[TheForge] forging aluminum

[Roger Olsen]

Hi Andy,

I cannot give you a lot of information but I can tell you this:

Yes aluminum can be forged but the tolerances are not as forgiving as mild
steel.  For instance you would have a hard time doing leaves and flowers.  It
can be done but it will frustrate you for  sure.

Back in the old old days I did a lot of forging of aluminum bar stock for
horse shoes.  3/8  x 1.  No problem bending the horse shoe shape or punching
the nail holes.

The problem is getting the stock to hot.  You cannot go by color and if you
cross the line it will just break in two instead of bend.  I used the wooden
handle of my wire brush to tell if it is hot,  the aluminum was ready to forge
when the wood smoked and felt like grease on the aluminum.

The other thing is aluminum is a hell of a conductor,  if you were heating the
last 6 inches of a 3 foot piece the heat will still migrate the whole length.

I'd say just start plotting with some scrap and find what works,
temperatures similar and even lower than copper is somewhere you will want to
be.  The metal will let you know when it is to cold and to hot.

hope this helps a little.

Roger
______________________

Gladish Family wrote:

> Hi, everybody.
> Has any of you got experience forging aluminum, or know of a good book
> or resource on same?
> I want to build a decorative screen for a garden, and aluminum would be
> the best choice for the location, but can't seem to find anything in my
> library about forging it. Is it done cold and annealed, or do you use a
> low heat in the forge?
> In the dark here...
> Thanks!
> Andy G.
>
> --
> Andy Gladish, Metalwork
> 7141 Guemes Island Rd.
> Anacortes, WA 98221
> Element Forge  www.elementfe.com
> mailto: andy at elementfe.com
>
> I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what
> it may, -- light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.
> -John Constable, painter (1776-1837)
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