Free Form Forging on the Power Hammer

Interesting use of two different hammer to make free form forgings.

More videos on power hammer techniques

Here is a good idiots guide to heat treatment. As I will be making different top and bottom tools for the power hammer, correct heat treatment is a must.

I have using industrial forging videos as reference for different forge processes. Everything is the same as on the anvil, just bigger and often more precise. I like the idea of having your entire process planned and calculated so that the correct amount of material is used and little is wasted. It seems to maximize the potential of the hammer.

Software that predicts the movement of hot steel, who knew? Probably overkill, but still would be cool to have a go with.

Here is an other industrial forging video. I like the offset bottom block. 

Interesting tong jig for the bottom die. Noting very arty going on here, just efficiency. Similar jigs could be set up for doing elements with multiple set-downs in process. 

These guys are just forging tapers, but doing it ver efficiently. It shows how much you can do in one heat with the machine set up properly and enough practice. 

An other example of an industrial smith maximizing the potential of the hamer by using special dies for the job.

Here is a great example of getting your process down on the power hammer. This guy is a little off in his material estimation, but does a great job of using all the swages to maximize the control of the hammer.

Blacksmiths in Bangladesh making rickshaws

These guys are actually making things that people need!

Indian Blacksmiths Making Bike Rickshaws

Nice upsetting work.

Some skilled industrial work is always good reference for your practice.

Bruce Wilcox forging a strikers hammer video

Here are some more good power hammer techniques at work. Hammer is a little small for my taste, but I like the process.

Power Hammer Youtube Videos

One of the briefs I am currently working on for my course is called "3 dimensional specialist processes" or 3DSP for short. The brief calls for us to choose a specialist process that is relevant to our practice and develop it. I decided to go with power hammer tools and techniques. My intention is to develop visual qualities that can only be achieved using the power hammer. Essentially, I am looking at working with big stock and squashing stuff!

For the research side of things, I have been watching lots and lots of youtube videos as I find it to be the best source of information short of actually visiting smiths who do a lot of work with big hammers. I will be posting the videos here under the tag "3DSP," and commenting on them. I will be trying out as many techniques as possible at the forge and reporting back here with my results.

Here are a few videos to get started:

I find the techniques in this video to make a lot of sense and have already started making the tooling described. I hope to use side set tool to make tenons. 

This is another great video from Toby Hinkman. If I am ever in California, I intend to look him up and see if I can take a power hammer class. His "hip turn" technique makes a lot of sense, but I am not sure any of the hammers at the forge are suited for it. I will be trying it, however. 

This video is great. I can't believe these guys do so much work in one heat! I am also shocked at how they are able to transform a section so much, so quickly. The hole punching technique followed by the upset to release the tool is my favorite part. These guys know how to forge!

Gate project getting underway.

I will be getting started on this gate on tuesday for the design development brief. There may be a few changes happening, but it will be very close to this design.

The installation site is a garden behind Berrington Hall. The piece was theoretically commissioned by the orignal owner of Berrington Hall; Thomas Harley, who made his money in the ocean shipping industry by shipping provisions and arms to naval ships at sea. I was trying to capture a naval theme with the compass star and smooth curves of filled sails. The post will be hidden in bushes that surround the opening.

The site for the gate.

Great Video on Alfred Habermann and Anthony Benetton.

Hefaiston 30 - A Symposium of Blacksmith Talent from Around the World

Our contact in Helfstyn, Czech Republic was a man named Honza Lauro, the director of the Hefaiston Festival for the last ten or so years. Honza assured us that getting to the castle would be very easy since a shuttle would be waiting for us at the train station in the town of Lipnik when we arrived after the three-hour journey from Prague. Ever the optimists, this assurance was more than enough for Andrew Molinaro, Patrick Weiss, and me when we were arranging our travel to the Hefaiston blacksmith festival 72 hours before the opening ceremonies.  With this information, we booked our flights to Prague and set out on our journey to the Helfstyn Castle in Helfstyn, Czech Republic.

Exhibition space in the castle's main courtyard.

Every year for the last thirty, a blacksmith festival called Hefaiston has been held at the Hrad Helfstyn or Helfstyn Castle. Alfred Habermann and others put the original festival together in 1981 to showcase the talents of blacksmiths throughout Europe.  The event is comprised of a two-day forging competition as well as an exhibition of works from around the globe.  In the week leading up to the public exhibition and festival every year a team of smiths is selected to design and execute a piece to be exhibited on the castle grounds as part of their ever growing permanent collection of forged sculpture.

This past year, over 400 blacksmiths from around the world made the pilgrimage to the tiny village in eastern Czech Republic and up the steep mountain upon which the Helfstyn castle sits to compete, exhibit, share ideas, and meet with their peers from around the globe. 

Some of the main competition area.

When the train dropped us off at the station in Lipnik we exited the doors expecting to find our shuttle waiting for us but found nothing except a small hut selling 18 varieties of seltzer water, and everyone knows that nothing quenches the thirst of a weary traveler quite like water that’s salted and carbonated. After about twenty minutes of standing around and trying to communicate with a Czech bus driver in a combination of hand gestures and broken German, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we may be taking a very long and confusing walk guided by hunches. Luckily, a shirtless man who was sleeping on the ground next to us arose from his afternoon nap and explained that he learned some English during his time as an illegal alien in England before getting deported. He went on to tell us that he would be happy to sell us some narcotics and/or lead us into town to grab a bus. We chose the latter.  For his services, we agreed on a fee of 50 crowns and set off apprehensively. True to his word, Erik led us to a bus station where we caught a bus with some Italian smiths to the base of Hrad Helfstyn. On the way to the castle, we saw some women swimming in the river wearing nothing but their smiles; things were looking up!

After a considerable hike up to the gates of the castle loaded down with gear and tooling, we finally made it into the festival and met Honza. He had everything arranged for us and even drove us down to our accommodation in a woman’s house down the mountain. She was a nice woman, or at least she smiled at us while shouting at us in Czech.  She was even nice enough to clean up Andrew’s blood after we smashed her glass door into pieces on the second night of our stay. What a gem!

We make our morning ascent to the festival.

The festival itself was incredible. The 700-year-old castle seemed a perfect venue in every way. For two days the courtyards, balconies, halls, and towers that make up Hrad Helfstyn became exhibition space for iron art from throughout the world. Everywhere you looked, you found a sculpture, decoration, or architectural sample that highlighted the skills and design ability of its author. Everyone brought his or her best work, and it showed. Some of the pieces in the exhibition showed the movement and plasticity of the material in a way I never envisioned. Inspiration; check!

Prior to leaving the States, Andrew and I agreed on a couple of rules regarding the forging competition. Rule number one: we would create something that involved components we were used to forging. Rule number two: we would design something that we knew we could finish in the allotted two hours. 

On the plane ride over we came up with the perfect competition piece design; two figures in a tug of war signifying the struggle in Libya. It was great design in every way except for two; we had never made any part of it before, and it was probably way too ambitious to be completed in two hours. No problem though. In typical American fashion, we ignored reason and logic and acted simply upon our "delusions of grandeur". And we completed a very cool competition piece.....in just four hours! It was great experience though, and I have to say I was still pretty pleased with the end result considering we had all never competed together before. 

Andrew, Pat, and I with our completed competition piece.

Our nights were filled with meeting smith after smith from all over Europe, some of which I hope to know for the rest of my life. There were Erik, Mia, Niko, and Henke from Sweden, Gregor and Bruno form Slovenia, Tobias from Germany, and many others. All of which were welcoming and hospitable. On Saturday night, we were regaled with tales of European adventures over tray after tray of Slilovice shots (some sort of cinnamon flavored Czech vodka). The table sat in silence as Tobias gave his first-hand account of the Berlin wall coming down four feet from where he stood.  Somehow this was a little more powerful than reading it in my tenth grade history book. We again went totally silent as Erik described going down in the North Sea in a steel-hulled boat following a four-year circumnavigation of the earth.

Artists from all over the world sharing beers and stories.

After the festival ended, we made it back to Prague with enough time for a six-hour rush exploration of city. More than a few people have told me that Prague must be the most beautiful city in the world. It did not disappoint.  Walking around Prague felt like walking around in an Alphonse Mucha painting or in and out of a Victor Horta building over and over.  The Art Nouveau influence over the city was apparent in every detail, every railing, every window frame, every piece of molding.

Some architecture in Prague.

When we got back to the states, it was a relief to be done traveling, but I felt a significant cultural void. The Hefaiston festival and the city of Prague were tremendously inspirational in separate, but equally important ways. I wondered when I would be able to get back so I could see everything again with the eyes of a more experienced artist.  About a week after getting back, we got a facebook message from Honza asking if Andrew, Pat, and myself would like to come back next year for a slightly longer stay. Somehow, we had been selected to participate in the Blacksmith’s Forum of 2012. We would be able to stay in the castle for a week and create a sculpture for the castle’s permanent collection. Feeling humbled and slightly intimidated Andrew decided we would accept the honor, so it looks like we will be back sooner than I thought! Since I am in no way qualified for an honor like this, I am just thrilled to play a small role in the creation of a piece for this great event. I am sure that whatever Andrew comes up with will do the tradition justice and give American smiths a small corner in the collection of Hrad Helfstyn. See you next year, Czech Republic!

And now for a generous montage of photos!

View of the castle wall.

The piece created in the 2011 Blacksmith's Forum.

Andrew doing the one heat draw out competition.

Created in 2009 by Claudio Bottero for the Blacksmith's forum.

Great facial expression! 

The stand for our competition piece.

The forge in Helfstyn Castle designed by Alfred Habermann 

Some of the competition pieces.

"Two Birds" by Kheir Aker and Eyad Khlaily from Israel.

There's our finished piece!

Smiths from nine different countries sharing a few pints together.

Kheir and I working on some designs on a train back to Prague. He speaks very little English and I didn't know a word of Hebrew so we just drew to communicate.