John Galt

Har!! Beat me to it!!

Black Frog . . that's pretty cold. I've seen it -29 here in Central New Yorkistan . . . I have been doing some forging when it gets out of the teens and it's not too windy . . I move my forge just outside my shed, anvil and vice just inside . . . been working on squaring round stock and making some wall hooks with a twist. These are about 5" long, made from 5/16 round.

That is my goal eventually, I just starting at this "blacksmithing" alchemic esoteric and arcane voodoo pseudo-science stuff a few months ago. Before I try Forge Brazing i would like to try brazing with torches . . . I have a great set of torches with all the tips that was given to me by my awesome neighbor. But I have no tanks or hoses and being retired, sometimes cashola is short. Meanwhile I use my MIG welder.

I usually start with antique forged nails. All sizes, but I prefer the 6" - 10" spikes.Then, depending on the nail, I may draw it out a little and put a more pleasing taper to it. Some crosses I actually pierce the vertical nail with the horizontal nail then tack weld it on the backside. Some I weld the horizontal to the sides of the vertical . . . using the top half of nails I have cut. Then I put a head on the leftover ends and use then to make smaller crosses out of. I also distress the nails to make them look much older, some times by actually burning the steel. I may also try an acid etch at some point. But usually by putting them through this while at orange to yellow heat:

I like that idea with the sand! This is the one I made from 4x4 treated wood I had laying around.

Thanks for all the kind and wise-guy comments corrosive process . . LOL! good one. It's not a secret, I learned how to do it here on this great forum. Here are a few crosses I did a few months ago . . I will post up some pics of this new batch when I finish them up . .

LOL! I actually thrive in the heat and humidity . . better than most up here. The winter months are very difficult for me . . it gets below 20 degrees F and I pretty much shut down. BTW . . I would give up a testicle to visit Orstraylia.

Har!!! Go ahead . . gloat. We are tougher up here in the NE of North America . . .

Well, it was actually in the 30's today . . . No excuse to NOT fire up the forge . . . Beating on red/orange/yellow hot steel with a 24 oz hammer will warm me up after a short while anyway. So I like to make Crosses out of antique forged nails. I have a bucket full of 200 year old Wrought Iron forged/cut 6" spikes . . . I like to ~tweak~ them to look older. So I put them in the forge, get them Orange to Yellow hot and draw them out longer. And then via a secret process . . make them look like ancient Roman forged nails . . . . . . older, beat, pitted with age. These are then used to make crosses. Before and After.

It got all the way up to 32 Degrees Fahrenheit here today. No excuse to not fire up the forge , , banging on orange/yellow steel will warm me up soon anyway!!! LOL! Well I had a couple ""S" hooks I made a few weeks ago . . . so, based on a suggestion from a member here . ."metalmangler" . . just add a flat , , two sides. So I put a couple S hooks in the forge and flatted the section between the curves . . I need to try this as a first step before tapering/drawing and making the curve . . thinking it will be better. . . . anywho, this is what I banged out this afternoon . . not perfect . . but I ascribe that to my anal retentive Engineering personality . . yes, I was toilet trained at the end of a shotgun . . ;/

Yes!!

Frosty, what is a fair price for something like this? I posted these pics on my FB and have had several inquiries. I checked E(vil)Bay and saw similar S hooks for $12 a pair plus shipping . . . Sir, that is my plan for the next batch . . . Thanks!! Thank you Sir! One of the things my Gramps taught me was to recognize the voice of experience and wisdom and then to LISTEN to it! Sir, I have Beeswax, Linseed Oil, and Turpentine. I have to make up a batch of Blackmith Goop . . I will be referencing th Alchemy subforum for the recipe over the next few days . . Excellent idea, makes perfect Engineering sense also

Beautiful work!! How did you finish the bottom part to get that brass/gold look?

Thank you for the kind replies. I am an Engineer (it's a curse) by trade and education so I am pretty anal about anything I put my hand to. But, in my older years I have definitely mellowed. I was pretty pleased with the results and am glad that you all agree I have a crapload of 1/4" and 5/16" round so I will be making a lot more of these. I do not have any square stock in that size range. I will be shopping around for some. But I guess I could put a square to the round stock . . hmmm. Thanks again for the kind remarks for my efforts!!