[Regia-NA] Ironworker

[Joel Thompson]

    Hooeee!  Well, I got lots of responses on that question.  Thanks to 
everyone who has (or intends to) post.  I have built a wooden forge in the 
past (without the clay bowl).  Just a platform with a sandbox on top.  I 
have a piece of soapstone for my fire wall, but I would like to find a 
bigger piece.  I'm fairly near Charlottesville, VA so maybe a road trip is 
in order as they have a quarry there.
      I use a single chambered bellows due to the fact that I am often by 
myself when forging.  I can just reach over and use it with my right hand 
while holding iron in the other.  I'm thinking of rigging a wooden 
spring-loaded foot pedal so I can use both hands while increasing heat.  I 
got the idea from a wood lathe.
     My sandbox worked pretty well the first time I used it.  I forged for 
two days with only some minor charring on the walls.  The next time, about a 
half hour after I finished using it, the smoldering coals burned their way 
through the bottom.  Now I use fire brick to protect the bottom. 
However.....  The idea of the clay bowl will help quite a bit.  I need to 
re-build much of my set-up anyway (burned up my bellows; bad valve), so this 
will be a good project.

Joel






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William R. Short" <thorleifur at hurstwic.org>
To: "list-Regia-NA" <list-regia-na at lig.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Regia-NA] Ironworker


>A Viking age iron resource worth mentioning is Darrell Markewitz at Wareham 
>Forge in Canada:
> http://www.warehamforge.ca/
>
> He's doing some interesting work with Viking age smelting and forging. 
> He's prepared both DVDs and CD-ROMs summarizing his work.
>
> Bill
>
>
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