Thank you for outlining your point of view Thomas.
In respect of forge work, I have always found that the use of coke and charcoal is far more satisfying than the use of a gas forge. Welding in a gas forge is not difficult, welding in coke or charcoal is a whole other world, and by using coke or charcoal, we position ourselves very close to the smiths of the past, even if we do use electric blowers.
I have used bellows instead of an electric blower, and what I found was that the fire (it was teak charcoal) was much more easily controlled with the bellows than with the electric blower. I've used a farriers hand-blown forge also, WWI vintage, and although for a number of reasons I find it fairly difficult to use, it also gives very good fire control.
I learnt to weld when the only fuel available to the smith I learnt from was coal, this meant that I needed to coke the coal before I could consider welding. Although I have found river sand to be a good flux for iron or mild steel, I have not found it satisfactory for welds involving high carbon steel, in a coke fire anhydrous borax is a satisfactory flux, but often no flux at all is necessary, especially in a teak charcoal fire. Use of a flux is very often the base cause of weld flaw.
I do appreciate your response to my question, Thomas, and I thank you for it, but the main thrust of my curiosity was not so much the forge work, which really is pretty simple and straight forward once the basics are understood, but rather, your approach to the bench work. I am curious to know if you use similar tools and techniques to the blade smiths of olden times for the actual making of the blade, rather than the making of the forging from which the blade will emerge.
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