The Bellows Issue02

8/7/2019 The Bellows Issue02

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Issue 2 - Summer 2009

The Doddridge Forge at Angaston - Maintained by the Angaston & Penrice Historical Society

In this issue Editorial.

Presidents Note.

Members Story...Cat Lambert. Angaston Forge.

How to...Making Collars

Workshop Review..Making Tongs

Blacksmith Doris Day


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Contents

The objectives of the Association shall be to promote, preserve, and develop the Craftsmanship,

and techniques of all the various disciplines associated with Artistic Blacksmithing to the

highest standards possible. Supporting these aims include:

a) To Provide means of communication between mature people with an interest in

the craft of Blacksmithing, for the exchange of ideas, experience, techniques and

information for their mutual benet, by the publication of a regular Newsletter.

b) To Encourage a greater awareness of, and interest in the appreciation of the skills

of Blacksmithing among Architects, Interior Designers, Art and Craft groups, and

the general public, and to provide links between Blacksmiths and potential

customers by means of Exhibitions, Demonstrations, and Publications.

c) To Promote and actively provide the opportunity for training in all the various

aspects of Blacksmithing means of demonstrations, lectures, and special tuition

sessions.

d) To Act as a representative body, in the interests of Australian Blacksmiths, locally,

nationally and internationally.

e) To Undertake community service, providing these services are within the

comfortable limits of time, talents and costs that the association and individual

members can aord, in the context of the associations, purpose, objectives, rules

and legal obligations

f ) To encourage communication and goodwill among Blacksmiths of all Nations.

g) To co-operate with similar associations in every practical way at the local, nationaland international level with the interests of the associations members and

community

h) To ensure the association achieves the purpose and objectives by all

possible legal means.

Purposes & Objectives of ABASA Inc

2

....Editorial

Page 2

1

3

....Contents

....Cover.. Angaston Forge / Chris Fuller taking a heat

....Presidents Note4

5 ....Members Story...Cat Lambert

7 ....Angaston Forge...Then and Now

....How To...Making Collars

11

9

....Workshop Review...Making Tongs with GeoBarnes

12 ....The Birth of Blacksmith Doris by Kirstie Stewart

TheBellows

SUMMER EDITION

DECEMBER 2009

EDITOR

Rob Kenning(08) 83702137

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Rob Kenning

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

PRESIDENT

Chris Carter(08) 82625415

VICE PRESIDENT

Sonja Hurst(08) 83860910

SECRETARY

Rob Kenning

TREASURER

Kirstie Stewart

(08) 83779360

GENERAL COMMITTEE

Terry Johnson(08) 83825559

Cat Lambert(08) 81650918

Keren Sutcliffe(08) 82401363

Stan Briggs(08) 83568868

....Useful sites and Contacts13


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Editorial

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Welcome to our second edition of The Bellows Newsletter.

It has been a hectic couple of months. We have nally achieved our association registrationand set up our administrative bits and pieces. I feel like we are ready to re up and get into it.Interest has been coming in from our colleagues all over the state as regards to enrolmentinto our association.

On Tuesday 10th, a hand full of committee members attended the Old Tailem Town site for alook around and chat with Peter Squires, the owner manager. We took a 'Cooks Tour' of thetown and the forges to see what was available and what promise it held. There are threeforges in various states of repair, ranging from possibly workable to 'heavy maintenance' priorto ring up. The anvils are in pretty good condition, as are some of the tongs. Most of the postvices require a strip down and possibly renewed spring plates. It's all do-able with a bit ofelbow grease and the power ofre. A few weekends spent getting everything ship shapeprior to forging, will pay dividends. A volunteer working party will be organised next year tostart the ball rolling.

We have had our rst demonstration workshop in tong making, courtesy of Geoand AdamBarnes. The demonstration was attended by 10 members and proved to be very enlightning,especially for our members starting out in the profession.

In the newsletter this quarter, we look deeper into the workings and history of AngastonsDoddridge Forge. An invitation from The Angaston & Penrice Historical Society has been sentto the ABASA volunteers to attend a BBQ on the 8th of December. I hope that we can coax afew more members to hop on the roster and have the opportunity to work in such a historicalsetting. It certainly makes you appreciate the modern trappings in the smithys today.We also have a planned BBQ at Kerens place in Rosewater on the 23rd of January next year, tocelebrate the association formation and the commissioning of her forge. Members are askedto bring all you need in the way of food and drinks and lets hope for a wonderful dayweatherwise and a good turn out of members. Details will be sent out shortly.

It has been a fantastic six months since we began and I hope my feelings of a positive NewYear are felt by all our members.

I trust the Newsletter is tting in with the tastes of you, the members. Don't hold back if youwant to be involved with the newsletter. Kirstie and Cat have taken the leap in putting penand camera to work. I hope you nd their articles interesting.

In the New Year, we will hold our rst meeting on February 25th. I'd like to see everyone turnup if possible, so that we can plan out the year ahead and get everyone inspired to re up andforge ahead.

With all that said, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Rob Kenning, Editor


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Presidents Note...

Page 4

Well time seems to have slipped past us as we fastapproach Christmas and the end of the year. The last two

months have seen the growth of our Association. Since

our registration we have now 18 nancial members and

about 20 who have expressed an interest in joining. Our

rst demonstration day which was held at GeoBarnes

forge was well attended with 10 members there. Thanks

Geoand Adam for a great teaching session on tong

making. We look forward to future demos. We continue to have good attendance at

the meetings and our thanks go to the Elephant and Castle Hotel for their hospitality.

Thanks to One Steel for their donation of coke and to Andy Hartup for transporting it

down to Adelaide for us. Looking towards 2010 we have a great challenge in ensuring

that we have an exciting and educational program, which will be of interest to all

members. The list we have for workshops now will give us a good base to start with.

How we can participate as blacksmiths at the Royal Adelaide Show will be an

interesting exercise. However I think that the more we are in the public arena the

more people will be aware that the craft of blacksmithing is alive and well. As a

committee we will have to look at the structure of our meetings to ensure that the

needs of the members is being maintained.

Trusting that you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

RegardsChris Carter

President

ABASA


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M E M B E R S S T O R Y

Cat Lambert....

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Aer returning from the UK with two children to look aer, Cat didn't want toreturn to her previous job in PR based oce work. She happened to read an ad in thelocal paper about an Artistic Blacksmithing course at TAFE.An appointment was made at the Panorama TAFE college, where she met with theinstructor and the other students, and received a brieng of the course curriculum.It sounded perfect for her plans to work at home and be with her children.Aer starting the course with a dozen other students, Cat found great enjoymentfrom the fellowship and camarderie that developed.I asked Cat,"What were your favourite elements to forge?"(Cat) Twists and collars,strangely enough. I found that scrolls didn't come naturally but I did love combiningthe elements to get an overall eect. I also enjoyed working with the group andseeing how others attacked the same task in our brief.

"How did your Norwood Primary SchoolCommission come about?"(Cat) I went to the school interview to enrol myson, Felix. During the interview I mentioned myplans to undertake working as a Blacksmith andthat got the attention of the principal, RobHarkin.Rob had previouslyoated a commission for asculpture to two other local blacksmiths, whodidn't show any interest in taking it on.When I said that I would be interested, he

organised a Community Arts Grant through theNorwood and St Peters Council. e schoolhad a fairly well planned design in mind thatwould need to be followed and it involved

a lot of consultation with the students and aboriginal tribal members of the Narangga clan.

"Could you describe the commission brief in detail?" (Cat)e brief was based on the reconciliation and healingof the Point Pearce community and was to include a wrought iron panel, featuring the tribal totems of theNarangga tribe. eir totems included the Red Kangaroo, Emu, White Shark and the Sea Eagle. e panel waspart of Norwood schools acknowledgement of their part in the journey of healing, and to celebrate Norwood

schools relationship with the Point Pearce community.I involved the senior students in the design of the elements of the panel. We talked about simplicity of design,structural strength and that the panel should be double sided with the design visible from both sides.echildren sketched the tribal totems and the other elements, to represent their interpretation of the Naranggapeople.ese elements included the sun and clouds, re and waves. Unfortunately, because of extensiverenovations at the school the sculpture couldn't be mounted on site for the ceremony.

"Any trouble building it?" (Cat) It was helpful to have the skills of a fellow blacksmith, Rob Kenning, to help withwelding of the frame and converting the sketches in Rhino, to a format that the laser cutters could use. He alsohelped with working out the radius of the arch and other structural bits and peices. Also, having advice fromothers, like the laser cutters, in the structural requirements allowed me to concentrate on the artistic elements of

the commission. I found it a big advantage to draw the design out in real size on the concrete oor, that way, Ifound it easier to provide the third parties with the correct dimensions to work with. I think that such a strongstructural design wouldn't have been achievable without the help of a lot of knowledgeable people.

Article and Pictures by Cat Lambert and Rob Kenning.


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(cont)"Would you do things dierently on a similar

project?"(Cat) I would probably follow the sameprocess but I would allow myself more lead timebetween stages. I mean, you can push yourself but youcan't push the third parties involved. I was lucky thatthis job seemed to take on an organic ow to it andthat the end result was an artwork that was simple init's translation. I think that any child between 5 and 12can interpret the scroll work and know that itrepresents waves, for instance.e biggest disappointment I had was with the Portersproduct I used for the nish. It didn't turn out as Iexpected and it has created a patchy appearance thatwas impossible to correct. I think more trialing withnishes is needed and I hope we can do that withA.B.A.S.A in the New Year. I think that would help usall out in nding out what works and what doesn't.

Since both graduating from TAFE as Artist Blacksmiths, Catcurrently shares a workshop with Kirstie Stewart.

Waves of Scrolls.

Applying the nish.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by the entire school assembly,

Aboriginal dancers and guests.

School Principal Rob Harkin, Local Member Vini Ciccarello and Artistic

Blacksmith Cat Lambert

Aboriginal dancers

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Page 7

On any Weekend or Public Holiday, the ring of theanvil can be heard in the main street of Angaston. It isthe sound of blacksmiths playing out the cycle offorging at the Doddridge Forge.Visitors strolling along the street can wander throughthe forge and immerse themselves in the history, and

culture, and get a feel of what life was like all thoseyears ago.e well informed volunteers can relate the workingsand surrounding of the forge, and the blacksmithswill gladly answer questions on the ancient art ofblacksmithing.e A&H Doddridge forge remains one of the veryfew forges that operate on a regular basis in the mainstreet of a South Australian town. A well populatedlist of blacksmiths volunteer their aernoons, ringthe forges using traditional bellows to re the coke.

e history of the forge began with the arrival toSouth Australia, of William Doddridge, in 1873.William bought with him a couple of forges and alarge bellows. He settled down at Kangaroo Island fora few years before moving to Port Adelaide and thenonto Penrice.In 1873, Williams son, John, established the currentsmithy and, along with his brother Charles, ran thebusiness.In 1881, the business was transferred to Charles andhis family.e two sons of Charles were Albert andHardy.In 1902, Hardys father passed away and Hardy tookover the reins with his brother Albert till 1946, andthen became the sole proprietor until his retirementat the age of 80. Even then, Hardy was still tinkeringaround the forge till the age of 90.e forge was the industrial center of the town ofAngaston, and provided all the services required forshoeing horses, making and mending wheels andproviding the necessary hardware for the farming

sector.Aer Hardy's passing, the property went up forauction in 1982.With the risk of losing the town icon, the residents of

Angaston rallied together to purchase the many toolsand equipment.e forge was run as a privateconcern in the interim until the 25th October 1996,when the forge opened to the general public underthe care of the Angaston and Penrice HistoricalSociety.e society has managed to maintain the

historical heritage of the forge and have resisted theurge to update the equipment, prefering instead, tokeep it in the condition it was in at the time ofHardy's passing.Over the years, a steady stream of volunteer guidesand Blacksmiths have been present each weekend, tore the forges and display their skills to the public.Much of the equipment in the forge is from thebygone era. Items such as plough seats, wheel rims,bridles and farrier equipment, line the walls andraers.

The late Hardy Dodderidge


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Blacksmiths volunteering for duties in the forge comefrom a wide range of locations, including Lindsay Park

Stud, young people keen to learn, and in the last threeyears, members of the Artist Blacksmiths Associationhere in S.A.

A.B.A.S.A. Secretary, Rob Kenning explaining the ner points of

drawing down to a young apprentice, Tina Herd.

A.B.A.S.A. currently have seven members on the

roster and there is plenty of room for more. e forgeattracts many tourists through the door and they are

always amazed atthe amount ofobjects on display,and the forgingwork undertakenby the blacksmiths.e enthusiasticband of volunteers

from the Angastonand PenriceHistorical Society,man the doors andgive the visitors aguided tour of theforges history andworkings. At therear of the forge,

visitors can viewthe vintage Turners

Butchers truck anda power hammer from the Tanunda winery, that wasused for producing barrel hoops.ere is also a largebellows and wooden wagon on display.

e Butchers truck still runs and takes part in thevarious ceremonies and parades that occur Angaston.

As well as blacksmithing equipment, there is also astationary belt drive engine and the wheelwrighttooling used in producing wagon wheel tyres.e stationary engine is sometimes started up at theopen of business and runs continuously during theaernoon producing a rhythmic thumping beat intune with the sound of hammers on hot iron.

Ron Schilling and Brian Schubert (pictured below)aretwo of the mainstays of the Angaston & Penrice

Historical Society. Along with Joe Doddridge and thenew volunteer coordinator Dean Messner, they do anadmiral job of maintaining the forge and organisingthe volunteers.

A.B.A.S.A. looks forward to our association with theDoddridge Forge, and together, we hope to conductworkshops and demonstration days, as well as assist inmaintenace and organisation of the site.e Angaston Forge is a fantastic forge to work in, forany smiths starting out and for any one who enjoys thehistoric surroundings and working with the public.Anyone from within the Artist BlacksmithsAssociation South Australia, who wishes to be part ofthe team or even visit for the day, please contact RobKenning on 83702137 to arrange for a trip up to the

forge.Story by Rob Kenning

Research by Ron Schilling

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So, what do you need to forge and t collars.

Other than a hammer, anvil, mandrel and a jig, you

will need some reverse opening tongs to prepare the

collar for tting, and a pair ofat nose tongs big

enough to close around the opened collar to close itup around your work.

When the collar is tted hot and closed up you may

need a dolly blockheld by a colleague, while you use

a hammer to work the collar tightly closed. And all of

this has to be performed while you have a workable

heat in the collar.

Like forge welding, failure to work quickly can result

in a sloppyt. Unfortunately, there isn't any easyx if

the collar is loose other than cutting it oand startingagain.

e jig can be made from a piece ofat bar and pieces

of square stock with chamfered edges welded in place.

How To.............by Rob Kenning

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COLLARS

Collaring of iron work has been in use in

Blacksmithing from the beginning.ere were very

few options available for securing multiple elements

of iron work. Riveting and re welding could be used

in limited ways, but collaring gave an enhanced lookand strength to the nal nish.

ere are many styles of collaring, depending on the

type of iron work to be secured. e types fall into

two main catagories of Artistic or Decorative banding

and the other style is Structural collaring.

e Artistic style collaring usually has fullered lines or

textures forged onto its face and is hot forged aroundthe iron work to form a band. It usually has little in

the way of squareness to its edges and faces and

provides a decorative feature as well as a functional

property to the work.

Structural collaring, on the other hand, can be

formed from any size stock that suits the work, but

using a 2:1 ratio prole provides the best look and

provides the best strength. 2:1 ratio material can be

20mm x 10mm, 16mm x 8mm, 12mm x 6mm etc.

For instance, a gate made with 16mm square bar stock

verticals and 16mm x 8mm scrollwork would look

best tted with 16mm x 8mm collaring.e same gate

made from 12mm square verticals and 12mm x 6mm

scrolls could use 12mm x 6mm stock.

Collaring , like many other facets of forging, requires

frequent practice to achieve consistant results and can

be frustrating on your rst attempts. But, stick with it,

as there is no better feeling than closing up a collarand quench shrinking it aroung the ironwork to

achieve a vice like grip.


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Page 10

How To............. COLLARS

e mandrel is made up to the measurements of the

pro

le or cross section to be collared.In this example, that would be a length of 16mm

square stock with a piece of 16mm x 8mm stock each

side. Cut the side stock at least three times the width

of the collar material. is will give you a bit of room

to move as the collar may travel a bit while shaping the

corners.

'V' grind the stock and weld together. Aer weldingthe pieces together, grind the faces back to original

size and put a slight chamfer or draught angle about

1/3rd of the distance from the end, on all sides, to

allow the collar to slide oeasily aer forming.

Once you have the jig and mandrel made you can cut

and mark out the collar. e formula for working out

the collar length is the length of all sides and twice the

collar thickness.

In this example: 32+16+32+16+16=112mm.

I mark the centre and bottom inside bends with a

light chisel mark.

Take a heat on the collar to bright orange, place on

the jig block , line up the mandrel and strike the

mandrel to force the collar into the jig.

Once the edges are 90 degrees you can nish othe

forging on the anvil. Take another heat on the collar

and then hammer over the sides to close up the collar.

At this point, the corners need to be formed. is is

achieved by striking the collar close to the corners

and rotating the mandrel around and working the

corners as you go. Care must be taken to keep the

hammer blows to the bare minimum to prevent

drawing out the stock too much.

It may take a few heats to achieve, but eventually you

will end up with nice sharp corners. Any side bulges

can be adjusted by using a atter.

Refer to the picture below to see the workow.

Once the collar has been formed, it is a matter of

taking a heat and using a pair of reversing tongs to

open the collar up wide enough to t around the

ironwork.

Aer one more heat, and working swily, place the

collar around the ironwork and close the collar up

with suitable tongs and adjust the closure using a

hammer and dolly block. As the collar cools, it will

shrink around the ironwork and provide a secure

fastening of the elements.


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WORKSHOP REVIEW

Making Tongs !"#$!%&'"!()*+&,Our rst workshop demonstration hosted by Geo

Barnes was very well attended and highly informative.

Ten members undertook the mornings event.I have seen a few tong making demo's before, but none

of them matched the standard set by Geo.

With the temperture in the 40's, I envisaged the

members sweltering away and losing concentration,

but everyone was riveted to the spot (pardon the pun)

with Geos thorough explainations and clear tuition.

Geomade up a set of light weight at nose tongs

using the powerhammer on one half and re welding

reins on the other side. Each step of the process was

clearly explained, with the pit falls and common

mistakes pointed out. At the end of the day, I'm sure

everyone would have had a clear grasp of the methods

required to produce their own tongs at home.

In the coming weeks, we may be able to persuade

Geoto demonstrate the forging of other types of

tongs. is will be of great help to those of us starting

out beginning our own collections of specialised tongs.

e most important point that was born out of thedemonstration, was the need to plan and have a shape

and purpose in mind of the type of tong and the shape

required before putting hammer to metal. Geoused a

piece of 16mm square to make a lightweight set and

described the sizes of stock required to make the next

size up for holding the larger stock.

Geobegan his demonstration by heating one end and

then placing an inch of steel over the front edge of the

anvil and reduced it down to half its original thickness,striking the stock in line with the anvils edge.

e next step was to take a heat, turn the piece 90

degrees to his le, and then place the piece on a slight

angle on the far edge of the anvil with the previous

drawn out section over hanging. Again, striking over

the edge of the anvil, reduce the stock to one half its

thickness.

e nal move for the rough out shape, was to again

turn the piece a quarter of a turn le and place on the

far edge of the anvil perpendicular to the anvil and

draw down the stock behind the boss.

Aer drawing down behind the boss, Geo, with

Adam as striker, hot cut about an inch and a half

down the piece in preparation for welding on the rein.e other half was a replication except the reins were

drawn down under the power hammer. Using a piece

of 10mm round, Geoupset and scarfed the end. He

then forge welded the rein onto the rst piece, then

riveting followed by setting the tongs in the vice with a

piece of stock in the jaws.

Of course, this all sounds easy to describe, but pictures

say a thousand words. For this reason, we have two

DVDs of the session, taken from dierent perspectives,

available to members.

Following the demonstration, we retired beneath the

Wisteria for a few drinks and a chat. We would like to

thank Geoand Helena for their hosting of the event

and the excellent demonstration by Geoand Adam.

e second position for forming the boss.

Hopefully, we can plan a few more demonstrations

with Geoand organise to have a series of small

workshops at various members forges in the New Year.

Once again, Angaston forge would be a good location

to have some of the more experienced members

demonstrate and teach some of the basics of

blacksmithing.

Page 11


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The Birth of 'Blacksmith Doris'by Kirstie Stewart

e idea for a womens only day of blacksmithingemerged during an enthusiastic chat over a glass of

wine at Mt. Martha on the occasion of the 20thanniversary celebrations of the Australian Blacksmiths

Association of Victoria.e name Blacksmith Doriswas a result of recycling the lettering on the sign for the

20th anniversary to use for the womens day, and wasunanimously approved by the executive committee.

We owe many thanks to Mary and Nick Hackett for theorganisation of the day, and to Brendan Hackett for theuse of his studio.anks also to Doug Tarrant, Paul

Mills and Steve Nicol for their time and patience on the

day.

Saturday 21st of November saw ve men and twenty

one women and girls gathered around forges and

anvils at Blueprint Sculpture in West Melbourne. e

men were there to demonstrate and instruct, the

women had come to try their hands at blacksmithing,

many of them for the rst time. It had been a stinking

hot week and we were concerned that it might be

another hot and uncomfortable day, but the weather

god was kind and the day turned out to be overcast

with the temperature in the low twenties. Perfect for

smithin!e gantry was pulled out from the studio, a

tarp slung over it for shade and the forges set up

underneath it. Doug began with a demonstration of

making a rats tail a good place to start for a group of

mostlyrst-timers, but pretty soon we were all

attempting to make spoons aer Mary asked Paul to

show us this technique.

Nick was keen for us to try the spring hammer (Uber

Doris) which was huge fun, and allowed us to make

huge spoons! Spoons kept most of us occupied for the

rest of the day, but those interested were able to try

making and forge-welding chain links under Pauls

instruction.

It was a great group. Not many of us had anyexperience with blacksmithing, but everyone there

was interested in the cra and quite a few of us were

jewellers and silversmiths, and so were used to

working with metal. We shared a delicious lunch,

made many wonky spoons and a few good ones, and

found time between heats to get to know each other.

For some it was a once-oexperience, for others the

beginning of learning another cra. For all of us

though, it was denitely an experience well worthhaving and Im looking forward to the next Doris day.

Page 12


13/13

Useful Sites and Suppliers

http://www.metalartistforum.com/

All styles of metalcraft information

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/

All styles of Blacksmith information

http://www.artmetal.com/index.php

Social networking for the metal arts

http://bawa.webkroll.com/

Blacksmiths Association Western Australia

Australian Blacksmiths Association Victoria

http://www.abavic.org.au/

http://www.baba.org.uk/

British Artist Blacksmiths Association

http://www.abana.org/Artist Blacksmiths Association of America Inc

Blacksmiths Associations

Blacksmiths Information and Forums

http://www.artistblacksmith.com/

David Robertson (Ontario Artist Blacksmith)

Blacksmiths Supplies

Stirling Fuel SuppliesMount Barker Rd Cnr Gould Rd, STIRLING, SA 5152

Phone: (08) 83392021

Metalcorp Steel285 Grand Junction Road OTTOWAY SA 5013

Phone: (08) 8301 3777Email: [email protected]

Southern Steel Supplies

69- 71 O'Sullivan Beach Rd LONSDALE SA 5160Phone: 1300 302 993

Horse Shoes 'R' Us9 Alabar Crs GLOBE DERBY PARK SA 5110

Phone: (08) 8281 0689

Fantech Pty Ltd17A Seaforth Avenue SOMERTON PARK SA 5044

Phone:(08) 83770502

EBM Blowers17/ 2 Portrush Rd PAYNEHAM SA 5070

Phone: (08) 88363544

If you have any contacts and web sites you

would like to have included, contact the

Secretary.

Page 13

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/search?searchTerm=blacksmith&search=search

Discount Blacksmith books in UK with Free postage

HOT OFF THE PRESSAllan Ball, up at the Village Blacksmith, in QLD, hasrecently had a sale of equipment, surplus torequirements, and has posted a list of equipment.

As of today, 9th December 2009, he still has acollection of gear ready for sale. Have a look at thislink if your interested in any anvils, post vices ortongs.

http://www.villagesmith.com.au/html/ItemsForSale091209.htm

The Bellows Issue02

Documents

Transcript of The Bellows Issue02