Gate Progress

Excerpts from "Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated" by J.W. Lillico

In my quest to learn more about power hammer techniques, I was introduced to one of the most useful books I have ever read. Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated was written by J.W. Lillico in 1930. Mr. Lillico wrote this book as a compilation of tips and tricks acquired over a long career in the trade. It is complete with diagrams and descriptions for all sorts of blacksmith work from the anvil to the power hammer. The book emphasizes precision and efficiency.

Here are some scans of my favorite tooling diagrams and descriptions:

Power Hammer Tooling

Here are some images of power hammer tools I have come across. Most of them are used in  the industrial forging industry. I find that most of the best top and bottom tools are used for industrial forging and then adapted to be used artistically.

All of the images below come from the Facebook profile of Roger Lund. Roger is an industrial blacksmith in Sweden.

Here is a cutoff tool used to hot cut bar under the hammer. Notice the slight recess in the bottom so that the metal is not totally cut through and flies across the shop. The end can then be twisted off. The handle is also bolted on so that it pivots and can come down square to the work without bending. I am sure this cuts down on vibration as well.

Here is a tong making bottom swage complete with a dimple to mark for the hole in the hinge plate. 

Here is a tenon swage with guides to ensure proper alignment.

A method of attaching swages to handles rather than welding. It involves drilling the swages out to 15 mm and inserting  12 mm bar that has been upset to 13-14 mm. You then run a round punch around the hole to secure the handle in. This apparently holds much longer than weld and reduces vibration up the handle.

More swage tools for making tong blanks. I will be making some of these soon.

Power Hammer Videos by Roger Lund

Roger Lund is an industrial smith from Sweden. He has some great videos up on youtube that demonstrate different power hammer techniques. Although he is using the hammer for industrial applications, most of the techniques can be adapted for smaller scale artistic work.

A collection of work that uses various power hammer techniques.

As stated earlier, I have been investigating different power hammer techniques and tooling for my project called "Three Dimensional Specialist Processes."Here are some pictures of work that looks like it was done using a power hammer. I will give my best guess as to the process, and try to credit all the artists that I know. 

The following six images show work by Timofey Silich, an artist working in Saint Petersburg City, Russia. I found his work on Facebook, and check back often to see if he has done anything new. He is one of several Russian smiths from the Saint Petersburg region that do spectacular work. I especially like his Art Nouveau and Baroque designs. In the pieces below, he appears to use several interesting power hammer techniques.

It looks like he has squashed down a conical shape with the fullering dies and necked in and drawn down the stem areas with flat dies.

Lots of isolating material and spreading/ fanning out. He may have used a top set fuller into a  bottom swage to create the half round section. Some of the work may have been done by hand, depending on the size.

This is one the most beautiful companion sets I have ever seen. I am guessing that he did the sleek tapers  and the swage work under a smaller power hammer, but it could have been done by hand.

Lots of drastic tapers and half round swaging again. The spreading and fanning may have been done using fullering dies. 

Very cool flowers. Very squashy, very plastic. I am guessing these were a "fun forge" sort of job. One heat each, and totally free form. 

I am guessing he used spreading techniques on opposing edges to ad curves to these I-beam sections. The three dimensional twists and bends look extremely tricky. 

The two pictures below are work by an artist named Fred Christ from Virginia, USA. It looks like he's used the edge of flat dies to chop away at a section of flat stock and then spread it. He has also used a flat edge to neck in and isolate material to draw down the "stem" area.

Fred Christ

Fred Christ

A very cool installation also by Fred Christ that uses round bar wrapped around flat bar that is then squashed. This could have been done with a press, but I am guessing it was done under large, flat dies on a relatively large hammer.

The next five images are of work by Jake James from Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

Fullering detail of a gate made for the "Iron Twenty Ten" exhibition in Memphis, TN. It looks like he has necked in at the top of the flat bar using a large fuller to isolate material and then spread the outer edge of the bar with sharper fullering dies. The spread of the material creates a natural circular form. 

These set downs and offsets could have been done by hand or using a power hammer depending on the stock size.

I am guessing the material here was roughly spread and the cut with the plasma torch to define the shape.

Lots of spreading and upsetting back was done to form these shapes. Could have used some specialty dies for this job.

Necking and drawing down of material was probably done with a combination of power hammer and hand work.

Albert Paley Symposium at Steneby School in Sweden

During two weeks in October, Albert Paley traveled to the Steneby School in Sweden to create a body of work using their workshop in rural southern Sweden. The ten sculptures he forged will go on exhibition first at a gallery in Gothenburg, Sweden, and then travel to Swedish Museum in Philadelphia, PA.

In the final weekend of his residency, Paley and the administration of Steneby invited the public in to watch him work and listen to lectures on iron in public spaces. Sam Pearce, Edward Blower, and I made the trip to Gothenburg City and then on to Steneby to check things out. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Paley used the power hammer to exploit the plasticity of the material. Everything was forged totally free-form. Most elements were forged in just one heat. The result was the creation of a distinct narrative characterized by the raw honesty of forgings that went directly from the hammer dies to the assembly table.