[TheForge] Re: 36" diameter ring

[Thomas A. Troszak]

> Message: 7
> From: "Bob Rackers" <rackersr@insightbb.com>
> I measured today, and it looks like trying to work a 10' piece of anything in
> that little shop is going to be out of the question.
> 
> Bob

Bob, I have done plenty of work in small shops (and with no helper), the
smallest was about 8 x 10 feet, but there was a window and a door, surely
your shop has a door? I would pull the stock in through the door or window,
with the long end supported at or above anvil height with a sawhorse or
whatever I could find handy, and work up a scroll on top of the anvil, start
the curve down over the edge, and when it gets too long, flip it up like a
capital J on its back, and keep curving. When the loop part gets heavier
than the tail, grab the loop, switch ends, and curl the remainder in to
meet. It is not ever necessary to be waving a ten foot piece of steel around
the shop. Doesn't matter if you do it hot or cold, though it will be
smoother if you do it hot. Just heat as much length as you can and bend each
heated section up to the required radius by eyeball, or compare to a curve
drawn on top of the anvil, or

make a concave "ramp" that is close to the required radius by bending a
piece of heavy flat bar (say 6 or 8 inches long) to the proper curve for the
O.D. of your ring or scroll, so that the ramp starts out flat on the anvil,
curves up away from the face, then does an abrupt turn down into the hardy
hole, with a step on the vertical "tail" to keep tail from going down the
hole. pull the end of the bar in through the door (a sawhorse at or above
anvil height in the doorway is helpful here), heat a section of the bar to
be scrolled, then place the heated section on top of the "ramp" longways and
basically just press or tap the section down into the curve, repeat, repeat,
repeat.  I have curled bars as big as 1in. x 2in. x 15 feet this way (hot)
by myself, in an 8 x 10 foot room. If the scroll or ring is too tall to
reach , put the anvil on the floor.

The anvil and forge were more or less lined up with the doorway, if I wanted
to work the end of a long bar with the Little Giant, it had to stick out the
window. I screwed a 2x4 to the windowsill (it wasn't my shop) to keep from
tearing it up.

If the scroll end gets really huge and keeps wanting to fall over, or is too
hot or heavy to hold easily, clamp two uprights to your sawhorse, and tuck
the scroll in there (vertically) while you work the tail on the anvil. keep
moving the sawhorse toward the anvil as the scroll gets bigger, and the tail
gets shorter.

Tom Troszak