ornametalsmith

Well, Matt........if your ever in Ocala.....come on by the shop. I noticed the next FABA meeting in the SW region will be in Tampa. I might try to make it. Sounds like a good one. There's a map on the FABA site, fwiw. SE - Jul 26 - Tandova, Inc Welded sculptures by Greg Ecenia and Lash Oberst. We will see a welded dinosaur sculpture and other creations of this full-service theatrical scenery and props shop. ***No sandals or flip-flops, please!!!*** Maybe we can learn to "make our own creation" !!! Demo starting at 9AM, Lunch - Bring a dish to share and BRING an Iron in the HAT item. Lisa Ann will also have a "glass-bead station" for anyone who would like to learn a new craft. maybe I can meet ya there. happy hammering

hi Matt, welcome to the forum. Good to have ya with us. What part of FL are you in? For some local action. There's a Florida Artist Blacksmithing meeting every Sat. in some part of the state. Fwiw, I'm in Ocala.....(Horse Central LOL) here's a url for some info on the meetings: Florida Artist Blacksmith Association-Newsletter and FABA's site: Florida Artist Blacksmith Association

classic rock , jazz, blues, reggae .... and a few of the newer artists. John Mayer and Clapton are in many of my iPod mixes. .2 centavos

those are beauties. Love miniatures.

Cool Frosty, reminds me of one that I saw when when we did a workshop to build a bunch of these blacksmith helpers. I'll have to find those pix......you might like the way it added "stops".

I'm in Ocala, FL. Kind of centrally located in the state. FABA has a meeting every SAT. in different parts of the state. You can find info at the site: Florida Artist Blacksmith Association SO.......no matter where you live in FL there is a meeting once a month. And you don't have to be a member to attend. welcome to the forum.

thought I'd throw my 2 cents out here. Filling with sand seems to be the easiest technique. I've twisted up to 2 in. tube with this method(Twisted cold, with a Landis 4" pipe threader). The only thing I'd add was that the ends were plugged to keep the sand from falling out while twisting. This method also works great for bending any kind of hollow material. AND I've done some very interesting twists using the Solid rod in the center approach. Here's a shot of a very even twist with solid fill. I've also got a sample twist in the shop that looks more like "curtain material" bunched up on a rod than twisted metal. I'll have to take a pic of it to add to this thread. THE only thing different about this twist....the solid fill was 1/2" threaded rod. AND.......one other thing.....I've gotten some REALLY cool elements by UNtwisting .......twisted tube. To the point that it "comes apart" at the seam. These untwisted tubes have a very Organic look to me. so I incorporated them into this aquarium stand, but I've got to many images in this post to include it. I have the aquarium stand posted in my gallery folder, FWIW. The untwisted "element" was discovered by accident....... Happy accident.

FWIW, they did. The SBA still shoots the anvil every other year in Madison,GA. and FABA still shoots the anvil at their annual conference in Oct. And ABANA's decision is what made the chapters become "affiliates".

hi Tom, good to see you posting here. I'm looking forward to hearing about the results you get at the SOFA conference. It will be interesting seeing this "test" refined to reduce some of the variables.

torin, like the video. The hammer came out great. In the video it looks like your barely "tapping" the billet. I'd love to see another video with you WAILING away on a hot piece. Congrats on gettin R dun.

hmmmmmm, why don't you just buy plaster and mix it with some "brick sand" to "invest" your waxes? In a 50/50 mix. That's about as cheap as it gets. Do you plan on using a "metal flask"? What do you plan to use to "burn out" the flask......and melt the metal? What metal will you be melting? Frosty's right.......if you'd post some pix of your waxes.....we might be able to be more helpful.

hmmmmmm with all due respect. Your talking about apples and oranges. The TWO shouldn't be compared. Especially price wise. If you want to compare your hand forged knife to something...........compare it to other hand made knives. BUT be cognitive of the others name recognition, years of experience, attention to detail(fit and finish) etc. I'd suggest comparing your work to someone with equal or similar experience. two centavos,

hi emexer3, welcome to the forum. GOOD to have another FL smith on here. I'm about an hour north of you in Ocala. The closest meeting place that I know of for you would be Barberville, at the Pioneer Arts Center. The FL Artist Blacksmith Assoc. has a group that holds monthly meetings there(first Sat. of every month). Your timing couldn't be better. There is a meeting there this SAT. Here's a link to the FABA site. Florida Artist Blacksmith Association It would be a great group for you to join, to meet others with "metal mashing" disease. AND I think that you can get COAL there also. I won't be making it to this meeting but I look forward to meeting you sometime in the future.

GREAT to see your progress. Your so close I can almost hear the mangling of hot metal. :o

10 gallon per minute :o

MarkB..........nope, just a nice BIG orange blower.

Thanks, Frosty. I've been melting aluminum, bronze......mostly. But copper,gold and sterling are also options.

I got my forged Hofi hammer from Tom/Hofi at a FABA conference. And it's become my MAIN forging hammer.

mine's 1600 sq.ft. w/ two large roll up doors. Set up with separate areas for different processes. In the main shop area is a Forging area w/ air hammer(soon to be 2 hammers), anvils, post vice, two gas forges, layout table. Fabrication area w/fab table, welders. Foundry area w/ two foundry furnaces, sand casting and lost wax investment equipment. And a separate area that is shared for vacuum assisted investment casting and Hot Glass. The hot glass area is set up to do both torch work and slumping and fusing. The two kilns serve double duty for the lost wax burnouts as well as annealing and slumping and fusing glass, and occasionally used for tempering tools . Two separate and A.C.'d clean rooms that are set up for jewelry work. One has a jeweler's bench and a wax design bench. The other house's my personal jeweler's bench. And finally a 10'x20' area outside, under cover for finishing/painting. And a Shopsmith on wheels so the woodworking area.......moves around :D