Grundsau

Thanks Franks, that is a good visual. In my area there are a few old wooden water pumps still standing that have a wonderful faceted ball on the end of the pump handle. Wish I had been around to watch them make stuff like that. I found a photo of one but when I tried to paste the link here it won't work. DSW, I agree but I'd like to learn it by hand first before I use a machine.

Hi Jeremy, very nice. I guess the little giant will come in handy for doing that with round or square stock. If I used square, and then forged to an octagon, it might give those hooks an interesting look. Is there a website with info that would help calculate the volume of material needed for that kind of project?

Did a search of this site and tried google but didn't find what I was looking for. I'd like to make a wall mounted hat/coat rack with an integral ball on each end of the hooks. Never having done this before it seems like a bit of upsetting would be needed to get the mass for each ball. Not sure if I'm going with flat or round stock. Maybe 1/4 x 1". thanks

Hi Marcy from another Pa member. I'm over in western Berks County. Your photo looks great. Keep at it. Maybe you can make the 2/7 PABA meeting?

I've had those cling-on type folks hang around also when doing demo's. Some of them do seem lonely. But they're great at cranking the blower and shoveling more coal on the fire. Most don't hang around long for some reason. This is just a minor non-blacksmith related peeve. It's folks who are constantly saying "you know?" like every three words before they even say what they are talking about. Sheesh. Can't help myself and start replying "no, I don't know" but with a smile of course. Ya know? :D

Thanks latticino.

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Randy, can I purchase your book at your place sometime? Or should I order on-line?

Merry Christmas! Jacobd, hope you had a great day with family! I gave away four bottle openers and two pillar candle holders made from 1"sq stock and heavy square bases. Shot this before cleanup and welding. Also included two "little" barrick design candles in bittersweet color.

Thanks and you are very right. I've been accepting cards for years thru my photo studio and have both Gopayment and Square. Credit sales have accounted for approx 50% of income at some of the artisan shows I've done.

Thanks for the tips. The show I was considering is in February and have decided to wait. After speaking with a number of sellers who have been in it, cash and carry is what buyers seem to be looking for. With the holidays, I won't have time to make enough product but am going to go there and do a little recon. If it looks favorable, there will be a lot more time to get ready.

I'm reluctantly kicking around the idea of trying a wholesale show sometime to get more exposure. Has anyone tried them? I don't like the idea of of wholesale pricing but it doesn't seem much different than consignment sales. The attractiveness of a wholesale show is that the customer is vetted and there to buy. The artisan shows that I do seem to go well and the setting up for a wholesale show shouldn't be much different. From what I've been reading some shows allow you to sell and take orders. Any tips on what to expect? I already accept credit cards via smart phone. An iPad is used at the artisan shows with a running slide show of images of my work and some shots of the smithy which act as my folio. The ipad really attracts attention. I plan to add my Etsy and Facebook page to my business cards which already have website, phone and name on them. Had planned to have two or three levels of wholesale pricing. One to three items at a higher price, and a bigger price break for four or more. If it's a huge order I'd be willing to do a little better.

Just wanted to share a few things about Dave. About a year ago I had wanted to purchase a hammer from Brian Brazeal but had to delay it because of budget constraints. For the last couple of years I've been following Dave's journey in smithing and decided to purchase one from him. This past October I got in touch with Dave and we talked on the phone and communicated via facebook messenger. Through our conversations I noticed he has a great attitude towards his work and customer service. No matter who I would have purchased the hammer from, I was a little apprehensive because this isn't a small dollar amount. Our discussions put me at ease and his hammer is one of the best tool investments I've made. I plan to purchase one or two more from him when funds allow. I'm a beginner in many ways and have always had trouble trying to make leaves. So I decided to christen the new hammer with a leaf. It worked, and I've attached a photo of that first leaf with the hammer. It was made from 1/2" round In November while using the hammer, I noticed a hairline crack in the handle which sometimes happens. I contacted Dave and he gave me some options to fix it. I decided to use it up to Christmas and then send it back. He would re-handle it at no charge plus he would reimburse me for the return shipping. Sounded good. Well a few days later I was hammering and on the upswing that handle just separated in my hand. I contacted Dave that the hammer is coming back a little earlier. He re-handled it in a nice piece of hickory and even provided an extra hickory handle with addl wedges which he didn't have to do. The hammer was back in no time and that new handle does look good. I can't stop making leaves now. LOL The other leaf that is attached was the first item I put in my Etsy store. It sold within 5 minutes of adding the listing to my facebook business page. Dave, thanks for your great hammer and for taking care of this customer.

Steve, the ram doesn't seem slow from the vid. While at Robert Eggerling's shop and watching his upright presses in action with a billet, yours and his seem about the same speed.

They look great!

All of this info is starting to make things clearer. Thanks. 01tundra, neat sculpture. Is that a threaded dowl like all-rod?

thering, welcome to iForgeIron. I have a piece of 3/16" plate behind the gas forge with an air gap between the plate and the wood wall of my shop. Just noticed in the photo that the alignment is off. The plate heats up but the wood stays cool.

I've been searching through IFI and google but not really coming up with anything and trying to increase my skills in a different direction from what I've been doing. How do you attach something like a crane and cattails or other sculpture to a wood or stone base? I saw in a couple of threads how a collar joins different pieces together where it meets the wood which seems to act as a shoulder for the sculpture to rest on. I've got some rustic heavy timbers in various sizes to function as a base and plenty of rocks to choose. Another thing that has me stumped. Has anyone made a table with stone top and had part of the frame work pass up through the stone tabletop and then pass back down through it? I can't figure out how you get a snug fit on the stone to metal pass-through and do it while the metal is hot enough to bend with out damaging the stone.

Great thread. This is a partial list of what I do. photographer with studio beekeeper am inflicted with a bad version of Castironitis enjoy cast iron cooking bread baking am a practitioner of remote euthanasia for groundhogs firefighter and recently dropped my EMT after 27 years (always felt the need to help others in times of distress) shooting flintlocks, both Pa rifle and musket

Matto, thanks for the reminder. I have some 3/16 flat in 5160 and will try that also.

Read through Brian's crane tutorial and also watched a nice crane forging vid by Alec Steele on YouTube so figured I'd give it a try. It's made from 3/16" x 1" stock. I don't have a hot cut chisel and the feather didn't turn out well. Next time I'll bandsaw cut that part and spread it hot. Tried using a hot cut hardy but that didn't work so well. Not sure how you keep the ring from distorting when chiseling the feather. Will try a wing when I can scare up some fullers.

Fall has been busy with getting our honeybees ready for winter, taking portraits and artisan shows starting up I will get to this again and thank you for the additional info.

Thanks Arftist and Frosty. Alan, I stepped back from the problem for awhile due to other commitments. Watched your very informative vids. I'd like to work rounds and squares in different configurations and will keep at it. Thanks

Thanks for all the good info. Will try discs and not press them as far the next time. In my second photo showing the small depression in the larger square piece, I'm going to make a smaller square that is slightly larger than the depression and then knock the corners down after forming. Might look interesting with a tapered candle.

Am using a P5 fly press to form drip cups/pans for candleholders. I cut off the top piece of a gas cylinder valve protector for a top die and a swage block acts as the bottom die. Normally a rounding hammer is used on a sheet metal blank with the swage block. Does anyone know how to avoid the wrinkled edges when lowering the top die onto the blank? The sheet metal blank in the photo was formed in the smaller depression and the top die was too big to fit it's diameter. Some other blanks, not pictured, were wrinkled even more when they were placed in the larger depressions.