Jeffrey Funk
Marble Falls, TX   --  February 2003
by Scott Little and Chris Smith

On a surprisingly warm February weekend, Jeffrey Funk demonstrated his skills to a packed house of Balcones Forge members and visitors from surrounding areas (73 in all).

Simply put, Jeffrey has vast experience in blacksmithing.  He worked with the calm confidence of a old master and kept up a running commentary that was both entertaining and informative.

Jeffrey is a unique fellow.  Self-described as a "bottom-feeder" he has always found ways to use mostly-discarded materials to make useful things.  In particular he somehow managed to acquire two old wrought iron bridges which set him up with a lifetime supply (he mentioned a figure of 55,000 pounds!) of genuine wrought iron.

He describes wrought iron as "lovely under the hammer" and "friendly and almost voluptuous".

As the demonstration evolved, Jeffrey responded quickly and concisely to myriad questions from the audience.  Many valuable little tidbits of information resulted and some of them are presented herein.

Here's the project Jeffrey chose to demonstrate.  It consists of three leafed branches attached (via mortise and tenon) to a simple base made of a heavy bar (curved into the plane of the drawing for stability).  To demonstrate techniques for working with different metals, Jeffrey made one branch from bronze (silicon), one from 304L stainless steel, and the third from wrought iron.

The first step was to forge the raw material (yep, a piece of an old bridge) into shape for the base.  Jeffrey used the Sayha 110 lb power hammer in Larry Crawford's shop to make quick work of this big forging job.

After forging most of the raw bar close to final size (about 1" x 2") Jeffrey estimated how much additional stock would be required to finish the base and chopped off the excess with a handled hot cut (Larry Crawford swung the sledge hammer).  With the excess cut off, Jeffrey was able to reverse the bar under the power hammer and work the rest of the bar down to finished size quickly and efficiently.

While waiting for heats on this big bar, Jeffrey started working on the leafed branches to make use of the time.  However, for clarity, each part will be presented separately in this report.

 



After working the base bar into the desired rectangular shape, Jeffrey chiseled two decorative grooves down each side of the bar.  For this job, he used the handled hot cut and a striker (Larry).

To form the mortises in the bar for the tenons of the leafed branches, Jeffrey first used this flat-ended rectangular H13 punch to make a rectangular slot in the bar.  Jeffrey likes a blunt punch like this because it gives him a little more opportunity to steer the punch as it is entering the bar than a sharp slitting chisel would.

He lubricates the punch frequently with a slurry made of powdered graphite (available from your local John Deere dealer), water, a little alcohol , and 2 drops of liquid detergent.

Working with a striker and working from both sides of the bar, he drove this punch through the wide dimension of the bar easily in one heat.

He then drifted the narrow rectangular hole out to 1/2" diameter round using a tapered drift.  Working gradually from both sides of the bar, the drifting process took several heats...but the results are just beautiful.

After drifting all three holes, Jeffrey carefully bent the base bar into a gentle curve (not yet complete in this photo) so that it would form a stable support for the branches.

 

Each of the leafed branches consists of a central stem that ends in a tenon to attach to the base and a leaf at the other end.  After this main branch is formed, other leaves are added with a joining method appropriate to the material.

Here you can see Jeffrey starting out on the wrought iron branch.  He's forming the shoulder of the tenon using a Smithin' Magician under a treadle hammer.  The Magician was equipped with blunt butcher tools.  Jeffrey emphasized the need for blunt tools in this operation because sharp tools would form a crease that would probably develop into a harmful crack during the subsequent heating and forming operations.

After blocking out the shoulder with the Smithin' Magician, Jeffrey forged the tenon into near-final shape by hand on the anvil.   To obtain a 1/2" round tenon, he forged it to about 7/16" square and then rounded it up by hand.

To upset the base of the bar and sharpen up the tenon shoulder, Jeffrey used a vise-mounted monkey tool.  At this point the tenon is already finished and is down inside a 1/2" hole in the monkey tool.  Note the sledge hammer for those heavy blows so effective in upsetting.

Next he started necking down the bar right above the shoulder using the horn of the anvil.

At this point...before drawing the bar too thin, he inserted the tenon into its particular mortise in the base and monkeyed it one last time using the hole it would eventually be installed in.  Thus he ensures a perfect fit in the joint. 

With the desired taper started he then switched to the power hammer to draw out the rest of the branch, leaving a short thick section at the end for the endmost leaf.

To make a leaf, Jeffrey first creates a short and slightly concave point on the end of a round section.  Here he's working with 3/4" diameter SS304 barstock to make a really large leaf.

He then starts necking down the stem of the leaf by working the bar over the horn of the anvil.
The stem is worked down to about 1/4" square.

Then the leaf is flattened on the face of the anvil.  Jeffrey takes great care to hammer the leaf out so that a slight ridge is left in the center.  This ridge forms the central vein of the leaf.  It also serves as a reservoir of material. If you need more material in a particular area of the leaf it can be drawn out from the thicker central vein area.
It really takes a lot of hammering to spread the leaf into shape.  Jeffrey uses the peen end of his hammer as a fuller to move the metal in the desired direction.

This piece that Jeffrey brought with him shows the various stages in the development of a leaf.  Note the central ridge that gives the impression of a central vein.  After the leaf has attained its overall shape, the peen is used to produce a series of marks that suggest secondary veins.  Finally, the leaf is given "volume" by working it over a rounded stake.  Jeffrey likes to make one side a little convex and the other side concave.

Here's the leaf that Jeffrey made on the end of the main wrought iron branch.

He made the other leaves (some of which were made beforehand) and then proceeded to demonstrate the various attachment methods appropriate for each material.
Here you can see him torch brazing the stainless steel leaves to the main branch.  The end of each stem was ground to shape for a good fit to the main branch and the main branch was filed clean in the area of the joint.  Remaining oxide on other parts of the branch and stems serves as a resist that prevents excessive spreading of the brazing alloy.

For the stainless brazing, Jeffrey uses Harris brand Safety Sil 56, a 1200 degree silver brazing wire.  It will not patina but can be used for bronze/bronze, bronze/steel, sst/bronze  etc. It's a multi purpose silver brazing wire of relatively low viscosity.

 
Here's the finished joinery on the stainless steel branch.
The bronze was brazed with Harris brand Dyna-Flow, a very viscous alloy that will accept patinas.  Dyna-Flow tends to foam if the base material is not heated first.

The same flux is used for both the stainless brazing and the bronze brazing:  Harris brand Stay-Silv
Jeffrey produced a beautiful finish on the bronze leaves by wet sanding them with fine sandpaper.  Note how the hammer-made vein marks are highlighted.
Jeffrey employed forge welding to attach the wrought iron leaves to their stem.  He fluxed the weld with anhydrous borax after preheating the parts.  He then heated again and added a pinch of iron filings to the joint.  Then he heated to welding temperature and hammered the joint together.
Here are the finished stainless steel and bronze branches

Jeffrey was unable to complete the demo piece in the time allotted.  But Stretch bought it in the auction Saturday night so Jeffrey promised to complete it at home and ship it down to Stretch, who will surely bring it to a future Balcones Forge meeting for all to see.

During the course of his demo, Jeffrey gave out a number of interesting recipes for various purposes in smithing:

*  To accelerate the rusting of iron/steel paint on a solution of ferric nitrate made by dissolving 1 teaspoon of ferric nitrate in a pint of water.  If necessary, 1 teaspoon of hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) can be added to make this solution more agressive.

* A product called Insta-Blak SS-370 (see http://www.black-oxide.com/) will blacken stainless steel.

*  Exterior finish for bronze:  Stanchem Incralac exterior gloss clear finish – xylene base, designed to coat bronze in all climates. Can add a flattening agent to reduce gloss but this sacrifices longevity of the coating in exterior use.

*  Bronze Patina - dilute ferric nitrate.  Bronze must be very cleaned thoroughly using  soap and water with scotchbrite.  Heat lightly with torch and apply ferric nitrate solution sparingly with small brush.

*  Iron patina – after thorough cleaning brush on dilute ferric nitrate with no heat. Rinse off after desired finish is achieved, no need to neutralize.