doc

Hey, Nobody, good show for your first attempt!!! It's hard to tell from your pics exactly what you've gotten. Try spark testing some of the bits you've got on a grinding wheel. Looks to me from the pics like you might have some high carbon stuff,iron and a goodly amount of slag. But as I said the pics may not tell the true story. Doc

The second pic is also a bolt holding pair of tongs. Think about holding and tightening those countersunk headed bolts on wagon tires and they'll make a little more sense.

Take a look at this site .It is much more current work from the same people who are on the rockbridge site. http://www.leesauder.com/smelting_research.php

Only seen it as a repair and in this day and age it would be very rare. That second vise also has the shape of a filers vise although it is much more heavily built than most filer vises.

I don't think you've got enough charcoal.

How many pounds of ore do you have? How tall and what diameter will your furnace be?

ONR good to see you back!

Save yourself a lot of time and trouble and go with the black.

Steve you're correct. This one is a far cry from the 1920 lamp I was once asked to repair. On that, the original wiring was single wire and the metal lamp itself as the other conductor SCARY................!! And it was commercially made!

Pretty nice job of free hand turning of a ball shape! Especially for a guy who isn't normally a lathe hand :)

Tim I might suggest a dovetail joint rather than a tenon. Easier to braze and visually check it's integrity also a more common period method of repair. Just a thought.

black silicon caulk

Nice scroll Mark, you're correct about it's not being a half-penny, hay-penny or penny scroll. The common English or American name for the scroll end you've made is a snub end. Another similar scroll where the snub is made by tapering the bar end done to nothing and then rolling it up like a "jelly roll" is called a French button.

BillyO I thought you were going to give us a perspective on our physical biomechanics not get into that same old saw about size of hammer equals force/work being done thing? Seems we can't ever get past who uses what to accomplish their work instead of talking about whatever you use within reason and how it affects our bodies. I for one would be really interested in knowing what your take is on how our bodies are impacted by the abuse they are given by the physical aspects of our work ! But not so much on your take of the physics of moving metal. It's just been talked about too much on this board and has become a kind of "chase your tail" type of discussion with no real consensus. respectfully Doc

First things first..........Before you make anything if you don't know how ? Learn to trammel the head to the table and square the vise to your axis's, other wise everything you try to make will be out of true and probably just plain junk. Just my two cents

I've pretty much done what Jim and Kevin have done or a combination of one or the other depending on the job. But what I've always done was write a proposal! This states exactly what I intend to provide the customer for the money changing hands. The customer signs off on the proposal making it a simple contract and in general keeping me from having to provide more work than I'm getting to do.

Very good point Jack. I think that having too high an anvil, especially if you use the death grip method puts increased load on your wrist.

This is a very interesting discussion and I can attest to the fact that most blacksmith biomechanic injuries are in the elbow. I've been a full time smith since 1971 and many of the smiths I have known over the years have suffered the ailments mentioned above in this thread. My personal experience happened many years ago when I pulled a bout of tennis elbow while forging a run of one piece hinge pintels. At that time I regularly forged with a 3lb. hammer and had the bad habit of gripping the handle tightly all the time.While forging the upset corners of these pintles in a block I was stricking down and using a pulling action at the same time, ( an improper forging procedure by an in experienced smith ) my arm was getting tired and I could feel it, but I only had 3 more to go to finish the 400 required.I pushed on to finish and felt a pop in my elbow. There was no pain and no loss of control but a definite loss of power, I was able to finish the remaining two. I went home with what felt like a tired arm and no pain but the "pop" I had felt had me worried. That evening all seemed fine but the next morning when I reached for the milk carton I could grasp i,t but not pick it up,my mind was saying to lift but my arm would not respond. It was to say the least a bit scary and worrisome. I went to the Doctors and was diagnosed with severe tennis elbow. Fortunately I was young and got most of my mobility back in about three weeks and was able to start forging again with the use of a strap on my forearm.It was a long recovery, forging was limited to light work and when my arm started feeling the least bit tired I stopped forging. I was advised by the Doctor to not become completely reliant on the strap or I might have to wear it indefinitely. As my arm healed I reached a point where I could forge with out it until the arm felt tired and then I'd wear the strap. Eventually I was able to work without the strap and haven't worn one for over thirty years. But the cure wasn't just from nursing the arm back. I obviously had been doing something wrong and had to change the way I was using the hammer. The answer to a healthy arm for me was to switch to a lighter hammer with a longer handle ( 1 5/8 lbs.16" ) and learn to throw the hammer. The longer handle afforded me the power I wanted for the style of forging I do with less effort. But I feel that the most important thing regardless of handle length is teaching yourself to release your grip! When teaching I advise students to try and imagine having a piece of string between the top of the handle and your hand.Then try to imagine pulling on that string while your hammer is in motion.The string would be able to be pulled out from between handle and hand at any point except for the split second of impact/rebound on the bottom of the stroke and again at the opposing instant at the top of the stroke when your arm resists the inertia of the impact to force the hammer down again. This is throwing the hammer! Often it can help to modify the handle by shaving it smaller making it easier to release your grip and leaving an enlarged end on the handle to help keep it from flying out of your hand. I firmly beleave that it's the death grip on the handle that gives most smiths all of their biomechanical problems.

The higher end line of Baldwin hardware make a lock set that will except a standard thumb latch thumber. There very expensive brass thumb latches just have a short stub on the backside that operates the lock/latch works inside. Chances are you'll have to go to a specialty hardware to even find anyone who carries the higher end Baldwin line.

I agree with bigfoot.

I agree with Brian and David.Your image shows square stock bent on the diamond. If you want it flat on the back then I'd follow billyO's instruction.

Jim's advice is good, but I'd like to know a couple of more things. Are the blades breaking at the welds and are they a good quality blade ie; Lennox, Starrett etc, not HF or some other off brand?

Very nice job! Remember it's not always a bad thing having alot of balls.

For small oddly shaped pieces sometimes " old school " is the way to go. I often use binding wire to tie the pieces together, or a small plate to tie the pieces too with wire sometimes drilling holes to run the wire through to make it more secure.

If it took you less than an hour, yes that is an ok price.