[TheForge] Stuart Hill Joint / Claydon Clamp

[Dave Mudge]

Paul, is there anywhere that we can see pictures of this connection on-line?
dave

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 1:02 AM, Paul Boulay <pboulay at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> Terry, et al,
>
> I wrote a couple of articles about 2 years ago on the Clayton Clamp that appeared in the Hammer's Blow. I think I called it the Stuart Hill Joint at the time. That was before I ran into Bob Patrick -- Bob was working with Stuart to be the American side of some sort of partnership. Stuart Hill as a very individualistic unique person. Look up his web site.
>
> The basic reason I wrote the articles was to note that the patents had expired so anyone should be free to use this if it is appropriate. I also fabricated a jig to keep the elements centered. The second article shows some samples with different proportions has photos of the jig. But even with the jig applying the joint working alone is a bit of a challenge -- unless you are Bob Patrick.
>
> The central collar element can be round or square and the proportions are somewhat critical. I found that the proportions in the patent called for a collar that was a bit long. I am not at my home computer tonight so I don't have my notes handy. If there is continued interest I can dig them out.
>
> This joint has some potential problems when used outdoors. It can trap water inside and that will create an environment for rust. (One pro I spoke to suggested drilling a small hole and filling the gap with epoxy.) In a wine rack it would be fine. It has its own look that is non-traditional and appealing in the right context. In Stuart Hill's book there are several examples with a distinctly modern design aesthetic. On the other hand Bob Patrick often uses them in combination with traditional blacksmith styles. Bob had 2 Claydon Clamp sample grilles in the ABANA 2010 Memphis conference gallery.
>
> Bob's own unique extension to this was to have 2 bars in parallel on one or both sides of the collar. Getting that to line up takes a Bob Patrick. I believe he makes his flat on the surface of the anvil. My jig was designed with some clearance so the collar could wrap the bars a bit more.
>
> The patent and Stuart's book also shows a variant in which a bar is joined to a larger diameter pipe at right angles. In this scheme, the end of the pipe is at forging heat for a length of about one diameter. Then a cold bar is forced into the end of the pipe causing the pipe to wrap around the bar. You can imagine that being turned into an industrial process using an induction heating coil.
>
> Despite the best wishes and hopes of Stuart and his backers, the commercial use of this never went anywhere. Hot forging processes are seldom favored over cold work. But it is a shame because it can be an attractive organic looking element. It is one of those form follows function things. The collar piece becomes wrapped around the bars and says in effect 'I am holding these two bars together.'
>
> Cheers,
> Paul Boulay
>
> >------------------------------
> >
> >Message: 6
> >Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:02:11 -0600
> >From: Paul Novorolsky <crosspein at sbcglobal.net>
> >Subject: Re: [TheForge] stuart hill of claydon forge
> >To: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>,        Blacksmithing List
> >       Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> >Message-ID: <4F0B0173.2020604 at sbcglobal.net>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> >
> >Bob Patrick does demos of using these. He refers to them as the "Claydon
> >Joint". Bob makes them from round, and created a tool to pre-form them.
> >His demo is on at least 2 of the UMBA DVD's. One of them is the BAM
> >conference from a couple years ago.(RD-139) The detailed list of the
> >entire DVD is listed below.
> >
> >I also recently came across the article you mentioned, but unfortunately
> >I'll have to dig through my paper "archives" to find it. But I think it
> >was The Hammer's Blow.
> >
> >
>
> Paul Boulay
> 408-483-1986
> ______________________________________________________________
> TheForge mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:TheForge at mailman.qth.net
>
> TheForge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoworks.com
> Login: blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> Password: anvil
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html