Practical Blacksmithing Vol. III: A Collection of Articles Contributed at Different Times by Skilled Workmen to the Columns of "The Blacksmith and Wheelwright" and Covering Nearly the Whole Range of Blacksmithing from the Simplest Job of Work to Some of the Most Complex Forgings

PREFACE.

Vol. I. of this series was devoted to a consideration of the early history of blacksmithing, together with shop plans and improved methods of constructing chimneys and forges.

Vol. II. was, for the most part, given up to a consideration of tools, a great variety of which were described and illustrated.

In Vol. III. the subject of tools is continued in the first and second chapters, after which the volume is devoted chiefly to a description of a great variety of jobs of work. This volume is, therefore, in many respects, the most valuable thus far of the series, as it shows how the improved tools described in Vols. I. and II. can be used practically.

Vol. IV. will continue the topic of jobs of work and complete the series.

CHAPTER I.

Blacksmith Tools.

Their Preservation.

In continuing the construction of blacksmith’s tools from Vol. II. some general directions for their care and preservation will not be out of order, as even the best tools soon become useless if they are not well cared for. The following valuable hints on their preservation will be appreciated by every mechanic who has a desire to make his tools last as long as possible, and who wishes to have them always in good condition:

Wooden Parts.—The wooden parts of tools, such as stocks of planes and the handles of chisels, are often made to have a nice appearance by French polishing, but this adds nothing to their durability. A much better plan is to let them soak in linseed oil for a week and rub them with a cloth for a few minutes every day for a week or two. This produces a beautiful surface and exerts a solidifying and preservative action on the wood.

Iron Parts.—Rust Preventatives—1. Caoutchouc oil is said to have proved efficient in preventing rust, and it has been used by the German army. It only requires to be spread with a piece of flannel in a very thin layer over the metallic surface and allowed to dry up. Such a coating will afford security against all atmospheric influences and will not show any cracks under the microscope after a year’s standing. To remove it, the article has simply to be treated with caoutchouc oil again and washed after twelve to twenty-four hours.

2. A solution of India rubber in benzine has been used for years as a coating for steel, iron and lead, and has been found a simple means of keeping them from oxidizing. It can be easily applied with a brush and as easily rubbed off. It should be made about the consistency of cream.

3. All steel articles can be perfectly preserved from rust by putting a lump of freshly-burnt lime in the drawer or case in which they are kept. If the things are to be moved, as a gun in its case, for instance, put the lime in a muslin bag. This is especially valuable for specimens of iron when fractured, for in a moderately dry place the lime will not need renewing for many years, as it is capable of absorbing a large amount of moisture. Articles in use should be placed in a box nearly filled with thoroughly slaked lime. Before using them rub well with a woolen rag.

4. The following mixture forms an excellent brown coating for preserving iron and steel from rust: Dissolve two parts crystallized iron of chloride, two of antimony of chloride and one of tannin in four of water, and apply with sponge or rag and let dry. Then another coat of paint is applied, and again another, if necessary, until the color becomes as dark as desired. When dry it is washed with water, allowed to dry again and the surface polished with boiled linseed oil. The antimony chloride must be as nearly neutral as possible.

5. To keep tools from rusting, take one-half ounce camphor, dissolve in one pound melted lard; take off the scum and mix in as much fine black lead (graphite) as will give it an iron color. Clean the tools and smear with this mixture. After twenty-four hours rub clean with a soft linen cloth. The tools will keep clean for months under ordinary circumstances.

6. Put one quart freshly slaked lime, one-half pound washing soda and one-half pound soft soap in a bucket, and sufficient water to cover the articles; put in the tools as soon as possible after use, and wipe them next morning, or let them remain until wanted.

7. Soft soap, with half its weight in pearlash, one ounce of mixture in one gallon of boiling water, is in everyday use in most engineers’ shops in the drip-cans used for turning long articles bright in wrought-iron and steel. The work, though constantly moist, does not rust, and bright nuts are immersed in it for days, till wanted, and retain their polish.

8. Melt slowly together six or eight ounces of lard to one ounce of resin, stirring until cool; when it is semi-fluid it is ready for use. If too thick it may be further let down by coal oil or benzine. Rubbed on bright surfaces ever so thinly, it preserves the polish effectually and may readily be rubbed off.

9. To protect metal from oxidation, polished iron or steel, for instance, it is requisite to exclude air and moisture from the actual metallic surface; therefore, polished tools are usually kept in wrappings of oil-cloth and brown paper, and thus protected they will preserve a spotless face for an unlimited time. When these metals come to be of necessity exposed, in being converted to use, it is necessary to protect them by means of some permanent dressing, and boiled linseed oil, which forms a lasting covering as it dries on, is one of the best preservatives, if not the best. But in order to give it body, it should be thickened by the addition of some pigment, and the very best, because the most congenial of pigments, is the ground oxide of the same metal, or, in plain words, rusted iron reduced to an impalpable powder, for the dressing of iron and steel, which thus forms the pigment of oxide paint.

10. Slake a piece of quicklime with just enough water to crumble in a covered pot, and while hot add tallow to it, and work into a paste, and use this to cover over bright work; it can be easily wiped off.

11. Olmstead’s varnish is made by melting two ounces of resin in one pound of fresh, sweet lard, melting the resin first and then adding the lard and mixing thoroughly. This is applied to the metal, which should be warm, if possible, and perfectly clean; it is afterward rubbed off. This has been well proved and tested for many years and is particularly well suited for Danish and Russian oil surfaces, which a slight rust is apt to injure very seriously.

Rust Removers.—1. Cover the metal with sweet oil, well rubbed in, and allow to stand for forty-eight hours; smear with oil applied freely with a feather or with a piece of cotton wool after rubbing the steel. Then rub with unslaked lime reduced to as fine a powder as possible.

2. Immerse the article to be cleaned for a few minutes, until all the dirt and rust are taken off, in a strong solution of potassium cyanide, say about one-half ounce in a wineglass of water; take it out and clean it with a toothbrush with a paste composed of potassium cyanide, castile soap, whiting and water mixed into a paste of about the consistency of thick cream.

Bench Tools.

The tool shown in Fig. 1 is very convenient where there is much bundle iron to open, as it is made heavy enough so that any ordinary band can be easily cut with it at one blow. It has an eye large enough to admit a small sledge handle, and the handle should be made of good hickory with some surplus stock near the eye, as it is liable to get many bruises from careless handling and mis-blows.

FIG. 1—HATCHET FOR OPENING BUNDLE IRON. MADE OF 1 5/8 SQUARE STEEL.

Fig. 2—Collaring Tool for Shouldering Down Round Iron. Made of 1¼ square Steel.

It should have a little less blunt edge than a cold chisel and be tempered a pigeon-blue, if it is made of good steel; but if it is made of the fancy brands the temper must be a matter of experiment.

For shouldering down round iron or steel to form a collar or neck, there is no tool that is any better than that shown in Fig. 2. The concave should be of a size to fit the circumference of the bar to be worked or larger.

The cut does not show the cutting part quite plainly; the edge all the way around the hollow should be flat on the inside and rounded out on the other side the same in section as Fig. 8.

Fig. 3 is simply a good handy size for a light flatter. It is about 5½ inches high. There is a great advantage in having a flatter light, not only because it is easier handled, but because it is more efficient. When a flatter is too heavy in proportion to the weight of the sledge it absorbs more force than it gives down. It kicks.

It spends its elasticity in reacting against the sledge, instead of letting the blow through it and delivering it to the work on the other side. It is all nonsense to suppose that big flatters are best on big work. It is not the work that governs the size of hand tools, it is the power of the men who are to deliver the blows.

Fig. 3—Light Flatter for Finishing Flat Iron. Made of 1 ¾ square Steel. Face 2 ½ inches square.

Fig. 4 is a tool that does not feel as good in the hand, and is not quite as nice to handle. It some way does not hang as well as a flatter, but it is a tool that should be used in the formation of all inside corners, for it is a deadly enemy to cold shuts and broken fibers, which are the vital seeds of death in any work of iron in which they find lodgment.

Fig. 4—Round-cornered Set Hammer. Made of 1¾ square Steel.

Fig. 5—Heavy Flatter for Straightening Cold Iron. Made of 2-inch square Steel.

The heavy flatter, Fig. 5, for straightening cold iron, is made very strong, and a sledge must be used with it proportionate to its weight.

There is not such particular need of activity, spring, and haste in getting a blow on cold iron as there is on hot, and blows that count in bending or straightening, are slow and solid. Steel rails are straightened under a press.

If this flatter is not made very strong it will soon crystallize and break in the weakest place across the eye.

The tools, Figs. 6, 7, 8, are for the purpose of siding-down work or making offsets, leaving good shoulders standing up, without having to use the backing hammer. There is a tendency to make tools heavier than is necessary simply to perform the office in blacksmithing that the jointer plane does in carpentering. The carpenter jacks off the rough stock and then smooths up with his jointer. In dressing tools a heavy large-faced hammer is used by some first-class tool dressers. I have known them to call it the jineter.

Fig. 6—Large Siding-Down Tool. Made of 1½ square Steel.

Fig. 7—Small Siding-Down Fuller. Made of 1¼ square Steel.

Fig. 8—Small Siding-Down Chisel. Made of 1¼ square Steel.

The siding-down tool, Fig. 8, need not be wider than a man can sink an eighth of an inch into hot iron or steel at a blow. When the impression is deep enough, or if, in crossing wide iron, it gets crooked sidewise, the wider bitted one shown in Fig. 6 can be used to make the impression straight and uniform, and afterwards the siding-down fuller, Fig. 7, may be used. On a large amount of work these tools suffice; but where there is much wide iron to work it will pay to have a wide fuller, the width, say two and one-half inches, of Fig. 6.

Blacksmith Tongs.

The blacksmith who will do his work well and quickly, whether on carriage work or the ordinary work of the country shop, must be well supplied with tongs, and they well made. It is no uncommon thing to see a man working at the forge depending upon two or three tongs for holding all kinds of work. If the jaw opens too wide it is heated and a blow from the hammer closes it; if too narrow the same operation is gone through to open it; this makeshift business costs dear, and brands the workman as a botch.

A complete list of tongs for one man might not be a complete list for another, as some workmen are particular as regards specialties, but an assortment that comprises those that should be on every bench consists of two pairs of tongs for ⅛-inch iron, two pairs for ¼-inch iron, two pairs for ⅜-inch iron, two pairs for ½-inch iron, and one pair for each succeeding one-eighth of an inch up to 1 ¼ inches and above that a pair for each succeeding quarter inch up to the limit of size.

Blacksmiths, as a rule, prefer to make their own tongs. For these they should use Lowmoor or Burden’s best. Drill all holes, instead of punching, and be careful to see that the face of the jaws are parallel when closed to the required size; jagging or otherwise roughing the face of the jaw is an unnecessary operation, for if the tongs work easily and true, as they should, they will hold the iron without extra pressure. If the jaws wobble or twist the fault is at the joint and should be corrected. The blacksmith who stands all day at the forge working with poor tongs will find, when night comes, the hand that held the tongs is much more wearied than the one that held the hammer.

How to Make a Pair of Common Tongs.

I will describe my method of making a pair of common tongs, which is so simple that any blacksmith can follow it. I take a piece of ½ x 1 ¼ inch iron, 14 inches long, and draw down the ends as shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 10 shows a side view. Then split as shown in Fig. 11 and draw the handles to the proper shape. Punch the holes, rivet, and the tongs are completed and can be shaped to suit your own notion.—By J. M. W.

How to Make a Pair of Common Tongs. Fig. 9—Shape to which J. M. W. would Draw the Iron.

Fig. 10—Side View of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11—How the Iron is Split.

Tools for Farrier Work.

Fig. 12 shows a shoe-spreader. To make it take ¾ or ⅞-inch square Norway iron, shoulder and turn down as shown at A and B. Fig. 13 shows a side view of B of Fig. 12.

For C use three-fourths rod with thread up to the jaw A and riveted through it. File notches in points so that they will not slip.

This tool is very useful and can be used to spread a shoe that has been on two or three weeks, or when only one side is nailed. D, of Fig. 12, is marked in inches, so that one can tell the exact distance the shoe has been spread.

Fig. 14 shows a farrier’s pick for removing dirt and gravel. It is made of ½-inch steel and has a hole in the end that it may be hung on box.

Fig. 12—Shoe Spreader Complete.

Fig. 13—Side View of B, Fig. 12.

Fig. 14—Farrier’s Pick.

Fig. 15 is a farrier’s corn-cutting tool.

It is made of ¼-inch round steel and has the point ground to a sharp diamond tip. It is worth its weight in gold to any horseshoer. The handle is that of a farrier’s broken knife.

Fig. 15—Farrier’s Corn-Cutting Tool.

As every blacksmith is acquainted with the clinch block it does not need illustrating.

I have mine made rounded to fit the shoe and with a groove to fit outside of the crease in the shoe, and runs up the side of the shoe, the idea being to hold nails that are sunk too deep for corn block.

Fig. 16—Handy Tongs for Handling Wagon Tires.

Fig. 16 shows a pair of fire-tongs made like the ordinary fire-tongs but having the handles bent four or five inches above the jaws. These tongs are to be used in