Forge

As a blacksmith is called a blacksmith 's workshop, are changed into the malleable metals by cold or hot forming in shape, microstructure and surface.

The classic craftsmanship forged

The classic artisan blacksmith, as they used to be found in almost every village, has now virtually disappeared. If the village had no own forge ( in Anger villages like on the village green next to the village pond, because of the danger of fire), the ironwork of a kind of forerunner of the Feldschmiede were done by by -trotting race forging. The most important item of equipment was the forge in the smithy inflamed coal ( bituminous coal, a high quality stone coal) for heating the workpiece by means of a bellows at maximum temperatures of about 1250 ° C was taken. In some newer forging the forge was operated with coke. Above the fireplace is the chimney, which serves as a deduction for smoke and sparks.

For the shaping of the workpiece are in the forge numerous tools available that were made by the blacksmith himself, in part. Here, the anvil has a central importance. Other tools are:

• Pliers
• Forging hammer
• Sledgehammer
• Air hammer
• Monkey
• Spring Monkeys
• Tail hammer
• Dies
• Richtplatte
• Vice
• Upsetting and perforated plates
• Ring Horn
• Spaltkeile
• Façoneisen

Changes in properties (microstructure, hardness, toughness) in workpieces made ​​of steel are performed after forging in oil, in water less frequently, by quenching in the appropriate hardening basin and subsequent annealing. Here, the so-called annealing colors are visible on previously bare ground areas, against which an experienced blacksmith estimates the tempering temperature. This may be an indication of the achieved hardness and toughness.

The workpiece surface can be sized with sizing or hammers are designed with structured dies.

The modern artisan blacksmith

The modern craftsmanship smithy is now often referred to as ironwork for metal shaping or as farriers. It is functionally similar to the traditional forge. The Esse is today often a propane -powered fire with volcanic stone as a heat store. In contrast, there are, however, still ironwork, which operate in a conventional manner with air blower and forge coal, because of the costly operation of a gas forge with the smaller "fun" goes hand in hand in forging.

In -powered forge charcoal meal it can, as in gas food be a slight carburization of the workpiece during heating to high temperatures. But that is not the point why the workpieces, have lasted for many decades, even without protective coatings and show virtually no corrosion.

In many medieval metalwork hammer - experience is still clearly visible. This will consist of but not relatively corrosion-prone steel, but from the sponge iron ( puddle ) gained almost pure iron ( soft iron ) or from the end of the 18th century, from wrought iron. To this end, the finished works were burned by the blacksmith to his forge with linseed oil, creating a long lasting corrosion protection could be achieved, which is partially superior to today's protective coatings themselves.

The term " puddling " describes the process of manual " out stirring " of carbon and slag from the white-hot - liquid in the furnace, but increasingly doughy by the cooling nascent iron by air was brought into the melt. Due to the manual process, there is no completely homogeneous material, but wrought iron still contains slag shares that may show up later in the processing in a Strähnigkeit and stringers of the material.

A mechanically operated air hammer reduces the amount of physical ironwork. Classic hand forging techniques such as forge welding ( the up end of the 19th century only possible welding process ), columns, or punching of the workpiece are now often performed with electrical devices such as welding equipment or cutting, - but still come just in relation to the design of the workpiece or the strength to use.

The Feldschmiede

The mobile form of forging is the portable forge. It is a small chimney on a moving or portable stand, a small anvil and a few selected tools. The portable forge is used for instance in equestrian events when the presence of a farrier is mandatory.

The large industrial forging

In a large industrial forging or drop forging the workpieces in Großöfen, now mostly inductive or gas fired, heated and reshaped with a hydraulically or pneumatically driven hammers or with mechanical or hydraulic presses. The transport of workpieces in the forge shop can be done for very large workpieces with cranes, usually via conveyor belts.

Precursor of industrial forging at the beginning of industrialization were the hammer works, located on watercourses, water power used to power drop hammers.

The machining of large pieces in open die forging is usually done by shaping the workpiece in several heating steps ( " from several overheating " ), because a single heating is not sufficient for the complete change in shape. Thereafter, the forged parts can be compensated, for example, that is to say a heat treatment in order to achieve the desired mechanical properties with respect to hardness, strength and toughness.

Large forgings can weigh several hundred tons, such as turbine or generator shafts and reactor vessels for plants or even crankshafts for ships.

Others

The Legend Pythagoras told in the forge, such as the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos is said to have been found when visiting a blacksmith using the different pitches of the hammers, the theoretical basis of the music.