The Creation of a Turret Clock

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.