new to forging

[Chris Gagen]

tried my hand at a bit of blacksmithing, i wanted to make some hinges for my cleft gates, and now i've hung one of them i need a latch. before i can attempt that i had to make some tongs. these took me just over an hour. using my own charcoal also, will get some pics of the very basic forge sometime...

[transitman]

tried my hand at a bit of blacksmithing, i wanted to make some hinges for my cleft gates, and now i've hung one of them i need a latch. before i can attempt that i had to make some tongs. these took me just over an hour. using my own charcoal also, will get some pics of the very basic forge sometime...

 

, im a farrier made few pair of tongs, looks like they will do the job!

[Chris Gagen]

thank you, i know with the next pair i need to be quicker to do the twists, both tore a little... still, i'm well pleased for my first job!

[agg221]

They look pretty handy. There's another way of making tongs that doesn't involve twists - you basically hammer the bar flat two different ways instead and then offset it. Hard to describe but it does the job. Haven't forged over charcoal, only coke. I haven't fired up the forge lately as the extension has become all-consuming, but I have some curtain poles and wall lights to do which will make a nice change from the heavier stuff I normally end up doing.

 

Alec

[Chris Gagen]

i can follow what you mean from your description alec, i might try that with another pair, although before i go too mad i need to have a look at the farm where my cousin rents a workshop, that place is like the mary celeste, there's a forge room there and i may be able to pick up a load of tools for not a lot of gold, i believe it was pretty much abandoned back in the mid 80's. however there have been a couple of pie key jobs done and so there is probably not a lot of metal of any sort left...

[agg221]

That could work out handy. If there's a small power hammer wanting a home I could be persuaded - forging inch square rosehead nails in wrought iron by hand is not a pleasure. Mind you, not as entertaining as forging hammer heads as you can't get them really hot or the carbon burns out, so a lot of heavy sledging is involved.

 

Alec

[Chris Gagen]

finally got round to finishing the gate i made maybe 3 months ago... made the latch last night. a bit rough and ready but please bare in mind the title of the thread...

[agg221]

That looks perfectly serviceable and in keeping with the general spirit of the thing - wouldn't look right to have a perfectly squared up fitting on a rustic gate!

 

Alec

[Chris Gagen]

Quite so! exactly why i didn't want to buy something mass produced in china, this way it actually looks like i've done it. and always something to learn from the experience too, i decided after the photo to add an extra bit of weight to the drop end as although it did latch of it's own accord it wasn't as positive as i'd like. now i can take that into account with the next one.

[Chris Gagen]

Can I have a leaf id please...

This took me about an hour to forge from half inch stock using fines from the bottom of the charcoal grader.