Verge and Foliot pt 1.

  Well, because of a last minute work schedule change, I was able to get some time in on the forge.  As a reminder I decided that this particular piece I decided that I will make it from a piece of real wrought iron.  I wanted at least one piece of the clock to be close to the real period material.  This piece I am making is the verge and foliot.  The verge and foliot is essentially a "T" shape.  The verge is the vertical piece and the foliot is the horizontal piece.

  So I took my piece of wrought iron and cut a piece off.  The piece I have is from an old prison in Atlanta.  This is what it looked like before I started.  The spots for the bars of the prison cell are quite obvious.

 

  Then using a chisel, I cut a strip from one side.  This was a fair amount of work (and actually represented most of my time on the forge tonight).

 

  This is the piece after being cut out and straightened a bit.  Notice that straightening it out also stretched it a bit.



  This shows the foliot with the start of punching for a verge.  The verge is on the top, the foliot is on the bottom (with the start of a slit).



  I follow that up with drifting it round.

 

  The verge is placed into the foliot and forge welded in place.  Notice the "T" shape.



  Now it is important here to mention that the final length of the foliot will almost double.  It will be thinned and stretched out.  Also, the foliot arms will also be thinned out and some of the excess cut off.  The reason I did not do this before the pieces were welded because they would have been too thin.  During the welding process, it would have been too easy to burn the pieces.  They needed some mass to protect them from the welding process.

  So, a good start for the weekend.  I am hoping by the end of this weekend that the verge and foliot are complete.

  Now for some notes on wrought iron...

  This was my first experience with wrought iron.  It is difficult for me to get it simply because wrought iron was not used heavily in Florida prior to mild steel replacing it in most construction.  As a result, it is very difficult to find it at recyclers.

  The wrought iron was very easy to cut.  Probably at least twice as fast to cut it than it would be to cut mild.  However, I was surprised by how prone it is to splitting.  It could be that the quality I have is a bit low but I think it is probably just the nature of the beast.  Also, scale tends to stick a lot more.

  So in summary, the splitting is a bit worrisome but it is much easier to bend and cut.  I am worried that the splitting may cause me a problem as I thin the piece out.