Skender Iron

Good little forge welding project!
Had some tourist watch me forge and stick this all together and they couldn’t believe an electric welder wasn’t needed .
Even when we do demonstrations to the public it’s the forge welding that seems to get the crowd interested.
I have to say that to heat two pieces of steel so hot that they stick together and join as one ,still gives me the biggest buzz at the forge!

Replica 14th Century pole axe .Forged this piece as close as I could possibly get to the original.
Forged from very old wrought iron with carbon steel cutting edge and hammer.All forge welded together.
Feel very lucky to get commissions like this.

Reflecting back to 2003.
Was a sculpture I made to go into an art competition in our local area. Funny enough though the focus was on the joinery ( being forge welding) not the sculpture itself.Putting 4 years of training from my mentor Malcolm Paine to prove to him I was actually taking note . This piece stood 2 meters tall and had 34 forge welds and one mortise and tenon to join the base to top branches .

Swinford medieval chest finally all strapped and nailed up.Timber chest American oak.Really enjoyed this project .Sad to see it go. Would look good in the workshop. @ Skender Iron

Progress on the Swinford chest going well. Nailing vertical hinges and straps. Forge welded the hinge overlap a little longer than I normally would to get some strength in them to hold the lid of this beautifully made chest by @ Skender Iron

250 +hand forged nails for fixing iron strapping and hinges. The Swinford chest.

I’ve been busy for last couple of months on the ironwork for the swinford chest. Forge welded and riveted locking shackle .

Pots put into stands very carefully by 5 men. These are 250 years old and the customer would not have been happy if there was damage.Fun to make but a huge sigh of relief to have them safely in place . @ Dunsborough, Western Australia