http://www.alexbealer.org Cotonti Mon, 27 Apr 2026 05:21:01 -0400 Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:29:00 -0400 http://www.alexbealer.org/datas/users/hummingbird_5.pdf]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:20:22 -0400 http://www.alexbealer.org/datas/users/ryan_johnson_knife_5.pdf]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:19:15 -0400 http://www.alexbealer.org/datas/users/flint_striker_5.pdf]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:17:21 -0400 Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:15:11 -0400 Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:12:46 -0400 SILVERSOLDERING CLASS
INSTRUCTOR-TOM McCARTHY
September 2010

My reason for selecting Silver Soldering as a scholarship subject was that I had been having
trouble with brazing joints and felt that brazing and silver soldering were quite similar. The class
was a jewelry soldering class, silver solder on silver sheet and bar silver. Really small scale to a
blacksmith. Nothing to do with brazing of sheet steel, but I hoped to see what techniques I could
carry over into sheet steel brazing. In the end I am happy I made this choice.

This was a weekend class. On Friday night it was all discussion of silver soldering theory,
practices and our questions. Saturday morning actual soldering of a "sweat joint". My first shock
was the torch. It was Air-Acetylene. No oxygen line. A lot less heat, but plenty for the job. My
second shock was that I was expected to hold the torch in my LEFT(off) hand. After a short while I became a convert to this. Saturday afternoon was making a "Tee joint" and setting up a "Butt
joint". Saturday night we finished the Butt joint and had a long question and answer session. To
this point it had all been jewelry silver soldering. Sunday morning we all did our own thing. My
thing was about silver soldering on sheet steel, and Tom gave me a lot of help .

I have become comfortable with soft soldering. This takes place at about 430 deg. F. The solder
flows easily by heat transfer from the work to the solder wire. After learning how to heat the work
and finding a flux that I liked, I can use it as a common process, but it is a WEAK joint. Brazing
with a brazing rod gave me real problems. I regularly burned the flux before the brazing rod flowed and instead of running out flat, my brazing rod made blobs. Stubborn little blobs that did not like to flow.

When you jump up to silver soldering and brazing at 1100 deg to 1400 deg you are no longer in
the soft solder world. As Dorothy said in Oz, "Toto I don't think we are in Kansas anymore." We
did no brazing, but, with silver solder, we were just below that temperature range. Clean joints are a necessity. Sanding was the answer to this. Close fitting joints are a necessity as the silver solder flows by capillary attraction. Flux is a necessity as it keeps the metal from forming oxides that kill the bonding of the metal to the silver solder. Our flux was a borax paste applied with a brush. Into the flux we placed small pieces of silver solder AT THE JOINT. On heating the base metal the flux first liquified, then boiled the water out and then dried out, locking the silver solder bits in place. THEN THE FLUX MELTED. This was a very visible happening and it WAS AN INDICATOR THAT THE BASE METAL WAS AT 1100 deg. This is close to having the silver solder flow. Heating the base metal further we WATCH FOR THE FLOW OF THE SILVER SOLDER. When that happens we pull the heat immediately. If all has been done correctly the joint is made.

A tightly fitting joint, as silver solder does not like to bridge gaps. Fluxing the area where you want solder to go. Placing the solder right at the joint. Heating the base metals and keeping the flame off the solder. Bringing both pieces to be joined to soldering temperature at the same time.
THESE ARE THE BASICS. There is also the fact that the solder RUNS TO HEAT. On my Tee
joint I had flux applied to the vertical member at one place and in heating the joint I got too much
heat on the vertical piece and the horizontal piece not hot enough and the solder RAN UP the
vertical piece instead of into the joint. It was a great learning experience.

On Sunday morning I got to work with silver solder and sheet steel. My past problems were, that
because steel is such a poor conductor of heat, in my attempt to get the steel hot enough I would burn the flux. Careful heating would be a requirement. The flux we were using was not a
specifically "high temperature" flux, it was just the paste flux we had been using. To help, we
switched to "Easy Solder" which is the lowest melting temperature silver solder, and I sanded
clean an area on the sheet steel and FLUXED THE HECK out of the area, dropped my silver
solder bits into a small circle and started to heat the perimeter of the pile. When the flux had
melted I continued heating that perimeter and suddenly the solder ran and flattened out into a
beautiful (to me) flat spot.. I knew that silver soldering with steel was possible for me. It now
becomes a matter of practice.

I am aided in the knowledge that there is a higher temperature flux available (not locally, but on
special order) and that this might work on brazing rod cut into small bits. I am fearful that my
higher temperature Oxy-Acetylene torch may require a lot of learning to keep the Heat localized
where I want it and the temperature lower than I have used it in the past, but BRAZING this way is on my to-do list.

Again I would like to say that if you are able to take the time off for scholarship classes and do not participate in the drawings you are missing out. My own experiences have all been at John C. Campbell Folk School and all good to very good. My philosophy has been to try to get really good instructors. Some GOOD smiths can't TEACH. Some will take an interest in answering questions and some won't. Some have "Pets" among the class students. I ask around about an instructor in selecting a class.

HAPPY SMITHING
John Myers]]> Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:55:00 -0400 Mon, 09 May 2011 17:59:00 -0400 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:27:00 -0500 A new article from John Myers - many thanks for the contribution and my apologies for the delays in getting new articles posted.]

Enjoy!!!]]> Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:43:00 -0500 decided to make Fredric’s crosses. Nothing is of my design,
just using techniques that are years old. I started with ¾ inch
square stock approximately 9 inches in length. You have to
start at one end cutting with hack saw or band saw down the
middle approx 3 ½ inches. Then, from the other end and ¼
turn, start cutting down the center approx 5 1/2 inches. The cuts
have to overlap and the more overlap the larger the opening
will be. See figure 1



I found that leaving the head or top part of the cross the same
length makes it easier to make the tab for the screw hole to
hold the cross to the wall. See final photo for tab detail.
Opening or unfolding the cross is much harder using this size
bar that smaller stock causing me to have to reheat more that
once. Just needs to be heated evenly where the cuts overlap.
As it is getting hot, use a screwdriver or similar tool to start
unfolding it, the more you can spread the cuts, the better.
After it was a cross, I then determined what length the
top should be, then using a butcher I cut down 2/3 ‘s from the
front to the back. Then drew that area out to 1/3 and fullered
it to form the tab. See figure 2 and 3.





After that, I used a small ball pein to put texture on the front
surface with some on the sides. I used an angle grinder with
wire brush to clean everything up and applied several coats of
clear lacquer.
I did make one that had 2 drawn out tapers on the arms and top.
That was achieved by having them about ¾ inch or more longer
then splitting them about an inch down the middle. Then drew
them out and scrolled them. See figure 4 and 5.



]]> Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:52:00 -0500 www.anvilfire.com For their article).

My goal was to build something to dramatically improve the air quality in my shop. But because I don’t have access to sheet metal equipment it needed to be something simple to construct. The super sucker satisfied both goals. This article presents details of that construction so that you may build your own. To read the full article, follow this link: Building a super sucker side-draft chimney]]> Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:44:00 -0500
Just what a tool lover wants!

In late October, 2007 I was able to immerse myself in tools in Lou Mueller's “Tools and Jigs” class at John C Campbell. To top it all off, I was attending on scholarship from Alex Bealer! For my scholarship report, follow this link: Tools and Jigs Scholarship report]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:20:00 -0500
I could not imagine that here at the University of West Georgia, I could be involved in a new form of Metal Work. New things happen in the oddest of places. This past week the art department had two “Cast Iron” pouring. I was lucky enough to be involved in some small way pouring. The professors and art department heads also told me that they would very much like to start a “Blacksmithing” program and while I was there the students expressed interest in my work and my forge.

I told them about the Alex Bealer group in Georgia and a little about the national ABANA group.

I have a strong feeling there could be an opportunity for local smiths to be able to demonstrate when they do finally get the “Blacksmithing “curriculum working. Below are some pictures, some taken by myself and some taken by Kimberly Hahn of the student newspaper “The West Georgian “.
:

]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:16:00 -0500
Since publication of the original article in July-November 2006 Hammer's Arc I have changed a number of working habits with this tool and this is a revised version.

I am still not an expert in the use of these shears. I still cuss at them sometimes, but love them now more than before. They solve a lot of sheet metal cutting problems, but it requires some thought if you want nice looking interior corners and cutting smaller radius interior curves is a pain.

Beverly Shears come in 4 sizes:

JUNIOR weighs 6 lbs and cuts 18 Ga.,
B-1 weighs 18 lbs and cuts 14 Ga.,
B-2 weighs 35 lbs and cuts 10 Ga.,
B-3 weighs 58 lbs and cuts 3/16th plate.

Harbor Freight has a Chinese copy that weighs 16 lb at a lower cost and would seem to approximate the B-1. The Beverly is a well made tool and I know nothing of the copy. I have a B-2.

The Beverly allows quick breakdown of larger pieces into smaller job sizes, and this includes rough cutting to size just outside the finish cut lines and this is important. BUT, for 3 to 4 foot wide sheets cutting across them is a TWO MAN job and you need lots of space around the shear. Open the jaws fully and push the sheet into the jaws and you will find that it is a LONG REACH across that 4 foot wide sheet to get to the handle.

Sheet distortion WILL HAPPEN. As you feed the sheet into the blade what is on the left side of the cut will ride on the top of the frame on a FLAT SURFACE and what is on the right side must go under the frame. It bends doing this. The narrower the material left on the right side of the cut the more it will curl, BUT the easier it will be to cut. You use this to advantage by keeping good work on the left and waste on the right. ALSO rough cutting to just outside the finish cut will make cutting easier and keep the finish material flatter if you keep waste to the right of the cut.

Getting really straight cuts is difficult. When you sight down the final cut you will find that you have made many short cuts. This helps you to develope your filing skills, but you are going to do that anyhow as the two sides of the cut never look the same. Straighten by filing. Long shallow curves can be straightened by hammering on the anvil on the concave side to expand that side, then finish file.

CONVEX (outside) curves are where it really works. You quickly learn to feed the work into the blade and rotate it at the same time to follow a marked line. The smaller the radius, the harder it is to follow and I mainly rough-cut to 1/4 inch or less before finish cutting. Where possible that FLAT SURFACE on the left of the blade is your best friend as the warping happens on the right of the cut.

HOW do I always keep the waste to the right? Sometimes I can't BUT if your material is marked on BOTH SIDES of the work, then if you TURN THE WORK OVER to the other side to cut,your waste changes sides. In 99% of cases I can always cut with waste to the right. Marking on BOTH sides requires some thought if the lines are to be directly opposite each other on both sides, but on a lot of work it is worth the trouble

CONCAVE (inside) curves on LARGE radius work is fine. The rub comes when that radius gets smaller. The waste side is stiff and does not want to go down and under the frame. The closer the rough cut to the finish cut, the easier it will be. I sometimes take the rough cut work to the power band saw and, every inch or so, cut at right angles to the finish cut right up to the finish cut line so that the waste comes out in short pieces and not a long, tangled snarl. On concave cuts I open the blades as far as possible and cut with SHORT strokes while REOPENING the blades and REPUSHING the work back into the blades. This is entirely different from using as much of the length of cut as possible in straight cuts. The smaller the radius of an inside cut the more this is true.

Outside sharp corners are no problem. Just make two straight cuts that cross.

Inside corners require a plan. The cut is not vertical through the sheet metal. It will slope from front on top to back on the bottom, so that when you make an inside corner by cutting into it at right angles you either cut too much or a little short on one side. I first cut shy then twisted the waste out with pliers. This was ugly, in results and process. I now drill a hole about 9/64ths accurately in the corner and aim my cuts at the outside of the hole. This has been a large enough hole so that the waste drops out leaving me a rounded inside corner. If that is objectionable a file removes the radius quickly

On Beverly Shears there is a simple adjustment of the blade clearance so as to accomodate different thickness of materials. It came preset to cut the thickest material for the shear. I cut as it came for a long time then when I shifted to thinner material the shear GNAWED instead of cutting. I NOW take the time to set the clearance for the material(1/10th of the material thickness) with a set of feeler gauges. It doesn't take long.

EXCEPT FOR SMALL RADIUS CUTS I push the handle all the way up(back) and push the work all the way into the blade and use as much of the cut length as I can with a full stroke each time. This is easier and you will be happier.

Sheet steel comes with an oil coating. The permanent marker, that I use for marking, smears and the oil often stops the pen from working. I degrease the sheet where the markings go with mineral spirits on a rag and blow dry with compressed air and that has solved the problem for me.

I still save my jagged cut offs. Be nice to me or I might sprinkle them on your driveway one dark night. Opinions herein are still not GOSPEL, but my way of using this tool.

John Myers]]> Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:11:00 -0400 a welder or the knowledge of welding. I decided to take an adult ed welding
class and got to practice welding and the opportunity to complete some of
the projects.

Bear in mind that since my eyesight is not great and I have the shakes-or
involuntary jerks that occur at the wrong times-my welding isn't as great
as it should be, but should hold..
Also, I should have sanded and painted the stands, but since my surgery,
it will be a few weeks before I can do that..

Image 2640 is a combination leg vise - hardie tool holder which the parts
have laid in the yard since our hurricanes 3 years ago-reason there is some
rust.

Image 2642 are blank dies that should have been formed before welding, but
my class was ending, so I had to hurry.

Image 2643 is something that I copied from a catalog probably 8 years ago
but was afraid to try to weld-but now finally put together.
]]> Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:39:00 -0400
Hear Hook demo

Tips from Charlie Orlando]]> Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:22:00 -0400 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:59:00 -0400 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:17:00 -0400 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:05:00 -0400 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:48:00 -0400 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:40:00 -0400
As anyone who knew Tom Clark would know, Tom used the forging of a nail as the root of his blacksmith teaching. If you ever watched Tom demonstrate he most often started his demonstration by forging a nail. Tom had made several large nails throughout his career.

With that in mind four Georgia Blacksmiths, Ben Bradshaw, Michael Dillon, Kris Graper and Mark Hopper, have collaborated together on a memorial project for Tom Clark. We have FORGED A 7 FOOT TALL NAIL in Tom’s memory and we want you to have an opportunity to participate.

Madison will be the start, the nail will travel around to various conferences around the country for the next year.

Please bring your touch mark and you can mark the side of the “BIG NAIL” with it.

We will see you in Madison!

Also while in Madison, please go by the Madison Morgan County Cultural Center and see the Floyd Daniels memorial hand railing. This was a collaborative project by blacksmiths and friends of Mr. Floyd’s.
/*************************************/
Update: Here is the Nail at Madison...
]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 10:56:00 -0400
Prices will be $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Yet another benefit of membership - massive T-Shirt price discounts! We won't be undersold (because we are the only ones selling them).

]]> Tue, 05 May 2009 17:58:00 -0400
Click on a picture and then move pointer to left or right side of image to pop up the [PREV/NEXT] button to move to the next picture.

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