2018 is a big year for Scot Forge: we are celebrating our 125th birthday and 40th anniversary as an employee-owned company. Find out what these milestones mean to us! 125 years of Scot Forge shows more than just our longevity; it’s a testimony to our people who make Scot Forge successful. Our company was built on hard work, unselfish leadership, and a few other core values which have become ingrained in each and every employee-owner. These values have been there from the very beginning, influencing the building blocks of our people, investments and innovation. Our employee owners strive to build a reputation of integrity through honesty, which serves as a solid foundation for Scot Forge. Pete (Spike) Georgeson, the ESOP founder and past owner of Scot Forge, set the company goal of honesty: operate our business with integrity to customers, employees, and vendors, and maintain the highest standards of quality available in our industry. 40 years ago, Scot Forge became 100% employee-owned through an employee stock-ownership program, making our work personal. Scot Forge values our customers’ experience, which is why our employee-owners strive to make doing business with Scot Forge as simple as possible throughout all parts of our business, from pre-to post-purchase. Internally, Scot Forge continually looks for ways to protect the interests of our employee-owners through efforts that are intended to translate into healthy retirement funds. We are passionate about putting people first so we can create the best possible experience for our customers and employees alike.

Learn more about Manufacturing and why it's so important with our info graphic. Manufacturing has more of an impact on our lives than some may realize. Scot Forge has put together the top 12 most impactful facts about Manufacturing for your informational pleasure. Click the image to be directed to the full size image that can be viewed or printed.

There are many benefits to choosing a career in Manufacturing. Check out our info graphic to learn about them. Millions of people work in Manufacturing. There are many benefits to this career field. Scot Forge has put together this infographic to highlight a few of them. Click the image to be directed to the full size image that can be viewed or printed.

Ellwood Group Inc. and Scot Forge are expanding the capabilities of North American Forgemasters (NAF) in New Castle, PA, marking the second chapter in the 50-50 joint venture partnership between the two companies. NAF was established by the two partners in 1997 when together they built a 4,500 ton open die forging press. Ellwood Group Inc. and Scot Forge are expanding the capabilities of North American Forgemasters (NAF) in New Castle, PA, marking the second chapter in the 50-50 joint venture partnership between the two companies. NAF was established by the two partners in 1997 when together they built a 4,500 ton open die forging press. The thirty year relationship continues to grow and, building on the success of the 1997 joint venture, the partners are investing over $80 million to add a state-of-the-art open die press facility at its New Castle location to meet their customers’ needs for larger forgings. Danieli Breda has been contracted to build a 90 MN (10,100 ton) press for NAF. This press will have the greatest tonnage, the greatest daylight, the largest opening, and be the fastest acting large open die press in North America. It will be serviced by both a 200 ton rail bound and 100 ton mobile manipulator; each the largest in North America, as well as three additional forging furnaces. Installation of the new press will take place alongside the NAF facility which is adjacent to the primary material supplier, Ellwood Quality Steels. The new facility which will also have a 190 ton overhead crane, has been designed to process ingots up to 165 tons. With the installation of this press, NAF will provide its customers with a stand-alone operation, quality system, and dedicated sales team. The target markets will include subsea oil and gas, power generation, including the evolving nuclear small modular reactor market. The new facility will be complete and the press will be assembled in the 4th quarter of 2014, and production will start in Q1 2015.

At Scot Forge, we wish you the hap-hap-happiest Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Click Play Below to Enjoy the Show! Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... Clark and Eddie helping decorate the Forge. It's the gift that keeps on giving throughout the entire year. At Scot Forge, we wish you the hap-hap-happiest Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Scroll down to see the full Scot Forge Cast and Crew Mele Kalikimaka was performed and provided by Michael Masci .

Scot Forge commences work on the addition of a new office building at its Spring Grove, IL location. With the new building construction underway, excitement is palpable among the employee-owners at Scot Forge. Scot Forge commences work on the addition of a new office building at its Spring Grove, IL location. Building for the Future With the new building construction underway, excitement is palpable among the employee-owners at Scot Forge. Although construction began on June 14, 2014 and the project is well on its way, there is still a long road ahead as completing the approx. 40,000 square foot addition has already proven to be a challenging, yet exciting, task. Scot Forge has taken upwards of a year and half to complete all the planning and design, due in large part to the active contributions from many employee-owners. Although a seemingly long period of time, Scott LaRose, Project Engineer with the company, is ecstatic about this new undertaking. When asked what he is most excited about, LaRose answered, “That we’re doing it the right way.” Michelle Riedel, office manager, described that initial steps in the design process included the introduction of a 6S system (Safety, Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain) into the office. This system has created a more safe and organized office environment—two aspects that continue to impact the design and layout of the new building. Pre-planning also included a visit to the current office by an Ohio State Professor, who specializes in ergonomics, to provide feedback for improvements. The professor observed office employees throughout the day and then made suggestions about chairs, monitor placement and other aspects of a cubicle layout. Keeping his recommendations in mind, employee-owners have contributed to almost every aspect of what their future office will look like. They have voted on things like work station design, colors, chairs, desks and more. Not only will the appearance of the office be significantly improved, so will its functionality. With the addition of more conference rooms and several collaboration spaces, the new building will allow for better communication across all departments from the sales offices to the shop floors. Although the main conference rooms for customer visits will be located near the front lobby, as to make them more accessible, all conference rooms will be conducive for hosting visitors! So while the main reason for constructing this new building is to create a welcoming, functional space that will allow for better collaboration between both Scot Forge and its customers, the addition is also important for “improving the lives of people who work here.” Additionally, Scot Forge is leaving room to grow by constructing a third floor that is to be left vacant except for an IT server room. Michelle Riedel goes on to explain that the Scot Forge plaid will not be lost. It will be incorporated through things like flooring tile layout, conference room names, and accent pieces throughout the office. The office will predominately consist of warm, neutral tones, infused with modern pieces—like the forging that will serve as a table in the main lobby. You may ask, “What about the bright Buchanan plaid couches?” Don’t worry…there is a place for those as well! “We’re a state of the art forge facility; it’ll be nice to have a face that actually reflects that.” – Scott LaRose Overall, Riedel is beyond excited for the completion of the project. She says, “I can’t wait to bring this beautiful space to life for our employee-owners that work so hard every day. They truly deserve it.” When IS the completion date? LaRose was hesitant in sharing an exact date, stating it is dependent on weather conditions, but has targeted the end of the first quarter 2015. LaRose went on to say that his biggest motivator for this project is: “…the belief that [constructing] this office is phase one of bringing in the shop offices, and making them more accessible. In the end this not only gives us that front façade that reflects the type of company we are, but also gives us opportunities to be more of a collaborative force—not only inter office but with the shop departments as well.” He refers to this “collaborative force” as phase two and is certain that once the office is built and phase two is completed, that’s when Scot Forge will start to see a return on its investment. All in all, the company is taking the right steps to create an environment favorable to successful collaboration throughout all departments, while remaining customer friendly and efficient. Scot Forge will soon be state-of-the-art, not only in its manufacturing space, but also in its offices! With seven months left until the completion of phase one, the passion and excitement is already evident in all employee-owners. Ron Hahn, Chief Operating Officer, describes the investment as: “…perhaps the most important venture Scot Forge is investing in at this point as it will create an environment to be the revenue generator used to support and build the numerous other opportunities Scot Forge plans to capitalize on in the near future. This expansion is all about collaboration, and the new office building will facilitate bringing sales, operations, and engineering physically together, more naturally leveraging all their collective talents to bring the most creative solutions to our customers’ ever changing needs.”

Scot Forge’s Tartan Bars feature a fully consolidated forged center, and a surface that is finished by multiple-pass rolling.Combining forging and rolling cuts press time in half; produces short runs in short order. By J. Neiland Pennington, Senior Editor - Modern Metals Scot Forge's Tartan Bars feature a fully consolidated forged center, and a surface that is finished by multiple-pass rolling. Combining forging and rolling cuts press time in half; produces short runs in short order. Until now, the cross section of forged round bars from Scot Forge have not been truly circular. They were actually polygons with as many as 50 sides, produced by multiple planishing strokes in the forging press. Now the Spring Grove, Illinois, company has introduced a forged bar that is round to one-half of the AISI tolerance for hot rolled bar. Trade named Tartan Bar, the material is produced in diameters of 6 to 16 1/4 in. and lengths from 8.8 to 30 ft. by a new automated bar mill that began production runs this February at Scot Forge's Clinton, Wisconsin, works. The bar mill completes a $ 14 million expansion begun three years ago. The project also includes two new plant bays totaling 50,000 sq. ft., nine tip-up heat treating furnaces, a 50,000-gallon tank for both water and polymer quenching, a 50,000-lb. capacity stacking crane, and a centerless bar peeler with a 4 in. through 16 1/4 in. diameter capacity. Manufacturing Tartan Bars combines conventional open-die forging with a roll planishing mill that Scot Forge says is unique in the bar industry. "This is not the same as hot-rolled bar," stated Dick Statton, Clinton vice president and plant manager. "It is forged bar with a fully consolidated center and a hot-rolled surface. Metallurgically, it is identical to a bar formed entirely by forging." Guaranteed sound center "Most conventional hot rolling mills won't guarantee a sound center in diameters above 10 to 12 in. We guarantee a sound center through 16 1/4 in." The technology is the result of efforts to reduce the forging press time required to planish a bar, and minimize press wear from the repeated pounding of planishing strokes. "Jim McKinley, our president, knew there must be a better surface finishing technique than forging 50 flats on a bar," said Sharon Haverstock, vice president of marketing. He had been at work developing a roll system of our own when he heard a presentation by GFM, GmbH, in Steyr, Austria, which developed the roll planishing mill. He was very excited about its capability, and brought the idea to our management group. Another intent of the roll planishing line is to free up forging press time. We have been working at full capacity, and our lead times have extended. We were looking for ways to improve both the product and the process. Forged preforms Producing Tartan Bars begins conventionally. Cast ingots are cogged into four-sided billets on one of two open die forging presses, then reheated and forged into 16-sided preforms. The process requires about half the press time of forging plus planishing on the forging press. A further shortening of the forging cycle is contemplated. "We may forge preforms into true octagons, rather than 16-sided double octagons, if we can maintain quality." Dick Statton said. "Our goal is to spend less and less time on the forging press." The preforms are transferred to the new bar line, which combines the roll planishing mill with a Braun abrasive saw and an Info-Sight programmable end marker. The runout table and multiple-stage cooling bed were built by Voest Alpine, which also integrated the line controls. The 1250-hp single-stand reversing planishing mill reduces the diameter of the bars by up to 12 percent. The rolling rate is 3 ft./second, and the rolls are automatically positioned for the required diameter, controlled by a computer that operates the entire line. The bars are typically rolled in 13 to 21 passes (always an odd number so the bar will exit downstream), depending on surface requirements. Rolling time for each bar averages about three minutes, and the production goal is 12 bars per hour. Automatic reversing cycle The automatic reversing cycle is initiated by entering the bar dimensions and alloy. The program selects the required number of passes, and closes the roll gap to progress from the starting to the finished diameter. Bar ends are trimmed by the automated abrasive saw, which spins a 5 ft. diameter glass fiber wheel coated with silicon carbide. A 16 1/4 in. diameter bar is trimmed in less than 30 seconds, and squareness of the end is comparable to bar stock cold-cut with a circular saw. Ends of the bars are imprinted with order and heat numbers by the automated dot matrix end stamper. Coding is currently entered manually, but will eventually be downloaded from the mill operations computer. The imprinted bars are transferred to a five-stage cooling table that rotates the bars to maintain straightness. The sixth station is an accumulator rack, and bars are removed by a 40,000-lb. capacity GCC (Gerlinger Carrier Co.) Straddle-Loader. Small quantities quickly Tartan Bars can be produced in smaller quantities with shorter lead times than hot-rolled bar, said Chris Scheiblhofer, planishing mill manager. "Hot-rolled bars are made in large runs and standard sizes by a series of roll stands that reduces the diameter more than our single-stand mill. Orders are necessarily large, and lead times can run two to four months." "The reversing mill gives us the ability to do with one stand at a lower cost what would normally require several stands, and the line automation allows us to make custom sizes. It is economically practical to purchase the production of only one ingot. Lead times are now from two to four weeks, and we are working on a guaranteed delivery program for Tartan Bars. Our goal is one week for untreated bars, and two weeks for heat-treated metal." Half-spec straightness Roundness is not the only Tartan Bar tolerance that is half the AISI specification for hot rolled bars. The standard straightness is also one-half the rolled bar specifications. One-eighth inch in any 5 ft. is standard, and 1/16 in. is available on special order. For hot rolled bar, the limits are 1/4 in. and 1/8 in. in any 5 ft. Tartan Bars are produced in all standard carbon and low-alloy steel grades, plus forgeable tool steels,and 300 and 400 series stainless steels. Both OEMs and service centers are seen as large potential markets. Sharon Haverstock believes that Tartan Bars will be of particular interest to service centers, given the combination of large size range, small minimum orders and rapid delivery. Rolling the surface of Tartan Bars generally lowers their cost, compared to conventionally forged steel. "If you are purchasing a bar made entirely in a forging press, you typically buy at least 1/2 in. of additional diameter to allow for machining," Haverstock advised. "Because the surface of Tartan Bars is smoother, you need less stock allowance, usually no more than 3/8 in. The net cost of the Tartan Bar will be less because you are buying fewer pounds of metal."

All Ralphie wants for Christmas is a forging so complete... so detailed ... that our customers would be satisfied forever! Click Play Below to Enjoy the Show. We TRIPLE-Dog-Dare You! Oooh fudge! Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas. See what Scot Forge has asked for this year from Santa! The Big Man! The Head Honcho! The Connection! Is it a major award? Something fra-gee-lay (must be Italian)? Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double beetloaf? There’s no doubt it’ll be the greatest Christmas gift ever received... Scroll down to see the full Scot Forge cast and crew From all of us at Scot Forge, thanks for watching and Merry Christmas! Share your favorite Scot Forge Christmastime moment and follow us on our social networks. Enjoy the Holidays!

The team at Scot Forge loves to celebrate by creating a Christmas card to show off our amazing employee owners and spread some holiday cheer! Merry Christmas from Scot Forge It is the most wonderful time of the year! The team at Scot Forge loves to celebrate by creating a holiday card to show off our amazing crew and spread some holiday cheer. The Scot Forge 12 Days of Christmas How We Make Our Card Christmas starts early here at Scot Forge! The holiday season begins back in summer when our Christmas card team first gets together to brainstorm possible themes for our Christmas card video. It isn’t until early fall that the theme is finalized and the real work can begin. The team then writes the script, storyboards the scenes, orders the props and casts employee-owners to be in the video. After that work is done, we book our favorite videography partner! This year we had children of our employee owners voice the lines. Filming begins in November and the video is released mid-December… just in time to spread holiday cheer!

Many grades of steel can fulfill the same application requirements, but the environment, designed product life, safety factors and cost will help to narrow down the options. This quick overview from our metallurgist, Kyle Rackers, can help get you started choosing the right grade of steel for your application. What is the best steel for a given application?  Choosing steel grades can be quite an ominous task. There is a myriad of choices for today’s engineers and who is to say what is “right” for a given application. Many grades of steel can fulfill the same application requirements, but the environment, designed product life, safety factors and cost will help to narrow down the options. Typically you would first consider mechanical requirements like strength, hardness, toughness and hardenability; then review the service environment requirements like corrosion resistance or the need to withstand extreme temperatures. Hardenability is crucial when working with thick cross-sections or when machining will expose surfaces that were buried within the heat-treated cross-section. Next, the manufacturing processes need to be taken into account when selecting grades of steel. Is the component designed as a casting, fabrication or forging? Is the engineer considering converting to a forged solution ? Does the component need to be subsequently welded? What heat-treatment configuration will be required to meet optimal properties? If nondestructive testing is required at what point in the process should it be performed? All of these considerations will impact the type of elements added to improve the quality of steel to ensure the grade of steel can withstand the application requirements.  Generally, the first consideration for alloy elements is carbon. Carbon provides steel strength, hardness and wear-resistance, so you want to select a grade of steel with just enough carbon to meet the desired property levels. Grades that have lower carbon percentages are softer and easier to machine and form and have the ability to be welded. Conversely, high-carbon steel increases tensile strength, abrasion resistance and depth of hardening, but decreases in toughness and could possibly increase manufacturing costs due to reduced machinability, higher tempering temperatures and greater risk of quench cracking. Other alloying elements contribute to strength and hardness, but on a smaller degree than carbon and vary greatly element to element.  Your specifications for toughness and hardenability will direct the next set of element decisions. For superior toughness, the steel residual elements, like phosphorus, sulfur, tin, lead, etc., can be driven to very low limits. Unfortunately, reaching toughness requirements this way can greatly increase material costs. There are ways to gain toughness by adding the appropriate alloy elements like manganese, nickel, chromium and molybdenum, but how they are used varies greatly depending on the product specifications. To enhance hardenability for all steel grades and greatly increases toughness for low-carbon (less than 0.10 wt%) steel, manganese is a useful, cost-effective addition. You should, however, consider using manganese carefully as it can segregate in large ingots creating inconsistent material properties. To improve toughness, especially at lower operating temperatures, nickel is a good option that also mildly boosts hardenability in steel. The drawback to nickel is that it is one of the most expensive alloying elements. Molybdenum offers increased hardenability, hot hardness, toughness and even acts as a sort of booster for any other elements that are present. And, if your application requires some corrosion resistance chromium will do just that also adding to hardenability and to a small degree toughness.  Potential applications for: •     High strength steel like grade 4140 or grade 4340 : pinion gears and shafts, dies and tooling. •    Low carbon steel like grade 1008 or grade A-350 LF2: structural components that require weldability •     Moderate strength and good toughness steel like grade 8630 or grade 4330 : Demanding structural components that need low-temperature toughness •    Moderate wear resistance when toughness is not required in steel like grade 1045: bearing rollers, wheels, some ring and pinions Knowing steel grade applications can certainly help you select the right steel to meet your project’s requirements, but working with a metal-and-forging expert who understands steel properties is the best way to ensure you are finding the right steel that fits within the budget of your project. At Scot Forge, our metallurgy specialists can help you pick or tailor an alloy to meet your specific needs. Currently, we have a raw material inventory that includes: stainless steel, alloy steel, tool steel, aluminum, nickel, brass, bronze and copper. With more than 300 grades in this inventory, you can expect a quick turnaround time on forged products including both simple and custom shapes.   Contact us today for an expert who will support you from ingot to finish component delivery. Watch for future blogs on stainless steels and non-ferrous materials.

Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy in the Trump administration the Secretary of the US Navy, visited North American Forgemasters Steel Forging Complex to inspect the manufacture of shafting and other forgings that form vital components for US Navy vessels. New Castle, PA – October 10, 2019 – Dr. Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy in the Trump administration, and Richard Spencer, Secretary of the US Navy, visited an area steel mill today to inspect the manufacture of shafting and other forgings that form vital components for US Navy vessels.  They were accompanied by Congressman Mike Kelly, whose congressional district (PA-16) includes New Castle.  Kelly had suggested the visit to the New Castle plant to Navarro and Spencer. They viewed the production of a 72’ foot-long, 190,000 lb. main propulsion shaft for a Virginia Class attack submarine as it was forged—red hot-- under a 10,120-ton capacity forging press at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Other Navy shafts in production in the plant were also on view, including forgings for the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.    The facility is equipped to make large forgings for all of the Navy’s ships and submarines, including aircraft carriers.  Such forgings include also critical parts for the nuclear reactors that supply power to submarines and aircraft carriers.   North American Forgemasters is a joint venture between ELLWOOD, Ellwood City, PA and Scot Forge, Spring Grove, IL.  Executives of those companies were on hand to host the Washington visitors.  David Barensfeld, Chairman of the Board of ELLWOOD, stated: “We are thrilled to receive these important visitors from the Navy and the White House.  Their personal attention to our nation’s industrial supply base is proof of their strong engagement in the successful build-up of our nation’s defense.”    John Cain, Chief Executive of Scot Forge, commented: “North American Forgemasters represents a $100 million dollar investment by Scot and ELLWOOD in the industrial infrastructure necessary for our national defense, on top of the large additional capital investment the two partners have made in their plants to finish parts forged at NAF.  We need for the Navy to require that critical parts such as propulsion shafts be subject to a strict Buy American rule that keeps American shops like NAF familiar, ready and able to make these important parts.” Barensfeld and Cain stressed that North American Forgemasters is also able to make nuclear power supply parts for Navy ships, including parts for their nuclear reactor-fired power, and anticipates receiving orders for these parts from Navy subcontractors.  They stated: “We cordially invite procurement officials from the Navy and its contractors to visit NAF as well as our other plants in western Pennsylvania and Illinois to view other investments our two companies have made to be able to manufacture the Navy parts, and to discuss how we can collaborate on the design and production of critical parts, to better save the Navy time and money in their procurement.”    Under the joint venture agreement, ELLWOOD supplies steel ingots to the joint venture, which forges the parts to a semi-finished shape for further forging and/or machining at the partners’ respective plants in New Castle, Irvine, PA and Spring Grove, IL.   The North American Forgemasters plant is located in New Castle, adjacent to ELLWOOD’s electric arc furnace shop, ELLWOOD Quality Steels, that supplies NAF with its raw material for forging.  Barensfeld stated, “We thank Congressman Kelly for suggesting today’s visit, and for his steadfast support of a strong American defense force, and in particular for his outspoken support for a strong Buy American rule requiring that critical defense parts be made in the United States and not imported from foreign companies.” About ELLWOOD Since our founding in 1910, ELLWOOD has grown organically and via acquisition to become the leading vertically-integrated supplier of quality metals and custom-engineered components for critical applications worldwide. 100% American-owned and made, from raw materials through finished machined and coated products ready for assembly, we provide the products our customers require in the world’s most demanding applications, including those supporting our nation’s defense. While our footprint now spans 30 locations across North America, we haven’t lost sight of what’s right: treating our more than 2,100 team members, industry partners and customers like family. As a family-owned business, we work as a committed partner with our stakeholders to ensure integrity, welcome new ideas, and achieve shared success. About SCOT FORGE Starting as a small hammer shop in Chicago in 1893, Scot Forge is proud to be a 100% employee-owned American manufacturer. Based in Spring Grove, Illinois, U.S.A, Scot Forge is a company with a 126-year track record of success focused on solving our customers’ greatest challenges. With five U.S. facilities and 500 employee-owners, Scot Forge offers the most modern open-die and rolled-ring forging, machining and downstream capabilities in North America. From the wheels of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover, to mission-critical components for nuclear submarines, to large hydraulic cylinders for the largest mining trucks on the planet, Scot Forge creates the precision forged metal parts used in demanding applications all over the world.

The question, “Open Die Forging or Closed Die Forging: Which is better?” can be answered simply. It depends; both processes have their advantages and disadvantages. The question, “Open Die Forging or Closed Die Forging: Which is better?” can be answered simply. It depends; both processes have their advantages and disadvantages. Closed-Die Forging Closed die forgings, also known as impression-die forgings, are considered suitable for complex parts because they force metal into a predetermined shape, which can be something with intricate curves or multiple surface heights. Additionally, closed-die forgings are advantageous for parts that must be mass-produced. The closed-die forging process starts with heating metal to a malleable state, without liquefying it. The metal is then placed between two preformed dies, which resemble a mold. These dies are either pressed or hammered towards each other to guide the metal, making it flow to fill the desired shape. This process will result in a buildup of excess metal along the outer edge of the forging; this is known as flash, which must be cut away.  The actual process of closed-die forging is where you can find the disadvantages of this type of forging. Because closed-die forging forces metal into shape, there is a possibility that the metal won’t fill all of the crevasses, creating an incomplete part wasting time and resources. To anticipate the likelihood of this happening, Forging Engineers use software to predict the outcomes of the closed-die process. But, even then, because you cannot see the part being forged, there is a possibility that the forging won’t meet specifications. Next, once the forge engineers have designed dies for the part, the dies need to be created, which can a holdup the process because it takes time and money to create them. Finally, when forging with a closed-die, there is the problem of the workpiece cooling at different rates. For example, the flashing cools much faster than the inside of the part, which affects the toughness and strength of the metal, possibly compromising the integrity of the part. Open-Die Forging Open-die forgings, or hammer forgings, are advantageous for shapes like discs, hubs, blocks, shafts (including step shafts or with flanges), sleeves, cylinders, flats, hexes, rounds, plate and some custom shapes, which require artistic finesse or custom work. Open-die forging begins with an ingot, a piece of cast metal, which is put into a furnace until it is ductile. Once in this state, the ingot is moved to the anvil, or the press depending on the size of the operation, where the blacksmith hammers the pliable ingot into shape. Since open-die forging doesn’t require custom-created dies, it can be a faster, more cost-effective technique. To get the desired shape with open-die forging, the blacksmith moves and orients the workpiece between hammer drops to force the metal to flow a certain way. Generally, the hammer has flat dies, but on occasion, a simple-shaped die is used for specialized pieces. The disadvantage to the process of open-die forging is that, because this process is not as precise, the forgings tend to need machining after the piece is forged. But, the disadvantages of open-die forging tend to be mitigated when using a tenured company that can specialize in near-net shaped forgings. Advanced forge shops now offer shapes that were never before thought capable of being produced by the open-die forging process. In conclusion, every project is different from the turnaround time to requirements; and knowing what process is best suited for your project may depend on the capabilities of the forging partner you are working with. Not all forging companies are equal, so the key to getting a successful forging is finding a company who is a true partner that will work to save you time and money with capabilities that are time tested. Scot Forge has more than 126 years of experience in making custom forgings. If you think you need a forging, let our forging experts take a look and help you find a solution that is right for you, contact us today.