The Art and Craft of the Blacksmith by Robert Thomas

Author:Robert Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Published: 2018-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

These are large custom-made rivets forged by Steve Howell.

Smaller rivets can be hammered cold, especially if they’re annealed beforehand.

A steel truss is being riveted together using a large hydraulic riveting press at Ballard Forge, Steve Howell’s workshop in Seattle, Washington.

FORGE WELDING

Until the invention of the electric welding machine in the late nineteenth century, the only way to weld two pieces of metal together was using fire. Since the dawn of the Iron Age, there have been smiths using this technique to join bars together. Forge welding is simple in practice but often difficult to achieve because of a very specific set of parameters.

The pieces that are to be welded are heated to a bright, yellow-white heat at which point the surface becomes molten. The molten pieces are lightly hammered together until they stick and are fused into one piece. Because some material is burned away during the forge welding process, it’s easy to forge your weld too thin after the fusion has taken place. To counteract this, it’s important to upset both welded surfaces prior to welding to allow for some shrinkage.

Forge welding can be a useful skill and with some practice, it can become a faster alternative to electric welding in some situations. Time is saved by forge welding parts at the anvil rather than waiting for them to cool and then prepping, electric welding, and grinding the same joint.

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