Andiron test pieces

Very interesting shape Jim, I like it. It expresses the plastic nature of steel very well. How'd you do it?

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks. The first step is take a piece of stock and bend it in half. The next step is to draw out the bend so it flairs out. Basically, we're flattening the end. The two legs don't need an even space between them when you do this - as you hammer that bend they'll want to come together. Once you have the end flared out to your liking you have to bend it again. I'm not sure how to convey this with a keyboard but I'll try. So, if you have flattened the end on the anvil you would move it over to a swage block and keeping it in the same orientation, use a cross pein to 'fold it in half' again by dishing it. But you're folding it 'up'. This gives it the general shape. The last step is to knock the edge over a little bit. I'll attach a drawing in a bit. I think that will be better. It's kind of hard to explain but pretty easy to do.

Thank you Jim. If I'm envisioning what you're saying correctly this resembles fold forming to a degree? Did you come up with the process? Are there other examples?

Thanks again.

Frosty The Lucky.

I used square stock because it's easier to draw but I think the round looks better. This should explain it more clearly.

No problem. No, this isn't mine. Or anybody's really. The most I've seen in print about this type of form is from Heikki Seppa's Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths. There was a bend involving the first two steps that I learned from Brian Brazeal, which he got in the Czech Republic. But it all goes back further than that. These types of bends have been around since antiquity. Maybe I can draw that one up tomorrow.

That's perfectly clear, thanks again Jim. Ideas for variations are really starting to simmer. Say twisting the sq. first for instance. I'm really kind of taken with how it looks like it was smooshed. Now I'm seeing feet.

Something for the notebook for sure.

Frosty The Lucky.