58 MODERN BLACKSMITHING 



in between. Now remember, if your fire is :iot at 

 least five inches up from the tuyer iron, and clear, it 

 is no use to try. Hold your shovel in the fire, shank 

 down. Heat slow, use borax freely and apply it on 

 the face side of the shovel to prevent it from burning. 

 When ready, weld it over the mandrill and the shovel 

 will have the right shape. If soft center, harden like 

 a plow lay. 



DRILLING IRON 



Every smith knows how to drill, sometimes it gives 

 even an old smith trouble. The drill must be true, 

 the center to be right, if one side of the drill is wider 

 than the other or the drill not in proper shape the hole 

 will not be true. For centuries oil has been used for 

 drilling and millions of dollars have been spent in 

 vain. It is a wonder how people will learn to use the 

 wrong thing. I don't think that I have ever met a 

 man yet who did not know that oil was used in drill- 

 ing. In drilling hard steel, turpentine or kerosene is 

 used as oil will then prevent cutting entirely. Nothing 

 is better than water, but turpentine or kerosene is not 

 as bad as oil ; if you think water is too cheap use tur- 

 pentine or kerosene. I had occasion once to do a little 

 work for a man eighty years old, and when I drilled a 

 hole, used water. The old man asked if water was as 

 good as oil, and when informed that it was better, said: 

 "I used to be quite a blacksmith myself, I am now 

 eighty years old, too old to do anything, but I am not 



