by J.M. Drew St. Paul Publishing Company
1918
Machine made chains are so cheap that no farm blacksmith can
afford to make his own, but he will often be called upon to mend
chains and supply missing or broken hooks and rings. To make a
link, take a piece of 3/8 inch rod, heat about three inches from
the end, and bend so as to form the letter "U" (Fig. 8). Now cut
off on the hardy, so that both legs of the 'U’ shall 'be of the same
length (about three inches). Then holding the bent part with a
pair of chain tongs, heat the two ends and scarf, (flatten), the
inside corner of the left one. Now turn over and scarf the
corresponding corner of the other leg. In doing this scarfing, do
not flatten the whole end, as this would make the end of the link
too thin. Simply flatten the inside corners a little. Next, bend the
two legs so that the flattened or scarfed places shall come
together and the ends cross each other at right angles. You are
now ready to make your first weld. When iron is at welding heat
it is perfectly white and the surface is in a melted condition. It.
presents the appearance of wet ice or snow,-exactly like a hard
hands. To get the end of the link to the required heat,
hold it in the center of the fire, (there should be burning
coke both above and below it), and turn it over every
few seconds to make sure of heating both sides alike. If
it were held still in the fire the bottom side would burn
before the top got hot enough to weld. When you have it
at the right heat place it quickly upon the anvil and strike
first on one side and then on the other. Do not strike a
single blow after the iron gets below a welding heat, as
that would only make the iron thinner without doing the
weld any good. Finish off the weld over the horn of the
anvil. Try to make the welded part round and the same
size as the balance of the link. Your link will now be too
wide at one end. To shape it properly hold as at d in Fig.
8, and strike in the place shown by the arrow. Beginners
often make the mistake of holding the link flat on its side
when trying to shape it. The result is always something
like the shape shown at f. The correct shape is shown at
6. After a little practice one should be able to make a link
The greatest difficulty with most beginners consists in getting the iron to a welding; heat without burning. The great
majority try to weld before the iron is hot enough. The only safe way is to watch carefully and take the iron from the
fire the moment the surface begins to flow and look wet. If you wait until the sparks begin to fly, the iron will be
burning. With large irons no harm will be done if a few sparks are seen; but with small irons, and especially with mild
steel, this is just beyond the danger line.