[TheForge] Ironbridge!

[Woolley]

Graham,

I'd really love to see Ironbridge someday, and the puddling furnace as 
well.  Try to get your hands on a piece of railroad track for a good 
 improvised anvil.  I've got a couple of  good anvils and a nice propane 
forge.  Hasn't made me much of a blacksmith if you know what I mean. 
 Good luck.

Regards,
Bill Woolley
 

Graham Whaley wrote:

>Hiya.
>  First post, so I'd better do a small introduction...
>
>  I'm just starting to try and learn some blacksmithing.  Using some space
>at a friends workshop I have set up a very rudimentary forge using an old
>cast iron BBQ and a leaf blower and a bag of coke.  It gets things hot
>enough for me to practice hitting them on the pice of U-channel, mounted on
>a fence post.  It's a start!
>
> I've recently aquired a rather large (for me) leg vice, weighing in
>somewhere around the 150lb mark, and hopefully I'll aquire an anvil soon.
>
> I'm located in the north of England.  Hey, if anybody has an anvil you
>don't want, and you are anywhere near Leeds .... :-)
>
>
> So, onto the subject of the post.
> I was lucky enough recently to be holidaying not too far from Ironbridge.
>Of course, whilst in the area, I had to squeeze in a visit.
>
>http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/
>
> It is an interesting place, and well worth a visit.  We spent most of our
>time at the Blists Hill village.  Whilst there I saw the largest pile of
>wrought Iron, in the form of old chain.  I believe it was being reworked
>into bars for use/sale.  The furnace seemed to be running (VERY loud
>whooshing noises, and lots of glow coming out of a box around the size of a
>shipping container!).  There was a power hammer ABOUT THE SIZE OF MY HOUSE,
>the one in the second picture from the bottom in this link...
>
>http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/exhibit.asp?ID=st0023&Topic=Steam%20Machines&Th
>eme=th0001
>
>
>  So, I had a good day.  It would have been even better if the blacksmiths
>shop had been open, and we had not turned up just after they had finished
>pouring the moulds in the foundry!
>
>  If you are planning on making a visit it might be an idea to ring ahead
>and see what activities are available and when.  My day would have been even
>better if I had gotten into the blacksmith shop AND seen the pourings in the
>coke fired foundary.
>
>
>   Graham.
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