ornametalsmith

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.

Didn't ABANA ban anvil shoots at any of their chapter seances, smite-ins, smitharees, etc. while back?

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.

I am trying to do some lost wax casting and am very cheap. I have the wax. I have the metal. But to make the molds I need clay. Does any one know any ideas about where i can get clay for free or very cheap. i have heard you can use cat litter. tried it but the mold just broke apart. If any one can help thank you.

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.

I know this is something I struggle with. What do you charge for a good knife that has 20 plus hours in its creation while going against the price of a mass produced one.

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

Is that a water pump used as a fan on the kegger?

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

Looking good Bill, I think the keg looks better than the commercial model.
So, whatcha meltin?
Frosty
GCOA

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

I just brought these two foundry furnaces home this weekend. The lil one is a commercial model, called a Foundryette. And I made the Beer Keg model.

When I cut the hole for the air cylinder to pass through, I used a magnetic drill press with a 1 9/16" annular cutter. If you can hook up with someone who has access to one, it'll do a nice, clean job in no time at all.

Couldn't agree more......these drills make a project like this.....almost easy. The first hammer I built....all I used was a drill press....the next few a friend rented a magnadrill and I was a "done deal". It is Soooooo much easier to take the drill to the Huge metal parts....than the other way around. AND.....those cutters are FAST. They aren't that much to rent, I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking about fabbing with Large metal components.

Torin,
great to follow along with your progress.
One lil tip I would pass along, that helped me......is that I drilled the holes into the Hammer Head stock the size that was required to tap for the bolts that I used to hold the dies on before I cut off the slabs that I used to make my die sets.......then all I had to do was redrill those in the slabs to accommodate the size bolts after cutting the slabs from the HEAD stock. I of course took into account the number of "slab slices" that I planned to cut off and went deeper to leave some for the tapping. This made sure all the holes lined up and saved some time. I actually got a separate piece of the 4"x4" and have it predrilled so I can just cut off more 1/2" slabs for future sets of dies.

AND even though I originally followed the simple air hammer plans and drilled 4 holes........Chris Ray convinced me that I'd only really need two holes....not four. Made for quicker change out of die sets. I've found that the two bolts, w/lock washers, are more than enough and never work lose, even when doing cold surface texturing on mild steel.

thanks for sharing the "making of your hammer". inspirational.

just a quick note..........I appreciate ALL the feedback that was offered. Took the valve over to a pneumatics guy.............and after a lil tweakin.....got the hammer back to working order, last night. I'd thought about takin this opportunity to try the Mark Linn VERSION of the plumbing....but after being without the hammer for a bit.......and having work that needs to get done..........well I'm going to have to wait til later to try that. Or maybe just do that on the other hammer that I've got almost completed. The frames done, all it needs is the pneumatic parts. That way I've always got a working hammer and won't have any down time.

thanks again.........what a great resource this site is. FWIW, WRH51......mines plumbed the same as the Simple Air Hammer plans. This hammers been running fine with that configuration, for the last 12 years. In hind sight I'm pleased that the 4 way valve lasted that long. I want to try the reversed method.....but will have to wait til I plumb the new frame. Got a nice SMC valve that I believe will let me reverse it. :D

Torin,
great to be able to follow your progress. Maybe it'll motivate me to finish the I-beam one I started years ago.

John, dablacksmit and arftist.......I appreciate the input. I'd hoped I could learn a lil more about the pneumatic components..........but.......guess I'll just have to take it to the pro. It was worth a shot..

thanks again,

Thanks, Guys.
I downloaded a Air-Mite pdf.....looks like mine is the #V4416, it's a single port 4 way valve. The D-body type.
Here's a shot of mine on the hammer:

thanks for the reply, Arftist.
Let's see:
the 4 way valve is a ROTORAM valve. By AIR-MITE Devices,Inc. Not sure of the model # but if I find it I'll post it later.
The air is plumbed exactly as described in the Simple Air Hammer plans from Ron Kinyon. It IS a shop made hammer. No transposed hoses....took old 4 way valve out......installed new one. I've used this type of AIR-MITE valve on another hammer that I built years ago....but as I said........ran into the same problem .....took the valve back to the supplier and he "made an adjustment" so that it could control the action via the exhaust(footpedal).

I can actually use the hammer.....and control the hammer blow by controlling the "air pressure IN". Without the footpedal even attached. Naturally it doesn't have the control I was accustomed to. I've given thought to installing a "ball valve" footpedal inline to control the air in. But I'd really just like to go back to the standard plumbing.

I know this info may not help at all...........if so....I understand. I was hoping that with all the folks here......that have built these simple air hammers.....someone may have run into the same problem.