Blacksmith's Gloves for a Museum?

 

this came to me recently :

"The Canadian Glove Museum in Point Leamington, Newfoundland recently contacted OABA requesting a set of bona-fide blacksmith gloves to add to their collection as they are expanding the collection to include more gloves connected to traditional

trades and skilled craftsmanship. They are requesting "a retired pair connected to a Canadian blacksmith, demonstration, major commission, long career, or teaching story.

A well-used pair with visible wear and a short explanation of how the gloves were used would be especially meaningful."

(This is my response to this request)

 

 I have a pair of gauntlet style gloves, retired due to left hand wear and shrinking, which might well fit your description - and although I am based in Ontario, these have a direct connection to Newfoundland.

 

I had added a few short sections, as direct responses to the details requested :

A Canadian Blacksmith...
Scope of Work...
As a Teacher...
As a Demonstrator...


A Commission - in Newfoundland...
From the mid 1990's I have had a direct association with Parks Canada at L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC. I would be commissioned by Parks to design, construct and implement the 'Norse Encampment' living history program now seen at the site. This would include both the initial staff training and many follow up visits over the years (the most recent in 2023). The original presentation required the creation of roughly 150 detailed objects, and dozens more have been made by myself since. 
In 2000 year I designed and delivered the college level program 'Interpreting the Viking Age' in association with the College of the North Atlantic and the Viking Trails Tourism Assn. at St Anthony. This six week course for adult students would provide the background training for the 'Norstead' attraction.

In 2008 I was commissioned by Parks Canada to create a set of working replica Viking Age ship building tools, This included axes, adzes, chisels, a saw and drills. As research, I would travel to Denmark to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and the Nation Museum in Copenhagen to view artifact prototypes. 
As part of that trip, I would be the only North American invited to participate in the 'Iron Making at Thy' symposium, a practical workshop in bloomery iron smelting. These specific gloves were purchased originally for the needed hand protection working with these furnaces.
Back in Canada, the creation of the axes for this commission would require repeated forge / hammer welding. This process, often seen in images for the dramatic sparks produced, again requires hand protection, particularly for the left, holding, hand. Again this pair of gloves was used. 

 In 2010, I would return again to L'Anse aux Meadows, this time to undertake a full re-creation iron smelt (meaning using all Norse equipment and clothing). Working with the local staff interpreters, it is worth noting that this was the first time iron had been successfully made at L'Anse aux Meadows in 1000 years! This pair of gloves was again employed, not being that much different from a potential Viking Age type.

Looking at the Wear...
Normal practice (for me at least) is to leave the right hand bare, to ensure proper control of the hammer. For that reason there is often more wear to the left, as it is more frequently used, and this is seen in this pair. A split seam on the left thumb was covered with a loop of common hockey tape while welding axes (and yes - I discovered this hole when I got a burn!). A second spit (not covered) is seen on the left index finger. 
As the left hand can be exposed to the extreme heat of the forge - especially during forge welding, this will both harden and shrink the leather. Eventually this will result in a lack of flexibility in the grip which becomes a problem while working. Comparing the two gloves, this shows as both discolouration and the condition of the leather on the left hand.
I would 'retire' this pair of gloves from normal working after the 2010 smelting event. I've kept them to have an additional pair available, even if not in perfect condition, for workshop events. As I have fairly small hands, getting gloves that fit correctly is sometimes a problem. Typically I replace my working gloves about every two / three years - normally due to damage to the left side. (Meaning a lot of mis-matched right hands kicking around the workshop!)
It might be of some interest that right glove has the original price sticker still in place = $33.99. That would have been in 2008 for comparison. I had considered these gloves, which had a good fit for me, well worth the price.
The cuff of each has my 'three lines & three dots' maker's mark inside. This primarily from wanting to keep them sorted at the Danish smelting event.

I appreciate that this pair of blacksmith's used gloves may not show the most extremes of wear. Honestly (and speaking from 45 years experience), a pair of gloves that are over worn may actually not perform the function they are intended for - protection of the hand. I normally only wear gloves when undertaking techniques using the most extremes of heat; forge welding, casting, smelting. Experience has shown that people are too quick to pick up a bar at 'black' heat, (still up too 600+ C) in a gloved hand. This effectively sets the glove on fire, they drop the bar but it is the hot leather than is burning them! Because you can feel the radiant heat with bare skin, merely slowing done before touching generally will keep the experienced smith safe. This combines with the fact that any work in gloves is more clumsy than manipulation with your bare hands.
The main exception here is when forge welding. Proper grip with tongs will leave the triangle between thumb and index finger sitting upwards - and flat. As correct forge welding modern steels requires use of a flux (those sparks seen), not only will extremely hot debris potentially land on that flat surface - it will (painfully!) stick there.

I'm hoping you will consider this pair of gloves, not as much for damage, but as the clear history of use that links directly back to Newfoundland.

(Message to the Canadian Glove Museum was sent on August 10, 2026 - too early yet to know what the response may be.)

Alex Hinman at UCV

Once again this year, Lloyd Johnson had organized a demonstration of traditional blacksmithing techniques over a later April weekend at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg Ontario. This event typically draws about 30 observers, and one of the bonuses is that it's location to the far east of Ontario means a number of blacksmiths from the Montreal region of Quebec also attend. For the 2026 edition, the featured demonstrator was Alex Hinman from Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Colonial Willamsburg (CW) is the largest living history site in the USA, which focuses strongly on the American Revolution of 1776. In this the background cultural set, objects, and interpretive presentations are very clearly American Colonial. Alex is one of the principle blacksmiths at the site's re-created Anderson Blacksmith Shop, having come up through the apprenticeship program at CW. The type of work most normally seen in the Anderson shop is production of functional reproductions of more common domestic items as would have been in that shop historically. Work involves coal fires with bellows air, and extensive employing of sledge hammer strikers. The shop is equipped with one forge most typically used for public demonstration type work, with two other forges assigned to more exacting object creation.

Please remember that what follows are my own perceptions and (failing!) memory of what I personally observed. There may very well be errors in these descriptions! Many of the detailed expansions given here were aspects Alex himself provided in discussions.

Alex's physical demonstration centred on the production of three common garden tool objects, well documented in historic catalogues and with physical artifacts. These were a 'Plantation' Hoe, a socketed 5 tine Rake, and a Line Reel.

Importantly, these replicas were all forged from wrought iron, the effective working of this material becoming one of the most significant part of the demonstrations. An important observation for those not familiar with antique wrought iron – it works over a wider range of temperatures than normal with mild steel. Rather than the typical 'bright orange' effective for modern steel, iron needs to be started hotter, often up to the welding temperature. This difference in correct working temperatures means that the time required for the heating cycle usually increased. It is not unusual for cracks to develop along along the encased slag filaments, and the quality of the material certainly varies piece by piece (and sometimes within the same bar).

He would start his demonstration with illustrating simple (?) nail making, this using 1/4 square mild steel. At CW this is actually the standard demonstration object on the public presentation forge, normally carried out by the newest apprentices. (Because of the massive visitor load at CW, the conversation is provided by a second interpreter.) Along with the importance of nail production to the growing Colonies (especially after cutting links with England) Alex pointed out that this was a good light weight task to warm up with physically. This section would include a discussion of the details of the nail making header he used, and various potential construction methods for these tools. One significant detail is that the header used has a slightly domed top. This feature makes it easier for hammer blows to spread the metal towards the edges of the wide head. The square hole on this tool was punched from the bottom upwards, so the smallest diameter was at the top side in use. (This reversed from the shape of much earlier historic heading tools I was familiar with.) During this, in light of questions and further explanations, Alex started to reveal a depth of research and wide knowledge beyond the technical, into the implications of even something as seemingly simple as nails in that Colonial American context. An example he gave was that the standard for a trained, full time, Colonial nail maker was converting 100 lbs of prepared nail rod into 97 lbs of nails, an expectation of only 3% loss in the working.

In the first of his main demonstrations, the Plantation Hoe, Alex would start from a longer piece than required of 2 x 5/8 inch, about 8 inches in total would be used. The first step here was notching and necking in back from the end of the bar, the part that would eventually be formed into the socket.

It was during that work that Alex introduced us all to the 'Williamsburg method' of calling a striker to task at hand. Two ringing taps on the horn was the signal. Alex explained that the ringing sound carries though the busy multi-forge Anderson workshop, despite the observing crowds. Unlike most of us watching, working with strikers is standard there (where many of us work alone, or employing powered hammers or presses). Taking turns at various times as strikers were Josh Koss (seen with Alex below), Megan Carter, and Piper Yorke. (The 'who's up first' confusion was a source of amusement to those watching – but themselves not bold enough to step up.)

 

The very rough steps of forging this object were :

• Once notched, the end of the rectangular bar was drawn down (largely on the base of the horn) into roughly 1 x 1 inch square by 4 inches long.

• The part of this portion of bar closest to the original notch was then spread at 90 degrees to the line of the source bar. This would form the eventual eye of the hoe. As the material was thinned, it was pushed to one side, so there was a straight line down from the wider source bar towards the end.

• The nub of material remaining at the very end was then also flattened, but this in the the same plane as the starting source bar. This would form the tab that would be welded back on to what would be the underside of the final hoe.

• The tab was forge welded in place.

• Then the eye is correctly contoured using a bick and suitable mandrils into a swage block. The widest part of the conical eye is to the bottom side of the hoe. (This allows a simple friction fit over a natural branch handle, thus requiring minimal working of the wood used.)

• At this point the hoe is cut at the eventual blade end from the parent bar. (If my drawing is correct?)

• A V shape, wide side roughly the same width as the eye, and point towards the blade end, is fullered in. This will create the central re-enforcing rib.

• Now using cross peen strokes the blade section is thinned and spread in several directions : backwards towards the eye to create the top corners, sideways to create the width of the blade, forwards to thin towards the cutting edge.

  

  My own rough notes on the working methods

  
  

The piece was roughly finished by pulling the blade to the desired tapering thickness, then using a flatter (again via a striker) to smooth that surface The hoe was completed by drawing a short bevel for the working edge.

With a question about use of a welded 'steeled' edge, the deeper topic of plain iron versus steeled and hardened edges, and how that related to Colonial economics, was discussed.

 

Completed (rough forged) hoe - Canadian nickle for scale

The next demonstration project was the production of a five tine and socketed rake. All the elements were created from the same 1/4 x 3/4 inch stock bar. The first part of this process was separately making the three teeth that would be fitted into the main body bar (the last two of the five would be drawn from the ends of the bar). It was as these teeth were formed that Alex exhibited a level of control that was as certain as it was subtle. 

- Working off the end of a longer piece of rectangular stock, the first step was to shoulder in near the end of the bar. This was done by pinching the bar between the back radius edge of the anvil and the cross pean, rather than using a pinch shouldering tool. If you have done this method, the matching of stokes with the cross peen needs to be exact – which Alex performed cleanly and quickly each time.

- The nub at the end of the bar was drawn out to a short square shaft, keeping the original thickness of the bar. This would form the tendon for eventual joining of the completed tooth to the bar.

- The shoulder was then squared up by forcing the bar downwards into a punch plate tool.

- A short section of the bar was then cut off, after the length measured via a caliper. (This would allow Alex to have all his starting pieces at the same length for the remaining teeth.) It was pointed out that the cut should be to roughly the same half way depth into the bar from both sides. This collapses the wrought iron grain equally.

- The short piece was then drawn to a point, again maintaining the starting thickness (so collapsing the width only). This work was done primarily over the base of the horn, again to speed the drawing process.

- The last step was to gently curve the completed tooth.

The next teeth would be formed the same way. Alex would check the distance of the separating cut via the set caliper each time. As the next teeth were formed, again the high level of control was illustrated, as each of the next two teeth would be virtually identical to the first. The only comparison I saw Alex make to the first was confirming the curvatures matched as completed.

- (As I remember?) The next step was to pull out the two ends of the main bar into similarly sized and shaped teeth. These would point upwards towards the same edge of the long bar on either end, again formed to match the contours of the earlier teeth. At this stage these are left in the same plane as the flat of the bar. The end teeth are then measured against the others, and the length marked to indicate where eventually these would be folded over.

- One of the separate teeth would eventually be fixed to the centre of the rake bar. The remaining two then will be placed half way between centre and the later end tooth fold. The 1 / 4 point was marked, and square holes punched at those positions. These would be drifted open to match the size of the square tooth shank. One of the reasons to drift open a smaller hole was to distort the iron grain around the hole, rather than cutting the fibres. The swelling from this process would be reduced by hammering down on the bar edge at the hole, with the drift in place to prevent the hole from collapsing.

The next part of the process was to create the separate conical socket for the rake handle. The end of the same stock bar was both flattened and spread (cross peen work) into a thin conical shape. It was during this process that Alex would encounter a problem so familiar to anyone working with wrought iron, fractures when working the end portion of a bar especially with aggressive flattening. Often these fractures make cracks with diagonal cross sections, so an attempt at welding from one edge downwards just ends up making further splitting. An excellent solution to this was demonstrated (see the illustration) :

• intentionally forcing the edges downwards, causing the splits to open up slightly and the diagonal edges to slide over each other

• generously fluxing the splits, bringing to a welding heat

• quickly welding the overlapping splits flat, (hopefully) resealing these cracks

There was a wider discussion from a question : “What would they have been using for flux.” Alex pointed out that borax, used by modern blacksmiths, was also available and widely used in Colonial America. This would have been imported, through England, with the initial source being Turkey. Mention was made of fine white silica sand, often seen in English historical method. A 'backwoods' substitute also known was grinding up the clay nests of mud dauber wasps (because of the very fine particle size).

Once the desired spread of material was created (as Alex pointed out: ' *3* times the desired *interior* diameter, plus a bit for the overlap when welding - pi is for math class.'), the triangle was peened down into the grooves of the swage block. This form would be completed by again forming into the swage block, now working against suitable pointed drift. Alternatives to this were suggested, including using the front step of the anvil. Alex explained that the Colonial anvils run straight from the table on to the horn however.

• At this point the cone was cut from the stock bar, leaving a short nub that would eventually become the welded joint to the rake bar.

• The cone was carefully brought to a welding heat, then quickly pushed over a bic, and the two edges welded to close the shape.

• once completed, the nub at the apex of the cone was flattened, thinning towards the edges all around.

• Both the centre of the rake and this formed tab were then brought to welding heat. Again, a process taking some care given the differing thickness of materials. Alex then quickly (and seemingly effortlessly) laid up the two separate pieces for the initial weld. This initial tack weld was repeated to ensure the edges were correctly sealed and blended, then the socket slightly adjusted for square and ideal handle angle

Next the two teeth on the ends of the rake bar were bent down to 90 degrees. Each of the three remaining teeth had their posts trimmed to ideal length, then each was held in the post vice. Laying the rake bar over the post, this end was peened down to secure the tooth. Some final adjustment was made to ensure the individual teeth lined up and were square to the bar, and the rake was complete. As finished, the rake was roughly 12 inches wide

It was during the forging of the rake that Alex would point to the usefulness of his 'side clip' tongs. He pointed out (and would frequently show) how this style was actually more versatile than the full box jaw type. 

It was during the creation of the socket that I noted another tool related fixture seen in the Upper Canada shop. As mentioned, the curving of the socket was done by forging down into a swage block. The shop is equipped with a stand formed from a number of pieces of 4 x 4 lumber strapped together. The timber is sized so that there is a lower slot in the centre, this slot of a width and depth that allows the block to be positioned vertically placing the scalloped edges at working height. The side pieces stand up so the block can also be held horizontally, with curved L shaped brackets on the corners securing it in place. 

 

The last object demonstrated was a line reel, used in Colonial times to lay out garden rows. The version made was only roughly like the historic illustration below. The construction of the illustration is riveted, where Alex would make the frame of two pieces forge welded together. (I have to fully admit that my description here is less precise, as with my own early packing up and then leaving before completion Sunday, I missed chunks of this demonstration. So the description here not necessarily in the exact forming sequence)

 

The version made consisted of two main pieces, a rectangular frame with curved sides, mounted to a long central spike. The frame element was formed from 2 lengths of 1/4 x 3/4 x 15" long, and the spike element 20 " of 1/2" round, all again of wrought iron.

The two basically identical L shaped frame pieces were created first :

- The mid point of the flat bar was carefully marked.

- A short tab was flattened on one end.

- One of the sides, from the mid point, was flattened, to about double the original width (so to half the thickness).

- This portion would be given a curve in cross section, by peening into the on hand swage block groove.

- The exact centre of the remaining flat bar side was measured, then a round hole was punched and drifted. Again the swelling of the bar was straightened by leaving the tapered punch in place while hammering down on the edges.

- At the junction between the still straight side and the contoured side, the bar was folded back on to itself and then this seam welded for about an inch.

- Next the contoured side was folded back into the desired L shape, then slightly curved into a bit of a crescent (not flat sided as in the illustration above).

This process was duplicated for the second frame element Then the first corner of the two L shapes forge welded to make a box like form – still left unconnected at one corner.

The next component to create is the central stake :

- First one end of the round rod chosen is drawn out to a long tapered square profile, to a sharp point.

- Using experience to judge what was required for the rough finished length required, the round rod is necked in slightly, once again by careful pinching of the bar over the radius on the far side of the anvil.

- From this point, the bar is drawn down into an even round profile, to a length slightly longer than the distance from top to bottom of the frame. This was checked for easy fit into the two punched holes in the frame.

- Next a small rectangular piece of bar was prepared, roughly 1/4 thick by about 1/2 inch wide, that will form an integral washer that eventually the lower frame will sit against.

- This was cut from the stock bar with slightly slanted cuts, one from each of the two sides. ( / \ )

- This piece was then curved via a groove in the swage block. The prepared central spike element was laid over the resulting U shape, at the place the shift in rod diameter had been formed, then crimped down tightly against the rod. Alex explained the logic of the mirror image diagonal slices, which would ride up over each other as the 'washer' element was welded into place – rather than butt up against each other, creating gaps.

- Welding this washer into place was the next step. Although you had to be paying attention to see this, he started close to the place the two angled ends overlapped, rotating as he welded, again into the groove. Even with light and quick blows, the washer piece would enlarge slightly, but this would just cause the angled ends to slide over, finishing the weld without a gap.

I would miss the final assembly of this object. Alex was discussing the importance of ensuring the various parts of the forming had to be checked for correct fit, shaping and measurement had to be checked and modified if required before the final open corner was welded together to complete the frame element. The very last step would be peening over the very tip of the central rod to hold the two pieces together – but at the same time ensuring free movement of the rotating frame.

One important addition to the demonstrations was the ability to examine a number of artifact samples of all three objects. These were provided by Alex and also drawn from the (infamous?) Lloyd Johnson Study Collection. One of the aspects of aged wrought iron objects is that weathering often exposes the grain lines. These can inform about the forging processes used, especially things like welding folds and if steeled edges were applied. Along with various samples of various individual's current work, these samples were available for inspection and discussion over evening conversations.

Films referenced during demo

From Alex : “Good evening gents, I know I referenced a lot of historic film in my demo and just wanted to share some of the references.”

Albert Craven, blade forger:

https://youtu.be/UeWH7xEOv_E

Forging surgeon's scissors:

https://youtu.be/xL-VPhZKdeM

Czechoslovak Nailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nma4R8izg9o

Belgian nailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WNvWmQ_ldE

Patterson's spade mill: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu8BGHC7jeA

German file cutters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiE3eyMS4Z4

Iranian wire nipper maker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOl0zKcl5s

Pioneer Axe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4VTCwEfko

Swedish iron puddling and rolling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1RSTrGV0NM

Thanks to Lloyd Johnson for providing the starting stock measurements, and suggesting details on the aspects of working with antique wrought iron.

Alex Hinman provided the reference images from late 1700's agricultural implement catalogues. Other images and drawings by the author.

Darrell Markewitz / the Wareham Forge

This article remains copyrighted – please request specific permission before re-printing.

see : https://www.warehamforge.ca/copy.html

This article was created at the request of Lloyd Johnson. It was submitted for the Summer issue of the Ontario Blacksmith's Association quarterly publication The Iron Trillium (in good time), but never included. 

Blacksmith's Shop at Sanctuary Armoury

 For the last year, I have been in discussion with Scott Nickles at his Sanctuary Armoury property about adding improvements to his property - in mind of his desire to create a more interesting historic reservation' for living history groups. Scott, who specializes in combat ready custom armours based on the 1400's (what I would call transitional plate) has been heavily involved with the HEMA community. To that end he has been hosting camping events, and this has expanded to include the SCA's Trillium War event over Canada Day week.

To that end, this year I will be working along with the Sanctuary Armoury team to build and equip a small blacksmith's shop out in the historic area. This will be the first permanent  structure, hopefully of other seasonal use facilities built by the participating groups. 

The blacksmith's shop will be a small, pole / timber framed structure, only 10 x 12 feet in foot print. With a dirt floor (ideal for a forge) and no power or water installed, the scale avoids permit problems. 

Sanctuary Blacksmith - tentative layout

You can see the arrangement of the forge and master anvil is fairly tight. (Worth noting that my own principle forge room at Wareham is roughly 12 x 15 feet, which includes four powered tools and a second propane forge.) 

One major difference is that this forge will feature a great bellows for the air delivery.  Years ago I had been given a quite old (late 1800's?) antique great bellows by my friend Kary Bates. Over the last two months I have been attempting to re-condition the dried out leathers, so to put the unit back into working order. I have been somewhat successful in this - at least to the point that the bellows can deliver a short air blast. (see below) The hope is that with use the leathers will soften a bit more.

One of the features of this layout is that the two side walls have sections at a fixed four feet, then panels hinged at the top which lift up to both permit viewing and create small sun / rain shelters. The wide front doors have a third 4 x 8 panel, also hinged at top, which acts to extend the enclosed space further, the top hinged 'roof' resting on the two open door panels.

 This week I cobbled together a hanging mount and bar for the bellows - and set it into the also antique 'semi portable' cast forge bowl I am re-configuring for this use. 

 The forge may be one of the very awkward transitional 'leaver to blower' units, my guess would be circa later 1800's. These used a pumped bar handle that had a ratchet assembly which converted up and down arm movements into rotation for an encased blower. There is a chance this unit might have a large side mounted hand crank wheel to drive the blower, a slightly later style.) All the lower working gear was missing, only the heavy cast iron bowl on legs was available. At the top of the image you can see the bulge in the dish where the wheel assembly was mounted underneath.

I had a spare lower input to ash trap casting, which I was able to mount with two bolts (the holes only roughly matched) to the bottom of the bowl.  For the air entry I took a piece of 1/8 inch plate and drilled a number of 3/8 holes. My experience with shallow dish forges has proven that encasing the air entry within a circle of 2 inch x 1/4 thick greatly improves the fire performance. I had a large quantity of low density fire brick on hand, which I cut and sculpted to raise the effective floor of the fire. When I deliver and install the unit, I will mount the bricks securely in a clay matrix. Further boxing of the fire is via a set of high density bricks around the sides and back as seen. (Use of the broken brick at the rear is intentional, this allows for one section to be removed when heating longer objects.

I undertook a short test firing of the whole assembly yesterday. Since there was no ventilation inside the main part of the workshop understandably coal smoke was a problem! I started the fire through the initial coking up, and made a very quick needle poker tool. 

I suspect the antique bellows may have a valve problem between the bottom inlet bag and the top output bag. The top was only lofting about the same amount as the bottom was delivering. Together this means the air blast is pulsing with each stroke, not the longer continuous blast normal with a great bellows. This may limit the overall size of the heat zone for larger work. 

Even with the bricks raising the level of the fire, I found that the working bar sat at too steep an angle. (The depth of the cast bowl is about five inches.)  To help flatten the position of a bar, I cut a slot about four inches wide by 2 inches deep into the very front of the bowl (would be at the front right of that image)

The overall result is not quite as effective as I would like. Although I originally learned on a great bellows system, that was a * lot * of years ago, and I will need to remember the subtlety of use. Every air delivery system has it's own quirks. One of the largest draw backs to any human powered system is that it chains you to the forge. 

 

 

Demo / Lecture over May 16 - 17

 

Presentations at the SCA's 'Fruits Of Our Labours' event coming up this weekend :

 

Saturday & Sunday afternoon : Forging the Viking Age.

Demo of a hypothetical charcoal sand table forge, using all replica tools. Ongoing, some potential participation. (requires all natural clothing, covered legs, closed toe shoes)

 

Sunday 10 am : Iron and the Norse.

 Lecture format, illustrated with replicas

 

Event? see : https://ealdormere.ca/fool/

 

Lectures : Saturday Jan 24

Lectures at SCA Blue Dragon tomorrow

https://acbluedragon.weebly.com/

 

Equipping the Viking Age (1-2 pm)

 

So, you are thinking of going Norse! (or have already done so?) Beyond clothing, it is the personal accessories and objects that you surround yourself with that define your character. But what should you be equipping yourself with? The great news is that the Norse left lots of examples behind in burials and excavated town sites. Join Darrell Markewitz (aka Kettil Einarsson of DARC) for a look through his own extensive collection of replicas, to compare what is available, and what you can make (!), to the original artefacts. Lecture format, illustrated with photographs and physical examples. 

 

Beginning Blacksmithing (2-3 pm)

 

Welcome to the forge! There is a bewildering amount of 'information' out there about this craft (much of it not so very good). What about the difference between modern, 'traditional', and historic tools, materials, even methods? Looking from the perspective of lifetime as an artisan blacksmith, there is a lot of 'I wish someone had told ME that'. This illustrated lecture will cover aspects like: picking the *right* hammer (and how to correctly modify one); how to judge an anvil; forges and fuels; iron, steel and alloys; proper safety in the workshop; historic blacksmith shops. Not so much what or how to make objects, but advice on getting *correctly* prepared to explore blacksmithing.

 

Building an Aristotle re-melting furnace

 This photo essay details the construction of a small re-melting furnace for iron materials, originally named the 'Aristotle' furnace by Skip Williams and Lee Sauder, who originated the design in 2008. It was tested extensively at Sauder's 'Smeltfest' workshop by the Early Iron Group in 2009 (over 30 cycles).

There are two PDF descriptions available :

Lee Sauder (2010), Aristotle's Steel, paper for the Historic Metallurgy Conference

Darrell Markewitz (2012), The Aristotle Re-melting Furnace, the Wareham Forge 

In simple terms, the Aristotle is a small, table top furnace made of clay, about 10 cm internal diameter and 30 cm tall. Through a burning cycle that consumes roughly 2 kg of charcoal over about 25 - 30 minutes, it will convert 600 - 800 gms of iron alloy bar into a 'puck' of modified carbon content at 500 - 600 gms. Depending on the set up of the base distance below the air blast, it may either add or subtract carbon from the starting material.

Base: 

Ideally the furnace should be built on a piece of heat resistant material, both to prevent damage to the working surface, but also to allow or ease of moving. In the past I have used refractory plates, stone slabs and the piece of glazed ceramic tile seen here. Once fired, the furnace will be stable enough to be lifted with out a supporting plate. 

Form:

A length of standard black PVC drain pipe at 4 inches interior diameter works ideal as a form. Because of the thickness of the plastic walls, this will give you a finished (wet) interior diameter of 11.5 cm. Alternately, you can use a 2 l plastic pop bottle, fill this with water first and cap it off. Wrap a sheet of newsprint around the form first to keep the clay from sticking (making removal of the form almost impossible). I use a sheet from our local weekly for this - which is 30 cm tall. If you use a full sized newspaper, mark a line at the desired 30 cm height.

Plastic pipe form, paper wrapped, on the tile base.

Clay :

You can use straight clay for the build, but better would be the addition of plain beach / playground sand. Sand adds resistance to high temperatures, but at the cost of making your mix less sticky, so more care needs with blending the individual additions of material. We have had excellent results with a combination of equal amounts by volume of clay, sand, and dry (last season's) horse manure, shredded in the hands. For this specific build, I used a combination of locally dug clay (a low firing red earthenware) with pulverized walls from previous iron smelting furnaces, half and half by volume. (1)

Dry clay (red) and furnace wall (grey) before mixing.

The first step is bending the loose dry material as evenly as possible through your fingers. I used an 800 ml (crushed tomato) can for measuring, using a total of 4 cans (so 3200 ml) of each of the two main ingredients. I have a large plastic tub with low walls, about 60 cm diameter, that I use for mixing clay for furnace builds. This is large enough to allow 'wedging' the mixture as water is gradually (!) added. This could easily be done (with a bit of care) on a spread out garbage bag or piece of plastic tarp. 

Blended material, first water added as a well in the centre.

Anyone who has ever made bread from scratch will be familiar with the basic technique required. Make a depressed 'well' in the centre of the mound of dry ingredients. Pour a quantity of water into that well, and start to fold the mass together from the outsides. My initial addition was two of the same cans = 1600 ml. This proved not enough moisture, so again I pushed the material towards the middle and added a third can full of water, so the initial total was 2400 ml. As you bend the material under your hands, make sure you you are incorporating the dry mix that will be remaining underneath and to the edges. The material is pushed together, then you squish down under your palms, pushing from the shoulders. (This method just like kneading bread dough, called 'wedging' for clay work.) 

You are likely to require some additional water as you do this. You are well advised to just cup a small amount in your hand and sprinkle over the top, NOT to add a large volume at once. If you add too much, your mixture will become far too wet and impossible to effectively build with. Unfortunately, knowing just what the best exact consistency is a matter of experience. A mix too dry will be difficult to blend together as the furnace builds, too wet and the material sticks to the hands and slumps as you try to work upwards. I judge this as I press the mix under my hands, ideally the clay pulls fairly cleanly away from my palms. I ended up adding smaller amounts of water as described several times before I had a consistency I liked.

The final blend of clay mix, ready to build.

I would end up with three fairly similar sized balls of material, each about 15 cm in diameter. This would prove almost the perfect amount for the furnace build, with a bit left over. 

Build:

Placing the furnace base.

 

The first step is to make a base pad for the furnace. A ball of material about 10 cm in diameter was pulled off and flattened into a thick pancake, about 16 - 18 cm wide and 3 cm thick. This placed on the centre of the supporting plate, then the pipe form positioned on top. 

Ball / 'brick' / added to the wall.

It may be worth noting that the steps described next also apply to building larger sized smelting or casting furnaces : see 'Stacking Up'.

Pull off individual balls of material (2), for this build I found a size like a large orange or small grapefruit (7 - 8 cm) worked well. Again wedge the ball between your hands to ensure it is consistent. Then take it and form it into a rough 'brick' shape, which will be roughly 15 cm long, 7 cm tall and about 3 cm thick. Tap the edges roughly square, then bend to curve it slightly. Each brick is then added to the base / each other as the walls are built up. Care is taken to blend the seams between individual bricks well together. Pressure needs to be applied with one hand over the outside surface while force is being exerted to the seams. Otherwise the whole structure will be pushed down and outwards, rather than being built higher with consistent wall thickness. (Again, experience with clay building comes to play!)

End of the second course.

As you build upwards, it is important that you both make sure the lines between individual bricks are well blended, but as well keep placing your hands flat against opposing sides and press both inwards and slightly upwards. This will keep the diameter of the furnace uniform, and keep the soft clay from being pushed downwards, thickening the lower walls while reducing your desired height.

End of the basic build.

With the paper indicting a rough interior height of 30 cm, the interior form is gently pulled up and clear. The paper wrap should make this easy. 

Just after removing the form, note impression of the pipe lower edge.

Now, you want to check and see if the pipe has been pressed into the base clay. ( If you have used a pop bottle, there may be lumps into the base. ) You will want to smooth out any depressions. Ideally the base pad should be slightly bowl shaped, a bit lower in the centre than around the joint to the walls. You should also be checking the interior surface, to see if here are any flaws in the blending of the applied bricks. In this case you can see some flaws at about the three o'clock position. These should be blended smooth, again working with your second had flat and bracing the outside wall surface at the same location.

Showing the bevel at the top edge.

 I measured the important interior height at this point, and between being just short of the desired mark (by the paper) and the amount the pipe had sunk into the base, I found the distance to be 25 cm. As it is better to have the furnace a bit too tall than reducing performance by being too short, I decided to add another half wide course of clay to the top. I finished the top edge by slopping that with my thumb to about a 45 degree bevel. This is more effective than a flat edge, as it makes a slightly larger target for applying charcoal, and makes sure that all falls into the furnace.
 

Showing bracing rope wrapping.

Experience has shown that putting a spiral wrap of rope around a damp furnace will help keep the body from slumping after the build. In this case I used some on hand hay bale binder twine, with gaps at about 2 cm apart. 

The finished furnace was a total of 33 cm tall and 18 cm in diameter on the outsides. The interior working 'stack' was 28 cm, leaving the base at 3 cm thick, with an internal diameter of 11.5 cm. The walls were about 3 cm thick. 

The unit was put aside, to start with outside (exposed to wind) but under cover from the sun, at least to start. In this case the build was done on Monday, for a furnace required for six days later. This will allow time for considerable air drying (again the ideal situation. 

(three days later)

The furnace at this point was 'leather hard', so it could be lifted and read for the last step, cutting in the air ports.

You can see that this is a bit different than the illustrations on the two handouts. I have omitted the secondary air mixing chamber. That chamber serves an important function when you use a powered blower, for this demonstration furnace the air would be provided by a Norse blacksmithing sized twin chamber bellows. There would be no need to vent off excess air. 

Setting the tuyere hole.

 For the Aristotle, the ideal tuyere hole is 1 cm diameter. For this I used a 3/8 inch twist drill (by hand) which easily bores through the still damp clay. There is a trick here, as the ideal angle for the air blast is roughly 20 degrees. You can establish the angle by taking half of 90 = 45 and half of 45 = 22 ° as an approximate. There is an estimation on the location of the starting point on the outside, as you want the hole to hit the inside with it about 6 - 8 cm above the interior floor. You can see from the image, with wall thickness at roughly 3 cm, I started my angled cut at about 11 cm (taking account the base thickness as well).

Measuring the interior position of the tuyere.

You can see the final position of the tuyere hole is roughly 6 cm above the solid floor of the furnace. It is always better to have more depth than you need. The final depth below the air blast can be modified by putting some wood ash down first and tapping it tight. It will be the distance below the air blast that will determine the amount of carbon absorbed by the process. This position would also leave 22 cm as the 'stack' (above tuyere) height.

Positioning the air supply pipe.

As mentioned, the air supply for this demo was going to be a smaller bellows (see below). For that reason I wanted to mate up to a short piece of steel pipe, with an ID about the same size as the outside diameter of the existing bellows exhaust. This needed to slope downwards (exaggerated in the image) to match the height of the bellows unit. 

Finished mating port for the air supply.

I used the pipe itself as a simple drill to cut in the diameter I needed, about a cm in depth into the furnace wall. I then cut the clay away at the bottom of the port. Last I used a piece of 3/8 round rod to slightly taper the inside of the tuyere hole itself. This same rod will be used to clear the tuyere of any slag that might accumulate during the firing cycle later. 

The last step before using the furnace is to dry out the moisture remaining in the clay. This can be done by leaving it in the sun for several days, plus using a very small fire with twigs / kindling splits inside. Remaining moisture presents two problems. The most significant is that with the extremely high working temperature of the furnace (in the range of 1300 + C) and water will greatly expand into steam, potentially causing cracking to the walls. Water will also significantly rob energy, so for simple efficiency / reducing charcoal consumption alone, you want to work with a baked dry furnace. (3)

Previous demo of the same process / equipment.

1) Depending on the quality of your local clay, working this naturally sourced material may prove far more work than worth the cost of purchasing a dry powered potter's clay from a supplier. I had dug the clay, dried it, broken this up with a mallet, then pulled out any obvious stones. The material was then placed in a small cement mixer with dozen short metal bars inside for about 45 minutes to pulverize it. This was sifted through a 1/4" 'hardware cloth' screen to remove any larger pieces of gravel remaining. Given the clay bank was 30 km from Wareham, and all the work involved, against the current cost of a higher temperature potter's clay at $40 (CDN) for a 22.5 kg sack? (This would be for EKP, what we normally use for smelting furnace construction.) 

2) It is worth noting that the ideal method is to take the mixed clay material and form it into individual balls (as described) and leave them to sit, covered with a plastic sheet, overnight. This will even out the moisture inside each ball, which will result in more even drying of the finished build, so in the end reducing the development of cracking when fired. Time often limits the inclusion of this step.

3) Another way to fast dry the furnace is place it in your home oven at no more than 100 C for several hours to let the moisture bake out. Not ideal if you use the horse manure mix by the way!

Weekend with Matt Jenkins

Organized by Lloyd Johnston, at Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, over April 26-28.

I have to admit here that I signed up largely to support this ongoing series of experienced blacksmith demonstration events that have been orchestrated by Lloyd, who I have known since my earliest days at the forge (the late 1970's). The featured artisan blacksmiths have been drawn from a wide regional circle, individuals that Lloyd knows and felt would have something to offer. Fellow participants come from not only Ontario, but due to the location at the far east, also from Quebec and into New York. 

Matt Jenkins is generally known from his '366 Hooks', a project he undertook which was then formalized into a traveling exhibit by his business partner (and wife) Karen Rudolph. He had traveled from his own Cloverdale Forge located 'north of Winnipeg', Manitoba, part of a larger round of demonstrations through into the western USA then back home again from what he mentioned. 

Matt proved to be both a good technical demonstrator, but also an engaging one. His past as an artisan interpreter at the Fort Gary historic site certainly shows in his delivery method. Places where some would have gaps (heating a bar for example) were easily filled with stories, both entertaining and insightful. Matt also has the skill of being able to talk while he works, providing additional description to the processes. He has a very 'folksy' manner, which covers over a keen mind, his background training (in engineering) and considerable working experience. 

Overall I was pleasantly surprised.

Given how long I have been at the forge myself, I was more expecting perhaps a different approach to things I already knew. One clear difference worth watching (for me) is that Matt works consistently with mass (where I tend to favor line). My friend David Robertson says that if he gets one new insight or working method in a demonstration, he feels it worth the time spent. The observations from the engineering side often provided just that. Matt certainly gave me a few new things to take home and consider adding to my own work. 

Some of the decorative elements Matt demonstrated that caught my eye:

'Basket Weave' element, square punches linked with butcher tool lines.

'Leaf' element, using 'Deer Hoof' punch.

 

Unnamed element ('Thumbprint'??), using a dished end punch.