Organizing things...

  I have a big demo weekend coming up so decided to use the chance to clean up some things around the shop.  I consolidated a lot of my tools into a large(very large) tool box that I forgot I owned.  It was nice because I was able to get rid of a lot of old garbage and organize things.  I also took my borax powder (used in forge welding) and put it into a new container.  The container prevously held cashews so I gave it a quickie paint job to make it look nicer at demos.  I had to stop at the point as a final rain band from Katrina passed overhead.

  Hopefully, the planters cashew container won't repeat an incident that happened a while back...

Got the fire going,

  First time I fired up the forge in a while and it was a good experience.  Someday I may stop being surprised when things go right but I do like the feeling.  In this case, I was making a tool and I decided to make it using multiple cuts, bends and welds.  God damn, it actually came out like I wanted.  I was even more shocked when I realized that it had only taken me maybe 45 minutes.

  The tool I am making is a header to make the rivets for the brazier.  It is going to be a fairly hefty header.

  Also, made a cutting saddle for my Russian anvil.  Its designed to keep from damaging chisels when cutting.  Its really just a thin piece of metal shaped to the top of the anvil.

Misc stuff.

  Today I visited a place called Gator Tools.  I had received a flyer for them a week ago and decided to pay a visit.  This is a tool place for those that find Harbor Freight just too high of a quality.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty there I wouldn't mind getting but most of the stuff is Chinese knockoff products.  It means they tend to break/not work if you look at them wrong.  However, I decided to go ahead pick up to roller stands.  These are used to hold long pieces of metal on the anvil to free up my hands.

  I stopped at TSC on the way home and found a good canopy for doing demos.  It is 10x20 but can be expanded to 24x20 if the walls are swung out to form a roof.  I also got a small metal trash can.  This I am going to use to anneal tools.  In the past when I've annealed tools they were placed in wood ash which was held in an old kitty litter container.  The problem was that the tools occasionally got too close to the sides and melted the container.

I also picked up a piece of metal to make a cutting saddle for my anvils.  The cutting saddle is used to protect chisels from cutting through a piece and hitting the anvil.  I also picked up a 10# sledge.  I've had some volunteers recently to do striker duty for me...

Thinking more about the clock,

  About a year ago, I made an attempt at starting the frame for the clock.  While I had some success and proved some concepts, I still had a lot to learn.  I didn't have a lot of experience with drifting or worrying about very precise precision so it would have ultimately failed or at the very least a lot of cleanup work.  The hurricanes last year disrupted my work which was probably for the best.  It is time make another attempt at the clock.

  In a few weeks, I will be in Boston for two weeks.  This will give me the time to carefully design and think about the frame.  I own TurboCad and will use that to plot out the design.  My old attitude on a lot of projects was to just get in there and do it and fix any mistakes later.  This time, there will be too much energy, time, resources, etc... involved to worry about redoing work.  I need to take the time and do it right.

  I am sure I will have to redo many parts as I still have a lot to learn.  What I am going to try avoid doing is what I had happen with the chest where I remade almost every part 2 or 3 times(sometimes more).

  I think I will also go for a slightly thinner stock for the frame.  Last year I was using 1/2" stock.  This would result in a very heavy clock.  My rough estimate would be somewhere in the 300 pound range.  I think I will use 3/8" stock for the frame, 1/4" would be too thin for the support elements of the clock.

  I am also going to order some clock making books from www.artisanideas.com.  The books are geared (no pun intended) to 18th-19th century clocks but I think I could pick up some valuable information from them.  I will probably order them today so I can have them before Boston.

  I need to finish the brazier before I move onto the clock.  I was expecting to be done with it by now but work has kept me busy.

  Its time to get this clock going...  (that is a pun which I may explain later.)

 

Finally got back to the forge,

  Today was the first day in two weeks that I got on the forge.  I finished the last large upright.  I set up a few of the pieces to get a better idea of the size.  It is going to be a very large brazier.  I am going to have to make spacer pieces between the uprights to hold the wood in the brazier.  I think the next thing I am going to make is the metal ring to hold the uprights together.  I want to make sure things will go together okay before I invest more time with the additional pieces.

  On another note, I have found myself thinking a lot about the clock.  I think once the new anvil arrives, I am going to make a real effort to get back to it.

  My luck with books continues.  At a Border's on Saturday, I found a somewhat decent smithing book that I didn't own. 

Busy, busy...

  I have been very busy with work both during the day and evening so I haven't had much smithing time.  I hope this weekend to fire things up.

  update...  I just checked my bank account balance and the money has cleared for the anvil.  I get to pick it up in early October.

Its official...

  The new anvil has been ordered.  I decided to go ahead and order it before I talked myself out of it.  It is pricey enough that I could have done that easily.  I just hope its worth it...  :)

Got this medieval poem from one of my new books...

Black smutted smiths, besmirched with smoke,

Drive me to death with the din of their strokes;

You never did hear such noises at night,

How the lads shout, what a clatter their knocks!

Those crooked dwarfs, they shout Coal!  Coal!

And blow their bellows till all their brains burst.

Huf! Puf! says one, Haf! Paf! says the other.

They spit and they sprawl and spin many a tale,

They grate and they grind and they grumble together,

Kept all hot with their hard hammering,

Their leather aprons are hides of the bull,

Their legs are wrapped against fiery sparks.

Heavy hammers they have, and hole them tight,

Strong strokes they strike on an anvil of steel,

Lus! bus! las! das! they snort in turn—

Let the devil get rid of so doleful a tune!

The master lengthens a little, lashes on a less,

Twists both together and tacks on a third.

Tik! tak! hic! hac! tiket! taket! tyk! tyk!

Lus! bus! lus! das! This is the life

Of these clot-heads all.  Christ make them suffer!

Can a man have no sleep for the hiss of the quenching?

 

A. R. Myers, ed., English Historical Documents 1327-1485 (London 1969) p. 1055

 

My deuce coup...

  I scored two major book finds for my clock this evening.  I was bored in the hotel so decided to head out to a bookstore.  The first book I found of interest was a book called "Coal: A Human History."  I had actually seen this book before but I had never really looked at it.  Well, I finally sat down in the bookstore to take a look at it.  The most important aspect of the book for me was the first part.  It went into the history of the coal industry in medieval England.

  Like many SCA smiths, I had assumed that the primary fuel used in England was charcoal.  However, the book clearly documents that by the 13th-14th century, the primary fuel in use in the cities by blacksmiths was coal.  So, I don't need to justify the use of coal when I finally start my version of the clock.

  The second book, which was the real shocker, which I almost missed is called "God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time.".  I almost dropped a load right on the spot.  The book was just published this year and is a biography of one of the earliest medieval clockmakers.  This was such a stroke of pure luck.  I always look for books that might be helpful to the clock but this was a real find.

My Precious......



  I will be ordering you tomorrow...  Oh yes, you will be mine...  Just for an idea of size, this anvil weighs about 220#, is close to 2 1/2' tall and 2 1/2' long.  Now, how to move it once I get it?

I see quatrefoils.  I see them all the time.

  My blacksmithing geekdom has reached a new high.  I am on a business trip this week and stuck in a hotel room.  ABC is showing Sixth Sense and I just have it on in the background.  Well, the scene happens when Cole gets locked into the attic by the two boys.  Cole is busy screaming, his mother pounding on the door and what do I see?  That's right, I'm looking at the iron door behind the mother.  Looking at the quatrefoils on the door thinking to myself that I could make those...  Not only that, I'm thinking that it may have come from the workshop of Samuel Yellin in Philadelphia, perhaps American's finest blacksmith who lived in the early 20th century.  Oh yeah, movie, plot, dialog...  stop looking at the iron work.