Hey Blog! In December, I had a chance to have a go at a craft I have been LONGING to do, and finally was able to!
Over the years, I have built up my arsenal of making skills. I can now:
- Paint, draw & otherwise create art
- Sew, both machine and hand
- Knit (& purl)
- Do pyrography on wood
- Whittle wood
- Turn wood
- Knap flint
- Forge iron
That last is the one I want talk to you about today, as it is the most recent acquirement. And I’ve always wanted to do it!
The High Peak Junction is the oldest railway workshop in the world. It is rather amazing, being both a museum and having a working forge in the corner. Some days where you could make a poker were being offered, so, hearing about this and recognising it would be brilliant for me, Mum booked a place. This was for one back in September, but due to urgent circumstances we had to rebook. There were new places available in December, and so we decided Dad would get the day off to come and watch me, and I could do a forge day in winter. Snow would have made it perfect, but you can’t have everything…
The forge was going hot when we got there, and everything was ready. Making the poker was actually very simple. You get the rough iron bar hot, to make the metal malleable, put the hot metal on the cold anvil and hit it with cold hammers. When I say “hot”, I mean the metal was glowing yellow-orange at the start, then faded through orange to red to black. Even when it looked black, it was still 300°C, so hot enough to melt your skin – no risk at all, then! It’s surprising how easily you can bend and shape the metal when it’s hot! All in, it was a 20-30 minute procedure, all the three parts of forging. The point is the first thing you do.
Get the tip hot. Pump the bellows. Then angle your blows on it so it becomes a point. Pump the bellows. When this is done to your satisfaction, place the middle of it in the fire. Pump the bellows. Take it out of the fire, and put it in a vice, then using tongs twist the metal so you get a twisty shaft. Return it to the fire, with the other end in the heart of the flames, and pump the bellows (alternatively, if you want to save your arms, get a young and energetic/bodybuilding/long-suffering parent assistant to pump the bellows while you do the exiting and dangerous stuff). Taking the poker out the fire, put an attachment in the anvil to bend a round loop in the end. Hammer with the poker both above and below the attachment to create a loop, then bend it back to centralise the loop. Get the whole thing to a lower heat, rub with a wire brush to remove oxidised scales from the metal, then quench it in water to harden. If wearing glasses, expect not to see for a minute! Remove poker from water and admire your handywork.
That’s about how I did it. We also had conversations on the difference between quenching in water and in oil, how scales appear on the surface of the metal and other topics. My one is rather simple, there were examples that were beautifully done with complex metalwork, but I’m rather proud of it if I say so myself, and I’d like to have another go any time. There are more extensive days offered for metalworking there, but we have not signed me up for these yet as I don’t know how old you have to be. I can only hope that I can continue to work with many materials for a long time.
