BAM FEATURES -- MARCH APRIL 1995
Forging a Damascus Gun Barrel
Editor's Note: Most BAM members will remember Gena as the world's
greatest Ozark Conference blower cranker. Don't think we ever got a
chance to publicly thank you, Gena.


by Gena Briggs

Bill and I had the unique opportunity and pleasure helping Leroy (Guy)
McConnell forge weld a Damascus blackpowder pistol barrel.
	Guy intends to forge a totally handmade Kentucky style flintlock
pistol. The handgun will not be classified as a reproduction because
its hardware will be Damascus and because Guy is making it left-handed.
The pistol will be smooth bored.
	Guy has been making fine Damascus knives for 12 years now and
participated as a master artist for the 1992-93 Traditional Arts
Apprenticeship Program sponsored by the University of
Missouri-Columbia. Bill is apprenticing privately this winter and
spring with Guy.
	Guy started by welding a 640 layered billet of 5160 and 1018 that was
9 inches by 2 3/4 inches by 3/8 inch and invited us over Saturday, Feb.
4 to help him weld the billet into a barrel.
	Bill worked the billet and Guy alternated between a 6-pound sledge
and a hand hammer. They started by rolling the billet with a fuller,
starting in the center and using a curved bottom swage on the anvil.
Guy used a barrel mandrel that he and Bill made earlier to keep the
cylinder from collapsing while Guy welded the seam.
	He then used a top swage to draw out and true up the shape of the
barrel. Each inch of barrel took 3 welding heats. After six hours of
smithing Guy and Bill had a 9 inch welded barrel. Guy said that two
people can accomplish the job but three would have been better. He said
a striker would have helped immensely.
	By Tuesday night, Bill's "class," Guy had the flats hammered and
ground true. He now has the barrel drilled out to a .42 calibre and the
breech plug built. Guy will proof it (test fire for weak welds) before
he starts building the rest of the parts. Guy has welded another
Damascus billet of 5160 and 1018 that he will make into his trigger
guard, lock plate, side plate, hammer, ramrod thimbles and nosecap.
	Guy will also forge and file the screws and lock. The Kentucky style
pistol will have a tiger maple stock and Guy will finish building a
custom display case out of burl oak that will house the hand gun, ball
mold, flint-knapping tools and a handmade screwdriver.
	Guy and Bill are beginning to discuss making a blackpowder rifle
barrel, but Guy smiles and is quick to say it won't be Damascus. Guy
McConnell's address is 22997 Fox Road, LaPlata, MO 63549.


Forge some Chain
by Jim McCarty

There once was a time when you could earn your living forging chain. It
wasn't a good living, however, and it tended to be done by women and
children for slave wages on a per piece basis.
	To earn any money you had to be two things: good and fast.
	Any good chain maker in the old days could turn out a link in two
heats. Here's how they did it, or at least the way I learned it from
Jerry Darnell at the J.C. Campbell Folk School last summer. We made
chain from 1/4 inch round and twisted each link when it was put
together.
	The chain was used to hang the chandelier we forged as part of the
class.
	Back to the how to:
	Before you try this you will need a pair of tongs designed to firmly
grasp round stock of the size you will use by the middle. See
Illustration at right for such a device.
	If you were doing this for a living you would put all of your chain
stock in the area of the fire with each piece a little bit closer to
the heat. That way when you finish a link the next one is close to the
proper heat when you are ready.
Heat #1:
Lay the stock in the fire so that the entire length gets hot. Grab it
dead center and head for the horn of the anvil. (Did I mention you need
an anvil with a horn that comes to a nice round point?)
	Brace the bottom of the stock against the side of the horn that is
away from you and pull towards you while hitting the top of the stock
away from you. This may seem awkward at first but you will catch on
after a hundred or so. You are trying to create the shape shown in Fig.
1, so if you can find a better way to do this go for it.
	Moving quickly, go to the face of the anvil to scarf the ends for the
weld. Jerry did this with the pein end of his hammer. I find it easier
to do it as in Fig. 2. The key here is to remember to flip the stock
over so that you scarf opposite sides.
	That done, go back to the horn and bend the ends over the horn,
keeping the scarfs in alignment. Tap them nearly closed, dip it in flux
and go back to the fire.
	If you are really good you did this in one heat, have another piece
of stock ready to go while that one comes up to welding heat.
	Let's pretend you got all that done in one heat and move on to heat
two.
Heat #2
The link comes out of the fire with flux dripping and the end to be
welded a nice white color. Go to the anvil face, strike the weld
lightly but accurately, flip it over, strike this side, give it a quick
look to ensure the weld is good and then go to the horn to true it up
(Fig. 5).
	Your welded area will be square in shape, so you will need to work
it round over the horn. When you have the look right, flip it around
and round up the other side.
	Your link will be more round than oval so with the last of the heat
lay it flat on the anvil and with a couple of hits shape it.
	Then throw it on the floor and move to the next one. When you have
two links formed it is time to join them into a group of three. To do
this you go through the same procedure but remember to put the two
links on as in Fig. 4 before closing the weld. Keep one on each side of
the tongs. It helps a lot if you make a hook out of 1/4 inch round to
hold back the two links you are joining. This will keep them out of the
way when you weld.
	Make two groups of three, join them to form seven, make a group of
seven, etc. Each time you are dragging more links to the fire until you
have a chain! Give it a try, it's easier than it looks and good
practice too.


Forged Flowers
by Bob Alexander

Since my beginning with BAM a short while ago I've had many helpful
stepping stones to lead me on my path of learning blacksmithing. One of
these steps was a week at the John C. Campbell Folk School. With the
help of a BAM Scholarship and saving my flea market sales money the
trip became a reality.
	The drive to Brasstown, N.C. was planned around a farm auction and
many flea market stops along the way. Beginning on a Saturday morning I
made it to the school in time for registration on Sunday. The season
was spring and the country was beautiful. After registration and a trip
to the campground to claim my spot, I went to the blacksmith shop to
get familiar with my home for the next week.
	Clay Spencer was our instructor for our class on making flowers in
metal. There was a total of 10 eager students, who all helped Clay
unload his truck-load of treadle hammer tools. I've never seen so many
gadgets.
	The work week began on Monday morning with Clay showing us the
different techniques for making a tulip as this is what most of us
chose to start with. Tom Brophy, a student from Key Largo, Florida,
chose a more ambitious project - a 7-foot-tall sunflower.
	With a little thinking Clay came up with some special tooling
techniques to form the seeds on the sunflower head and Tom was off to a
great start. The rest of the class went about their business of making
tulips, irises, dogwoods and magnolias.
	Two young smiths from Clay's chapter in Alabama, David Thompson and
Allan Kress, camped and cooked with their families which gave them the
opportunity to work from daylight to dark. I've never seen such
devotion to learning. I did my best to keep up but did stop
occasionally to take in some of the school's music sessions, bluegrass
and folk music at its best.
	Tuesday morning was a change of pace as this was the day the local
flea markets were all open. They had to make me quit working and go
(not) to the flea market where I found a nice hammer and a pair of
tongs for $20. Wednesday afternoon came with a special treat as it
seems that Clay's wife Jackie had brought more strawberry shortcake and
whipped cream than she could eat, so the entire class was invited to
help her finish it off.
	Each student had their own forge, vice and access to grinders,
welders and any hand tools that one would need. The only bottle neck
was the single treadle hammer which had to be shared. On Friday, as we
were finishing our projects, Clay gave us a nice demo on hammering out
an apple from a piece of 2 inch diameter black pipe (amazing results.)
	Friday evening after supper the entire school displayed their
projects for the week in the Keith House. The blacksmith shop had quite
a showing. What a great atmosphere for learning! I left North Carolina
on Friday evening with the intention of getting a start on my journey
home but ended up at the parking lot of the Pevely, Mo. flea market at
4:15 a.m. (first in line to get in).
	What a nice trip!

Here's how to forge the tulip the way Bob learned at the Folk School:

Tulip flower
1. Draw pattern on sheet metal.
2. Drill 3/8 inch hole in corners.
3. Cut out the petals - use a jigsaw, Beverly sheers, cold chisel, etc.
4. Pein all edges to a thin taper.
5. Put veins in petals.
6. Form flower around ball pein head or steel form.
7. Drill 1/4 inch hole in bottom for the stem.

Tulip leaves
1. Cut 2 inches x 1/8 x 8 inch flat
A. To save some hammering take a 20 inch piece and cut in the middle on
a 45 degree angle.
2. Next heat and draw pointed end to center the point on the leaf.
3. Heat and draw the base of the leaf to 3/4 inch wide.
4. Heat and draw the entire leaf to maximum width and thin the edges.
5. Heat and then using v-blocks crease the leaf in the center.
6. Last heat and bend the leaf to the desired shape.

Flower stem
1. Cut 1/4 inch round approximately 10 inches long.
2. Take three #6 box nails and grind two flat sides on the heads.
3. Using a torch weld the three nails to the end of the 1/4 inch rod.
4. For assembly of the flower insert the stem into the smaller end of
the petals and weld on the underside - repeat with the other petal.

A weekend at Sid's
(Little Giant Rebuilding Seminar)
by David Hoopes

On March 3-5, Bill White and I went to Little Giant Automotive in
Nebraska City for a 3 day work shop on power hammer rebuilding.  The
work shop was run by Fred Caylor and Sid Suedemeier.  The cost was $85,
and there where about 30 students in the class.
	The trip was worth it just for the chance to poke through the back
rooms at the shop.  Sid has a lot of the patterns from the original
manufacture of the Little Giant hammers.  He also has every size and
shape of power hammer that you could imagine. 
	We arrived a few minutes late on Friday morning.  Fred was just
starting to explain the procedures for rebuilding an old style Little
Giant  25-pound hammer.  The basic goal of rebuilding is to remove as
much of the slack in the mechanism as possible, so that as soon as you
put pressure down on the treadle the hammer head starts to move.
	Friday afternoon we started tearing down the hammer that the class
was going to rebuild.  This was a hands on work shop, and everyone got
to jump in and do some of the work.  By the time we had finished the
base casting was completely stripped.  Before we stopped for dinner, we
poured the babbitt bearing on the inside of the fly wheel.  Sid has a
nice jig to hold the fly wheel in place and provides the core up
through the housing so that there is enough babbit for machining to the
correct size of the shaft. 
	After dinner we went back to the shop and fired up Sid's forge, and
did some work on Sid's hammers. I got to use one of the  25 pound
hammers that Sid had fitted with the air powered brake. The added
control was a nice feature.  We also got a chance to visit with our
class mates.  They had come from all over.  Something like 15 different
states were represented.  Some had come from as far away as California
and Wyoming. 
	Saturday morning, we poured the babbitt bearing for the shaft.  After
we worked the shaft in, we started the reassembly process.  There where
plenty of helping hands and to work went very fast.  By late afternoon
the hammer had been completely rebuilt.  It didn't shake, rattle and
clack when it was run.
	After dinner, Sid went over the differences in rebuilding one of the
newer model hammers.  They take a lot more machining work then the old
style hammers, and the adjustments are a lot more difficult to get just
right. 
	Sunday morning we got to help load a couple of hammers, and learned
a lot about how to transport one.  Then we made a few purchases from
Sid (He has all kinds of parts for the little giant hammers), and then
headed for home.  
	This was a great class.  I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun in the
process.  I would highly recommend attending one of these work shops if
you own or hope to own a power hammer.  Even if your hammer is not a
Little Giant hammer, you will learn a lot that you can apply to it.
	Apologies to anyone who tried to come to the hammer-in on March 5. 
We where in Nebraska City.