WEBVTT - Why do tools have "drop forged" stamped on them?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from hastaff works dot com where smart happens.

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<v Speaker 1>Hi am Mars Brain with today's question, why do tools

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<v Speaker 1>have drop forge stamped on them? What is drop forging?

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<v Speaker 1>You see the words drop forge stamped on so many tools.

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<v Speaker 1>It makes you wonder what the big deal is? Why

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<v Speaker 1>do manufacturers want you to know that a tool is

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<v Speaker 1>drop forged. If you've ever seen a blacksmith beating on

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<v Speaker 1>a piece of red hot iron with a hammer, you've

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<v Speaker 1>seen the simplest type of for ing. Striking a piece

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<v Speaker 1>of hot metal with a hammer is forging, and blacksmiths

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<v Speaker 1>have been doing this for centuries. As blacksmiths experimented with

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<v Speaker 1>new techniques, they learned that complex shapes could be created

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<v Speaker 1>by hammering metal into a dye. The dye contains the

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<v Speaker 1>shape of the finished product. Modern manufacturers use either a

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<v Speaker 1>falling hammer or a powered hammer to do the hammering

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<v Speaker 1>rather than doing it by hand, and usually used dyes

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<v Speaker 1>on both sides of the piece. This is drop forging.

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<v Speaker 1>Manufacturers now use many different techniques to forge metal. Four

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<v Speaker 1>of the most common include drop forging, which is hammering

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<v Speaker 1>hot metal into dyes, press foraging. Instead of forcing hot

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<v Speaker 1>metal into a dye with a hammer blow, it's pressed

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<v Speaker 1>into the dye with hydraulic pressure, roll foraging, where the

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<v Speaker 1>hot metal is pressed between two rollers, and cold forging.

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<v Speaker 1>This is for smaller piece is and here the metal

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<v Speaker 1>can be pressed into the die without heating it ahead

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<v Speaker 1>of time. The reason why manufacturers want you to know

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<v Speaker 1>that a tool is drop forged is because this tells

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<v Speaker 1>you something about the strength and the durability of the tool.

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<v Speaker 1>The other two ways to make a tool would be

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<v Speaker 1>to cast it for molten metal or to machine it

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<v Speaker 1>that has cut material away from a larger block of metal.

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<v Speaker 1>The advantage of forging is that it improves the strength

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<v Speaker 1>of the metal by aligning and stretching the grain structure

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<v Speaker 1>inside the metal. A forge part will normally be stronger

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<v Speaker 1>than a casting or a machine piece. Do you have

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<v Speaker 1>any ideas or suggestions for this podcast. If so, please

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<v Speaker 1>send me an email at podcast at how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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