Posts Tagged: Iron hardware
9 Cabinet Hardware Pieces To Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving
Posted by on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 in - leave a comment
• What would Thanksgiving be if it weren’t for Plymouth Rock, football, and the Macy’s Parade? Probably just a bunch of overfed relatives and corduroy skirts that do nothing for your figure. Oh, and editorial lists reminding you what you have to be thankful for this year. • Hey, just because I …
Blacksmith’s Riveting, Brazing and Welding, part 2
Posted by on Friday, June 10, 2011 in - leave a comment
In our previous post we talked about how we use mechanical joints, brazing and electrical welding to fasten metal parts together for tools and jigs in the shop. In the work we do for Horton, we use only riveted fastening: we head pins for hinges much like we’d head a rivet, and in making Suffolk …
Cutting Steel Hot
Posted by on Friday, May 6, 2011 in - leave a comment
• Blacksmiths cut hot for centuries because it was quick and the tools were more easily accessible. Blacksmiths could make their own. Hacksaw blades were expensive and not easy to obtain and the only shears we’ve seen used in contemporary prints of shops were those used where water power was …
The Blacksmith’s Library -- Artifacts
Posted by on Monday, April 11, 2011 in - leave a comment
• This is the first of two posts giving a quick overview of the types of reference material blacksmiths accumulate over the years. Reference books are important to serious blacksmiths and that will be the topic of the second post. This post is about the original objects blacksmiths acquire for …
The Blacksmith’s Hands – Tongs
Posted by on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 in - leave a comment
We’re right handed so we hold the hammer in that hand. Even though the tongs are held by the left hand, that doesn’t mean that dexterity isn’t needed. During a forging tongs are raised and lowered, shifted right or left, turned slightly or continuously. Like an athlete or a dancer, a blacksmith …
The Blacksmith’s Hands – the Hammer
Posted by on Monday, March 28, 2011 in - leave a comment
• Blacksmithing is one of the few crafts where the creator doesn’t actually get to touch the medium during the act of creating – at least not during forging. Glassmaking is another craft where the heated medium prohibits touch. • What the blacksmith has, in lieu of hands, are hammers, tongs …
A quick forging video
Posted by on Thursday, March 24, 2011 in - 2 comments
When Molly and I are forging hardware our time at the forge has two components – actual forging and tending the fire while the metal becomes hot enough to forge. • We shot a quick video of a simple forging so viewers can get an idea of what happens in that all too quick time between pulling a …
Wrought or forged?
Posted by on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 in - leave a comment
Many people today don't realize the difference between hand forged iron and wrought iron. And why would they? Industrialization coupled with marketing have succeeded in selling the consumer an efficiently produced product at an attractive price. While a select group of people have always had an …
A Blacksmith's Finish
Posted by on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 in - 3 comments
• There are a number of finishes available for forged work including traditional finishes like paint or wax. The one we’ve found best for interior locations uses a mixture of raw linseed oil and beeswax. We mix the linseed oil and beeswax in the shop, blending them by heating them together in a …
Shaping a Grip
Posted by on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 in - leave a comment
Blacksmithing uses two operations to transform mild steel or wrought iron: forging and shaping. Forging is using a hammer and anvil to alter a piece of steel’s dimensions. Shaping is changing the piece’s lines in relationship to the air around it. A line becomes a circle, a spiral, or an abrupt …