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I Forge Iron

Music from Metal


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Glenn: Ask Pete Fels about "Moby Harp" sometime.

I've given thought to making a wind chime for a particularly annoying neighbor just down the hill from us using R R rail and a wind driven clapper. The downside is it'd be less than 100' from our house so I let better sense decide. Well Deb had SOME say in it. <wink>

Clyde Wynia has a major display of really cool sculpture and much of it is loud, fun and loud. "Jurrustic Park" will Google you there.

Might be fun to have a contest. Hmmmm, how about a gong? We can decide the winner by how many miles away it can be heard. Police reports can be the meter!

Frosty

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Since I'm not a musician, I've never given any thought to making an instrument.   A guy that I know has an mbira that has forged keys.  He said that his marimba teacher had made it before he moved to the US.  It looks very easy to make, but without knowing how it should be tuned I would be lost.

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The idea of the post was to show musical instruments that could be made from metal by a blacksmith.

Outside the box would certainly apply to many of these instruments.  I was looking for a musical instrument that is heavy with the WOW and WHAT"S THAT factor, followed by it actually being able to create musical notes. Examples from the above video, playing a spring under tension, or a woodwind instrument made from square metal tubing. We are surrounded by metal, may as well put it to use. (grin)

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I've been making "tuned" Cow Bells for several years now, ... using a variety of materials and designs.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of that, is in how Heat Treating can alter the frequency of a fairly "mild" steel bell.

"All Instrument" clip-on electronic tuners, ... for under $20, ... make it possible for the "musically challenged" to create bells suitable for a wide variety of uses.

The neighbors Goats are currently testing my latest designs, ... and they're not complaining .....

 

.

 

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Have seen tuned steem wistles (on compressed air) set up like a pipe organ. Nothing like train wistles and old factory wistles to wake the dead. 

Their is an artistic comunity up by Black Canyon Arizona that casts bells. 

Around here heavy meatal wind chimes might not be so bad, if the clacker is heavy enugh, it could serve as a storm warning, lol

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Locally, there's an "Amish Outlet" that carries everything from backyard sheds, ... to Shoo-Fly Pie.

On the gallery of their building, they have displayed 100's of Wind Chimes, ... made of everything from "Glass Bottle Bells" to 4' lengths of 2" Box Tube.
 The big "Box Tube" Bells sound very good, ... but in this area, we rarely have enough wind to really make them sing.

As the Amish and Mennonite's are partial to Windmills, ... and all sorts of "Whirly-gig" type lawn ornaments, ... it seems like a good fit, to incorporate a wind driven mechanical "Clapper" into one of the big Tubular Bell Wind Chimes.

Thus solving the light wind / heavy bell dilemma.

 

Just sayin' .....

Edited by Glenn
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When I first went to work on the drill crew we did a job on the Million Dollar Bridge on the Copper River Highway. The bridge at 26mile is in a blow hole. Winds coming down the river hit a ridge and turn left. The bridge crosses the river right at the end of a vertical bluff and the winds right there have been known to blow heavy equipment off the bridge. The wind "socks" were lengths of rail hanging from the super structure. If they were closer to horizontal than vertical it was too windy. I'd guess they were around 5' long and a rap with a hammer made for a loud chiming. Well, more a loud clank and yelling from the other guys on the bridge.

Maybe different clappers for different sounds, I know a wooden striker makes a triangle sound different.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Great video. As an ex drummer I've often thought about making percussion gadgets.

Death metal drummer Derek Roddy (ex Hate Eternal, Nile etc) used to hit some stacks of thin flat bar with an aux bass drum pedal to create a "nice" grinding crash.

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Lots of compressed gas cylinder bells around here too. There is a sleigh bell thread on here. Cowbells.  But as to forged items it is slim pickings so far.....most  are cut and weld projects. 

Frosty, I may end up with a bunch of I-beam, and channel , and I was thinking of a BIG wind chime. We have been having plenty of big wind the last week, so I may try it out.

I have a drawn steel weld on pipe cap that is around 12" in diameter that I have balanced on a spike in the ground. It has a very nice ring when you toss small rocks at it. I was considering using a windmill to run a screw that would convey ball bearings up, and then drop them onto the bell randomly. I have seen these in several graduated sizes. It would be fun to make something using a whole series of them.

I have a few heads that were cut out of 55 gallon drums, and I was thinking of making a gong. 

Hmmm, forged whistles.....

Mouth harps....

 

Edited by BIGGUNDOCTOR
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The pipe cap on a stake sounds like yard art to me! How about this for a striker, a BIG mosquito on a spring and pivot so it faces into the wind and pecks the pipe cap? Of course a wood pecker or road runner would look cool too. Ooh OOOOH! You've seen the little windmill wings on birds, bicycles, etc. Yes? How about a little windmill blacksmith banging on the cap?

Oh my brain cells are really cooking now. :blink:

Frosty The Lucky.

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John Little a blacksmith in Nova Scotia  has been making large scale musical instruments that have been played with the Halifax Philharmonic for about 15years or more.  At Caniron that was held in Nova Scotia a well known jazz percussionist played one of John's instruments at the opening. 

 

http://johnlittleironwork.tripod.com/sound.html      Here is a link to Some of John's musical instruments

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