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W.H.Tildesley Ltd, established in 1874, is one of the oldest drop forging companies remaining in the United Kingdom.
Specialist materials | Complex forging shapes | Small batches a speciality
Please visit their website: www.whtildesley.com/
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My name is Alec Steele and I am a 24 year old blacksmith. We make videos about making interesting things, learning about craft and appreciating the joy of creativity. Great to have you here following along!
If you want to get into blacksmithing or knifemaking, check out our Montana based online store where we stock a range of great metalworking equipment for these crafts as well as our work-wear line and other products: alecsteeleco.com/
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Alec Steele Blacksmith 2022
Alec, Jamie, thank you for visiting us and giving us the opportunity to showcase our drop forging capability. Please keep doing what you're doing because it not only educates but inspires the next generation to get involved in our industry. ❤
And the tip of the head to The foundry for allowing them to videotape thank you very much
Absolutely amazing video, Amazing process, Excellent video quality, content and video editing. Great job Keep it up Army
@WHTildesleyForging Alec and Jamie are great, but it's your talented craftsmen that make your forge worth visiting! The combination of old and new school techniques and technology are really a sight to behold. In this day and age of CNC milling and part manufacturing, there's just something so satisfying to my soul about the idea of "just whack it with a giant hammer!" Good on ya, Gents!
You guys are awesome. I have huge respect for everyone working on that floor after watching this!
Hear hear!
What people don’t realise is the machines are normal sized, it’s just Alec that’s shrunk.
How else would he get so much detail into his work?
It's not even that he's shrunk, he's always been 3' tall, he's said it in the past. His shops are just built real small so he looks normal size with a little forced perspective with the camera
I mean, he is currently building just a regular lamp, and he looks tiny next to it
Believe it or not, the average height of the British worker gnomes at the factory is a staggering 4ft tall. But that being said, they tower over Alec
Would love to see more of this type of British industry Alec. I know your own work is epic, but to see major industrial companies in Britain such as this would be awesome.
⬆ what he said ⬆ This kind of look into a mostly unknown world is epic and Alecs obvious enthusiasm for the subject only makes it better.
Exactly what I think too.
I’m a Greek from OZ, but….. what they said! 😉
Me as well. We've (the West: I'm an American) shipped so much of our industrial work to the far east, it represents a huge capability and knowledge/skills gap. It gladdens me to see this kind of high tech, skilled production in the Western world, and even more so to see the work being done by some young Western faces.
He needs to go to the Midlands, a company like Ricor or Mettis that have been there for 100 years, both have presses and hammers multiple story's tall you can hear and feel on a quiet day over a mile away
For those who don't see the metal 'getting hotter'. Cameras work differently than our eyes. The metal itself stays (roughly) the same orange color, but look at the surroundings. The background gets darker and darker as the camera adjusts for how bright the main target is. That's how you can get an idea of just how much hotter that thing got.
Also I just want anyone reading this to imagine this scenario for a second If you've ever worked in a trade where you deal with metal or even just done a simple home project then you've likely come across a nail or a screw that was not able to be extracted in a timely manner, so you've just grabbed it with pliers and bent it until it snapped off. Ever felt the end of that screw or nail afterwards? Yeah buddy, it's a little bit warm. Now imagine a literal TON of pressure on a bigger chunk of metal. Yes, it was hot to begin with but all that pressure and force on the metal rearranging the crystal structure and (to a finer degree) atomic structure is going to produce a ton (pun intended) of extra heat. It's the same thing that happens with Silly Putty or any sort of soft malleable two part epoxy like JB Weld Steelstik. It's not just a chemical reaction or the friction from your hands making it hot, it's the material compressing on itself that is generating heat. Friction isn't just on the outside, it's also on the inside.
Old school way of lighting the forge, grab a cold bit of iron and hammer it into a point....it's now hot enough to light paper and then your forge.
Passion ! Passion everywhere 🤩
Glad you enjoyed your day Alec , I normally work the furnace and clear space on the Banning 4000 on the day you came I was bar stamping on the 1.1 MASSY , my Dad worked here in the 70s in the tool room . I have been in drop forging almost 40 years and still learn something new from time to time . I have watched a few of your videos over the past 3 years or so , If I had known it was you I would have come over to say hello . I have the apron you wore pity you didn't sign it lol.
I'm super impressed with your audio. You always have great audio, but it must have been really tough in that facility. Very well done.
Agreed, Alec is clear and easy to understand in what must be a very challenging environment.
and not only audio, but yes, it is the one thing most often underestimated in importance and difficulty.
I remember asking for it when you first announced that you would be doing this 'industry tour' series, but it would be amazing to see you tour the John Taylor's Bell Foundry in Loughborough. Making musical instruments from hundreds, if not thousands of pounds of steel would probably be a great thing to show off to your viewers!
Better get to them soon, as they're undergoing 'financial difficulties' atm. After Whitechapel Foundry closed down, they're the only functioning bell foundry left in the country.
@@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589 They are currently doing restoration work, so I assumed they were over their troubles
Wow this one is weird to me. Alec got me into blacksmithing 10 years ago. I quit school to become a blacksmith back then. The only way possible for me to learn it was an apprenticeship at one of the biggest drop forging companies in the world, working with a 35.000 t spindlepress for example. Today I work in a smaller workshop, making art. This dude sent me on the wildest journey of my life, and yet he doesen't know. Strange to see him at a place like the one my journey began at.
FANTASTIC...!!!
One thing I always enjoy when it comes to machinist, they are the ones NOT afraid of adapting to new technologies. CNC being a thing? Install it, it's amazing! 3D printing? Can we afford it? Then yes, buy it and make things. They move alongside new development, which sort of fits as they are the ones making the new technology sometimes. While there is the "This machine is 78 years old and it works like new" mentality, they aren't afraid of going "But you know what would make it better? Turning it into a CNC machine"
What's crazy is that all of those massive dies are usually fancy tool steels, like A2. A big 'ol block of tool steel is $$$ plus the time and care to machine a high grade alloy like that. Just insane seeing all those stacked up
1.2714..... I doubt many people are using A2 for hammers :)
@@robbaker6386uh they ment for the dies?
Yeah if anyone wonders why a low-volume product seems to cost a fortune, way more than it should given the materials involved, check out what goes into tool and die manufacturing. Having tooling created for something as simple as injection moulding can cost a huge amount. I imagine the dies used for this kind of forging would eye watering
There's probably tens of millions, if not a hundred, in just dies alone. He said something along the lines of ten thousand dies?! That's INSANE.
I machined a lot of A2 for Ready Bender Saddles and S7 for rockers. They bent everything from washing machines, Square D boxes, to Mack trailers. A2 makes lovely purpleish blue chips.
It's fabulous to see a British Industry still going strong. I honestly thought we'd lost this type of work to overseas competitors. A huge thank you to WH Tildesley Ltd for allowing their superb complex to be filmed.
Sheffield and Rotherham still has dozens and dozens of steel mills and foundrys. Not as many as the hay days of Sheffield steel but there are plenty still.
This is by far one of the most interesting videos you’ve done that involves people outside of your shop
Love the showcasing of UK based engineering, we are constantly being reminded in the media of outsourced (often Chinese) manufacturing, so it’s an absolute pleasure to see passionate British heavy engineering still thriving
That's one of the things I love about Great Britain and the rest of Europe is how much history they have. It's crazy to think that this place has been around for so long in the same location with multiple generations working at perfecting their craft. Absolutely incredible, I wish we had this sort of stuff over in Canada
Thanks for this, Alec. Hearing the midlands accent. Looking at all that equipment, and hearing about multi-generational workers there. Made me a bit emotional. I can imagine my dad in places like that, back in the days just after WWII. No computers, of course. But these were, as it were, his people. Thanks again.
I work at a steel foundry in the US. We make primarily liners for mining companies, liners being the pieces of metal that line their rock crushers and crush the rocks down. Our ladle holds 30,000lbs or 13,600kg of molten metal, and a single part can be as big as like 12,000lbs or 5,440kg. I’m specifically trained in on melter, which is the person in charge of melting the metal and adding all the correct metals to form an alloy, and I’m trained in on by far the hottest position, which is pouring the metal. In order to pour it, I stand next to the ladle, which is now 45,000lbs, or 20,400kg, and I have to direct the crane operator and spin a wheel to tilt the entire thing to line up the nozzle with the mold, then I pull a lever to allow the metal to flow in. Every single part has specific pouring instructions. I could keep going into detail about the specifics of the job, but long story short it’s pretty cool, but also it’s so easy to get burned. It’s so hard on the body. I really like the job but I don’t wanna be there too long because it’s so hard on the body. (I’m trained on more positions but those are the cool ones).
Always enjoy these industrial shop visits. Alec does a great job of presenting and Jamie's camera work is solid as always.
Man I love these videos, so cool to see real manufacturing explained by real people - not from huge corporations or filtered through nine layers of marketing and PR approval but people who genuinely seem to have a passion for this kind of thing
I’ve been following you a very long time Alec and I can say for certain that I have never seen you happier than you are in this video. Thanks for sharing your experience. It made me smile too.
I work in a drop dye forge! Moline forge Illinois, we’ve made parts for both world wars and John Deere tractor, we made ALOT of forged part for tanks and artillery guns. The United States largest amoury is in rock island a town over. The area is locally known as the quad cities It’s cool seeing how people do the same job, you can tell where someone went a totally different way on certain areas but it’s exactly the same in others, like the machine shop for the dyes and him using vice grips for changing designating part codes are the thing that came to mind first But here in our shop all our hammer are above 5 tons and the biggest is 10. They more 10 feet in the ground on giant springs so the don’t tear the building apart. Our oldest hammers are buried and set on rail road the and gravel and you can hear those for a mile or over if you know what you are listening for. Also seeing them use stock bars cut to shorter lengths as they go is genius. We have stud welders that weld every stud. Though we don’t do too many small parts that we could use that technique. Those furnaces are nice as well. We use big fuel oil furnaces and sliding doors with just air blow up so you don’t get a face full of fire
Titanium is like working Al7007 aircraft billet. It’s so easy to turn $10k worth of sheet billet into crap if you don’t do everything right. Absolutely BRILLIANT VIDEO Alex! This kind of generational business is the future of manufacturing. If we keep shipping off our work to people we don’t know and who has no responsibility to identify with our personal desire for perfection…we are going to lose manufacturing as a foundational necessity for our national security AND our national pride of workmanship. What happens when these people who have 45 years on the job retires? I don’t see this new generation stepping up…but…surprise me!
Hiring new workers is going to be the biggest problem for industry. About 4 years ago I went to a machine shop auction in Portland, OR. The reason that they were shutting their doors wasn’t because of a lack of work. It was because they couldn’t find any skilled machinists to operate the machinery after they had a large number of their long term machinists retire within a short period of time. As much as everyone talks about bring manufacturing back to the United States, it’s not going to happen because right now there isn’t enough skilled labor in this country to fill the existing job openings. Much less any future openings.
I dont know if it was the footage, or the editing, or what... but the first contact from the drop hammer had such a punch i felt it. I was not prepared for how powerfult that felt on video, can't imagine what its like to operate.
It was ferocious.
Comment from my dad, a retired metallurgist pushing 80: The high rate of deformation achieved almost makes the metal become 'superplastic' (as in explosive forming) by, in effect, using strain rate sensitivity to extreme. If you do a normal stress/strain test on a sample you will get the yield strength. Now increase the rate at which you apply the load, faster and faster! You will see, in some alloys, the effective yield strength falls as the strain rate increases to high levels. If you go fast enough (explosive forming e.g.) the yield strength virtually disappears and the metal deforms like a plastic. Helps if it is pre-heated and you might even see it get even hotter just from the high rate of deformation during the forming. It works really well deep drawing aluminium like for cans. Drawback? Lots! Tricky to get right for 'fancy alloys', really expensive dies (special steels, highly polished and tricky to repair) ..... Some metallurgical problems - e.g. can get 'grain growth' if conditions not right (usually too hot and/or held at temp for too long..."
That was incredible to have seen. Thanks to the W.H Tildesley Team for letting us into their shop to witness the work they do! I love these video Alec and Jamie
A pleasure having Alec with us and sharing with the community ❤
No matter what the subject is, when people get nerdy about their particular niche it's always a fun thing to watch!
Anyone else want a Curiosity Stream or Nebula series that just Alex traveling to different industrial metal working plants around the world? 😃
What a cool shop. I love how you showed how the technology works together with skilled and experienced workers. You can see that it not only takes engineers to work with software and other tech but also skilled tradesmen who have real experience working with different materials in order to make the best product.
Remember kids: this is why labor unions are important.
My home town of Willenhall where I grew up a new many people who worked there over the years. I could hear the power hammers and drop forages from my parents house on Rose Hill. Thanks Alec, and Willenhall also has a long history of supplying locks to the world 🌍
Brilliant, great to see this happening in GB. Beautiful machines, beautiful metal, beautiful product.
Thanks to WH Tildesley and Alec for showing us this *amazing* work.
now THAT is a production shop. love it
Alec Steele, the new Fred Dibnah! I love Alec's enthusiasm and I can only imagine that it's very heartening for these professional fellas to see someone so young really happy to see and take part in the work they do. Awesome stuff :D
You're having a laugh, aren't you?
I used to work for a firm that had a 7 ton drop hammer that needed a robotic arm to maneuver the billets as they were that heavy. I will never forget the feeling in my body the first time that 7ton hammer dropped. It was such an extreme boom
And I was just thinking this morning what ever became of that titanium anvil you and Will made in Montana? Can you complete your hope to perform some remote, rustic forging in the UK?
Love to know how deep the the foundations are on the forging hammers. Also I must add that in my view that this is real and proper man's work!
Nice to see we still have some heavy industry left in the uk
Something that's always amazed me this kind of process is the strength and endurance these guys must have. Swinging that much steel around all day has to be a tough job physically.
I love how happy alec looked in this video he genuinly had an amazing time😂❤
You could just see how happy those guys were a younger fella was so excited about the work they do. Alec Steele being an ambassador to the rest of youtube on the ways of moving hot metal.
Props for showing the world how cool it is to MAKE things! There are countless industries like this where the only people alive who know how to do these things are retiring or dying without having anyone to pass their knowledge to. We need a generation of apprentices to learn this stuff before it’s gone!
As a proud Black Country man working in the steel forging industry just down the road from Tildesley in Tipton. I think it’s great that Alec is showcasing this sort of stuff that is often overlooked 💪 Bostin ❤
My father apprenticed in the steel mills in that area--Bradley and Fosters in Darlaston is one that I remember. He went on to become an industrial metallurgist at a company in Plymouth (where I was born). We moved to Canada in 1967.
What is being referred to here as "Institutional Knowledge" was called way back in my day as "art", ie; "the art of". And the good men who work day-to-day with said art were referred to as Artisans. Your video perfectly defines the meaning of art and artisans in our world today. I don't care how many scholarly degrees one may have under their belt, you couldn't go to work on this type of hammer mill without extensive training under a master artisan just to acquire the necessary art. Thanks for the peek into the world of artisanship.
The thing I appreciate the most from Alec's channel is his pure unadulterated passion for all things metallurgy.
It’s great to see such craftsmanship alive and well in 🇬🇧
Alec's becoming quite the ambassador for Britain showcasing some impressive skills and machinery. Great insights into how this stuff is made that us normies would never know how. Thanks.
For all the computers and micro forming and 3D printing, sometimes you still just need to smosh it with big 'ommer. Amazing to see the traditional skills of the black country continuing through the generations and I hope enough young kids see this to get interested in engineering and "metal bashing" 😍😍
I know this was 4 Months ago, but WOW. What an amazing experience. And the sheer amount of years of experience in that building, and the vast history behind what they do there is just so beautiful and outstanding.
I love how excited you got. Literally like a little child. Love the passion and enthusiasm. Thank you.
Incredibly interesting and entertaining! I had no idea that heavy forging wasn't somehow fully automated by now. I was heartened to see real men doing real work with heavy machinery. Keep up the good work, Alec!
These guys forged parts for a product I used to be in charge of, very hush hush so can't elucidate. We had some early failures, but they helped us determine why the parts were failing and modified the process to eliminate the problem.
I love it that you take the time to show us some incredible history of forging , and all these wonderful pieces you share with us all . Thank you 🙏
I vote Jamie for filmology of the year and Alec as the best, most excitable presenter of the year. The two of you are just the best and who would ever think what you do is for KZhead and not mainstream television.
I love factory tours, thank you so much for this amazing footage! Watching skilled craftsmen apply their trade is wonderful.
I love seeing these behind the scenes of these amazing machines, people and processes that make things! Please keeping doing this types of videos. Using your knowledge and connections to share this with us!
This shop is legendary! Thanks for the field trip Alec.
The enthusiasm, passion and sheer LOVE for the machinary here you express, honestly fills my heart. That being said I NEED to visit this place. I could just stand and watch all day. Amazing history there.
I really enjoy your videos that look into how certain businesses work. It's easier to think of how a single craftsman works (glass blower, blacksmith, artist, etc), but it's really hard to know how businesses work in those spaces at scale. Plus it shines a light on local blue collar workers which is always nice.
I love Alec's passion for all things forging! He gets so excited it's brilliant!
i was wondering what machine made that finish inside the die, and thats a dude with 45 years of metalwork experience, that crazy
you know you treat your employees well when they decide to spend their entire worklife at the same company... it makes me glad and jealous at once... lucky sods:D
I absolutely love seeing this kind of thing, honest working men displaying their under appreciated talents.
Your enthusiasm for your chosen craft is both commendable and absolutely infectious! I see the wonder and amazement in your face throughout the video. Bravo! Keep it up.
that kind of inter-generational knowledge is priceless
That is absolutely amazing! I'm excited as you are! Thank you for sharing.
Don't think I've ever seen you look so happy before, love the passion.
Alec, Glad to see you had a blast. I also see the beauty of engineering in this science of hitting something really hard. It's highly upsetting to the metal, but it is awesome isn't it. I fully support you branching into the realm of "How its made".
Iron worker later with his son, watching this ultra cool montage. Kid says he wants to learn to do it too. Dad starts him off making a little cup out of a penny with a wee anvil and hammer ❤
The excite meant you have for this is incredible, love the passion your have for such a dieing skill/art. Love watching stuff like this and when I’ve had the chance to go on site and see this kind of stuff I go for it
That was something special, Great to see these men using this type of machinery.
The family that’s dedicated 3 generations to that business automatically deserve a seat at the big boy table/ shares in the company in my opinion.
The thing that clips the piece out of the forget 'mess' makes it look like it's so soft, crazy!
I'm always impressed by your ability to capture great audio in the noisiest environments possible.
Alec, you sir produce some amazing videos, so entertaining, enjoyable, informative and educational, I threw my TV in a skip at the beginning of 2023 as the main stream media was eating me away and quite honestly depressing me, I now choose what I want to view and when, got myself a chromecast tv and a projector, I just have a few apps now where I choose my own entertainment, that's how I happened upon your channel, I can't get enough of your videois and a few others, I really don't watch anything else apart from forging, history, conspiracy documentaries and films of my choosing, keep up the good work, you have made this 57 year old ex British soldier a very happy man, and I can't thank you enough.
Now I know why so many of my tools have those wide lines on either side. They are drop forged, and that's what it looks like when the extra material is sheared off of something drop forged. I always assumed those tools had been case, but drop forging makes a lot more sense.
Must be nice for the masters of their craft to see Alex's eyes light up with with genuine reactions. I reckon it gives them hope that the younger generation might just carry on the tradition. Awesome!
I love that the titaanium forgers showed you an iterative improvement process. this is what they did to improve their job on a day to day and it's a neat pitch. cool stuff.
I really love seeing these shops. Thanks for taking us on the journey guys 🙏
Amazing video, so great ot see all these industries that are all still working in the background of our modern society that never get seen.
What an absolutely priceless experience. Thank you for sharing this ❤❤❤
Great British Engineering. Nothing better!! Best in the world!!
What a bloody great video. Informative and enjoyable because of your proper love for it. Also class to see that sort of work still on in Great Britain
This was awesome to watch. Loved learning all the details and seeing all the awesome machinery.
Loved this video. Seeing the people and tools that make such great thing is inspiring
SO EPIC. Smiled the whole way through. Thank you so much for sharing. I love it
If anyone is interested; we have a Massey 15 ton for sale - stored in Belgium!
Something about the term Drop-Forging, even though I've seen exactly what it is, is just the coolest term to think about and imagine. I honestly don't care what it actually is drop-forging will always be the coolest damn thing to exist in my head
This has got to be one of the best and most interesting videos I think I’ve ever watched. Absolutely fascinating from start to finish, i would love to be able to do a job like that
Fantastic!!! Love the support and well deserved recognition for the Tradesmen, those who make the world.
Love the enthusiasm you brought to this! And I bet they did too!
Awesome video showing these processes, loved it mate!
One of my favourite of yours, thanks for showing them off
Such a fascinating tour of your drop forging process! Your incredible expertise and state-of-the-art machinery are a marvel to witness. I'm curious as to what particular alloys you typically work with most frequently and how the choice of alloy impacts the forging process. Looking forward to learning more about this. Keep up the great work!
Alec this is the kind of content I like from your channel. I think a lot people will agree. Good job. Cheers J
Great video Alec and Jamie, this has been my favourite factory tour video... so far
I love that you have started to take an educational spin with your channel. Really capturing some of your enjoyment for metalwork on camera and it's inspiring.
Great video. Alec was truly chuffed, and I’m sure that all of the guys were tickled by his reactions.
I'm insomniac and am now watching a cool dude drop-forge titanium at 0346am. I love KZhead.