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The tines are measured, marked with a soapstone, and cut. I use
an old circular saw with a thin metal cutting blade. |
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The ends of the bar stock are de-burred with a 6" grinding wheel and the pieces
are heated in the forge. Note the "hot spot" where the gas jet
points into the interior. I use this spot for heating the tips.
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For a fancy tine, red hot square bar is chucked in the leg vise and twisted with
a wrench. For a plain tine, I use round stock and skip the twist.
I'm working with 3/8 inch square stock in the first picture,
1/2 inch square stock in the second. The length of the bar shortens
a bit when it's twisted. |
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The tine is straightened on the flat anvil, a 1-1/2 inch
thick steel plate resting on a stump. Everything but the tip I'm going
to work with next is quenched. The white things in the water
are boiling water bubbles from the red hot metal.
They don't photograph well. |
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The tip is heated and moved to the anvil. Four or five trips to the forge are
needed for each end. One trip is called a "heat".
The hammer is called a "cross-peen" because it has a wedge shapped face, the cross,
that is first used to stretch the metal by striking it with this face, creating notches that
are then smoothed out with the flat face. This process is called "drawing".
Peen pretty much just means "odd shaped end on a hammer opposite
the flat face used for working metal".
Here I'm using the cross-peen to stretch the metal. I use a ball-peen for
setting and shaping rivets. |
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Now the flat face of the hammer is used to smooth out the marks and extend the point.
A point can be worked for about 30 seconds before it has lost too
much heat to continue. I usually have 3 or 4 pieces at a time in the
forge so I can work on one while the others are heating. |
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The very tip is pointed at each end on the edge of the anvil.
Then the shape of the tine is started around the horn. |
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A few more heats and the shape begins to take place with carefully placed blows.
It's nearly finished! After the shape is completed, a final quench and it's
ready to have the forge slag stripped. Slag is a flaky grey oxidation by-product
related to rust that forms on the surface whenever metal is heated beyond red hot. |
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NEXT PAGE
Making the haft.
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