Machine Blacksmithing

By James Cran

This vintage book contains a detailed but concise guide to machine blacksmithing, with information on setting up and maintaining a blacksmith shop, the correct use of tools and equipment, and more. Although old, this volume contains a wealth of information that will be of considerable utility to modern blacksmiths and metalworkers, and would make for a useful addition to collections of related literature. Contents include: "System in the Blacksmith Shop", "Tools for the Blacksmith Shop", "Anvils and Forges", "Power Hammers and Forging Appliances", "The Steam Hammer and its Use". Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on metal work. This book was first published in 1910.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Owen Press
• Release date: Sep 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473339835

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CHAPTER I

SYSTEM IN THE BLACKSMITH SHOP*

It is not necessary that a system for the blacksmith shop be of the kind usually known as red tape, which often takes more time to handle than the time it saves; but a simple method of keeping track of work, tools, and material will save time and expense.

To begin with, the blacksmith shop ought to be large enough to provide a place for everything in the shape of tools and equipment, and permit everything to be in its place. Forges should be numbered with figures of size and color which can be easily seen from any part of the shop. The forges should be referred to by their numbers, instead of so-and-so’s forge. This would insure work being taken to the place for which it was intended. With each forge there ought to be a tool bench of such size and design as would accommodate one full set of blacksmith’s tools of the kind used at the anvil. Each tool should be marked with its size and the number of the forge to which it belongs, so that each blacksmith will know the tools which form part of the set he is supposed to use, even if they should in any way get mixed up with others. To insure keeping a full set at each forge, it would be well to give each man a list of the tools belonging to the forge at which he is expected to work, with the understanding that he will be held responsible for all tools not worn out or accidentally broken. If any tool is worn out or broken it should be reported to the man in charge, so that it could be replaced as soon as possible. Having a full equipment at each forge would be a decided advantage to a new man starting in to work, because, as anyone who has ever been employed in a blacksmith shop knows, as soon as a blacksmith leaves the shop in which he has been working, he is no sooner gone than there is a raid upon the tools he used, and it usually takes but a short time to have them exchanged for the poorest tools in the shop, or, perhaps, just removed without any attempt at replacing. When a new man comes along, he is heavily handicapped, having the worst tools in the place with which to work, and it sometimes takes weeks before he has a chance of showing what he can do.

It would be well, in arranging forges, to place them so that light work could be done at one end of the shop, medium work in the center, and heavy work at the other end, so that trip- or steam-hammers could be installed in the most convenient places according to their capacities. Every shop ought to have one or more sets of hammer tools, such as spring swages, spring fullers, bolsters, V-blocks, drifts, hacks, and breaking-down tools, which could be classed as general tools and used at any hammer, and kept on a rack where they would be most convenient. Special and larger tools than those forming sets for forges could be given out on the check system, which is common in most manufacturing plants where tools are given out from the tool-room.

To keep track of stock, it would be well to have each kind or grade marked on the end of the bars with different colors. Thus wrought iron may be marked red; Norway iron, blue; machinery steel, white; and so on until all the different grades are marked, care being taken to cut from the end not painted. When a blacksmith starts on a new piece of work he should be furnished with a card for stock to be used, along with his time card. Stock cards should be printed forms to be filled in and signed by the various hands they would pass through. The following outline would cover the most essential points: Date of issue, order number, workman’s number, name of pieces to be made, number of pieces to be made, grade of stock to be used, size of stock to be used, amount of stock issued, amount of stock returned, amount of stock used, and date when work is completed. The card should be signed by the man In charge of the stock and the foreman of the shop, before being sent to the stock clerk.

Piece work is preferable to day work when the number of pieces to be made is such that it can be done to advantage, as it insures the best men getting the most compensation, especially if there is no limit set to the amount they may earn. This is a very important point. It is by no means an uncommon occurrence for a piece of work to be done the same way, and remain at the same price for years until some one comes along who uses a little more common sense than the average man. He sees a way of doing it to save time, and will perhaps turn out double the amount of work as compared with what has been done before in the same time. The result is that he earns on piece work 100 per cent more than the other men have earned. He may be paid for the first lot without any comment being made, but by the time the next lot is to be made, more than likely the price is cut in two, and another man gets the job, which is taking an unfair advantage of a good workman, and does not encourage him to bring out his best ideas. If a man can make two pieces in the time it used to take to make one piece, it means a saving of 50 per