[TheForge] forging contest

[Mike Spencer]

dan tull> Trying to come up w/ a contest for a conference. Needs to be
dan tull> less than 30 mins.,and more objective than subjective. All
dan tull> skill levels.
dan tull> [snip]
dan tull> ...have been done in the past.  What do you think could be
dan tull> done w/ a min. of special tools?

Pass a 1" round bar through a 1" x 1/4" flat bar the hard way.

It's demo trick I like.

Materials: 24" of 1" x 1/4" (long enough to work without tongs)
            8" of 1" round

Tools: 

    Small chisel, center punch, soapstone and measuring device for
    marking centerline.  

    A hand-held slot punch ca. 3/4" x 1/8" [1], hammer, anvil, vise,
    wrench for twisting, leather glove for holding punch comfortably
    near hot metal, small can of water for cooling punch as needed.  A
    tapered drift is desirable but not absolutely necessary.

    1) Mark a center line on the 1" x 1/4" (starting at least 3" from
       one end, *not* real close to the end)

    2) Slot punch along the line.

    3) Open the slot with a drift or just using the slot punch.

    4) Round up the opening to the "right size" and centered on the
       flat bar with the ends aligned.

You can now pass the 1" bar through the 1-1/4" bar the easy way.

    5) Put the workpiece in the vise and twist (just) the hole 180 deg.

Now the 1" round will go through the hard way...

...if the hole is big enough.  Deciding how long to make the slot and
how much forging on the limbs of the hole when rounding it up is a
test of skill and eyeball. (I doubt anybody will do it with precise
calculation but you never know. :-) Forging out the hole to be tidy,
round and centered over the horn is also a test of skill because, as
we all know, the weird shape of an anvil horn tends to make such
things go wonky and you have to compensate for that.

Points for time, clean forging, good fit, alignment of the ends of the
flat bar after the hole is twisted

As a demo for novices or non-blacksmiths, it's a quickie showpiece of
how the malleability of iron offers design possibilities and solves
problems that otherwise would be impossible.  I never thought of it as
a competition thing but it might be good.


FWIW,
- Mike


[1] Or, less good, a hot chisel and a brass or copper cutting plate.
    The chisel makes a more ragged slot unless you're very careful.
    The slot punch is more forgiving.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^