[TheForge] Upsetting the middle of a bar

[Stephen McGehee]

Y'all:
I have a stair and a parapet railing to make with about 60 balusters,
each having a long leaf forge welded near the middle of each bar.  My
stock is 5/8 square.  I am looking for a simple way to upset each bar
for the weld and am not having much luck.  I have used my coal forge
with a fairly narrow fire on some and on others, a rosebud to make the
heated area shorter.  I have been using a 2-1/2" depression in a swage
block as a base and either a 4# hand hammer or a special tool for my air
chisel that is a cup about 3" deep.  Either way the process seems far
too slow.  If I use the air chisel and keep the rosebud on the stock
constantly at almost a welding heat it barely upsets the metal even
after 5 heat/upset/straighten distortion cycles.  Using the hand hammer
seems to be the fastest way, but even that way it still takes 5 heats or
so.  Is there something basic I'm not seeing here?

 Stephen McGehee
 Publisher of
 Irony, the sketchbook of an apprentice blacksmith
 P. O. Box 9822  Pine Bluff, AR 71611
 irony at epowerc.net
 (870) 540-0142
 (479) 643-3299 (farm)
 You can see a sample of IRONY magazine here:

  http://lametalsmiths.org/news/page4.htm  )