The Forge
When planks are riveted together on a ship, the rivets have to be so hot that they are "red hot" and for this a forge is used.
Vagn Randrup, a ship's carpenter says;
" When I was an apprentice in 1941 - 1945, the forge was operated by hand. Under the furnace there was a double blower that was operated by a handle that went up and down, so that the blower was lifted up and an iron weight pressed it down again. This gave air to the furnace, which was filled with coal and an iron plate with holes in it, which fitted the size of the rivets used. There were 12- 16 holes according to the size.
The forge also had to be positioned, so that the smoke could escape. Later the blower was replaced with an air tube so it was no longer necessary to pump.
During the war, there was not much oil, so once again it was necessary to rivet with hammers. This took two men who hit double with a special hammer with a very thin handle.
Previously, a man named, Abildgaard was employed to make these thin handles and he now had to be re-employed to make them once again.
I have seen Hans Hjort and his partner try to rivet this way but the shortage of oil was not so serious that this method needed to be adopted permanently".
When planks are riveted together on a ship, the rivets have to be so hot that they are "red hot" and for this a forge is used.
Vagn Randrup, a ship's carpenter says;
" When I was an apprentice in 1941 - 1945, the forge was operated by hand. Under the furnace there was a double blower that was operated by a handle that went up and down, so that the blower was lifted up and an iron weight pressed it down again. This gave air to the furnace, which was filled with coal and an iron plate with holes in it, which fitted the size of the rivets used. There were 12- 16 holes according to the size.
The forge also had to be positioned, so that the smoke could escape. Later the blower was replaced with an air tube so it was no longer necessary to pump.
During the war, there was not much oil, so once again it was necessary to rivet with hammers. This took two men who hit double with a special hammer with a very thin handle.
Previously, a man named, Abildgaard was employed to make these thin handles and he now had to be re-employed to make them once again.
I have seen Hans Hjort and his partner try to rivet this way but the shortage of oil was not so serious that this method needed to be adopted permanently".
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related links
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