Source: http://www.appropedia.org/Blacksmithing
Punches
Punches and chisels are simple tools, but nevertheless very important to blacksmithing. Punches were formerly used instead of drills before electrical drills became available. Even today they are important for other uses. Punching can be done either hot or cold, depending on the use and material. Often a center punch is used to mark metal before heating or to provide a "guide mark" for starting a drill bit and keeping it from skipping or wandering on the metal.
Manual Center Punch |
Automatic Center Punch |
Pocket Automatic Center Punch |
Hot punching is done by holding the punch of the desired size with the pointed end against the hot metal. The punch is driven through the hot metal with a hammer leaving a perfectly round hole.
Some punches are equipped with handles for safety. The ones that do not have handles are usually about two feet long, for punching is almost always done when the metal is hot. The handles are crude, because they do not have to be shaped to hold the punch. Punch sizes range from one-fourth inch to one and one-half inches.
Roper-Whitney XX handheld punch
Floor-standing punch
Then there are punches that are what might be better classified as "punching machines". There are portable/hand-held and fixed versions, but they both use lever action and dies to make their holes. Some are meant to be handheld (but even those have optional bench mounts), and some, usually with longer handles for increased leverage, can be clamped in a vise or mounted on a pedestal stand.
Roper Whitney #8 punch
Hydraulic Ironworker
Last, and certainly not least, is a behemoth called an ironworker. Different models have different features, but most include cutting and punching.
Cold Cut Chisel
Hot Cut Chisel
Chisels
There are basically two kinds of blacksmith's chisels, the hot and the cold chisel. Cold chisels have short shanks and the hot chisels, since they are used with hot metal, have long shanks or handles like the punches. The width of chisels ranges from one-half inch to two inches.
Veining Chisel
A veining chisel is used primarily for putting veins in leaves and for starting straight lines in metal. By tapping it while rocking slightly you can lay down a channel that by advancing the chisel slightly after the initial cut you can keep a line straight. It's original use of slitting the blacksmith's veins proved impractical because of the difficulty in holding the chisel steady over a wrist laying on the anvil and picking up the hammer.
Drifts
Source: Appalacian Blacksmith's Association
Two methods of making holes in metal. Drifting is done with punches and preserves all original metal. (Start with a pointed punch and keep widening the hole.) Drilling is done with twist steel bits and removes all metal. Drifting has the additional benefit of allowing for square or polygon-shaped holes whereas drilling allows only for a round hole.
A drifted hole is preferable for all blacksmith work although the smith must compensate for the metal "running." Since all original metal is preserved with a drift, the metal moved to make the hole must "run" elsewhere.
Drifting techniques also allow for other applications such as putting an irregular shaped slot or socket in a bolt head. Thus, the bolt cannot be removed (easily) without the special shaped tool that formed the slot or socket. This is the principle behind the invention of the Philips screw in the 20th century.
Slitting Chisel and Drift
Slitting Chisel and Drift
Drifts are used in conjunction with punches and slitting chisels. The punch/chisel makes the initial hole in the metal and the drift widens and helps shape the final hole.
real since it's owners say it doesn't exist)
Coming Soon to a Shop Near You
The NRA and your tea-sucking bottom-feeding Republican state legislatures are working tirelessy to make these higher powered hole punchers available to you. As we speak, they are working on the details of how you will take one, two, three, or even all four (Government stills insists that Aurora doesn't exist) into the restaurant, recreation center, or school campus of your choice.
and ... Coming to a North Korea near South Korea
Ohio class ballistic missle submarine replacement |
B-2 Stealth Bomber (rumored to have gravitic drive i.e., anti-gravity drive) |
F-117 Stealth Fighter |
Gee Mom, look what else I've found!
- Making Punches Part 1
- Making Punches Part 2
- Making Punches Part 3
- Blacksmithing a Punch
- How to punch hole in steel using blacksmith forge
- Forging a Pass through - Blacksmithing
- Blacksmithing Splitting and Drifting (Mortise and Tennon part 1)
- Blacksmith Mortise and Tennon (part 2)
- Blacksmithing: The inlaid tenon joint
- Forging a Box Lid Using Mortise and Tenon Joinery
- How to forge a (simple) hot-punch (part 1)
- How to forge a (simple) hot-punch (part 2)
- Forging a Square Punch and Drift
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