Material. Mild steel, 8 mm in diameter, 250 mm long.
Additional tools. Hot set or hot chisel; 8-mm bottom swage.
METHOD
Mark off 65 mm from one end and lightly centre-punch this position. Take a bright red heat over a length of about 90 mm, cool in water from the end to within about 10 mm of the mark and quickly bend over the edge of the anvil to a right angle. Position in the swage with the cooled end uppermost (Fig. 53). Quick light blows on this vertical end will give a neat right-angle bend in the correct position. If reheating is needed, the end must be cooled as before. If the mark is not in the correct place, a heat may be taken and the opposite end cooled to within a short distance of the mark and that end hammered to drive the corner into the swage.
The short end is now heated to a bright red heat and bending is started (Fig. 54). Get the end of the metal bent first and gently form the eye over the beak but completing the bending as shown in Fig. 55. Gently adjust with light hammer blows until the eye is nicely rounded and lies flat when placed on the anvil face. Mark off about 12 mm from the unbent end and cut halfway through the metal at this point using a hot chisel or hot set. Bend this short end back upon itself (Fig. 52B).
Now we can try our first forge weld. The end bent back upon itself is carefully heated in a clean fire to welding heat. This temperature is judged by the appearance of the metal: it will be a brilliant white with a shiny sweat-like surface and perhaps a few sparks will be given off. Quickly remove from the fire, position on the anvil (Fig. 56) and with quick light blows hammer the end as shown and at the angle shown. After the first few blows the pieces will be welded into a homogeneous body and the point can be completed as in Job 1 while carefully preserving the barb.
Next, mark off 80 mm from the pointed end. Heat this position to a bright red heat and begin bending, as shown in Fig. 57. Note the use of the ball-peen hammer. Complete bending over the beak and make any adjustments so that the whole job lies flat on the anvil face. This job can be used with two staples (Job 3) as a gate fastening.
