Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Norse Trefoil Arrowheads

My friend Neil Peterson has been after me for some (too long) a time to forge some replica Viking Age arrowheads.

I have begged off this - primarily because this is largely specialist work. There are a few others out there who have concentrated (solely, from the look of it) on the skills and tooling required to be effective at this type of work. Hector Cole of the UK being the 'state of the art' in my opinion.

Neil has been most interested in two specific points, illustrated in the (almost impossible to find) 'Viking Artifacts' by James Graham-Campbell :

Image adjusted to life size
These are described as his number 12 (part of a group) and 267 (two shown) , " ... from the large find discovered in Estuna churchyard in 1964. ... objects of 7th to 11th century date are 245 arrowheads ... the greater part dating to the Viking Period." (pg 12)
From : Estuna, Uppland, Sweden, listed as Statens Historiska Museum 27761 (both images).
Further details are given on the second entry #267:
"Two tanged iron arrow-heads, with trefoil-sectioned blades of pointed oval form : between the blade and the tang is a rounded shaft, the larger having two ornamental mouldings. L 15.7 and 11.3 cm." (pg 74)

Forging a trefoil head represents a bit of a forging problem. Being able to see the original, or have some better idea of the detailed cross section, would most likely suggest the method used.
After a couple of forging tests, using differing starting shapes and sizes, differing forging steps, this is what I eventually came up with:
Life size - 1/4 inch grid
These are *rough forged* - and would need to be trimmed / sharpened on the cutting edges to finish. The longer of the two (#12) would then have the circular notch cut in, most likely with the edge of a file (like the square profile one found in the Mastermyr Tool Chest).

I ended up using a bottom profile tool to create a sharp line for the trefoil cross section:


This is the selection of tools I used for the work, with the addition of a cut off (or a straight chisel)
- The tongs are a special fine pair of goose neck, designed with a 'half square' notch on each jaw. The basic goose neck shape is seen in many VA tongs - although not so extreme. I am not aware of any artifact tongs with notched or profiled jaws (all I have seen are flat jaw).
- The shouldering tool here is intended for mounting in the hardie hole of a modern anvil, a feature no artifact anvil has. It is also quite possible to make this tool as a simple U shape, to be held by an assistant. There is no artifact version of this tool (again that I am aware of). Mind you, the simple construction would easily lend the metal to be quickly re-cycled as needed. Norse objects do show the shouldering form - 'loop and tab' hinges being a clear example.
- The bottom tool is *not* found in the artifact record.
I found the best way to create a robust central rib in the trefoil cross section was to lay a square taper 'edge down' into the groove, then pound flat from above. There may be a modern conception of 'mass production' at play here however. Using the bottom tool certainly was much faster and created a thicker cross section than hammering two diagonal bevels on one side. The results were also more consistent (but I can see repetitive skill coming to play there).

If there are any readers who have examined these, or other Viking Age trefoil arrow heads, please take the time to add a comment!

Neil has now added the full 'mini paper' up on the DARC web site:
http://darkcompany.ca/articles/trefoils.php 

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Yule to you too

Because I know a lot of you are pretty sick of 'Happy Happy'... 

(click for larger size to read the text)

Friday, December 19, 2014

Some IRON snippets...

...stumbled or sent via the wide world of the web.

Telluric iron

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iron, native iron or telluric iron
Iron-136213.jpg
Sawed slab of basalt with bright, metallic native iron inclusions from Uivfaq, Disko Island (size: 7.8 x 3.5 x 0.6 cm)
Telluric iron, also called native iron, is iron that originated on Earth, but is found in a metallic form rather than as an ore. Telluric iron is extremely rare, with only one known major deposit in the world, located in Greenland.
I'm always telling people about this - the only occasion metallic iron is found on the earth's surface, other than nickle-iron meteors. Someone should compare the trace elements in this material against known Norse artifacts - to see if this resource (within reach of the Greenland Colony) was ever utilized by the Norse. 



Excerpt on Iron Making from the BBC's Tudor Monastery Farm 
Filmed at the Rural Life Center in Surrey, England

From the Rural Life Center web site : 'Smiths and Wrights' :
... a half-scale furnace complete with bellows and hammer at the Rural Life Centre. ...
There have been several burns in the furnace, proving the efficiency of the bellows, but currently there isn't a big enough supply of charcoal yet to enable iron to be made – despite being only half-size, this furnace will still need four tons of charcoal when in action.
Actual smelting of ore is still being considered (due to potential dangers involved) but a charcoal burning programme has already been initiated at the museum ...
Those who have ever undertaken or observed a full iron smelt likely spotted the same thing I did on viewing the video clip : Everything was spotless clean and there was no heat effects visible on the tapping surface - or slag anywhere. This is also an early blast furnace (late Medieval technologies), charcoal fired to produce liquid *cast* iron. Mention is made of the second part of this system, the use of a separate 'finery' forge set up to effectively *remove* carbon from the cast iron to create workable wrought iron. I strongly suspect the large bar seen being worked under the (very neat!) water powered tilt hammer is actually modern mild steel - understandably used for demonstration purposes.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Tentative (!) 2015 Schedule

Believe it or not, I have had people asking me about the 2015 courses schedule for several weeks already!

Basic Course
Teaching
Research
Iron Smelt
Retail Shows
Special Course
Tenative
Tentative
Demonstration
NOTE
JANUARY
3 - 4
10 - 11
17 - 18
24 - 25
31 - (1)
FEBRUARY
(31) - 1
7 - 8
14 - 15
21 - 22
28 - (1)
Basic (two day)
MARCH
(28) - 1
7 - 8
14 - 15
21 - 22
28 - 29
FITP = Turf to Tools
Basic (two day)
Welding
FITP
Waterloo
APRIL
4 - 5
11 - 12
18 - 19
25 - 26
EI4 = Smelt demo?
Early Iron
Olivebridge NY
MAY
2 - 3
9 - 10
16 - 17
23 - 24
30 - 31
ICMS = Aristotle
ICMS
ICMS = Turf to Tools
Kalamazoo MI
JUNE
6 - 7
13 - 14
20 - 21
27 - 28
DARK Upper Canada
Iron Smelt



Morrisburg
JULY
4 - 5
11 - 12
18 - 19
25 - 26
CanIRON 10




Badeck NS
AUGUST
1 - 2
8 - 9
15 - 16
22 - 23
29 - 30
Celtic College = Glass
Celtic College
Celtic Festival
Summerfolk
Viking
Goderich
Goderich
Owen Sound
SEPTEMBER
5 - 6
12 - 13
19 - 20
26 - 27
Known World = Iron Smelt
Known World

Quad State



Minnesota
Troy - OH
OCTOBER
3 - 4
10 - 11
17 -18
24 - 25
(31) - 1
ReARC = Iron Smelt ?
Iron Smelt
ReARC
Iron Smelt
Gastonia
NOVEMBER
(31) - 1
7 - 8
14 - 15
21 - 22
28 - 29


Iron Smelt
DECEMBER
5 - 6
12 - 13
19 - 20
26 - 27
Basic (two day)

NOTES:

The main change for 2015 is that I have attempted to place all the workshop courses at the Wareham Forge on either the second or fourth weekend of each month. Introduction to Blacksmithing (Basic) are all offered on the second weekend. Various specialty courses are offered on the fourth weekend. 

Basic (two day) : This program will be limited to TWO students, working only PROPANE. Only offered in the cold weather months!

Viking : This is a new 2 1/2 program - Forging the Viking Age, no previous skills required.  It will compose of an evening lecture, first day working modern equipment but making Norse objects, second day working with a Norse charcoal forge and bellows combination.

Experimental Iron Smelting has been shifted to coincide with the Summer Solstice and Samhain, plus the normal Thanksgiving, weekends.


Those who wax poetic about the 'free and easy life of the artist' might note that 2015 is still not even here yet, but already my schedule for next year leaves me only FOUR 'open' weekends - from mid May to mid November!

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Vintage Computer for Sale / Macintosh Performa 580-CD


Running on my desk
The Apple Macintosh Performa 580-CD 
features a 33 MHz 68LC040 processor, RAM expanded to 36 Mb,  a 250 MB  hard drive, and a 2X CD-ROM drive in a relatively compact all-in-one case with a 14" color display.
This is one of the last Macs to include a 3.5 floppy drive.
SCUZI interface (no USB!)
Installed with System 7.5.1
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_performa/specs/mac_performa_580cd.html

The Performa 580CD only was sold in Canada, Asia, and Australia,
This specific machine was purchased new in Toronto - Spring 1995, I am the original owner.

Other Hardware:
Apple ACK-310 expanded keyboard with cover
Apple Desktop 2 Mouse
Hewet-Packard 540 Printer
All required cords
Mouse pad
Original (!) Box

Installed Software:
a) Applications
AppleWorks v 5
Claris Organizer
Claris Works
Microsoft Excel v 4.0
Microsoft Word v 5.1
The Writing Centre
b) Communications
Eudora 3.1
Internet Explorer 3.01
Fetch 3.0.3
Netscape 4.01
RealAudio Player 2.02
Web Weaver 3.0.1
c) Computer Support
Darkside Screensaver
DropStuff 4.0
SAM 3.5
StuffIt Expander 5.5
ZipIt 1.3.5
d) Games
Eric's Solitaire
Marathon 1.2
Solitaire Till Dawn
Warcraft 1
e) Image Processing
clip2gif
Colour It 3.0
JPEGView
KeyCad 1.0
Photofix 3.3.3
UltraPaint 1.05

Operating System Support:
Original Performa Users Guide
Original Performa Installation CD (bootable, OS 7.5) plus duplicate copy
CD with OS 8.0 - which this machine does run
CD with OS 8.1 - which this machine does run

Manuals for installed sofware:
Appleworks 5 original install disk
Claris Organizer Users Guide
Microsoft Excel - Getting Started Guide
The Writing Centre - Quick Reference
Microsoft Word - Getting Started Guide
Claris Works Users Guide
Ultra Paint Manual

Additional Software Included (all on CD)

a) Educational
Grolier Encylopedia 1995 (copy)
The Family Doctor (copy)
b) Games
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Collector's Edition (full box set)
Afterlife (original CD package)
the Dig (original CD package)
Doom (copy)
Doom 2 (copy)
Hexen (original CD package)
Labyrinth (full box set)
MacPlay Sampler
Myst (original CD package)
Postal (full box set)
Prime Target (copy)
Warcraft 1 (full box set)
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego (full box set)
Combination / Sampler Disks - total of 5

Additional
6 copies of 'MacWorld' Magazine - 1996 - 97 (about age of computer)
18 individual 'Mac Addict' CD's : Dec 1996 - August 1998 (demos, utilities, software)





Asking Price is $250
 This was my workhorse machine until roughly 2000. The majority of the Wareham Forge web site - and all my business records and technical writing was undertaken with this computer.

I will be making a couple of trips through the Brampton - Toronto area during December. It may be possible to arrange drop off. Otherwise, pick up at my home (google the Wareham Forge) north of Orangeville  (near Flesherton)

Monday, December 08, 2014

Early Iron 4 - A bit more first notice...

 

Early Iron Four
April 24 - 26, 2015
Ashokan Centre, Olivebrige NY

Early Iron 4 will be held in pairing with the Northeast Blacksmith's Association spring hammer in.
Current thought is to have a separate admission for the Early Iron related programming. (Although we all expect a certain amount of 'slop' between the two groups of metal smiths.)

At this point the working team for Early Iron 4 is:
Mike McCarthy (who started this whole mess and ran the other EI events) - nuts and bolts on the ground
Darrell Markewitz (who, me?) - some early organizing and communications
Tim Neu (who has organized many earlier NBA events at Ashokan) - helping with the financial aspects
Lurking in the background will be Jonathan Nedbor (New England Bladesmiths Guild) and Lee Sauder.


The Ashokan Centre is well known for its history of blacksmithing events.
The facility is located roughly half way between New York City and Albany

There is an established blacksmith shop there (with a small mechanical hammer) but this will certainly be occupied by the NBA activities.
There is a large 'picknick shelter' overhead with associated field that is the most likely area for the main Early Iron activities.
As well the Centre has ample lecture spaces available.
The Ashokan Centre also provides meal and lodging packages (purchased separately) for participants. These range from open bunks to private rooms. Those who have attended other events there will tell you the food is good quality and there is plenty of it. Rough estimate on a two night / 6 meals is about $190 per person.

At this point there is still some discussion about how to shape Early Iron 4.
Earlier symposiums have centred on demonstrations and teaching. At this point however, the base information on how to build and operate a small direct process bloomery furnace are fairly wide known. (For the last decade, members of the extended Early Iron Group have undertaken a lot of demonstrations!) Its also safe to say there is a kind of 'second generation' of practitioners who have taken that basic research and pushed it into solid 'bloom to object' work.
Some possible 'themes' that this event could explore:
- Historic / Cultural iron smelting traditions (North European / African / Japanese)
- Variations on Ore (similar furnaces then running various local ore types)
- Bloom to Bar to Object (more concentration on the challenges of working up those blooms!)

The exact format the activities take will determine the costing for participants.
One question still open is if Early Iron should recruit one major feature demonstrator? Or recruit a number of 'team leaders' - against a more 'hands on' approach?

At the very least, please mark the date on your calendars.
Spread the word!

Sunday, December 07, 2014

Work available in TORONTO - Great Spirit Gallery


Opening : Tuesday December 9
Location : Toronto Beaches area, 
half way between Woodbine and Victoria Park (north side)
Google Maps link
Hours : 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday to Friday
1 pm - 8 pm Saturday

I am happy to say that I will now have work available at this new, community based gallery in Toronto. I expect the Beaches area to be a perfect fit for the kind of work I have been doing (and potential customer). I met Christi as a student on one of my basic blacksmithing courses, and find her also a great fit in terms of her outlook and intentions with her gallery space.

Work initially available:

'Four Square' - vases (multiples)

'Lines' - bowl (part of 'Knot Celtic' series)

'Compacted' - candle holder / vases (multiples)

'Atlantic Realm # 3 - Kelp' - sculptural

'Layers' - wall plaque

Pentapus, (Hallucigenia # 6) - sculptural

'Segmented Bowl # 2'

'Structural' - candelabra

Monday, December 01, 2014

Viking Game - special Yule DISCOUNT

Special Price for Yule! 
flat $30 CDN
- includes Shipping to USA!
- includes Shipping AND HST to Canada!

Offer from December 1 - December 15, 2014 only
all orders shipped by December 15 for Christmas
   
Order on the Wareham Forge web site via Paypal


NOTE - Edit on Feburary 16, 2016 
THIS OFFER IS NOT CURRENT!

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Monday, November 24, 2014

'Turf to Tools' Online ?? (the aftermath) / Rant on Connection Speeds

Well - maybe not as effective as hoped.

I think you may be able to still view some portions of the presentation on the internet via:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/out-of-the-earth-streaming-turf-to-tools

(This is a bit difficult for me to determine here, as my older system / browser combination and especially my slow transmission speed is less than effective.)

Honestly, I think this whole attempt is more an illustration of differing approaches to a single event - of multiple objectives not meshing as well as they might.

The team at University of Aberdeen appear to be working from two viewpoints, which should compliment each other, but may have resulted in a few aspects being fumbled.
- One group of largely academics is researching the ability of rural communities to engage with each other from remote locations. The principle here is important - that internet communications should allow for even physically separated individuals to combine to share information. A cell phone or Skype connection does not (much) care if you are in the next room or half way across the planet - at least in theory.
A second group is basically composed of techies, people involved in the nuts and bolts of hardware and software. Fair to say those focused on the attempt to bring the grand principle of universal access into practical function.

A third group involved ended up in many ways being like the icing on that two layer cake. That's the people (like myself) who are presenting the actual content. Frankly, I'm not sure how much influence we ended up having over what or how *we* thought information about our work would best be illustrated or presented.  Obviously we were enthusiastic about any situation which would allow us to report to a wider audience about the Turf to Tools project.

The presentation consisted of four primary elements:
- Nuno Sacramento, Director at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop
live, describing the overall Turf to Tools project and its intended objectives
- Eden Jolly, Chief Technician at SSW
live - describing the physical activities of the project (and something on his own background)
- Video of the third smelt shot by Tom Jones, University of Aberdeen
this did include a fairly good description by myself of the process, plus the whole extraction process
- Myself
contributing via Skype from Ontario (using an iPad mini), attempting to answer audience questions.

 There was no specific co-ordination before the event between the individual presenters about their individual content. Although we had all worked together on the project, we had approached the whole sequence from differing viewpoints and expectations. This showed pretty clearly in how we individually spoke about the project.
(In itself not such a bad thing, as it did illustrate something about what had always been intended as a collaborative project. This might have left viewers, unfamiliar with those involved or the the body of work, with a fractured image of the conduct of the project??)

From my side, two things did stand out:

First, the publication of the live streaming itself did not appear particularly effective.
This may or may not have been a concern to the academics or the technicians. I was certainly not able to access what pre-event advertising that might have been made through the University of Aberdeen community (which might have been extensive?). I certainly did not have access to any related advertising materials until early the week of the event. I made some attempts (not necessarily very effective) to notify people via the on line world : Facebook / direct discussion groups / my blog / very limited direct e-mails.
This was rendered ineffective by a last minute change in the actual internet access portal used for the live streaming. I was told of the change in access site less than five hours before the event. Too late to modify the previously published information.

Second, despite some earlier attempts to test the internet communications, there were some significant linkage problems. The use of internet based live streaming inserted a considerable delay between a source voice - and the broadcast of that voice. Roughly 30 seconds by my count. This created a feedback loop effect, with speakers (both live in Aberdeen and me from Ontario) needing to talk over top of their own delayed voice coming back over the audio broadcast.

A more minor problem, at least on my side, was that audience questions were not picked up via a directly held microphone. Trying to pick out the questioner's voice from a general room mike was extremely difficult for me. (That attempt at concentration certainly was clearly visible on my face!)


Although the concept of integrating individuals from widely separated locations into a single broadcast event employing internet based technologies is a good one, the end result of this specific presentation I think illustrates the problems :
- Although the technologies may exist at the 'top end', the limitations and varying capabilities of individual hardware, software and access remains difficult to effectively integrate. Most especially for private individuals (self funded) and for rural locations (reduced access speeds).
- Special consideration needs to be made for the direct limits imposed by the continuing lack of true 'high speed' communication system for rural locations. There is a clear 'divide' between the possibilities of expensive state of the art hardware and software and urban available high speed connections - and the existing realities of rural residents (using older hardware and with only poor connection speeds available).
- Although the internet may be instantaneous, *people* are not! Increasingly there is a paradox between an expectation of fast turn over on information, and how those same fast systems over tax the human limitations. The ability to (theoretically) *do* more and more has created an expectation that somehow we are actually *able* to do vastly more. The real effect is that increasingly, choices to participate in individual events must be made ever further into personal future scheduling.


'The oxen are slow - but the earth is patient'


(The balance is more or less a separate commentary on Rural Access)

I find myself in a unique (?) position to  comment on this specific problem - the internet and the increasing 'urban / rural divide'.
I have been active with the internet from its earlier days, pretty much as long as access was possible via telephone modem here in lower Grey County. In the early 1990's, this was via discussion boards, primarily still in a kind of of 'live chat' format. I was also early involved in personal web sites, the original content for the Wareham Forge was created and posted roughly 1994. (Back then you had to learn and hand write html code.)T
through the late 90's I had been in a position to receive a number of slightly used Macintosh computer main frames, which all came loaded with top end graphics software. The cost of replacement Mac computers, most especially the cost of replacing all that software (!) has resulted in me keeping to older machines and software versions. Right now I am working primarily on a 2005 issue machine (Mac G5) running a 2007 operating system. My email software is Thunderbird (2007) and my browser is Firefox (2010). Presently this machine is 'maxed out' - it is running the latest combination of software that it is able. Fixed at roughly 2007, so seven years from 'current'.
Do note that my extensive web site has largely been created and implemented using entirely 2005 level hardware and software (a good portion using systems older than that even). In terms of everyday business functions, I manage successfully employing systems of the same vintage.  On image processing, the vintage of the hardware and software is much the same (my primary digital camera is a 2006 model). Of all the aspects of my business operations, it is only my limited video processing which would noticeably be improved with the installation of new (faster) computing or software.

My physical location is roughly 5 km off a main highway, a good 15 plus km from the closest (small!) village, and located on the highest ground in Ontario. This combines to greatly limit my potential access to internet connection. I gave up service via on the 1960's era Bell Canada copper wire about 10 years ago. Transmission speeds there were running roughly 5 *kilo* bites per second. (So that is 5 - 30 seconds for a typical e-mail message, roughly 1 - 2 minutes for a standard small sized image. Makes it roughly 20 minutes for a typical digital 'straight out of the camera' image.)
I don't have connection via line of sight to any direct wireless broadcast towers here. This partially geography, but more because the low population density does not deem it profitable to install the towers. (About two years back I did test the wireless hub equipment offered by Bell, Telus and Rodgers. All ensured me that G4 level service was available. In actual fact, none of their equipments would actually connect to the internet here in Wareham.) As raw economics are determining the placement of (admittedly costly) broadcast towers, that situation is never likely to change.
About ten years back, I was pretty much forced to invest in a satellite uplink system. At the time the total investment (hardware and installation) ran me about $1000. Monthly cost then was $50, increased since to $70, that for base level service. This is via the Xplornet system (the only service provider available by the way).  Despite advertising to the contrary, my typical functioning transmission speeds are roughly 300 to maybe at best 500 *kilo* bites per second. I currently can not usually listen to on line transmitted music 'as fast as it plays'. I certainly can not view video (like YouTube) without waiting at least four times longer than the length of the clip for the download. I can manage Skype video chat, but often with breaks in video and even audio. This limit on functional speed is, if anything, likely to be reduced with time - certainly not increased. You share a portion of the available dish volume with all other users, so the more people purchase the service and then attempt ever more complex use, the effective available speed / volume per individual is reduced.

Increasingly, I am finding myself blocked out of portions of the internet.
One reason is the rapid increase in software. As organisations increasingly add more 'whistles and bells' to their web sites, these elements are generated using increasingly later version (or entirely new) software 'widgets'. Facebook, for example, is increasingly annoying for this. As I am not interested in someone's choice of soundtrack or 'dancing pigs' framing, I find my self blocked from information content because of these mere distractions. I have found a number of official Government impossible to use, because they require specific software installation on the part of the user. (I find it particularly offensive that I am being required in install the latest version of Microsoft Windows to communicate with my own government - for registrations they themselves are insisting I need undertake. This is in in result a demand that I need purchase a specific computer type and operating system package - of the Government's choice.)

Individual web sites increasingly use ever more elaborate security features, which create two interlocked blocks to my use. First is again a requirement for newer software, and by extension a newer computer to run that software. (A clear argument can be made that elevated security is to *my* benefit, so I should be making the investment to remain current here.) More significant to this discussion, is the increasing requirement for high speed transmission during the course of 'secure' functions. The machine on the other end, sends out a 'ping' - a simple 'are you still there?'. Increasingly, bu the time my machine, on the other end of the satellite broadcast down, then up again, can not return the 'I'm still here' message. So, for the sake of perceived 'loss of contact', the controlling system just halts the ongoing process. What I get on my end is a 'session terminated' message.
Bare in mind, these blocks are all happening where increasingly, official services are being converted to 'on line only'. Canadian Goods and Services / Harmonised Sales Taxes are only able to be processed via on line communications at this point. Bell Canada and other utilities are now charging extra to issue paper copy invoices, expecting these transactions to use entirely on line processing instead.

As I have absolutely no control over access to the internet itself, as a rural resident I am slowly being excluded from functional parts of the internet. As transmission speeds are directly the result of the installation of major infrastructure systems, and these are dictated by 'cost per user', I can not envision my situation ever significantly improving. (The massive influx of Menonite farmers into my local area over the last five years is not likely to improve the 'users per square kilometer' function.*)

As individuals are increasingly dazzled by the 'latest and greatest', in a society ever obsessed  with novelty over function, I expect the Rural - Urban Divide as applied to the internet to also ever increase. Increasing raw speed has become the driver itself, over any consideration that there is actually any improvement in activity. Your computer might be able to process e-mails at a thousand a minute, but you still can not read them any faster and still only hunt and peck as you type to answer them.
Because you have been convinced that your six month old phone is not adequate any more, or you want to play Total Combat 15 on line, the entire internet is shifting to demand the only effective access is extreme high speed access.

Those of us who are being choked off from these required access speeds, through those same merely profit bottom line restrictions, are being left in the metaphorical dust on the information super highway.


(a good example of human vs internet speeds? This report took me roughly three and a half hours to compose.)

* Curriously enough, one of the related problems of rural life - fluctuations in electrical supply, has actually been greatly improved locally with this same influx of Menonite owners. One of the first signs of Menonite purchase of a property is that the existing Hydro connections are yanked out. In fact local Menonite farms are massive users of electricity, but that power is manufactured individually using large diesel powered generators installed on each farm. The electrical grid around Wareham was installed in the 1950's, and not significantly upgraded since. When I first moved here there were serious problems with brown outs (daily), power surges (weekly) and failures (monthly). I had to invest in a number of 'un-interrupted power supply' systems for all the household electronics. With so many users excluding themselves from the grid, the electrical supply has actually gotten significantly *more* dependable of late.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Turf to Tools - ONLINE PRESENTATION

On Thursday the 20th of November, as part of the Being Human festival, the dot.rural SIRA STREAMS project will be holding a public event with Scottish Sculpture Workshop about their 'From Turf to Tools' project.
'From Turf to Tools' is an ongoing enquiry into resources, material and landscape. During August 2014, this led to the recreation of an Iron Age smelting process in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire. Join us for the event online to find out more about the project, see video footage of the smelt, see the materials used and produced, and participate in a live Q&A with artist Eden Jolly and Master Blacksmith Darrell Markewitz (joining us remotely from Ontario, Canada). Hear about work being carried out at the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub to share these activities online with remote audiences worldwide.

The event commences at 6.45pm (UK time) - if you wish to participate online please register here for your invitation:​

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/out-of-the-earth-streaming-turf-to-tools-tickets-14072111063​

Hope to see you there!
Dr. Leanne Townsend
Research Fellow

dot.rural Digital Economy Hub
University of Aberdeen
Kings College

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Last Chance to See (?) Course

(Sorry for this 'shot gun' approach - let me know if you want OFF the general mailing list! Especially if you have *already* taken this program over 2014.)

Did you miss the scheduled 'Introduction to Blacksmithing' courses this year?
Still interested?

Introduction to Blacksmithing
November 22 & 23

'No Kidding - Absolutely LAST Chance This Year' (maybe?)
Saturday & Sunday, working with gas forge only

This is an 16 hour program that stresses a hands on approach, with two full working days in the forge. Only 4 students per session, each with their own work station, means close personal attention. Projects include poker, 'S' hook, wall hook, and at least one small decorative item (more as time permits!). Course fee of $325 (+HST) includes coffee and materials.

For the full list and descriptions see the web site :
http://www.warehamforge.ca/TRAINING/course.html


Clay & Organics - Furnace Building

 Question from Dan - on Don Fogg's Bladesmith Forum - 'Bloomers & Buttons'

Any advice on smelting furnace materials? Firebrick? Kitty Litter?

As I have mentioned, there is a dance between ore (as the lead) and furnace details. Playing the tune is construction materials on melody and charcoal type sometimes improvising.

Powered potters clay is cheap and very easy to work with - and can be purchased as known types.
Local clay is considerably more work (unless you are one of the lucky ones) and usually will have quite specific (likely unknown) properties.
You can make your own decision if digging, hauling, drying, breaking, cleaning then re-mixing a local clay is worth the roughly $10 - 15 a bag of powdered clay costs.

Working with clay obviously gives you the most flexibility in terms of design. (Making a cylinder using rectangular bricks is sometimes not the easiest.
Remember that the air blast, so the burn pattern, in the furnace will be some variation on a *spherical' volume. You make a square or rectangular furnace and there are going to be corners that are not going to burn / contribute to the reactions. (Japanese Tatara aside, but there the system uses multiple air points to get around the physics.)
Parks Canada / LAM - 2001 (first smelt attempt). You can clearly see that the two corners opposite the tuyere point are not ignited at all.
Like everything else, there is a knack to working with hand mixed clay.
Lee Sauder's  / Owen Bush's  advice of mixing up your clay balls and leaving them to relax is excellent (time / space / manpower allowing)

At this point I don't think any of the successful, multiple smelt workers are using a straight clay (??)

Sand in the mix reduces the way  wall material expands when it heats to operation temperature.
A high sand mix does require considerably more effort on the build. It also requires much more careful drying / baking before the furnace is used.
The result however, with the care needed, is most certainly a more durable furnace.
This is the mix that Lee is using, and he certainly has had an individual furnace re-used dozens of times.
One of Lee's Furnaces (a slightly older version)
Organics added will do three things :
- Pieces remaining in the outer layer of wall act to bind the whole structure together. This action tends to limit potential cracking, and hold the walls together even if cracks form.
- Organics with hollow cross section (ie - straw) allow some place for the expanding steam to go, steam produced when the water in the clay heats. The massive increase in volume as water flashes to steam is the primary source of cracking of the clay walls. (Obviously very careful / long duration drying limits this available water remaining in the walls)
- Pieces remaining in the inner layer of wall will eventually burn away with the high temperatures of an operating furnace. This in effect leaves air spaces, which are insulators. The gross effect is to help limit the loss / spread of heat into the exterior surface of the furnace. (This at least in theory, honestly I doubt anyone has actually tested for this ??)

Obviously differing organic additives will perform differently:
- We tested 'peat moss' - purchased locally as spaugam moss for gardening. The long pieces soaked up excessive water and held it, making mixing a bit of a pain (hard to get consistent mix). Then the drying became a real problem. In the end we got excessive wall cracking - there was just too much water being held by the mix.
I highly expect that what anyone would get locally as 'peat moss' might vary an extreme amount - region to region.
- We have had extremely good results with shredded, dry horse manure. Get last year's pucks, rub them between your palms. What you end up with are very dry lengths of grass, usually about 5 - 10 mm long. Added to clay, these pieces act just like fiberglass bits in car repair 'bondo'. (I learned this technique from Micheal Nissen in Denmark.)
- Our old stand by here is chopped dry straw. Cut the pieces to 5 - 10 cm long with a hatchet or machette. Straw (rather than hay) has the hollow core mentioned above. The net effect is just like adding rebar to concrete. It does make hand mixing a bit of an effort.

Learning from Lee, the normal mix used here at 'Viking Age Central' (Wareham Ontario) is a rough mix by volume :
1/3 powdered clay / 1/3 course sand / 1/3 organic material
Often we will use a higher fire temperature clay (like the EPK suggested) for the part of the furnace around the tuyere level (which suffers the highest temperatures). I have noticed any particular problem mixing different clay types in one furnace.

We are undertaking more experimental archaeology here than production smelting here. For that reason, we are constantly changing details on furnace construction (so building a *lot* of individual furnaces!). To date we have only used one furnace for a total of five smelt events, the average is closer to two smelts per furnace before we build a different model.

After seeing a whole lot of furnaces built, I would suggest the most important factor is :
Take your time and use care in the build - this pays back with less cracking and more durability
The single biggest error people make is not making sure the individual balls / blocks of mixed clay are well fused to each other as you build up the walls. Cracks are almost always along the joint lines of the individual blocks as added.

Darrell
see
www.warehamforge.ca/ironsmelting
for images of a whole lot of differing 'Short Shaft' furnaces

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

'Spears of Summer' - at Elora

... or maybe not so much, as I took the piece down on Sunday after its summer exhibited as part of the Elora Sculpture Project - 2014

See the original proposal as drafted :


The completed sculpture as installed proved extremely difficult to get any good images of! The location was just to the east of the main intersection in Elora, but on the side of the street. This made for complete chaos in the background!

In the end the base was encircled with rough stones - mainly as an extra security measure to prevent the un-wary from walking into the pointed terminals.



'From the Fury of the North'

'Deliver us' (plus maker's mark)

It proved too difficult to use the crimping technique to apply the bottom 'barbs' as originally designed. Instead I welded on the sharp triangles remaining from the starting cuts of the end points.

If anyone viewing might be interested, Spears of Summer is available for purchase. The original asking price is $2500. The piece stands about 7 1/2 feet tall. The metal has intentionally been left with its 'out of the forge' fire scale, which is slowly starting to red oxidize naturally as it weathers.


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Guide who KNOWS something?


I've read numerous threads within the Bloomers and Buttons section here and watched countless YouTube videos on the topic. They are all very informative and helpful, but it seems that many of them start at a knowledge base which is still a distant spec on my horizon.
 ...
I guess what I'm looking for is some repeatable process data: stack & tuyere dimensions, charcoal & ore weights, air CFM rates, burn times, etc.

I realize this is somewhat like asking, "Hey guys, how do I make a knife?" or "What's this whole 'brain-surgery' thing about?" I'm just looking for a way to speed up the trial and error process.


There are almost three separate aspects to your request - so here is some (unasked for?) advice.

It seems almost anyone will put something on to YouTUBE. If they know what they are doing or (more often) not. As an information source, this makes it almost useless. Compounded by the truth that few people actually * explain * what they are actually doing there. Multiplied by the poor records or measurements many groups illustrated even bother with in the first place.
(The number of * failed * iron smelts seen on YouTUBE *greatly * outnumbers the effective ones seen)

You obviously have access to the internet. Google search 'iron smelt' and you may notice something. A couple of names come up in excess : Lee Sauder / Darrell Markewitz / Jesus Hernadez
All three of us provide extensive documentation on our process, and significantly, records of past work. Lee alone is pushing 200 individual smelts he has personally undertaken (!)

Both Lee and I have 'basic method' documents available for download. Jesus has an excellent video tutorial available.

This is not YouTube. A successful bloomery iron smelt takes at least two full days of work to accomplish (one for build and prep, then roughly 4 - 6 hours plus on the actual smelt process). Nothing you can distill down usefully into a ten minute clip.

Two effective teaching furnaces described:
Lee's 'Flue Tyle' -   http://www.warehamforge.ca/ironsmelting/FlueTyle/index.html
Darrell's 'Econo Norse' -  http://www.warehamforge.ca/ironsmelting/EconoNorse/index.html

Effective bloomery iron smelting is as much * Art as Science *.
A well written guide by an experienced teacher can certainly help you avoid some of the worst mistakes. Anyone who tells you that this is a cook book process just does not know what they are talking about.

This is a long adventure - welcome!

Friday, October 10, 2014

Return to Hals / Icelandic Furnace

From Fall 2007 through Fall 2008, plus one in Spring 2012, DARC mounted a series of five iron smelts specifically aimed at re-creating Viking Age furnaces from Iceland. The archaeology was based on excavations by long time friend (and unofficial adviser) Kevin Smith at the Hals site. This was a long term, 'industrial' scale iron production operation, with the remains of a number of bloomery iron furnaces uncovered.

As a refresher, the Icelandic system is basically a cone made of piled up grass sod, with a cylindrical hole in the centre (the furnace). At Hals, these were constructed entirely above ground level. The cone was then boxed with timbers. The space between the timber and cone was then filled with earth to create a working surface at the top level of the cone / furnace mouth.
Possible Furnace Construction - based on Hals
More details on the site, and the logic behind our reconstructions, can be found in the semi formal description 'Towards an Icelandic Smelt'

An important difference from other furnace builds we have undertaken is that there is no true clay found on Iceland (our normal construction material!) My suspicion is that at Hals, the sod itself forms enough barrier to contain working gasses and heat of the furnace. The timber and earth fill is merely to create the elevated working area for charcoal and ore workers.
I have yet to calculate the required timber or earth needed for the full above ground build. Obviously there would be a considerable volume of both grass sod and earth required. The timber would have to be purchased, most likely in the form of wooden fence posts.


Remains of the Fall 2008 Furnace
Over the earlier series, the working furnace was set back into the low earth bank on one side of the smelting area here at Wareham. (This done to conserve on the materials required for a full build, especially as individual 'problems' were investigated.)



Intended construction - Icelandic Furnace
What I am considering is to simply use the existing earthen bank to contain the lower part (roughly half the needed height) of this construction. This will limit the amount of dirt needed to be dug and shifted. Also greatly reduce the amount of timber required for the upper box construction.
The lower part of the furnace face will be constructed of stone - in effect creating a 'slag room' style, similar in this aspect to what was used for the Turf to Tools project.

The result here is that Sunday October 12 will be a * working * day at Wareham. Sod will be cut and stacked (from a piece of yard that is intended for a garden). The old furnace will be cleared and some earth dug away. Ideally at least the base structure will be laid for the new furnace.
Other hands extremely welcome!

The full build will all be (hopefully) completed in time for a full run of the Hals system (smelt) on Saturday November 1.
 

February 15 - May 15, 2012 : Supported by a Crafts Projects - Creation and Development Grant

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