Tag: forge

Roubo Style Holdfasts

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn WorkshopLeave a comment

A couple of months ago, I went over to a local blacksmith’s shop to take a class on making Roubo style holdfasts. I’ve been following Jamie Gier on Facebook for some time now and I knew he lived right down the street from me, but when I saw him making holdfasts on his page, I contacted him to see how much they would cost.

When he told me they were only $60.00, but he could teach me how to make them, I jumped at the chance and scheduled a time to meet with him after work.

When I got to his shop, he started by throwing a couple of steel rods in his furnace and heating them until they got hot. Then, he sent each one over to his power hammer to draw them out until each rod was about 16″ long.

That’s when he gave me the reigns and had me finish up drawing out the rods until they were about 20″ long.

Next, we took the steel bar over to his other power hammer and hit the middle of the bar into a form to create the 90-degree bend. This is what I’m doing in the photo here, but there is no photo of the actual form. sorry.

Next, I formed the goose head shape of the holdfasts between two round heads and played with how the head of the holdfast should look.  Took some trial and error until I was happy with the result.

After the holdfasts were shaped, Jamie knocked off the burrs from the steel with a wire brush and coated each one with boiled linseed oil. I ended up with four holdfasts as he loves just being in his shop and making things.

The next day, I drilled a hole in a scrap piece of wood to test the holdfasts. They almost worked. Unfortunately, they were off just a few degrees as the pads weren’t hitting the wood where they should be.

I showed Jamie that they needed to be adjusted, so I went back over a few weeks later. He threw the holdfasts back in the furnace and adjusted the pads down about 6 degrees.

The next day, I tested them again. Sure enough, that did the trick! I now have four usable holdfasts in total but will only need to use two at the most. I drilled some more 13/16″ holes on my bench so that I could have total reach with holdfasts. The holdfasts are pretty big, with each one having a swing of 18″ in diameter.

Having a guy down the street who is willing to teach me blacksmithing is a godsend. While I was at his shop adjusting the holdfasts the other night, he taught me how to heat treat some plane blades I made for my Stanley No 48 plane out of O1 steel.

We had such a good time together that we’re talking about making Japanese style chisels next, as it’s something he has always wanted to try. This is going to be fun!

If you want to follow Jamie on Facebook,  here is his link.  https://www.facebook.com/jamie.gier?mibextid=ZbWKwL

You can also follow the blacksmith group, the Goshen Historical Society School of Blacksmithing, on Facebook as well, of which him and I are members of.

My New Years Resolution

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop6 Comments

It’s a brand new year and I’m not getting any younger. I’ve been thinking over the past few days about what I’d like to achieve this year with my woodworking. The answer was clear. 2014 has to be the year where I finally get into and learn blacksmithing. For years I’ve been farting around with the idea of incorporating metal work into my furniture. I took a blacksmith class from Welch chair maker Don Weber of Paint Lick, KY in 2008 where I made a couple of hold fasts and a cold chisel, but unfortunately, I never took anymore classes from him. I use the hold fasts all the time and I’m very proud of them, I just wish I would have taken more classes. Don’s shop was nearly three hours away and I believe he has since retired as his website has been down for several months.

I really want to learn blacksmithing for a few reasons. I want to make hardware for furniture, handles for cutting boards and be able to heat-treat blades for tools. I bought a set of handles for cutting boards from a guy at an art festival a few years ago and the design is simple enough that I’m sure I could reproduce it with a little practice. If I make cutting boards I would add handles like these and sell them through my Etsy account.

I have been a member of Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil (SOFA)  for a few years and I attended their annual meeting in Troy, OH back 2011. SOFA offers classes on blacksmithing but Troy is an hour and a half from my house. Ten weeks of driving back and forth from Troy on the weekends doesn’t sound like that much fun.

I do have a few books on blacksmithing, but the best by far is The Backyard Blacksmith by Lorelei Sims. She writes about setting up a simple shop and teaches some basic beginning projects. It’s a great first step in learning blacksmithing.

Awhile ago I bought the first piece for my blacksmith shop, a 150 lb anvil, at a local auction. My wife warned me that I would buy an anvil and it would just sit in the garage for six months before I would even use it. Well she was wrong. It’s been sitting in there for a year and a half. I need to make an anvil stand for it, but that shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll probably write a blog about it when I do.

I have three blacksmith vises that I bought at a tool auction a few years back. I only use one of them right now as the other two are sitting underneath my shelving where I store my wood. The one I do use is fantastic and works much better than a metal machinist vise that is bolted on top of a workbench. If you ever have a chance to buy a blacksmith vise for a good price, do it, you won’t be disappointed.

Last fall, I bought the final piece of my shop at an antique show, a forge. It’s really nice with a hand crank blower. I would like to eventually make my own chisels or blades for molding planes and a forge like this is ideal for that task. Maybe I can even get good enough to shape my own carving tools.

Now that I have all the major tools for my blacksmith shop, I could set it up in the garage, but that is where my wife stores her furniture or parks her car. We’re talking about getting a shed in the backyard in the spring. If we do, that would be an ideal spot where I can pull out my anvil and forge and work in the yard. All I know is that it has to finally happen this year. I just wish there were blacksmith classes around Cincinnati I could take.