Before you're ready to use this bad boy for metal working, however, there's a bit of work to be done first. The wedge needs to be rebated (a fancy word for "sanded/ground down smooth") with a file or a grinder. You need to have all of the edges rounded so that they don't cut or mark up the metal you're going to hit. This isn't hard work, it's just boring. Fortunately, I was already mostly done.
Getting back to the hinge -- Since I was going to be hammering it I decided to anneal the brass again. Back out to the balcony, back into the quench pot, then back inside.
I threw the hinge (with pin inside! Don't forget that part!) onto my "anvil" and started tapping it gently. You're not trying to hit a home run here, not much force is needed. I started off aiming about halfway between the hinge axis and the plier-folding line. I did this for both sides.
After a bit of that, I was ready to tilt the hinge up and start aiming much closer to the hinge pin. This is the final stage of closing the barrel. Again - light taps, both sides.
On one plate, I realized I had shaped the barrel a little bit too closely... the pin didn't want to come out! This was fixed by some gentle taps against the edge of the hinge tube to open it back up slightly.
Here is what one plate looked like after I was finished hammering. Not bad for my first time, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment