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Resident Blacksmiths


Chris...

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1 hour ago, Chris... said:

I know one of you guys from Indiana does it.

DP shouldn't be too far from you. He does the old timey stuff. I did a more modernized version when I made all my tongs for working in the forge shop. I used a furnace and an anvil but also used a welder and a torch. It's kind of like cheating but it works and it's quicker. Using the welder I could put a very hard edge on my tongs that would hold up to 2,300 degrees of heat for eight to sixteen hours at a time.

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2 hours ago, Chris... said:

Are there any closer to me in S. Illinois that would let me try my hand at it?

...back when I was doing it for money, the U at Carbondale had a pretty extensive program in blacksmithing and metal working. 

That was a while ago, and I'm uncertain about current status.  If you want to get into it, there's the ABANA. they used to have a list of  their members , locations, and events.

 

I got into it through farrier school, but if you're not really interested in horses that's kind of a waste of your time.  Also, start going to farm auctions.  Almost all my tools, forge, anvil, leg vise came from farm auctions in MN.

 

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I was in Gardner, IL near Kankakee Tuesday to pick up my bellows that a friend recovered for me.  He did an excellent job.  They look great and blow more than @Longjohn and @KrAzY combined. ?

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A small coal gas explosion in them at the last show destroyed the very old and weak leather.  Now they have new leather, new felt valves and all cracks repaired and fulled.  I am very pleased with them. 

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9 hours ago, No One said:

I got into it through farrier school, but if you're not really interested in horses that's kind of a waste of your time.  Also, start going to farm auctions.  Almost all my tools, forge, anvil, leg vise came from farm auctions

this.  but I also made many of my own tools.   You do need a few to start making your own.  Years ago when he was well over 90 years old I had a week long tool making class taught by George Earnest, founder of GE tools.  When he stared the company he made all the tools himself by hand.  Very interesting week.  @No One  If you were a farrier you heard of him, I'm sure.

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a side draft "box of dirt" forge is very easy to build.  Blower can be about anything windy. (Not sure how forum members would work for that)  Even a hair dryer will work,  May not last a long time for heavy use. Any heavy chunk of steel will work for an anvil.  Railroad track is often used. A large pliers can be used as tongs.  You can hit your hot iron (or fingers) with any available hammer.  Good hardwood lump charcoal is good for heat.  Coal is net necessary.

If you find you like it and want to get more into forging you will want to upgrade that equipment.  If you are close to Salem, Centralia or Carlyle, IL I do get to that area several times a year.

Years ago I bought quite a few tools from a guy in Greenville, IL

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1 hour ago, Chris... said:

I just wanted to know how to do it properly

Which is why the recommendation is to make several of your own tools and played around with some bits and pieces. Fundamental is knowledge of the steel that you will be working on. For example, you really have to be careful not to overheat high carbon steel. If you do, it will all burn away.

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13 hours ago, Chris... said:

I have a piece of train track. I have the means to heat and hammer on metal, I just wanted to know how to do it properly. I have watched all episodes of forged in fire if that helps.

..."properly" is a variable defined by both your ambitions and your means.   If you want to get into the knife making end of it, "properly" is somewhat different from horse shoes, or making artistic andirons.

In the shop in which I learned, in Anoka, MN, we had a gas operated forge that was hardly ever fired up to use, and a bunch of semi-decent hearths standing on legs with a fore pot in the center, and hand cranked blowers.

 

Mostly, you need some way to repeatedly heat steel (or iron...but you hardly ever see wrought iron any more, just castings), to where it's malleable.  then you pull it out with some sort of tongs and beat hell out of it for a while with whatever you have for a hammer.  I used to have a pretty nice setup, with some swage blocks for common shapes, a reasonable anvil, and a couple of leg vises.  You can get by with a large machinists vise initially, but if you pound on it enough you'll probably eventually damage it. I did one entire season in the historic village/human zoo that was the living history park in Green Bay, WI.  I set up that shop in about 1979 or so.  Before that it was just a building they had moved from somewhere to save it.

There are forge plans allover the internet, but it can be difficult to find a source of decent coal that will coke well..Sometimes you can find coal for sale that is already coke, which burns cleaner and hotter.

 

I was still dragging all my tools around until about ten years ago.  I finally realized I wasn't interested in working that hard any more. :)

 

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Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association

 

Quote

Open Forges at Mt. Vernon’s Pioneer Village blacksmith shop the 2nd Saturday. Bring dish for Pot luck lunch. The Sugar Grove Forge is located at Sugar Grove Nature Center and is open the 3rd Saturday of each month. Lunch is on your own. We are at the Carlinville shop for a work day every Wednesday from about 10:00 to 3:00 any one wanting to fire up a forge is welcome. Steve Knowles shop in Decatur has open forges on the 2nd Saturday of the odd months for those in the Decatur area.

 

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