Grundsau

All of the photos are camera phone shots and aren't the best quality. This is a prototype hook. A customer needs two of them to hang two trellis on the side of her stone home for tomato plants. This is one of several colonial-styled candelholders I had made years ago and had the parts laying around the smithy. Sold two of them this Fall. This is my first attempt at creating something like this candelholder. It is a Christmas gift and the future owner is a lord of the rings / medieval fan. Not being that creative I had no clue what to do on short notice to measure up to the level of LOTR. So I made the center shaft out of 5/8" sq to look like a spike. I roughly upset the head and added a rattail at the bottom. The legs are from 1/2" sq and have an upset head on each with quarter-sized feet. Curves for the legs were done with a scroll jig. The legs were then mig welded to the upright and 1/4" rnd was used for the wrapping. The arms are made from 3/8" sq. Curves for the arms were made with an old cast iron floor drain. 1/4" rnd was used for that wrapping also. All square stock had the sharp edges hammered down and light hammer marks were added throughout. The drip cups were made from squares rather than round. Can't remember the gauge or size right now and can get that if someone wants to know. They were heated in the gasser and placed on a green/mengel swage block larger ladle depression. A flatter was used to raise the corners while the square was being pushed into the ladle depression. Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax was applied with a torch. It's big but didn't look right in a smaller form. I plan to shoot it in the studio later this week and will post a better shot later. First try at an ash shovel with a green/mengel swage block and a wall mount hanger. Next time I make the finial on the back a shovel I'm going to go over it with a brass brush for some contrast. All metal waxed with Butcher's.

Frank, yes it is. Eric, I've tried Johnson's and it doesn't look as nice as butcher's. Will have to try that recipe.

The BWC folks told me carnauba is still in the formula.

Thanks I had found it on amazon but didn't know if it was the same formula. The BWC company just called back and it's the same wax. They bought the rights to the formula from the Johnson Company but had to change the labeling.

Got to see a hossfeld this morning and that is one serious piece of kit. So far all of the used ones online have been going for close to what new sells for. Batavia Machinery has them on sale till the end of the month. http://www.bataviamachinery.net/hossfeld.htm May end up with one from them if something else doesn't show up.

I needed more of this wax and found that my local sources don't carry it any longer. After searching online I found it at this link: http://www.bwccompany.com/bowlingalley.html The can label looks different. Tried calling the company for info and always get their vx mail. So I left a message for them to call me. Anyone know if this is the original formula?

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Looks great! How did you attach the candleholders to the arms?

Thanks Randy. I had googled the show under that name and results seem to be from 2011 or earlier. Also emailed Ted from his knifeshows page but haven't heard back yet.

Is there a website or other info out there for this show? I could only find info on last years event on www.knifeshows.com 12/9 is supposed to be the date but I don't know hours or the entry fee. thanks

When making trivets I form the rings and scarfs in the gasser first. The next step is moving to coal for the forge weld. Someone recently pointed me to a hossfeld bender with an edge bend die. Those dies are near the bottom of this page: http://www.hossfeldbender.com/tooling/bar-angle-iron.php I also have the need for circles and arcs for pot racks and angles in flat and round stock so this may be a good choice. Now I'm on the lookout for a used hossfeld.

I've seen the line with half an arrow such as this one: http://www.wildernes...1/chpt_5/3.html Is that what is being described? I've been bouncing around several ideas for a touchmark. In our family tree a Delaware indian married into the family. Had thought about using a clan symbol for my mark but am still not sure.

That looks good! What size is it?

I stayed up most of the night and the wind blew through here like a blizzard on steroids. We ended up being in a protected spot but the areas around us didn't do so well. Fortunately Sandy stayed a bit further south of our area. Lost electric for a short time and internet was off since last night. Rainfall wasn't excessive and our creek stayed within its banks. Anyone wanna buy a used bathysphere cheap?

Hey Stewart, we were supposed to have high winds and rain last night. Not too much happened and nothing happening right now. I've got our beehives ratchet strapped together and they are in a somewhat protected area. Only had one fire dept call so far and that was last night to assist with clearing the discharge pipe on an old dam that isn't being used anymore.

French toast? I could bring home made bread and butter... Just sayin'

Sandy is supposed to be heading into the Delmarva area and on into Pa. Last year, Tropical Storm Lee caused us a lot of headaches with flooding and am not looking forward to Sandy. Our smithy was flooded by our usually tiny creek and will start putting important stuff up on tables this Sunday afternoon. We are stocked up like every winter (we often lose electric) and the generator is ready. The bright side to all this is that I'll get to rent a backhoe again and spend time running it during cleanup. Allen

Very nice!

Those photos would be great. I usually scarf the ends for welding before roughing out the ring and then it gets welded. Sometimes I weld after shaping on the cone or before. Depends on how good of a job I did. On my swage block, one end has a concave curve which I've used for half-round utensil racks. It's shallow but it might work. Rich, I often make multiple pieces when forging But only two or three trivets get made at a time because that's about the maximum that fits in the gas forge and still allow me to be efficient. This jig is supposed to speed things up so it doesn't take so long for each piece.

Dave, how do you transport that much inventory when going to a show?

Big-D, I tried that idea and the outside edge doesn't want to stay in alignment. I was applying so much force on the 3/16" x 1" material that the cone wanted to move around. We have specific trivet sizes so a fixed jig for each will speed things up. Does anyone have a drawing or photo of what the follower wheel with groove should look like? Or how to make it and then remove it to get the ring off the jig. Still trying to wrap my head around that. This week I am getting last minute items made for a folk art show this saturday. Next week I'm going to a plumbers shop to look for some pipe. Would like to get this jig put together soon. Thomas, what thickness should the washer base be if I want to hammer on it? 3/16" or 1/4" plate cut to size is available for one end of the jig.

Oops, did I say I was going to weld both washers? LOL Thanks for the help.

Those are some good ideas and have me thinking. As long as there is lateral support on a pipe type jig maybe a pair of tongs could be used when hot bending. How about this? If I can find a pipe in the correct OD, I could plasma cut two giant flat washers from heavy gauge sheet metal for the lateral support. They would slip over the pipe and be welded into place with a 1/4" gap. Both supports would also be tall enough to keep the trivet from wanting to lay over. Some kind of stop would get welded onto the pipe at the beginning of the bend. The end that the tongs are holding could easily be reheated and hammered into position on the horn if need be.

When making trivets I've been heating up a section of flat stock and bending it over the anvil horn. Once the ring is close to where I want it, I true it up on a cone mandrel and forge weld it. I can get the ring pretty close just on the horn. I'm working mostly with 3/16" x3/4" and 1" flat stock. Is there a quicker way to bend a trivet ring on edge? I have a P5 flypress and can make a ring roller for it. Wasn't sure if that would be enough force to do it without putting gouges on the inside. Maybe while it's heated would be better.

When I was first starting out it was novel to demo at lots of events. After a few years i grew out of that. LOL When demo'ing I don't give anything away, that could quickly get out of hand with freebies. You guys who demo, you don't work all day do you? I normally make a small item and take a break to answer questions and/or take care of customers. If I see a pending sale in the middle of a project, work stops, item gets sold and I go back to work. If it was a busy event, I'd ask my wife to help out by watching the tables. I demo at three events and that's it. One of them is for students at the local high school so there is really no chance of selling. I often hear responses of appreciation and awe when attendees learn that I created all the items on our tables. Whether I am there to only sell or otherwise doesn't seem to matter. Much as I don't like dragging around the forge and anvil, twice in the past 10 months they got me free advertising in the local paper.