Tube Forging | Blacksmith Show and Tell | Forum

Needing to make some legs for a small iron and wood bench I opted to do the bases of the legs with forged 3''x 3/8'' heavy wall tube to save on weight which was a requirement of my client. 3'' solid wound have been no problem for the 250# hammer but that powerful stroke isn't especially helpful when forging tube so the 50k was used. The lighter faster blows get the job done faster with less chance of deforming the piece and the tubing needs to be coaxed rather than forged if you get my drift.....Parallelogram deformation must be dealt with often and easy does it.
I wanted the legs 3'' at the bottom tapering down to 1 1/4'' where they will be trimed back to 1 1/2'' then they will be joined with 1 1/2'' solid and continue tapering up to form arm rests and join with the back......Something to think about if you have a small hammer and want to make it appear you can forge bigger stuff. Unlike solid stock, the heavier the wall of the tube the easier it is to forge.....Gentle curves only....