[TheForge] Stuart Hill Joint / Claydon Clamp

Wed Jan 11 14:23:26 EST 2012

Posted a link to the one page pdf file on the Stuart Hill Clamp on the  
ABANA Home Page Under Latest News Jan 11, 2012
On Jan 10, 2012, at 2:20 AM, Dave Mudge wrote:

> 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
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April & Bill Clemens
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