How It's Made
I try to blend the line between manufacturing and blacksmithing. For me, it's about as fun as it is to design, prototype, and build (or *cough* buy) a new machine, jig, or tool as it is to do the actual forging. As an engineer, to me the efficiency, production time, and the process is the goal, all while maintaining that forged character.
Most of my products use technologies such as CAD, laser cutting services, induction forge, hydraulic presses, parts tumblers, kilns, and even 3D printing. Here is a look at some of the technologies I use in my workshop.
Anvil
The heart of the workshop, every single one of my products at one point gets worked on the anvil. This one is a 285 lb Fontanini featuring a double horn, side shelf and upsetting block.
Propane Forge
The propane forge is where things really heat up, easily reaching 2300 degrees F! While it used to heat every product I made, it now handles all of my stainless steel products.
Induction Forge
The induction forge heats carbon steel products like my bottle openers using electromagnetism. In addition to needing no time to heat up, it allows highly efficient batch processing.
Hydraulic Presses
Three 12 ton Coal Iron Works hydraulic presses are the workhorses of my shop. Learn more about the custom dies and control system in my workshop tour!
Parts Tumblers
In order to clean, polish, and deburr, each product goes through one of the parts tumblers. These tumblers save me hours of time!
Kilns
I use kilns to both heat treat tooling for making products and to give my steel products a nice blue color.
CAD Design
Sometimes a design starts at the anvil, where I can feel out proportions in real steel. Other times, especially for jigs and tooling, it begins on screen. Either way, every design of mine ends up in CAD.
3D Printer
The 3D printer lets me physically hold my CAD designs, helping with refining product dimensions and design. It also enables me to print plastic workshop jigs, fixtures, and storage.
Laser Cutting
Once I have a 3D design, I have the parts laser cut from plate metal. That lets me skip the non-critical rough forming steps while keeping all the forged character where it matters.
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