NEB Fall Meet 2009 at Jim Fecteau's shop Shop
The Images!
Pictures in chronological order.
Jim's Beaudry power hammer
The other side of the hammer, with the springs and linkage visible
Jim's air hammer, from Ralph Sproul's design
A nice old belt driven metal cutting lathe in the corner of Jim's shop
The fields where everyone camped out at the bottom of the hill on friday morning
Looking down the hill at the mess tent
The river going through Jim's back yard
Looking the other direction, towards town
Possum, the other white meat
Setting up for a day long stew
Golf carts were rented to help assist the movement of people
Somehow the carts managed to get up and down the big hill
At about this point the cart was losing momentum fast, it did eventually make it
Bob Bordeaux's demo anvil and vise setup
A handy vise stand with built in tong rack, Steve Parker in the background
The front side of Jim's shop
Looking down the hill at the river and tents
An awesome bellows and forge setup brought by Mr Anderson.
The forge box set on its legs and ready to be filled with sand
The bellows stand
The bellows let down, cross bar placed across, and side-blast tuyere inserted
Looking into Jim's shop as it's been cleared out to make room for bleachers and chairs
Fred was wearing an appropriate shirt, considering the stew cooking down the hill
Speaking of the stew....
The tables and chairs finally arrived
Tailgating started early. These hold down clamps like the one in this anvil were very nice
You could buy anything this weekend, from treadle hammers, to hand hammers, to powerhammer tools
The finished and lit forge setup with the bellows. The perfect setup IMO
I took a whole lot of pictures of this setup, this one from behind the bellows
A picture of the from of the bellows and the leather seal around the front
Looking down at the top of the bellows
The footing and support for the bellows stand
The registration tent and clothing sales got underway in the afternoon on friday
Mr Anderson's whole forging setup, his 75ish pound anvil was just the right size to be portable
A whole bunch of power hammer tools lined up and ready for use
More power hammer tools
This was supposed to be a picture of the nice fire-rake with basket and punched work in the handle, but ended up being of the forge
The very front of the bellows where the cone emerges
The valves and support beam on the bottom of the bellows
Steve Parker mushing some metal to get used to the controll on Jim's hammer
Jim making some adjustments for Steve
A nice anvil and vise combo stand
A bunch of anvils for sale
An awesome praying mantis forged from black iron pipe
A lobster, owl, grasshopper, and candlesticks forged from iron pipe
The grasshopper and a little turtle
Nathan Roberts made it with his trailer full of hammers
More tailgaters arrive with trailers full of stuff
Some demo pieces in the gallery
A nice old pickup, in need of restoration but running
The back side of the pickup truck
Steve Parker starting his slide show friday night
This Cruzan single barrel was some of the best rum that I've ever had
Some of the starting pieces of pipe to be used to forge a lobster or an owl
Early morning saturday, still quite dark but the sky was brightening
Bob had a much easier time up and down the hill with his fourwheeler than the golf carts
Nathan all set up with his hammers for sale
Ralph doing some air hammer forging, making a treadle extension for the Beaudry
Ralph welding the extension on
Jim introducing Steve Parker
A block tool for power hammer forging, this is your 'anvil corner' under a power hammer
Steve doing some hand forging while prepping things
Demonstrating the block tool in use
The same
My camera kept not wanting to focus properly
Yet more of the same...
Steve talking about the 3 to 1 ratio problem when forging stock on end and how the material will want to bow out
That peavey amp really liked to be in focus...
Bob about to start forging down some real large 52100 bearings
Bob using Jim's 50lb Little Giant hammer
Bob planishing the bevels on a blade
Lunch!
Nathan Roberts doing his best Ralph Sproul impersonation
Greencoal was wicked bussy all weekend
Nick towers over everyone when he shows up, chatting at green coal
Lee showing someone how to scroll a taper
Some tomahawks that Mr Anderson made
Teaching kids how to forge with the bellows
Bob making some knives under the tent while it started to rain again
George Martell chatting with others
more or less the same
Keith and Steve discussing with me about building a power hammer
Supper !
Ed standing up to make an important announcement
Ed presenting Fred with NEB's highest honour
Fred accepting the plaque
Fuzzy image of the same
Steve being presented with a tiny purple NEB tshirt
I forget what this was supposed to be a picture of
Iron in the hat getting underway
Nathan getting set up to start his hammer forging demo while the auction was underway
Nathan heating up his own forge
More tools and items made from flat bar stock
Some power hammer forged out pieces
Trying out the beaudry
A real nice forged leaf belt buckle
The back side of the buckle, the tip of the leaf catches the holes to hold it together
The break mechanism on the beaudry makes it very controlable
Homey dont do art
Nathan talking about punching and drifting a hammer head
A hammer head blank ready to be punched
Punching the head using the air hammer
Flipping the head over and punching through from the other side
Nathan showing the nicely punched hole to the onlookers
Nathan drifting the hole on the power hammer
Straightening out the hole by hand to make sure its right
Upsetting the end of the hammer head on the power hammer
Steve Parker being presented with a gorgeous Peter Ross forged compass
Demonstrating about forging flat stock to give it better lines and more artistic looks
Sunday morning, looking at the fog hugging the hillsides
People getting some donuts and coffee early sunday
Hanging out in the shop while Steve Parker prepared to finish his demo work
A nice old jeep Willy that someone drove in
The two hammer heads that Nathan had forged the last night in his demo
Travis sporting a viking hat and shades
Green coal yet again bussy
A little brass anvil and hardy
Dragging a sled up the hill
You wouldnt even need snow to go sledding on that hill!
Forging some hatchet heads
A nice corn-cob handled pattern welded knife
Bar stock prepared with two hatchet heads, ready to be taken off for the bit to be welded into them
another shot of the prepared hatchet heads
A period correct repair on a not quite solid forge weld, coper brazed into the flaw
Another picture of the prepared hatchets
Forging the piece of tool steel out to make the bit
Chisling notches in the bit so that it will hold when the forge weld is made, and not slide out
Fluxing the bit
All the tools needed to make a hatchet head
The bit welded in place, shaping the head properly
A nice 'beehive' in the fire for forge welding
You cant really see the pattern welding in the blade, but the corn cob handle is very comfortable
Drawing out the end of the hatchet head
Refining the shape of the hatchet
The shape of a hatchet blank forged out before it's folded and before a bit is welded in
um... the dirty tarp ceiling above the forges
Pointing out how the hole is already forged in by forging the center thinner so that it stays open when folded on itself
the top of a hatchet made using the same method, with a nice square flat back
the back side of the prepared hatchet, showing the forged in square flat back
The inside of the hatchet 'blank'
Shaping the in progress hatchet
You can see here that the forge weld was successfull all the way back to the eye, leaving a well made solid piece
Getting everything back into Jim's shop sunday afternoon
Loading the 50lb LG onto the fork lift
Keeping the power hammer steady as it's manuvered around
Powerhammers are not easy to move but a forklift makes it much easier.