[TheForge] tools

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

I'll take my hat off to any man who looks at dirt and rocks and 
sees tools! Yassah! Good style Frosty!

Jerry Frost wrote:
> 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
>>
> 
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