, I have enough work for a few weeks.

Whoops...

  So I had some nervous energy and decided to go ahead and file the lock plate.  Went pretty well until I got to one corner.  After a minute or so of futility I realized that I must have accidentally hardened the corner.  When steel is harded, it is very difficult to file.  I probably quenched the steel when it was at the right temperature.  So, I left the corner until I can soften it in the forge again.
  I was also happy because there were a few holes that were close to the edge.  After the filling, there is still enough metal to keep the nail from breaking out the side.  From what I can see from the original, this may have happened at one spot.
  Tomorrow, I need to pick up some steel for the nails.  I don't have any stock thin enough and I don't want to spend an hour thinning down metal just to make nails.  I also hope to go ahead and get the keyhole punched.
  Right now I'm watching a special on Heron of Alexandria.  I've seen it before and it amazes me what he was able to do.  The automatic theater is of particular interest.  After I complete the clock, I may try to recreate some of his items.  The omen machine is also pretty cool.

Whole lotta holes...

  I have the rest of the week of for the holidays so spent time on the forge today.  I decided to work on the lock plate for the chest that I'm working on.  The first order of business was to harden the punch I made a few days ago and to put a handle on it.  Next, I cut a wooden template for the plate.  After further study, I decided to go with a size of 3 1/4" x 18".  This is very close to the actual size.  Anyway, I cut the wooden template to help me cut and trim the plate properly to size.  That went easier then expected.  After the plate was cut to proper size, I moved to the nail holes in the plate.

  The original plate had 18 holes in it.  I added an additional two holes to the design simple to secure the ends a bit more.  Not really a significant change.  Well, I was able to punch the holes fairly quickly.  I had to frequently stop to do some cleanup on the punch.  Because of its contact with the hot metal, it is easy to deform the punch.  On the good news front, this is the first time I have done a lot of punching.  I've done a few here and there for tongs and the like but this is the first time I've had to do a lot of holes.  Other than a few minor errors(which are easy to fix or conceal) they came out pretty good.

  My biggest fear was the amount of metal left on the outside edge of the plate by the holes.  The act of punching causes the metal to push out a little.  To fix this, I simple file the bulge away.  I wanted to make sure the holes were very close to the edge but not so close that the hole breaks out the side.  Other than one or two close ones, when I do the filing, it should come out pretty good.

  I've included a pic of the plate below.  The bulges around the holes can be seen.  Next, I will file around the holes to restraighten the edge.  After that, comes the keyhole then the holes for the locking mechanism and the latches that the lock engages.  I should be able to get a lot of that done over this weekend.

I spent a few hours on the forge today.  I took half of a block of tool steel I cut a few weeks/months ago and worked it into a punch.  The punch is sized for the nails for the viking chest.  In blacksmithing, holes are usually punched not drilled.  I already had a round punch but it would have been too big.  Also, I made my previous punches out of railroad spikes.  They work okay but tend to deform too easily.  This metal is S7(type of steel alloy) which should hold up much better to the heat.  So, I took the block of metal and stretched it into the punch.  There should be enough metal left over to do another punch or possible a small chisel.  The punch is currently annealing in the wood ash.  Had to stop as I am heading out for a party that is supposed to last well into tomorrow.

Quick update...

  I picked up a handle for the top fuller but it turned out to be a touch too small so will save it for later.  I took the fuller out of the wood ash and after some cleanup on the grinder, I am pretty happy with the results.  It would look a lot better if I had a belt sander(not the variety used for wood sanding).  It would allow me to put a nice polish and finish on the fuller.  Oh well, it will still work perfectly well just that it will be a little ugly... :)  I will try to upload a pic once I have the handle on.

  Not quite smithing but I did teach myself to weld copper last night.  I am going to replace my water heater soon and I want to do it myself.  I have to say that welding copper pipe is one of the easiest metal working things I have ever done.

Excellant day,

  Stayed home today to spend the day smithing.  I decided that I need a top fuller.  A top fuller looks a lot like an axe or an adz but instead of a blade it has a rounded edge.  Its designed to be set on a piece of metal and struck by a hammer.  This can be used to put a groove in a piece of metal(suck as the groove down the center of a sword) or it can be used to help stretch out a piece of metal.  I will be using it for the latter.

  So I started from the beginning using a scrap piece of 4142(thanks Tony) steel I had laying around.  I was able to form the tool and create the eye for the handle.  It is now sitting in some wood ash to remove any stress from the forging process.  Once it is completely cool, I will clean it up a bit on the grinder, harden and temper it then put the handle on.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

  I'm also happy with how quickly I was able to make it.  It took me around 3-4 hours.  I could have done it quicker but had the right size pair of tongs give out on me in the middle of doing the work.  I'm really happy with how quickly some of the work is going for me now.

  This is a pic of a fuller from centaur forge.  Mine will look pretty much the same except the fuller runs perpedicular to the handle instead of parallel.

DOH!!!

  Figured out what I was doing wrong with the nails.  Hopefully will get to try "correct" method soon...

Not such a good day...

  Work kept me busy this week so wasn't able to get much time on the forge until yesterday.  I did some tinkering around before starting work on a nail heading tool.  This is a simple too that allows a smith to form the head on a nail(duh...).  Anyway, I ended up making about 10 nails.  Only one of those ended up being usable.  I need to figure out what I am doing wrong and then practice it a lot.  I should be able to form the point of the nail, cut it from the stock and form the head in one heat.  Once I become proficient, I should be able to produce one or two nails a minute.  It makes me feel sorry for the smiths at Williamsburg.  Each smith when I was last there had to make 8000 nails per year.

Good day...

  I spent most of today on the forge and made a lot of progress.  I continued work on the plate for the lock.  It was a lot of work but very satisfying.  I am really at the point where I can usually do what I want.  I was able to draw out the metal to the plate.  The following pics show the progress thru the day.


  This is fairly early in the day.  You can see the half inch stock metal on the lower left and how thinned out it is on the other end in the upper right.



Another pic, a little later in the day showing some progress.

This final pic shows the plate at the end of the day.



  Some notes on the plate.  It is about 22" long and 3 3/4" wide.  The final piece will be about 18 1/2" x 3 1/2".  It may not seem that big of deal to make a simple plate like this.  However, it actually required a lot of work and experience to have it come out even and straight.  I'm glad I did it.  My goal over the next week is cut the plate and punch the holes for the nails.  After that, the holes for the key and the bolt for the lock.


Finally, a picture of the actual chest(from http://www.greydragon.org/trips/stockholm/index3.html)



Notice the lock plate on the front of the chest, some of it lost to corrosion.  The nails are easily seen on the perimeter of the plate.  Also visible on the plate is the keyhole.  It is in the center and looks like and upside down "L".

A final note:  I surprised myself today.  I happened to look at how I was holding the hammer.  When I first started smithing, I simply wrapped my hand around the hammer handle when working.  I read early on that a better form was for the thumb to point down the handle towards the hammer head.  I tried that style but found it akward.  I noticed today that my thumb was positioned correctly.  I have no idea when I started holding it correctly...

Noodle arm...

  Well, it was the first time on forge since before Thanksgiving.  I started to work on the Viking chest.  I decided to make the most difficult part first.  I am working on the lock that is built into the chest.  The first piece that I am making is a plate about 3 3/4" x 19".  I am starting with a piece of metal that is only 2 1/2" wide but it is 1/2" thick.  I am stretching the metal out to get the correct width.  This will also thin it down to about 1/4" or less.  I could have started with a piece of sheet metal of the correct thickness but doing it this way has several benefits.
  The first major benefit is that the plate will have a more worked look.  Another benefit is that it gives me a good excuse to practice some techniques I will need for the clock.  Anyway, I did get about half of the plate stretched out.  It was a lot of hammer work and my arm is limp now.  Still, was good to get back to work.

Forge time!

  Allright, its been a while with the holidays but here is a quick update.  I went to my parents(Hicksville, Ohio) for Thanksgiving, gained more than my share of holiday weight and was very anxious to get home and back to the forge.

  On the way home, I stopped in Louisville, Kentucky to get some coal.  The company didn't have an easy way to measure the coal other than dump it in the truck and weigh the truck.  I had wanted somewhere between 800-1000#.  I ended up with 1150# of coal.  After filling the truck, it looked like it could handle it and the suspension wasn't bottoming out.  I was pleasantly surprised that the truck had no real acceleration or braking problems related to the excessive load.  Also glad that I put a transmission cooler on the truck.  Now, just have to figure out where to put all that coal...

  I want to do some forge work today but still very tired from trip to Ohio.  I will probably get at least a little work in today.  Need to lose the Thanksgiving weight...  :)