Sword 1.7m long

[newbiesmith]

Woo hoo. Good to see another IT guy that's smithing. Thanks Larry, you made my day. Just spent 12 hrs troubleshooting a Groupwise SMTP forwarding issue only to find out that it is an issue with our ISP.

I want to go beat on some metal. I'm just too tired ;-(.

-Dan

[larrynjr]

Originally Posted by Valentin

Well... I whoud have 2 questions
1.How to give it an atique look
2.How mutch shoud i charge for it ?

Valentin, have you found a way to give it an antique look and decided if or what you are going to charge for it?

[Valentin]

well ..i'll let it be as it is i think the sword will lose it's character if i'll rust it to mutch and about the price i think i'll ask 100USD for it that will cover the GAS,IRONm and a beer Probably does not even worth that mutch but i need to get the money for the gas

[Ian]

Despite the fact that this is a 'wall hanger' I strongly advise that you charge for the piece according to the work you've put into it mate, even if its for a friend.
I made an item of personal proctection for a very close friend of mine and didn't charge at all. Several of her colleagues have seen the piece and want one themselves but are offering far less than a fair rate to me to make them because she told them I gave it to her for nothing. End result is I'm not making them and they think I'm too pricey all because I didn't charge my friend what the piece was actually worth in my time.

Bear in mind also that every job you do for less than it should be makes it harder for you to charge what its really worth in the long run. A lot of guys and girls struggle to do this full time because other Smiths (usually it has to be said, hobbyists) aren't charging a real world rate for their work. I fully understand that they don't need or want to because it's not their full time job but they should remember for some it is. If everyone charged properly then more of us could do this and actually eat.

[Farmer Phil]

That monster was quite an under taking. I understood you were making it for an important customer. Only you know your relationship (business and personal) to your customer, thus you're really the only one who can price your work. I do know if you're regularly in the business of giving away 25 hours of shop and labor time you are either billing a great deal else where to make up for it or are going to end up going broke...or have independent means to subsidize your blacksmithing activities.

Regarding giving customers or friends a price break, there's one rule I made for myself many years ago. I let them know the full price and told them I was making a special customer discount (call it whatever) for them. Even if a gift for family or friend, I invoiced it at the full amount and did a discount line item (even if it was for the whole amount) and showed the balance due (hundred bucks or zero, whatever). This way everyone could know the full value of the item and everyone could know the extent of the discount or gift.

I found this important for clarity across the board: mine, recipient's and lookers on (whether associates of the recipient's or of mine.) Sometimes my associates were coworkers. It was especially important to be clear for them. If we all gave the shop away we'd go broke for sure.

It also helped me to be able to look back over a period of time and show right on the books what was produced, its cost of production and corresponding revenue stream. When it came time to reduce expenses and/or increase income knowing stuff like how much shop-time, etc, was given away was important. Correspondingly, knowing what our charitable contributions to the larger community (often to schools and the like) were helped instill another kind of pride or work ethic for us too.

Anyway, there's a few more thoughts on the matter. That behemoth of a sword was quite an achievement. I especially like how you handled the guard. Thanks for sharing all this with us. I can't believe I'm corresponding with you in Romania. What little bit I know of your country, it's a very very little bit, I have admired. How special to be sharing across the miles.

THANKS! --Phil

[Valentin]

Thanks for your advice guys i really appreciate it. I made up my mind the price will be covering the gas/coal and iron.No profit in it Just because the guy ordered like ...7 gates before this and he is worth a small discount.

Farmer Phil:I can't believe I'm corresponding with you in Romania. What little bit I know of your country, it's a very very little bit, I have admired. How special to be sharing across the miles.

Well we all have to say thanks to Glenn caz this is only possible due to his struggle and hard work. Imagine that in my city is no real blacksmith shop and i have nowhere to learn this from but now...thanks to IFI and you guys i do !

[Farmer Phil]

Originally Posted by Valentin

Well we all have to say thanks to Glenn caz this is only possible due to his struggle and hard work. Imagine that in my city is no real blacksmith shop and i have nowhere to learn this from but now...thanks to IFI and you guys i do !

You got that right brother! Honolulu doesn't have blacksmiths either. I'm just a beginner myself. IFI is the next best thing to being in all these great guys' shops!

[wulfgar]

Originally Posted by Valentin

iF I GOT IT WRITE the sword will sit outside ... in the weather and i don't want it to rust .Is it a good idea to sprai paint it with ..how is it caled the paint that you aply on the car after it has been bainted to make it shine

i believe your thinking of a clear coat. from my knowledge a clear coat will not stick to polished surface. the same goes for paint. that is why they are all layered. from the bare metal you need a primer to stick to it, the paint sticks to the primer and the clear coat sticks to the paint. id think that if you did a rough grind the clear coat will have something to hold on to. if the blade is not going to be handed then it is worth a try on clear coating it but what i would first do is polish a test piece and apply about 4-5 thin layers of clear. let each dry to atleast a tacky state before applying the next coat. my guess though is that the clear coat will pool up on polished metal.

[John B]

In the past I have clear coated polished metal and it has worked for me.

How I did it would not in theory seem to work, however as i know no better this is what I did.

The polished metal was heated to be warm enough to just touch briefly, and then beeswax/turpentine (furniture polish) or a spray of WD40 applied and the surplus wiped off and then buffed up by hand with paper tissues, and then a coat/coats of clear lacquer (the kind used to seal metallic paint finishes on vehicles) applied by aerosol and allowed to dry.

I did not have any problems with the lacquer pooling, in fact it was a good smooth finish, and you can get a semi matt finish to it.

The only problem that I encountered was a darkening appearance of the finished metal.

I usually use this finish on domestic internal pieces and tell clients to keep an eye on its condition and treat it like good quality furniture.

Never had any returns yet

[Pault17]

Valentin,
truly amazing. you should show that to all the "wannabee blacksmiths that wanna make a sword!!" just to show them what can be done. don't know if that's a good idea or not though..

John B,
thanks for the information. I did similar with the exception of just using a can of minwax spray-on laquer, semi gloss, for a couple of rr spike door knockers. haven't heard any bad news from either recipient. yet...