[TheForge] tools

[Jerry Frost]

Don't apologize Bruce you weren't stepping on toes, I 
was just teasing you a little.

I didn't describe how to drill and bolt them together 
on the possibly false assumption it wasn't necessary. 
If we need to start at that basic a level, heating and 
beating is a number of virtual lessons away.

On the other hand, for someone with basic metal working 
skills or even general shop knowlege discovering 
improvised tools and just how much can be done can be a 
real eye opener. Being able to bootstrap yourself from 
nothing to a working smithy only requires imagination, 
knowlege and a little practice. Good scroungins help's 
of course. <grin>

Following is a tale from the Frosty files. If you only 
want the unvarnished facts hit your delete key right 
NOW! <grin>

Most of my hammer time up till a few years ago was in 
primitive conditions, literally making stuff around a 
campfire somewhere in the Alaskan bush. After work 
while the other guys on the drill crew were killing a 
half rack of Bud, I'd forge up weird little thingies 
from found stock or bent, twisted, broken, etc. drill 
tools. I'd been banging away using the casing jack or a 
safety hammer as an anvil for a long time before I 
finally welded up a RR track anvil. Other than the 
track anvil I didn't even pack a pair of tongs, I just 
used whatever was handy.

The summer of 93 or 94 we were doing a job for the FHWA 
along the Resurrection River out of Seward for at least 
three months, nearly the whole summer. We'd brushed a 
"road" down to a nice bar on the river to set up camp 
and moved in. During the summer we spent there, there 
was a large quantity of beer consumed so I had to find 
something to occupy my time instead.

Scrounging on the Resurrection River near where we were 
camped is rich pickins. There used to be quite a bit of 
industrial (by early Alaskan standards) shops, yards, 
etc. in the area till the 64' quake wiped them out. 
Anyway, the river is GOOD scrounging. I found and 
dragged an axel from a (I don't know what, but it was 
BIG) vehicle back to camp and implanted it flange up 
for my anvil.

The wind always blows down the river valley/gorge from 
the ice fields in the mountains so making a wind 
powered forge was simplicity. I hammered stakes into 
the sand in a 3'+/- circle. Using this as a frame I 
stacked mud mortared rocks and sand into my forge 
table. I ran a piece of bent drill casing up through 
the forge mound, facing into the prevailing wind. I 
made the firepot from hard rammed mud and used found 
rebar as a grate. I later replaced the firepot with a 
brake drum I got from a local repair shop. I made a 
wind facing funnel from found tin siding for my blast.

I burned forge made charcoal generated as I worked. 
This was REALLY unpleasant till I scrounged a steel 
barrel to use as a combination forge hood, charcoal 
generator. I cut the ends out of the barrel and spiked 
it on end to the top of the forge and cut a couple 
openings to access the fire. I simply cut wood, mostly 
alder and birch and tossed it into the top. It burned 
down to charcoal by time it got to the openings I was 
working through. It was hot as hell standing in front 
of the burn barrel forge thingy but it worked just 
fine.

Along with the usual fire pokers, branding irons and 
other fun with beer things I normally made, I made a 
pair of rebar tongs. They were basically the same as 
twist tongs and ugly as hell but they worked just fine. 
I made hanging hooks for camp, tripods for the camp 
fires, pokers, skewers, tent/tarp stakes and all sorts 
of little utensils for around camp.

After a while word got out I had a "blacksmith's shop" 
down on the river and I became kind of a small scale 
attraction. So I started making hooks, stakes, tripods, 
toasting forks, fire pokers, branding irons, etc. for 
locals and tourists that found us. I didn't charge much 
but made a nice bit of change for off duty fun with 
fire. <grin>

The ONLY tools I didn't improvise or manufacture were 
the hammers, large and medium crescent wrenches, a hack 
saw and a handful of files. I even made a vise though I 
didn't hammer on it.

Anyway, I did this kind of "smithing" for 19 years on 
the drill crew and dearly LOVE improvising "shops". 
This is the basis of my perspective when I answer the, 
"What do I need to get started?" question. I don't put 
limits on how high tech a smith should go either. If 
you want to make a living at this stuff you'd damned 
well better either be a VERY in demand smith OR be 
willing to do any metal work that comes in the door.

So yes. I can most certainly describe AND post pics of 
wooden tongs made with stone tools though I prefer 
knapping obsidian. I haven't tried the local chert, too 
much on my plate. Still, the chert will make a much 
better hand axes and scrapers than the obsidian if not 
as sharp, it'll be much more durable.

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

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Bruce Freeman" <FREEMAB at pt.fdah.com>


> Sorry, Frosty, I didn't mean to stomp on your toes. 
> Really, your twist
> tongs description was excellent (though pictures 
> would help), and those
> (punched and riveted) should probably be the >second< 
> pair of tongs a
> beginner makes.  If we REALLY want to be purists, we 
> could give
> instructions on making tongs of wood, made with a 
> flint knife...
>
> But I operated for so long (before learning to forge) 
> by making do with
> capabilities I had (drilling, bolting) that I still 
> often think in those
> terms.
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>