The Forgery

I’ve come to realize that my small shop is woefully lacking in some basic tools, in particular, tongs.  Most of the work I’ve done in my own shop has been with smaller stock.  But now that I’m getting into larger, more complex pieces, I don’t have the tongs I need.

The solution is simple enough – make some.  However, the only tongs I’ve made so far were done at a much larger shop, and were drawn-out using an air hammer.  I started on a couple of sets of new tongs this evening…

I now understand where the expressions “a long, drawn-out process“, and “I’m all drawn-out” (i.e. tired / exhausted) come from.

Drawing out by hand sucks – particularly when you don’t have the right tongs to firmly hold the stock you’re working with.  This first pair I’m making will be the right size to hold the stock for the other pairs; so hopefully that’ll help with the next ones.

It’s a discouraging thought for any craftsman; no matter how much care and attention you put into making something, it will likely end up in the trash at some point in the future.  I recently had the pleasure of rescuing two items from this fate … at least for now.

The first was an old mystery tool.  A friend of mine operates a junk removal business.  He had stopped in to see me about something, and said “Hey, I have something in the truck you may be able to make use of.  It’s some kind of a vise.“.

My friend had done a clean-out of a garage, and to the owner, this tool was just a rusty bit of metal they had no use for.  Turns out, it’s a special vise used for sharpening hand-saws.  I gave it a try, and it works wonderfully!  It needed nothing more than a light cleaning with a wire brush to get rid of the surface rust.  If I didn’t happen to see my friend that afternoon, this would have been melted down for scrap.

More recently, I was clearing out my (late father-in-law’s) garage, and came across a box of marked “for yard sale”.  The box had probably been sitting there at least 15 years.  It contained mostly junk, and a whole lot of mice nests, but it also had this in it.

As a student of the art of blacksmithing, I was immediately drawn to this fireplace set.  I suppose I can understand why this set was destined for the penny table at a yard sale – people tend not to have fireplace sets these days.  Those that do, often have them simply as decoration, sitting next to their gas fireplace.  This set was in rough shape when I found it … it was heavily rusted, and the stand had been painted in a thick layer of glossy black Tremclad which was flaking off.

But the more I looked at it, the more detail I noticed.  This set is old; but it is both hand made, and very well made.  After spending a good hour cleaning it up on a wire wheel, I think it’s beautiful.

This fireplace set is no masterpiece of ornamental  wrought ironwork.  It is not old enough or rare enough to be a museum piece, or to be collectible.  But someone, at some point in time, put a great deal of effort into making it.  It deserves better than to be sold off for a pittance, and eventually wind up as scrap.

I am glad to have come across both of these items, to have rescued them from the scrap heap, and to extend their life as working tools.

Children are amazing! They soak up knowledge like a sponge – and are aware of everything that goes on around them.

A few weeks ago, after spending an afternoon doing some yard work, we were trying to get the kids packed up and in the car. My son (currently 3 1/2 years old), absolutely refused as he was ‘too busy working’. Rather than forcing him and dealing with a cranky toddler for the rest of the day, I stood back and watched what he was doing that was so important to him…

He had an empty grass seed bag, which he was ‘pouring’ into a planter. He then took a long stick, and put it across the planter, stood back and started pumping his arm up and down in the air. At this point, I just had to ask … “What are you doing son?“. His answer: “I’m blacksmithing Daddy. This is my forge“.

The empty bag, was him pouring in some ‘charcoal’. The planter was his forge, the stick was his ‘metal’. The pumping his arm up and down, was the handle on an imaginary blower. I was in awe. My wife and I just stood and watched him for the longest time. He was a little man on a mission, and we weren’t going to interfere.

Of course, I cannot do anything other than to encourage this. And so, daddy has been busy collecting and building the things necessary to make him his own shop. It’s a work in progress, but so far, he’s loving it.

His small anvil on a scaled down stump (shown next to my 100 lb anvil for scale).

His forge is an old pot (actually a chestnut roaster), set on top of a steel pail to give it some height, filled with a few large pieces of coke. The blower, is an upside down grass seed spreader – it has a crank handle with a bit of resistance to it, and makes the right noise.

I made him his own miniature blacksmith’s cross pein hammer out of a block of hardwood for the head, and the handle from a small tack hammer (shown with my small 800g hammer for scale).

The most difficult part so far, is finding him some real safety glasses, that are child-sized. I’ve been letting him use child’s sun glasses when he’s doing his own pretend / play forging; and insist on real (adult sized) safety goggles when he is watching me work -but neither is ideal. I have ordered some which have a lot of positive reviews , the “Dyno-Mites Child Safety Glasses” manufactured by Sellstrom. I’m very anxious for them to arrive, so I can see if they’ll work out for him.

Neither of my forges has any identifying marks on them, only the blowers.  However, I happened across this scan of a page from the 1920 Sears Roebuck catalog, which I believe may identify both of my forges:

The “Whirlwind” forge on the bottom left is the closest I’ve seen to my small forge.  The three legs, the bracing, the shape of the spokes on the wheel, even the location of the hood … I can’t see anything that doesn’t line up.

It’s a similar situation with my large forge, and the one pictured in the center (the “Acme combination forge and blower”).  The shape and dimensions of the forge, the shape of the firepot, the arm that the blower mounts on, etc.  It all looks identical.

Unless someone can give me a positive ID for something other than these, I’m pretty sure this is what I have.  In the unlikely event that someone happens to read this post and has other information, please don’t hesitate to post a reply.

Now, if I can only find a way to positively identify my anvil, I’ll be a very happy camper!