FORGE WELDING..a rare sight

[ironglow]

   As some of you already know, I spend days demonstrating blacksmithing at various festivals, fairs and museums. In the video below you will see me doing a forge weld, something rarely done these days. In order to do a proper forge weld, the smith must get the surface of the steel flowing while the center core of the piece should yet be solid. It is a matter opf figuring the exact time when the two pieces are ready to be fused, remove them quickly from the fire and use that experienced touch to get them to "stick" before hammering in earnest. You will hear me tell the crowd when I have a "stick".. Here, I have looped a 3/8" rod and am welding it to itself.
  This is at the NY State fair where there are usually 40-60 people watching at any given time..
  How do I know when it is just the right temperature that the surface is flowing and remove it from the forge before it simply melts away ? Experience..watch the color of the steel, color of flames and observe the character of the sparks.
  I love to demo, especially before young people because they have so little exposure to such things. Youngsters will often remark that blacksmithing is "cool"....which brings a friendly, smiling correction from me. Since there is a partial plexiglass wall protecting the crowd, the temps between forge and anvil on a warm summer day can approach 130 F.

   here's the video   http://www.myfamily.com/isapi.dll/c/content/f/viewproperty/contentclass/FILE/contentid/ZZZZZUGW/propertyname/File/ssid/ptVwPYBnw4w78ftW-gQfZW_iQAw*PQtwnE/~/state_fair_005.AVI

[rex6666]

Well i tried but was told i was not allowed the hot link the family.

[quickdtoo]

I guess I'm a youngster too cuz I still think it's cool!!  I went to a short class on blacksmithing, one thing I remember the smith telling me, don't pick up anything bare handed unless it's wet!! 

Thanks for sharing Pete!

Tim

[Tommyt]

Good Job

Thanks

[Oldshooter]

Cool ........er uhh Hot!

Did ya hear the one about the guy that walks into the blacksmith shop and picks up a hot horse shoe and throws it down quickly

The Smitthy says "Hot huh ?" The guy  says "No, it just dont take me long to look at a horse shoe!"

Thanks for the post!

[rex6666]

Ok i finally got it to open for me, we have lots of protection here.
It is really cool i have a few peices my granddad made back in the
1890-to early 1900s he was a blacksmith at FT. Sill OK.

[Sourdough]

I have paid attention to your avatar and had been meaning to ask if you were a Blacksmith.  I went to Westerns School Of Horseshoeing in Glendale Arizona back in the early 70s and learned the trade of bending, forming, and welding iron with a forge and anvil.  As well as shoeing horses.  I shod horses up until the late 90s.  While I no longer do horseshoeing due to a bad back.  I do sometimes start up the forge and do some work with iron.  People that know I do this will bring projects over and ask me to fix this or that.  When the projects build up enough to make it worthwhile heating up the forge I will spend a day doing them all.  My 125 lb New London style anvil is one of the handiest tools in my shop.  Even my son and his buddies working on snow mobiles or four wheelers find the anvil handy to use for bending things or to brace things against to drive out or reinstall pins.

One of the things I remember most, that old Delroy Western told us on welding iron.   As you take that iron out of the forge when you get that white heat, to think of it as the head of a hummingbird.  You want to stroke it with out crushing it with your first hammer stroke, so the hammer can draw the heat out of the project.  We had one young man that just could not get that through his head.  He dropped that 2 1/2 lb hammer and splattered hot iron everywhere.  Setting things on fire all around him, especially his clothes that was not protected by his apron. 

My Grandfather Hunter was a Blacksmith.  My parents would not let me go to his shop, or learn anything about his work.  They said that it is dangerous and nobody wants to do that anymore.  My Mom threw a fit when she found out that I was going to Westerns to learn the trade.  All the people I talk to think it is interesting, but no one wants to take up the trade.

[Skunk]

Thanks for sharing the video Ironglow. We've all heard of a Steely Man of Action, but you are a Steely & Fiery Man of Action.

[ironglow]

 Thanks Guys;
  TM, Although most any coal will suffice, even bags of charcoal from the supermarket, we (blacksmiths in general) prefer bituminous (soft) coal   and extend that preference to soft coal from the "Pocahontas" series of mines. That coal seems to burn cleaner, with less slag and clinkers.
   Safety glasses..well in a way..my regular specs have poly-bicarbonate lenses, should be enough for any errant sparks etc. At least, they have worked well for about 20 years.
  I also have gas (propane) forges at home. Quicker to light..cleaner to use and more uniform heat throughout the heat box; good for tempering knife blades or tools. Unfortunately, they will not get as hot as a coal forge; my gas forge cannot be used for forge welding, for instance.
   At fairs and demos they like to be "traditional"; coal fire, files, not grinders, hack saws, not chop saws.
   This blacksmith shop at the NY State fair at Syracuse is an old one, marked and moved piece by piece and rebuilt at the antique carriage and sleigh museum there, it was originally Harris Bros shop at Williamson, NY. I am posting a couple pics again taken at the same shop last season. You will note in one where there is a greatly enlarged photo on the wall, showing the Harris bros at the same forge& anvil etc. in 1892. Note also, the plexiglas panels that keep much of the heat near the forge..

[Glanceblamm]

The link also told me that I was not allowed but it did nothing to Dampen my enthusiasum (is there a pun here)

Anyway, I was glad to see this post. I knew that they were doing this work at Williamsburg. It is also refered to as cold welding?
I hope that you have many of apprentices to keep this lost art alive!

[williamlayton]

Pete does some great work.
Blessings

[ironglow]

  Thanks Bill..Sourdough; always glad to hear from another smith. Your description of forge welding is apt..I like the head opf a hummingbird analogy..he hit it pretty close. Often times I will use a much lighter hammer..just to get a 'stick"...
   Looks like the carrier shut down my forge welding video..sorry..I am not a farrier, my game is  artistic, ornamental and blades...

   
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