forge Archives | Andy Bennett

Forge day

Posted onNovember 14, 2015November 29, 2015AuthorAndy

Given that yesterday was forecast as wet and windy, I thought it perfect to get the forge out and have a day hitting hot metal.

My forge is obviously outside, which has its good and bad sides. The open air can be a double edged sword of course and today I hardly needed the blower.

I started off with the finial for an obelisk I am making for a friend and moved on to a stand for a gallon (literally) kettle, bought from a local reclaim centre.

I also hardened off the surface of the portable anvil I made a few weeks ago, so that it now has a nice ring to it. To say it needed a big fire is an understatement, but at least it gave me the opportunity to try out the new heat baffle I made to protect the forge base. It obviously worked.

Blacksmithing grape vine support

Posted onAugust 15, 2015AuthorAndy

Not all of my blacksmith forge projects are big complicated ones. I also enjoy bringing simpler ideas to life.

For this project I made a simple but elegant support frame for a grape vine. It needed to be strong, and capable of taking the all year weight of the vine. It also provides the shape around which the vine will be trained and pruned.

This picture shows the support, which I painted in zinc rich primer and matt black to give it some extra weather protection.

blacksmith And here it is in the pot with the vine. I have pruned the vine to give the 3 main stems to provide the shape. It will take a couple of years before the vine fills out, but already it looks better than in its old home at the end of the garden up against a fruit cage.

The permanent home will be in the citrus area, which you can just see top left.

Spitfires and Hurricanes

Posted onJuly 8, 2015July 14, 2015AuthorAndy

I love old machinery and equipment with a story. Things made to last, not made to a penny.

Blacksmithing allows me to do my bit in this story. Everything I make is probably made from twice as strong/thick steel as is specifically necessary. But then it will do its job well and likely be around in 100 years.

Read down my blog and you will see the story of a leg vice I bought from a local reclaim/bric-a-brac shop and then refurbished. I have since been looking for a suitable stand for it. Last week one appeared on ebay and amazingly it was only 5 miles away from us.

It turned out to be a part of a workshop clearance. The workshop owner having recently died at 98, only 2 weeks before having purchased a new buggy to ‘soup-up’. At 78 he was pulling engines out of Jaguars and rebuilding them. My kind of man.

He had owned his workshop for decades, initially setting it up to repair parts for Spitfires and Hurricanes.

So now, this stand, that has such a wonderful history, is supporting my leg vice. Priceless.