[TheForge] Upsetting the middle of a bar

[Jerry Frost]

Before I set this particular "jig" up I'd give Bruce's method a try.

That said I like upsetting horizontally rather than vertically. It's not
that I can hit harder with a "Putt" swing but I CAN hit very consistently
with good force, especially with a 16lb hammer.

To upset the middle of a bar cut two pieces of pipe the bar will just slip
into, these will help keep the bar from deflecting when struck. They aren't
there to keep it from deforming, they keep the force from the blow going
where you want it. The pipe guides need to leave space where the bar is to
be upset and leave sufficient bar sticking out of the ends to back up and
strike.

You'll need something heavy as a backer, say a swage block, the more solid
the better. A "V" block guide or similar jig keeps the pipe guides aligned
and keeps the bar a few inches off the floor.

To use it you slip the pipes over the ends of the bar with the gap at the
point to be upset. Bring the bar up to heat, quickly lay it in the jig, pin
it down with one foot and using a sledge hammer give the end of the bar good
solid croquet whacks till it's right or looses heat.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen McGehee" <irony at epowerc.net>
To: "The Forge" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 6:40 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Upsetting the middle of a bar


> 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  )
>
>
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