| Group Members | Time (of day) | Number/instance metal was taken out of fire for hitting with hammer and additional notes | total time taken to make nail per group member |
| Parker (1st) | 2:15 pm–> 2:17 pm–> 2:19 pm–> 2:21 pm–> 2:22 pm–> 2:24 pm–> 2:27 pm–> 2:29 pm–> 2:33 pm–> 2:36 pm–> 2:38 pm–> 2:40 pm–> 2:41 pm–> 2:43 pm–> 2:45 pm–> 2:46 pm–> 2:47 pm–> 2:48 pm–> 2:49 pm–> 2:50 pm–> 2:51 pm–> 2:52 pm–> 2:53 pm–> 2:54 pm–> 2:55 pm–> 2:58 pm–> 3:03 pm–> 3:30 pm–> 3:32 pm–> | 2:15: metal spike is hot enough and taken out for first hit 2:17: taken out again for 2nd hit 2:19: taken out for 3rd hit (Shoulder not prominent yet) 2:21: 4th time taken out for hitting – cooled fast- probably not hot enough 2:22: 5th time taken out (still in progress) (Adjusted depth of spoke because location might’ve been too deep down so metal was oxidizing) 2:24: 6th time taken out (color didn’t last long, more red than orange w orange being the goal) Readjusted arrangement of wood and coals 2:27: 7th time (getting more orange glow on metal now- more formation happening) 2:29: 8th time (same as above) (Still no shoulder made tho because he’s sliding the spike around, not maintained same place on anvil) 2:33: 9th time taking out 2:36: 10th time taking out- told to move closer to give more force 2:38: 11th time taking out- still shifting the spike up and down a little so not clear shoulder 2:40: 12 time- still missing clear shoulder 2:41: 13th time taking out- some progress !! 2:43: 14th time taking out 2:45: 15th time taking out- a little more of a shoulder prominent 2:46: 16th time taking out- getting hotter faster as we more consistently add wood and coal 2:47: 17th time- got a beautiful glowing orange color 2:48: 18th time taken out 2:49: 19th time- got too hot the shoulder was burned off a little so had to re start sort of, instead of moving on to rounding out 2:50: 20th time taken out 2:51: 21st time taken out (still reworking shoulder) 2:52: 22nd time taken out 2:53: 23rd time taken out- starting to round 2:54: 24th time taken out- tried to cut but got too cold 2:55: taken out 25th time- almost fully cut 2:58: taken out 26th time and broken off and nailed partially into hole but got too cold so we are trying to put separated nail in fire to heat it more so that we can fully hit it into hole mold but hard to get it hot enough w out leaving it in the fire and also getting too close to the hot fire 3:03: ending experimentation w first nail as demonstration for next part begins 3:30: nail almost fully nailed through hole 3:32: nail stuck and trying to be taken out of hole mold 3:35: nail complete | 1 hour 17 minutes |
| Ella (2nd) | 3:27 pm–> 3:31 pm–> 3:35 pm–> 3:37 pm–> 3:38 pm–> 3:39 pm–> 3:41 pm–> 3:42 pm–> 3:43 pm–> 3:44 pm–> 3:45 pm–> 3:46 pm–> 3:48 pm–> 3:49 pm–> 3:51 pm–> 3:52 pm–> 3:53 pm–> 3:54 pm–> 3:55 pm–> 3:56 pm–> 3:57 pm–> 3:58 pm–> 4:10 pm–> 4:11 pm–> | 3:27: 1st time she takes her metal out to start hitting 3:31: 2nd time taken out and shoulder starting to be made 3:35: 3rd time taking out- had to wait longer and slow down oxygen feeding process because anvil was being shared to finish up the last nail too- constraint over now 3:37: 4th time taking out for continuing to develop shoulder and square shape 3:38: 5th time taking out- too much oxygen fed so too hot and shoulder melted off 3:39: 6th time taken out- shoulder being recreated 3:41: 7th time taken out 3:42: 8th time taken out 3:43: 9th time taken out: good shoulder trying to get thinner- too big currently 3:44: 10th time taken out- still thinning out 3:45: 11th time taken out 3:46: 12th time taken out 3:48: 13th time taken out- losing some heat as we’re rotating less 3:49: 14th time taken out- top thin enough but base needs to be thinner 3:51: 15th time taken out 3:52: 16th time taken out- thinning and rounding 3:53: 17th time taken out for more rounding 3:54: 18th time taken out and just about done- almost perfectly fits in hole mold 3:55: 19th time taken out 3:56: 20th time taken out to start cutting process 3:57: more cutting attempts – 21st time 3:58: 22nd time- nail officially split and made 4:10: getting nailed fully through hole mold to create the lip/head of the nail 4:11: head/lip made and nail finished | 44 minutes |
| Jacob (3rd) | 3:52 pm–> 3:53 pm–> 3:54 pm–> 3:56 pm–> 3:57 pm–> 3:59 pm–> 4:01 pm–> 4:02 pm–> 4:03 pm–> 4:04 pm–> 4:06 pm–> 4:07 pm–> 4:08 pm–> 4:10 pm–> 4:11 pm–> 4:12 pm–> 4:14 pm–> 4:17 pm–> | 3:52: first time taken out to start flattening metal 3:53: 2nd time taken out for flattening and making square 3:54: 3rd time taken out for flattening- potentially slightly too hot so it was spinning 3:56: 4th time taken out 3:57: 5th time taken out 3:59: 6th time taken out for more shaping 4:01: 7th time taken out- significant shoulder visible 4:02: 8th time taken out- still thinning out in square shape 4:03: 9th time taken out- shoulder almost looks too prominent like it could break if hit too much more but metal getting thinner 4:04: 10th time taken out- trying to round/thin all at once 4:06: 11th time taken out- still thinning 4:07: 12th time taken out 4:08: 13th time taken out – end still a little too thick 4:10: 14th time taken out 4:11: 15th time taken out 4:12: 16th time taken out – fits in header- going to try cutting after next heating 4:14: 17th time taken out and nail cut !! Gonna reheat nail now shape and create lip in hole mold 4:17: 18th time taken out and nail made but there’s an extra head so after one more hearing he’s gonna cut that off | 25 minutes |
Above, I have my group members labeled with numbers, according to the order in which they made their nails, so Ian made his first, then Ella, then John began while Ella was still making hers. There is a clear trend of increasing efficiency from Ian to Ella to John, as the time taken to make a nail went from over an hour to 45 minutes to 25 minutes. However, it is important to note that since John started making his nail while Ella was still making hers, there was some overlap between the two when it came to use of the hammer and anvil, so there was waiting on both sides, but especially Ella’s, leading to her individual time taken to make her nail being longer.
We overall were not able to get consistent heat readings, but we did have struggle at times with finding the right balance of oxygen flow, so that we were feeding the fire enough to efficiently heat up the metal to get the orange glow that would last for about a minute, and not feeding it too little/overfeeding it so as to oxidize our metal. We had issues on both ends of the spectrum, but more often we faced issues with overheating that set back the process, because the shoulders our group members had created on their metal were getting melted, so that they had to reform them. We also found that the thinning process took a good amount of time, and that ensuring metal was still square shaped to allow successful thinning before rounding out the metal wasn’t easy. We also weren’t feeding our fire enough wood and coal consistently like we should have been doing in the beginning, and different viewpoints/lack of communication didn’t help the situation, but we became a lot more consistent with that as time went on.
Favorite Quote from Jake Morton: “90% of the craft is Blacksmith voodoo”
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