Hammer Time!

16 August –

Mark and Annika had been discussing building a forge.  He thought it would have to wait until we moved to a more permanent location. Until he realized he could build a small one in our back yard- right here, right now!

With the assistance of our Chinese friends and our driver we got all the necessary materials (Mark even had an iron table built at our nearby metal market).

IMG_7198Annika is cranking the fan (it's a hand-cranked one) while Mark is experimenting with hammering on a piece of metal.

IMG_7199Hammer time!

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Mark wants to create knives.

Annika wants to make swords.

Me?  I'm going to wait and see how it goes for them and then decide to give it a try.  

Now, if you're curious- the base is an iron table that Mark had custom built at our local metal market.  The fire bricks were purchased by our driver (who must think we're completely NUTS).  One of our friends helped by the fan (and probably other pieces).  Mark built a little "oven" that is fired by coal or charcoal.  The fan helps keep the fire blazing hot.  It NEEDS to be HOT in order to work the metal.  You stick your piece of metal into the forge (the oven), let it get red hot, pull it out with tongs and then work on pounding it with a hammer on the anvil (while holding it FIRMLY with a special gripping tool).  You can only pound it a few times before the piece cools down.  Then it's back into the fire for another round.  Right now it's just a matter of trial and error for us – we're experimenting to see what works best.  

What ever will we create???


Comments

One response to “Hammer Time!”

  1. Gerlinde Avatar
    Gerlinde

    I must say (and Uropa agrees) – this is cool ;):):)