Just inside the shop was this setup, an area used for local technical college classes. Lucky SOB's.
Our tour guide, a blacksmith apprentice, describing the use of a large set of tongs.
A couple of tools in the shop. I saw a number of large radial arm drills around the workshops, with this one being on the smaller side. The CNC plasma/torch cutter is obviously a recent addition. A new challenge, we were told, for the older guys who've never used a computer.
A demonstration of a welding technique for which I can't recall the name. The two pieces to be joined carry the current. Whatever it is called, two large diameter pieces of steel were joined in no time and with a whole lot of sparks.
Some shop art.
A video showing the re-tipping of a pick axe.
I want one of these! This video shows the forming of a piece of hexagon bar with a steam hammer. A small job for this hammer for sure. Even so, the ground shook on every hit.
Drop forging. Unfortunately we didn't get a demo of this one. The drop hammers are located in the background. The steel blank our guide is holding is heated and then forged by the drop hammer. The result has a fin around the edges which is removed by the large de-finning machine seen front and left. In the second picture you can see a a completed spike hammer and the fin which was removed from it.
One thing that caught my attention was the large number of cast iron bench legs located around the workshops. Probably a nice side effect of having a pattern shop and foundry on site. The legs are very heavily built and seem quite decadent for the little bench grinder in the second photo.
Back to Index