Napkin ring

[jay_cat]

I just finished forging a napkin ring. I've decided to forge a leaf every other day until I get comfortable swinging the hammer and manipulating the metal. My wife brought up the idea of making leaf napkin rings. This is my first attempt and my second leaf attempt.

[beammeupscotty]

I think this is a very good idea and you are well on your way to producing something quite nice.   You have the basic leaf shape down and only need to add some detail to it to make this project into a great item.  Things like serrating the leaf edges and putting some veins in it will get you there.  

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

One thing to do is watch the surface of the piece closely as you hit it. You should be able to see each impact's effect on the surface of the part. With some practice you can leave a very smooth surface. Veining will also accent the piece. Remember too that not all leaves look like this. You can try a Ginko, oak, etc that way each one could be different.

Looks like your are off to a good start, now you just need to refine the end product.

[jay_cat]

Thanks for the feed back. I'm learning what tools I need to make as I'm doing this. I found out I need a hold down of some sort. The chain I was using didn't have enough weight to prevent the rod from falling off the anvil. That is why I didn't add any viens. But the upside, I got to see what using then side of the rounding hammer as a pien was like. My first leaf informed me that I need more options in punches to make the veins. It's neet how every hurdle is a lesson. Can't learn everything in YouTube. Noting to it but to do it. I will keep adding pics as I go along. I know seeing the pics of other people's work has help and inspired me.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Are you using a short piece of stock? If you leave it longer you can hold onto it without tongs,and it gives more area to hold down with.

Look up chain hold down on here. Others have used a stirrup , or a foot pedal on the end to provide greater down force. May also look into a toggle type clamp used on drill presses, as they can be bolted onto the anvil through the hardy, or pritchel hole.

Do you have a vise?

[Judson Yaggy]

Good for you.  Regular practice is the best way to get better.  

[jay_cat]

Big, I was using a long piece of stock. It was to heavy at the opposite end for my little chain. I didn't have a heavy enough weight holding it down. I like the foot pedal idea. That way I know the piece is held in place. I have a post vise.

[beammeupscotty]

Big, I was using a long piece of stock. It was to heavy at the opposite end for my little chain. I didn't have a heavy enough weight holding it down. I like the foot pedal idea. That way I know the piece is held in place. I have a post vise.

 

For leaves I recommend you go with your first impulse, a hold fast.  When I do leaves I like to sit in a chair next to the anvil so I can get up close and really see what I am doing.  

 

Can you tell me how you actually went about making this leaf?.  Did you start with larger diameter stock and forge down the wrap or did you upset the end of a smaller dimension stock?  

 

I was actually intending to go out to my shop today and document for you how I go about making a generic leaf as well as the tools I use, in an effort to help you advance your project.

[jay_cat]

This is my first leaf I made a couple days ago. I used 1/8inch round bar. I upset the end before I made my diamond and forgot about tapering the end first. I used a small chisel followed by the end of a railroad spike to make the viens.
I used 1/2 round bar for the napkin ring and did not upset the end. I had some nice markings using the edge of the rounding hammer at first, but I kept flattening the leaf and redoing it a couple of times. This taught me that making the leaf to thin will leave less detail when using a hammer and not a chisel to make contours. I should have left the leaf alone the first time. It looked really nice. I used Brian Brazeal's video on YouTube as a teaching guide. I also bought one of his rounding hammers last year and I am working on building up my hammering muscles using it.
I work in a car dealership and take home the used springs from the garage. I'm going to use one to make a few punches soon to add better detail to my leafs.

[beammeupscotty]

I don't know how many pictures I will be able to get away with posting here so I might have to break this up into multiple posts.

 

The first thing I would like to say is that while I am sure Brian Brazeal's hammers are really nice, if you are working with small stock like the 1/8" you mention, Brian's hammer is going to be about three times too heavy.  To forge small stock I use a 1 or 1 1/2 lb. hammer.

 

There are lots of different ways to forge a basic leaf shape.  The Brazeal video you cite is one.  The first pic shows the prep for 4 different ways.  I am sure there are probably even more.  From bottom left to top right, 3/8" stock upset to give a bit more to work with, 1/2" stock, 1/8" x 1" flat bar and finally, 1/4" round stock to be forge welded.

 

Pic 2 shows further development, from top to bottom, 1/2" stock, 1" flat bar, 3/8" round and the 1/4" welded and spread out.  Pic 3 takes then a bit further towards a leaf shape.

 

The fullering on some of those pieces is done with the guillotine tool shown in the 4th pic.  Pic 5 also shows the guillotine tool along with a spring fuller which can also be used to fuller your work down.

 

Once you have your leaf shape worked out you can cut some serrations in the edges if you want using either a guillotine tool or another type of spring fuller, shown in pics 6 and 7.  I imagine you could also cut the serrations by clamping the leaf in vise and cutting with a chisel.  

 

Pic 8 shows the results on the leaf edges. Sorry this pic is pretty bad. 

 

Pics 9, 10 and 10a show the tools I use for modeling the leaf.  9 is a veining tool.  Note the half moon shape and the edge radius.  This radius should be as smooth and polished as you can get it.  It will travel easier if it is very smooth.  Same with the fuller shown in pic 10 and 10a.  The fuller is just made from a small ball pein hammer.  Make sure you anneal it before you start hitting it with another hammer.  I ended up with this sort of tapered wedge shape to this leaf fuller to allow me to quickly adjust to different vein spacings without having to change tools.  I fuller between the veins.  

 

Pic 11 shows the veining. I was rushing this so my veining is not as precise as I would like but some of the overshot veins can be cleaned up with the fuller.  On this type of leaf I vein down the length then from the edge at the valley of the serration into the center vein. 

 

Pic 12 shows the results of the fuller.  None of these leaves are particularly good as I was rushing to get this done this morning, but you get the idea.

 

Pic 13 shows a quick attempt at turning the welded leaf into a napkin ring.  I chose this one to take all the way because I was too  lazy to be willing to draw all that stock down on the other leaves.  When I am using a longish piece of round stock that will essentially be unaltered, like the 1/4" round in this wrap, I always cold forge the surface to give it some texture before I wind it around the mandrel. 

 

That's it.  This is how I make a generic leaf which I might use as a decorative element on a bottle opener or a poker etc., (last two pics). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Geoff]

That is an excellent tutorial thank you very much.

[jay_cat]

Thanks for the pics Beam and taking the time to do so. I will try a smaller hammer next time. I was thinking If I used a bigger hammer I would move more metal faster and increase my wrist strength at the same time. And who doesn't like to brag about how big there hammer is?

[beammeupscotty]

Thanks for the pics Beam and taking the time to do so. I will try a smaller hammer next time. I was thinking If I used a bigger hammer I would move more metal faster and increase my wrist strength at the same time. And who doesn't like to brag about how big there hammer is?

 

You should use whatever works best for you.  There are those who use a heavy 3-4 lb. hammer for pretty much everything.  I am of the school of thought that contends you should size the hammer for the job.  If you are taking 1/2" round stock down to  1/4" like you would need to for that napkin ring then a larger hammer is probably in order, though the largest I use for forging is a 1 kilo Peddinghaus.  I often use a 3 lb. for striking tools but I find that weight too much for my forging.  Keep in mind that I rarely forge any stock over 1/2".

[jay_cat]

I just went out to file off the edge of my 24 oz ball peen hammer and noticed the face is dented in. This is a fairly new hammer and has never hit nails. Only metal. Could this impact my work? And is this something to watch out for with store bought hammers? You can see the low spot in the pic.

[beammeupscotty]

I just went out to file off the edge of my 24 oz ball peen hammer and noticed the face is dented in. This is a fairly new hammer and has never hit nails. Only metal. Could this impact my work? And is this something to watch out for with store bought hammers? You can see the low spot in the pic.

 

I don't know if this is typical of store bought hammers or not and it will impact the surface you get on your work.  You can dress it with a flap wheel on a side grinder.  I imagine how well a hammer face holds up will depend on what brand it is. Name brand ball peins like Plumb or Estwing should hold up better than that.  If you bought it at Harbor Freight then you shouldn't be surprised that it has become marred.  

 

My forging hammers have pretty pristine faces because I only hit hot steel with them.  I have other hammers that I use to hit tools with.  Hammers are cheap if you get them at the flea market so there is really  no reason to ever hit a center punch, or veining tool or any other tool with your forging hammer(s).  I even go so far as to polish the faces of my forging hammers on a Cratex wheel to get pretty close to a mirror finish on them.  

[jay_cat]

Another ring I made last night. I used 1/4 round bar so I didn't have to draw out the bar as much. I also punched my first hole and made a bottle opener.

[beammeupscotty]

This napkin ring is quite an improvement over your previous efforts, as I am sure you already know.   Your surface texture, normally an aspect that beginners often have problems with, is also quite nice.  Good job!.

 

Bottle openers are tricky but I think you have done well for a first effort.  

[jay_cat]

Thanks. I took your advice and switched to a lighter hammer. I had more control over my strikes because my are didn't get tired. Thanks for the help.