|
Posted by spaco on December 1, 2009, 5:26 pm
Please log in for more thread options
Curt Welch wrote:
>> http://www.spaco.org/Blacksmithing/Nails/Nailmaking.htm
>
>
> Not exactly sure what I'm seeing in that picture. Seems to be an odd high
> and narrow anvil piece in the middle for drawing out the nail, with the
> nail header located on the edge. Does the header move at all once it's
> wedged in?
No.
It looks like it doesn't so I guess you stick the nail in from
> the top and twist it off? Then when it cools, tap it out from the bottom?
Yes, and Yes.
>
> One setup I heard described seemed to have a spring (or maybe a lever?)
> that somehow made it easy to pop out the previous nail. So I think you
> would notch and taper a nail, put it in the header and finish it. Then
> start on the next nail, and when it was time to put it in the header, you
> would tap the spring (or lever) which would pop out the (now cooled)
> previous nail before inserting the next one. Or maybe the cutoff hardy was
> someone associated with the lever so as you notch the nail head, it pops
> out the previous nail from the header at the same time?
>
> I've heard described a notched cutoff hardy that was dull on the top edge
> but sharp in the notch. This eliminates the need to carefully notch the
> head - you place it there and give it one good blow to notch it. You can't
> hit it too hard because the notch limits how much of the head you can cut.
>
> I've also heard described a stepped anvil surface for shouldering the nail.
> Again, the step is just the right offset to help correctly establish the
> shoulder depth so you don't need to be as careful and accurate with your
> hammer blows as you would be when you shoulder on the edge of the anvil. I
> would think another step to act as a depth gauge stop would be useful there
> to make sure you were placing the shoulder in exactly the same place for
> every nail as well.
We used to head nails and bolts this way:
http://www.steinfels-kg.de/maschinen3_M08I6105_M08_en.html
>
> Do you prefer to make nails from round or square stock? I've just always
> used square because that's what I was first shown.
>
I usually use 1/4" square stock. I used to have to buy it in cold
rolled form because suppliers didn't
stock it hot rolled. Of course, cold rolled is twice as expensive.
So, to keep the cost down, I went to my favorite fab shop/local
stock supplier and asked them to shear 6 foot wide sheets of 1/4" A36 to
1/4" wide. That worked out real well. I did not care that there's a
little twist in the pieces, or that there was a "shear" edge. I do't
remember the cost, but I think they only charged me the going rate for
selling steel at the time, 50 cents per pound!
But, some years ago, one of our local professional blacksmiths bought
a ton or two of hot rolled (what he THOUGHT) was 1/4" square. He needed
it to go into one of those German twisting/embossing machines to make
baskets. Unfortunately for him, it was 6mm, not 1/4". The dies he had
for making 1/2" square basket sets wouldn't handle the 10 thou undersize
stock. To make a long story even longer, he decided to sell the stock
for $2.00 per twelve foot piece, and guess who now has a lifetime supply.
If I even needed any 1/4" square again, I'd go for the sheared stock.
At one point, I proudly told a club member who has done significant
research on early American blacksmithing, as he said "that's the way
they did it back in the early 1800's or so"! "The old is forever new",
I guess.
I have seen others use round stock. I think you'd save a couple of
blows per nail in a production environment, but other than that, I
don't see a real reason not to use it. I just don't do it that way,
either. I always have the square stock around for other things,
anyway. And, I once heard that one of the blacksmith apprentice's jobs
was to make "nail rod" from whatever scrap there was out back, so it
would be faster to make it to square and not have to waste heat and
labor to round it up.
Pete Stanaitis
-------------------
| 
XML site map