[TheForge] CBG meet

[Bruce Freeman]

I just attended the Ct. Blacksmith Guild meet at Matt and Pete's shop.
 The emphasis was power hammer use, but they diverged a bit.  First,
Pete did a leaf shape under the power hammer the usual way - point the
end of a square bar, then fuller a distance below and draw out the
"stem".  Next, spread the leave from the "lump" on the end, and use
cross-pein hammer to texture.  He later did the same by hand.

This was a time-filler while their billet heated.  They'd prepared  a
stack of about 15 layers of mild and tool steels, wrapped them with a
(painted) sheet of steel to make a can, and welded a handle to the can
(with a pinhole), with a little kerosene inside.  Matt got this this
to welding heat then put it under the  forging press (~2.5 ton) and
made the weld in short order.  When he cut off the can, it stuck only
slightly to the billet.  The rest of this demo was drawing out, then
cutting in three and "flux-welding" the billet back under the power
hammer.

This was a good meet.  The only thing wrong with it was that only four
people attended!  More folks from this area should attend these meets.
 A lot of effort went into this one and it was worth attending.

-- 
Bruce
NJ