NECKA Hammer-in, spring 2008
The Images!
NECKA hammerin pictures in chronological order.
Gathering in the High Hill Fox and Coon Club lodge early in the morning, the backs of Paul and Page, Lon in the background
Paul Duerr, Jerry Adams, and Dan Pierson
Page's demo page showing the steps in starting with iron ore and getting a knife
Some of Page's knives that he brought with him
The smelting furnace being prepped
Feeding logs down the top to build up a charcoal base and help drive the water out of the clay
Page and Jerry
Bill and page, some of Dan's knives on the table behind them
Jerry DiCecca
The outside of the lodge, Dan, Lon, and Page infront
The smelter starting to dry and get ready for use
Page hooking up his blower to the smelter to provide air
Things really starting to cook, but still just making charcoal
Measuring the weight of a full bucket of charcoal so that charcoal and iron ore can be added in at a constant ratio
Adding the first bucket of charcoal
Mike, Jerry, Dan, Dan, Jay, Chris, Lon, Jerry and Page, as Page started his demo
Page talking about the process of creating iron from ore
Page discussing how the smelter was created
Mixing up some more clay and straw to patch the holes cracking in the smelter
Marcel and George Daily hanging out outside the lodge
Jan from TUS explaining the electro etching process and how it works
A blade that Jim Siska had made, with a gorgeous desert ironwood handle. The smaller blade to the side is one that Dan Pierson made, incidentally also with a desert ironwood handle I believe.
Dan looking through the pipe to attempt to see the forming bloom while Page explains how the iron collects together and is reduced
Howard Schechter of theperfectedge.com describes the different types of stones used for honing and their pros and cons. Bill and Paul in the background.
Howard lecturing, backrow George Daily, George Daily's friend YYY, Marcel, I forget ZZZ, front row, Bill, Paul, Lon, Chris.
Some of Dan Gray's sheath making tools and a few sheaths in progress.
Jerry Adams' Grizley grinder
Ron and paul watch as Jim Siska makes grinding look easy, even on a grinder he's never used before which is at the wrong height for him.
Jim Siska making sparks fly, Jay also looking on.
Bill and Marcel watching Jim grind out a bowie.
Jim lamented that the grinder was too low for him, and that he was unable to use his "Natural Tool Rest"
The carbide scribe that Jim uses for marking the center line on his blades
The way that Jim does most of his tangs, so that he can grind out and finish a blade without comitting to a handle shape, and then weld / solder on a stick tang of the right size and shape for whatever handle ends up on the blade at a later time
The spot on the wheel that Jim uses so that he can look straight down and see the grind
Everyone gathering close to see how Jim does his magic
Working on the bowie that he just profiled moments before, Jim does the first pass of the hollow grind.
Jim keeps his grinds parallel all the way to the end, not following the curve of the blade, but pulls the tip in a little at the end of the grind
Making it look increadibly easy to put a clip on a bowie in just two passes
Sixty seconds at a grinder resulting in a blade better ground than most of hte rest of us could get in an hour!
Many hours after it was started, we've run out of charcoal to feed the smelter, Paul looking on as the last of the charcoal sinks down the chimey
Page pulling hte air source out, and pulling the brick out of the front, ready to break down the smelter to get the iron out
Front of the smelter smashed open
Tipping over the stack, molten rock and slag pouring out the bottom
Some nicely melted cinder blocks, and molten slack spilling out.
The interior of the smelter is still increadibly hot even without any fuel or air added for a long while
A close up of the hole in the side
A good shot of molten cinder block
Looking down the top of hte smelter as it lays on the ground
Using a bar to smash out the bottom in an attempt to see if some iron consolidated properly
Page stomping out a few grass fires.
Demolishing the whole bottom to break up the solid mass of slag, rock and (hopefully) some iron.
Getting things cool so that the iron will become magnetic
Quenching the bottom with some water to speed things up
Fishing around with a weak magenet on a stick. Anything that sticks to the magnet will have a sizable iron content
A fairly good sized chunk of iron bloom
the iron fished out of hte bottom... unfortunately fuzzy because my camera couldnt figure out what to focus on
Lunch! Grilled chicken, pasta salad, iced tea.
A Damascus tomahawk head that Marcel is working on
George Dailey demonstrating how to carve out and create a mold for a custom lanyard ring
After drilling out the hole, scribing the top for the shape that he wants
Using a wax file to file down and shape the form by hand after cuttin git out with a jewlers saw
Mike "The Vice" Spangler holding the piece while George Dailey attaches the stub used for the lost wax casting
Howard and myself crammed in the back seats of Mike's truck for a field trip to the rope warehouse
The other car following us on the field trip
Lots of rope, and that's just one of the tiny racks, this place is HUGE
Howard finds a hat (amongst many other things)
The Bargain Box, Ron and myself. I paid 30 bucks for ~120lbs of miscelaneous cord of all sorts of colors and lengths. There are many many miles of cord in there.
Someone walking infront of me as i was taking a picture of Mike and the salesperson at the rope warehouse who I dealt with.
The big box o' yarn (ok it's not really yarn) in the back of my truck for the trip home.
People hanging out in the shade infront of the lodge
The results from our smelt, next to the demonstration page that Page made
Paul showing Howard a knife that he made.
Chris holding a forged blade with a snake head forged into the handle which Page made
Ron drew grafiti on my box !
Mike helping Howard out with the start of his forge build.
Ron watching Mike explain things
Howard and Jay
Mike breaking George's drill press drilling through a pipe elbow
A much less fuzzy shot of the same
Grill master Spike Mangler cooking steak tips for supper
Joe Brum gets out the Oxy Acy setup to cut a hole in Howard's forge body (which now has railroad spike legs) as Jerry watches
Leaving the cutting to the man with the proper gear and experience
Turns out there was a layer of galvinization under the paint, not so good to be cutting without a respirator, even outdoors. Joe had himself a nice big glass of milk immedatly after he finished cutting the hole.
Attempting to get a picture of the pretty green zinc flames, but it didnt come out right
Jay, Howard, Dan, Dan and Mike, gathering around the smell of food cooking.
Supper time ! back row, Paul, Joe, Bill, Mike, Dan, Howard, back to us, I forget, Jay and Jerry.
Paul, Getting a good picture so that I'd remember his name when I got home
Jerry setting up his forge while Mike and Howard work on his forge some more
Page heating up a section of John Deer shaft, I had said that the inch and a half or so round 5160 was something you'd use a power hammer or press for and Page took it as a challenge to forge it out by hand
Standing around while the bar heats up, Page getting ready to impress us all
Page starting to draw out the massive bar
Not visible in this picture is all the fire scale flying everywhere each time Page walloped on the bar, being worked at almost a white heat so that the large amount of metal will move easiest
Ron forging out a blade for, I believe, the first time
As Page put it, this spatula which was still around a half inch thick at the spine, was a "Mace style" blade !
Lon, Marcel, and Dan as we stood around the forge well after dark. People finally departed around 10 for their homes / hotells / campsites
The rest of these pictures are low quality because they wre taken on an old and dying 35mm disposable camera
15 lbs of bacon ! more than enough for any group of people
Mike cooking breakfast
Dan demonstrating how he makes sheaths
More of Dan demonstrating his sheath making
Chris trying his hand out at forging using my whisper baby forge and my "beginner" anvil
Chris, Dan and Paul standing around, it was really too sunny to be able to see the color of the metal out of the forge
Mike and Jerry and someone who is hidden behind the drill press working on building some forges
Bill giving chris some tips on holding a hammer while forging
They broke the drill press ! Got the bit so bound in the piece that they pulled the chuck right off the shaft
Chris, Jerry and Bill standing around the forging setup
Bill grinding a hole in the back of a pipe elbow rather than using the drill
Food!
Packing up to go home
Some rocks that I bought from Howard, yes, including that huge granite surface platten.