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I Forge Iron

Tree Bark texturing.


BOB T

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I made two sets of dies quite a few years ago for doing tree bark texturing and finally got around to attaching some flat bar to make spring fullers for them. The dies worked pretty good under the treadle hammer I just completed a few weeks ago. Completed one project so far have enclosed a couple pictures of it.

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Wind dancer,

 

Heat wave today, it was above 0F. I grabbed some pics in the shop of a spring style texture tool.

 

I had to make a bunch of leaves that were to be integrated into grills. The texturing was turning out inconsistent. I made a spring tool for the PH out of the outer spline of a front wheel drive transmission to wheel connection. Like a lot of my tooling I found the raw materials at my favorite repair shop junk pile. Once you cut out the spline, segment it and then flatten it out some so you can accommodate different diameters. You don't need the full circle, just use two comfortable segments.  At this point you can also grind and dress the splines so as to create a more natural random form as opposed to a stamped symmetrical pattern. Make sure to taper the ends so you don't create shoulders.  The splines are hardened, so mount to a mild steel backing plate or else you will chew up the hammer dies.  

 

The leaf blank shown was run through the die set and then hammer finished a little.  The square end is so it could be welded into the grill and then dressed to size where it joined a larger branch. The dies made the job a whole lot easier for us. I found that if you go easy on the texturing (don't pound it to death)  you will get a more subtle surface finish as opposed to deep (rough) gouging.

 

Photos attached.

 

Peter      

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Here are some of the pictures of the dies used to do a tree branch. The sizes 1/2" x 2" x 2 1/2" and the other one is 3/4" in thickness. I made him quite a few years ago, I believe I just heated the blocks of and had a wide chisel to cut in the grooves randomly.. As you can see in the picture no real pattern to it.

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Greetings Peter/Bob,

 

Peter...    Slick Idea on the use of the hub...  Consider it stolen...

 

Bob....      I like the final texture that your dies make...  Great work...

 

I have my own sets for small and large bark texturing and find while hot a slight twist in opposite directions makes for a realistic look...  Keep up the great work...

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

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Sorry, forgot to respond to one of the questions how I attached the small branches. Did some grinding to match the angle of the main branch, use my wire mig to weld them on.. And here's a neat little trick, put one of the cutoff wheels in my Dremel grinder and blended the weld to look like tree bark texture. Be sure keep your welds small and right in the right spot to avoid doing a lot of grinding with the Dermel tool

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