Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Making a Bolt for the Door

There is always something interesting underway at the Fields' Blacksmith Shop. About 2 months ago the museum carpenter visited the blacksmith shop. Three hundred nails were needed to build two new hay loft doors for the 1790 Morey Barn. I made the nails and then went on to other projects. A month later he returned to have 4 pintle and gudgeon strap hinges made. You may have read my previous post about making them. As they neared completion he reminded me that he needs 20 square headed bolts, square nuts, and hand cut washers to mount the hinges. Another project!

Bolts are forged hot from a bar of iron or steel. These are made from 1/4 inch round bar. Each bolt is made from 4 inches of bar, and will be 3 inches long after the head is forged from the bar. The threads are cut onto the bolt when it is cold using a threading die.
Nuts are made by punching holes in a bar of steel. Then the sections are cut off the bar. Finally they are threaded using a tap.
Here is a Blacksmithing joke:
How do you know that a dog belongs to a blacksmith?
When you startle him he makes a bolt for the door!
Ha! Bolt for the door. Priceless!

2 comments:

  1. more dog jokes please!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoy reading this blog, i must to say that i liked very much all the good new ideas introduced here. Simply catched my attention. I usually like to know about everything and i am fan of the good blogs.That is why i prefered to read this one. excelent.
    _______________
    buy viagra, the result is amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete

Blog Widget by LinkWithin