Heavy Metal

A new semester, a new module and a new obsession with angle iron the bigger it is the better. So after the somewhat hurried last module because of my indecisive nature I have decided that this module should run smoothly and without mishap. So back to sculpture and much larger pieces of work. I hope to be able to carry on the path of understanding the difference between hand size objects and body sized objects. It is also my last semester, my last making module and the last time my work will be critiqued in an educational scenario potentially.






So I would like this to be the best module, semester and end of year show that it can possibly be. I am already finding that there is one thing that I do not lack and that his ambition. I took a trip to Dyfed steel stockholders the other day to have a look at their angle iron supplies and what a lot of angle iron they have. The stock that I had gone to see in particular was 200x200x20mm and at a grand total of about £800 for 12m I want to make sure what it will become will work before I order it. If I go ahead with this project I cannot afford to make any mistakes as material costs mean that everything must be in place before working on it. There are also a lot of questions that need answering before undertaking these projects one being how to deal with the weight of such large stock; it weighs about 90 kg per metre.





I hope to make some really structural and architectural pieces that demonstrate both my ability as a designer and maker. I hope the pieces I make appeal to a wide range of people both attracting interest from artists and architects alike. These pieces should demonstrate a wide range of ideas starting with how we use forged metal, the benefits and abilities of using steel and most of all they should highlight how we use forging in the 21st-century. The goal is to create one large sculpture that uses forged and fabricated techniques together to create an object of great strength and beauty. I also hope to make a slightly smaller piece that is both functional and has an element of sculpture whilst embodying everything I have stated a bout. This second piece will be a set of railings to hopefully replace one that is in the new Queens building at the College Road campus Hereford College of arts.

Got a Light

I making some real progress now with the lamps and I have two almost ready to be wired up and fit lights and the third is in kit form. As I make the lights I’m finding that there are quite a few options to make many different types of lamps and wall fittings. At this current rate I could have made 5 pieces if it wasn’t for the time I wasted messing around with the locks and boxes.

So lamp 1 is almost complete and has the most options for setup it will have two variations on Shades/lamp heads and also three variations on bases or mount. On first glance it resembles an angle poise lamp but the influences come from earthmoving equipment and as I placed the cable on the arm I hope this representation will become much stronger.





Lamp number two is just about done as well and needs a few minor tweaks and the light fitting. This is more like a traditional standing lamp but it folds away and the roots of the idea exist in the design. I wanted there to be a real emphasis on simplicity whilst having a clever mechanism. And once again this is based on an access platform as opposed to some sort of equivalent desk lamp.







In order to keep a consistent theme all the lights will be LEDs and run-off 12 V systems. Most plant equipment and machinery uses low voltage circuitry somewhere between 12 and 24 V therefore my lamps should as well. I have chosen LEDs for several reasons; firstly their reliability and usability are exceptionally good, most manufacturers offer somewhere between 15 to 30,000 light hours and in comparison to energy-saving or incandescent lamps this is extremely good value for money. The 12 to 24 V means that they are very safe and the earth all the live could run through the body of the lamp. They are also low-energy users and they run around 2-6 watts whilst still producing great like quality equivalent of 10-20 watts per LED watt. The quality of the LEDs and their very modern and unique look should make the pieces feel extremely contemporary.



Throughout this project I have been conscious not to take ideas and references from actual lights and lamps. The reason is extremely conscious and I feel that making such choices has worked quite effectively. I’m able to design and produce objects that do not look and feel like lights that have been seen before. Well at least I hope and I also hope that the pieces come across like the sort of plant equipment you might find on a building site; where I take strong influences.

The forge of the future

The way we forge and many of the styles we choose to forge in our quite traditional. What is tradition and what or who influences these styles? For the most part most traditional-esque blacksmiths forge in a very pre and Victorian style, they use pre-Victorian tooling and techniques. Victorians were very influenced by elaborate and flamboyant designs with the emphasis on grandger such as in the Brock and the rococo designs. As we stumble in to the future we have to ask a couple of questions about what it means to be a blacksmith. For the most part style change with time as a matter of course and are predominantly affected by styles that predate them. The way in which we work with metals for the most part doesn’t change but it’s the tooling and the science that alter slightly this in turn can and has affected how we design and what we make.



One of the most important questions that must be addressed is the way in which we heat metal. Ultimately one of the fundamental aspects of the Industrial Revolution was the way in which we used fuel. Predominantly we use fuel much the same as we did during these times; the consequences, side-effects and overall issues that surround fossil fuels needs to be addressed. As blacksmiths the ability to heat and hit hot metal is the essence of our craft and without a heat source what will we do. One solution could be the development of induction furnaces or the use of less harmful chemical fuel based hearths.



Other aspects that the future may bring up are the types and way in which we use our material. If the forging process was understood better the benefit of forging billets stock could allow industries to lower waist material. There should be a duty of care with what materials go into work we make and whether or not they serve to be of any significance.



The introduction of more efficient and effective machinery alters the way in which we work as well. Should we all deny such techniques and machinery or is it right to embrace new technologies. One such technology which many blacksmiths use is laser cutting and other types of CNC profiling. Not only are these technologies saving use time but they reduce costs which is all ways good for small businesses. And lastly the type of work that Smith’s will incur is also likely to change as it has for centuries.

Hammer Time

Well It’s actually Power Hammer Time and how I love power hammers! Since travelling to Sweden to work with Roger Lund my views and ideas about contemporary forge work and how it affects our culture has completely changed. I went from being someone whose ideas about forging were stale and misinformed, to a true fanatic about hitting hot metal. Well hitting hot metal with power hammers that is.

We live in an era of post Victorian engineering and we are the results of the Industrial Revolution. In fact we might say our culture is by product of steel manufacture; we are who we are and we do what we do because of steel. The creators of our culture could quite easily be the men that were once called blacksmiths, who then went on to become engineers, architects and inventors. Some might even say that the downfall of the local Smithy and its inhabitants were the blacksmiths that built our future.

Forging didn’t die quite like the Smithies across the country did instead the process found a new home hidden away behind the walls and roller doors of factories up and down the country. Each year Europe produces somewhere in the region of $14 billion worth of forged components, you can find these components in everything from cars to planes, tools and almost anything else that can be made from steel. The forging process can be quick and extremely effective when it comes to manufacturing it also provides quite unique attributes and can be used to improve steel quality for application.

As demand for forged components increased during the Industrial Revolution the types of machines and tooling changed to me such demands. One such type of tooling was power hammers and they came in all shapes and sizes. The idea of a mechanical tool to take away some of the burdens of forging wasn’t new, but what was new was steam power this technical little marvel would revolutionise the way in which we forged. Power hammers became exceptionally versatile and the control that they allowed the users was astonishing. As we explored their potential ultimately their size increased.

Power Hammers have changed somewhat over the centuries and we now use pneumatic power hammers and also we have started to use hydraulic presses each one providing its own unique benefits. I have always enjoyed working with and on large powered machines and it is a pleasure to produce products using such wonderfully primitive tools in essence. Also the nature of the tooling provides some interesting quirks and with practice power hammers are exceptionally versatile.

De-railed

Just before Christmas it would seem that I was able to take control of this runaway train and I might make it safely back to the station. After putting quite a considerable amount of time into the locks and boxes I realised that they just were not going to work and in order to make them right meant going back to the drawing board. I made a decision to drop the project and start fresh and the results have been very pleasing.



I’m back working the way I love and I’m comfortable with the way I am choosing to forge. The boxes were failing on many levels and I felt that achieving a final outcome was important; I could have spent a lot of time and money trying to get the boxes to work and ultimately have nothing. Also what little forging I was doing was a result of poor design and it felt stuck on. I now have two part finished lamps and I’m now ready to begin forging the third.



The lights have been influenced by the piece I made for John and the desire to create elegant and interesting forge work that shows the use of contemporary forging techniques. I am concentrating a lot of my efforts on the production of all my stock, fixings, fastenings and where possible electronics. As prototypes go I’m very satisfied with the two lights as far. Also my productivity is up and I’m no longer messing around with plastic maquettes and trying to find cheap prices for water/laser cut components.

The Key to the Lock

So if you have read any of my blog entries to date you will know my views on blacksmiths and current ideas about what blacksmiths are in today’s culture. So this post might sound a little hypocritical but this is a topic that has interested me for quite some time now. I am looking at boxes and locks; I hope to be able to produce my own lockable boxes buy the end of the module. The making of locks was once the job of the local smith and this covered everything from door locks to safes all though the very early locks didn’t offer what more modern locks do. For the most part the lock offered a delay to help prevent the entry of the unwanted and not much more. These early locks are called warded locks and where more like obstacles before the latch could be opened. To open the latch the obstacles or wards had to be navigated and all this really took was time a blank key and a good set of files to cut the bare bones of the key. This is where the term skeleton key comes from filing a blank key to its bare bones.



At the start of the 1500’s lock making became a very specific job and the title of locksmith became a more common term. With Spanish smiths producing some of the finest locks in the world to coincide with their nation’s massive gold movement around the world which was greater than any other nation at the time. For the most part keeping good safe on ships created the demand for better locks. The safety of goods even extended to the crew of the ships moving these expensive goods around; pay and other possessions where often locked away on the ships safe box called the Armada box. These large wooden trunks quite often started out with single point warded locks and then became very intricate multi point locks that needed several keys to open them. The mechanisms of the safe boxes were often very beautiful and complex. But the complexities and beauty of the boxes, trunks and safes that contained gold and other expensive items could also kill you. Smith’s often rigged locks they could dismember fingers, limbs or even shoot you.





Then the mortise type lock was invented and has become very popular; this type of lock is often found in action today in are homes and places of work. This lock provides a level of security that only a well-trained person can overcome or for the simple minded the only way to gain access would be the complete destruction of the lock and all its bolts. We now have very complex and clever locks that have become the work of science fiction. They use computers and know when they are being picked and some become safer as they are picked. To be able to make a good lock today means one must be as clever and devise as the Spanish locksmiths that used brutal techniques in the past.

I'm Back

Hello all, sorry that I haven’t been around much I took my eye of the ball a little; it’s been a long summer but I’m back. I have lots to tell you guys and loads to show you too. I’ve just started my 3rd year and I’m flat out with projects, essays and business plans. I’m going to try and post as much as possible and at some point in the not too far future I hope to have a web site up and running.

So the summer was nuts and to say I didn’t do much was an understatement. Some of the high lights were the royal welsh show in which I won the live event for students. I also installed the Fresh Air sculpture which I sold to the site owners; so it is now a permanent piece at Quenington. I also finished and installed the light which looks great.

Thanks to everyone how helped last year and I hope I can make this year as good.

Willow in the water






Fade