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Author
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Topic: Blacksmithing.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 08-16-2009 08:52 AM
I had my first session of blacksmithing yesterday. The smith only takes two students at a time, in the first half of the day you make a fire poker of a more or less standard design, which uses several basic techniques, drawing down, upsetting, bending by various means and twisting. Later in the day you can make anything you like; I made three simple s-hooks of various shapes and sizes, one of which is in the picture.
The poker looks bent in the picture, but it is actually straight. There are several other things wrong with it however, the diamond point is a bit uneven, I'm not totally happy with the shape of the crook, and I got the metal a bit too hot at one point, and burned it. The twist is ok, I don't think I could have done that any better. However, it was only a first attempt, and there's always next time to do better.
The smith who runs the courses is Kath Shortland who shares the forge at Kew Bridge Steam Museum. They're not part of the Museum, they just rent the forge at the Museum for their business; there are several workshops and former stores in the grounds of the Museum, an old pumping station, which are rented out to various craftsmen.
There's a magazine article about the forge here:
http://www.westsidemag.co.uk/profiles-iron-maidens--181372
Kath is in the picture in the article, and the anvil she is working on and the hearth in the background are her ones which we used. There are another set at the other end of forge, off the picture to the right, used by the other smith. The forge is very well equipped, with much of the equipment being original, and very old. As well as the two coke hearths and anvils, and the usual hand tools there's a small hand-operated hoist for handling heavier items, a small long-disused steam hammer, probably out of use since the steam pumping engins were taken out of use in the mid '40s, a more modern, probably '50s, Allday & Onions air hammer, a propane gas forge, an old belt-driven drill, and a range of manual metal arc and MIG welding equipment. The Allday & Onions hammer is a self-contained one, driven by a large 7HP motor, though by the size of the thing you'd think it was about 20HP.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 08-18-2009 04:38 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Really nice work, especially on your first try. A couple of questions though. If you want this to be like yesteryear don't you think the motors and air hammers are a bit of a cheat. Also isn't there supposed to be a boy(or girl) stoking the fire and pumping the bellows to keep it hot...? Don't tell me this is a motor blown fire...
It certainly is. The forge is not part of the pumping station musuem; the two smiths run it as a commercial business, but it was originally built as part of the maintenance facilities of the pumping station. The two large coke-fired hearths look pretty old, but I doubt that they're original; certainly older than me though. The smoke hoods over them obviously get replaced, as they get corroded fairly quickly. The last time I looked into the forge, maybe ten years ago, one was in a very poor state, and had obviously been out of use for a long time. I think it's only in recent years that there have been two smiths working there again. The one used by the other smith is rather interesting. it's curved on one side, and has extra rivet holes below those that have any function now. It looks like it's been made from plates taken from an old scrapped steam boiler. The pumping station opened in the mid 19th century, 1840s I think, Even if the steam hammer which is still there dates from somewhat later, I think it could be around 1860s, it would still have been very much up to date technology, and certainly needed, considering the size of some of the engine parts they would have worked on. The air is supplied by a fan system on the other side of the forge, not by a blower mounted on, or close to, each hearth. That suggests to me that it may well have been blown by a steam engine when first built. After all, the pumping station would have had plenty of steam available. This place was very much the latest in modern technology. The steam pumping engines were shut down in the '40s, but were officially on standby, and at least one was run occasionally, until around 1958, when the boilers were scrapped. I suspect that the air hammer may well have been installed at some time in the '50s, when the regular steam supply was no longer available. I think the forge was still used by the pumping station until the '30s Diesel pumps were shut down in the '80s. The modern automatic electric pumps obviously don't need that sort of thing. Most of the original equipment is still there, along with some modern items, like mig welders and angle grinders.
It's not a yesteryear thing; it's a modern blacksmith's business producing some very modern work. One thing they produce is furniture for trendy pubs and wine bars; nothing old-fashioned about that.
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