FIRE WELDING - LOSING MY VIRGINITY

 Previously i posted about my first day back and how nothing is quite as it seems in the forge. As luck would have it i was an hour early for our second session.With the forges still blowing and the workshop still being supervised(believe me it needs to be supervised when I'm there), i was able to crack on and get 45 minutes extra forge time.

But the same as last week, simple tasks were still failing me. I thought as a warm up i would make a couple of hooks, then a snail in prep for November. The hooks were swiftly abandoned, the snail was slow.
I think at this point i was seriously demoralised, not to the point of wanting to go home, but seriously pissed off, then the magic happened!

At the start of the class, Richard asked if we would like to do a taught session on Fire Welding. Everybody was well into the idea of a taught session and having some of the myths demystified.

Absolutely brilliant session, with Richard explaining in depth about managing the fire, and the importance of a clean managed fire when Fire Welding.

After our session it was time for us to step up. As a class we all were successful after a couple of attempts, i managed a scarfed Fire Weld of two pieces of 12mm sq. First attempt was a nightmare the second i managed the join with a little help of some Borax.

We made some attempts at bending the material back on itself and Fire Welding to form a thick end., which resulted in one of the class then making a spoon. After a couple of attempts with varying degrees of success i attempted an animal head of unknown species!! As we are learning, the look of the head was unimportant that will come later.

By the end of the session, i think we were all happy, especially myself as my confidence had been restored to pre- christmas levels.

Picture of animal head and scarf Fire Weld - click on picture for larger image.

BLADE,LEAF AND TAPER

 This is between you and me OK! I was excited, really excited to be back in the workshop, six full days have passed since i last burnt myself, the usual kitchen burns just do not measure now! Today's task is ......................................... To make a blade,leaf and taper. Big deal we could have sighed,we have the basics ?(most people get cocky on there third session,honest) , but wait for it...................... We have to join them!! It is amazing how fast one can lose there cockiness, almost like giving it the big one in front of a pretty girl only to find the boyfriend staring at you. You know the boyfriend with the high protein diet, what do you do! SHUT UP!

Now less of the rambling,  using 10mm square the first task was to make the leaf, a much better effort on my part as it almost resembles a leaf, well a bay leaf anyhow :( .

The blade was somewhat easier, but could that be because it did not bare any resemblance to what we were shown. Now with the taper i was impressed , it actually looked like a taper,being equal on all sides. With self esteem restored and intact it was time to attempt a twist. A quick chinwag with our ever understanding, very patient tutor Mr Richard Wood, the mechanics were explained. Keep the heat even where you wish to twist, place material nearest to point you wish to twist  into a vice. Tighten and twist away! Tongs,monkey wrench or handmade twisting device were all to hand, for my first twist i used the handmade twister, a length

 of bar with an L shaped piece of steel welded dead centre. Material to be twisted is then inserted into the L shaped shoulder and twisted the desired direction, up to 360 degrees for a complete twist.

The collar. No one said this bit would be easy, the opposite end to the taper was placed back into the fire, heated then placed on the edge of the anvil, hammered flat then spread to form a collar. The idea being that the collar would wrap and hold the other two pieces together. For every time i wrapped the collar and managed a snug fit the temptation to play, to achieve a better fit would bubble to the surface, only for both pieces of material to loosen. No guessing required for choice words, after several attempts the piece was taken away by the  Blacksmith police. The sentence passed - 2 minutes on the gas welding bench.



BLADE,LEAF AND TAPER WITH  FIRST EVER TWIST, BOTTOM COLLAR GAS WELDED.