tzonoqua

Had a go today doing one in between my other work- took considerably more than 3 heats, and not quite as polished as Brian's, but here's mine. Tried first on my big anvil, but the corners on that are all well rounded... so had to do it on my small one so next time I think I can make the v bit more crisp. Also the toe clips split when I was bending it into the heart shape, maybe next time I'll choose a shoe that doesn't have them.

That's grand!! I make hearts out of small offcuts and they are great sellers, I do them a bit different to the style you have shown before, though, I"ve been thinking about heart horseshoes lately, as I"ve just met a local farrier and he's promised me some old shoes. Nice to see it done. Thanks for sharing.

Amen to that John B!! I live in hope that someday peace will prevail!!

yes, would love to see a pic of that, and in my mind, the weird ones are the most fun!!! :)

Happy Christmas to everyone!! May your anvils never go rusty!!!

stunning... i love the colours!!!!

What I normally do when I've got to make a flower, is go to the florist and buy a real one, and dissect it with drawings... although I have heard about getting silk flowers as they make really good patterns... but for this I didn't have time, so i just looked at some photos, it's my first daffodil. I didn't even have a piece of pipe for the trumpet bit of the flower, I had to use a bit of sheet and weld it together. With regards to the edges, I did deliberately leave them flame cut- but I made sure to wire wheel brush the edges to remove any sharp bits. I would ideally have used thicker sheet, makes for a nicer edge, but for this it was ok as the flower is quite small and delicate. Would love to see the dragonfly and sea shells!!!

Phew... am just coming up for some air... been super busy as of late between my "day" job and with the blacksmithing work... madly trying to finish Christmas orders, been doing the market every Saturday, which apart from the first week has been great. This week has been hectic, trying to replenish stock and get the orders done. Beth I love it, it's very sweet!! And, sometimes white is really good as a finish!!! I know I am generally not a fan of painted steel, i love the natural colours of bright steel, scale, oxides and rust!!! But... sometimes you have to concede that a painted finish is best, and will accentuate the piece! Share a photo when it's painted and in situ!!! I made a sign for a farm just recently that I painted white, otherwise it would have got lost in the background of a hedgerow! Yes, I've heard of Bex, she was on a television show here. She shared a workshop with an acquaintance of mine in London, but I have never met her, her work is great!! Randy, where do you get this book from? Jake, there was something I saw the other week and thought of you... It was an attenborough film about the arctic, where indigenous Siberians had their houses on skis, little chimney poking out of a wood hut set on huge skis, pulled by reindeer of course..!!!! (how festive!?) ... I was thinking of your little forge hut, on skis...little chimney poking out the top, and a cling-cling-clang-ting of the hammer and anvil ringing out from inside... Here is one of my special orders... Although I'm afraid I won't be getting any points for traditional joinery... I fear you will all lay scorn on my happy use of my mig welder. (I love my mig welder, you know!) One day I might be able to forge weld the bundle of leaves, and rivet the flower onto the stem.... I live in hope.... Beth, not too early now for Happy Christmas!! Although, we've not yet got a tree, although some decorations are up, and i haven't even begun Christmas shopping...

Yes, absolutely, check the ingredients before applying anything!!!

different veg oils will give differing results, i have not had great success with "veg oil" as in rapeseed oil which is what you would buy in the supermarket here. Boiled linseed oil works well though, or plain old linseed oil. I used to use a mixture of tannic acid, linseed oil and meths or turpentine, brush on hot, but tbh lately i've just used some plain old briwax brushed on warm.... (not quite as traditional, but very effective as a protective coating) whatever you use, use a natural bristle brush, as the nylon, acrylic or man made ones will just shrivel up or burn in the heat. the natural one will curl up if too hot but won't burn away like the synthetic ones. If it needs to be food safe, use veg oil - linseed, olive, or whatever foodsafe oil you may use, or beeswax, the briwax suggestion is for stuff that isn't going to be in contact with food etc as it's mostly carnuba wax plus carriers like toulene which are kinda nasty...

you must be the husband of a blacksmith when.... you buy tools for your wife for christmas, and she actually wanted them!!

very nice, yes, would also be interested in how you made them--- inflated? sounds neat!

Crafts council used to do a start up fund, not sure if thats still going- last time I was looking into funding there was not a lot about- most of it stopped due to cuts to arts funding. Also go direct to your local council as they may have money set aside for projects like yours, always better chances if you can show some kind of investment in the community. Good luck. also, try business link, which i'm sure if you're doing internet research is a starting point.

Wow, that guys stuff is beautiful, I can only view the pdf, as my computer is too ancient to watch videos on. Will have to try to watch the clip from the other half's laptop sometime. This past Saturday I had a stall at our local market. It's a very popular outdoor market in town, twice a week. Lots of vintage stuff, antiques, tools, clothes, and all the other normal stuff, clothes, fruit and veg, etc. It was windy... it was cold, it was grey. I set up at 8 am as required, and stood all day in the wind, and the cold.... It's an odd feeling, having your work laid out on the table, for judgement, to see if someone will judge it worthy enough of their hard earned cash. I felt like a goldfish in a bowl at one point!! I've done markets before, but only craft specific ones, or wee small-town cosy farmer's markets, all very friendly, people are going there because they know what to expect and want to spend their money. This felt different as most people were just wandering by, going about their business, running errands. Well, anyway, I stood there from 8am until 3pm and didn't sell a thing. Lots of interest and conversation, but no sales. No personal vindication. I thought that at least I've given out loads of business cards, and talked to a lot of people, and it really is a good way of cheap advertising. So, slightly demoralized, at that point I gave up, and huddled across the sidewalk out of the wind to wait for my partner to come help me pack up for the day. Then a man came along, and was my angel for the day, as he came and quickly glanced at my stuff, picked up the second most expensive thing on the table and said "I love it, I'll have this!!" I can't tell you how relieved I was!! Made standing in the cold all day worthwhile. And I'm not sure if its the money, it's the personal justification. I know I'm much happier just making stuff in the workshop than trying to sell it... But, I have to sell stuff or else I can't afford to make it... So Jake, you've sown the seed and I think your angel will come!! {Although I re-read this and felt that I might come across as being condescending saying that, it's not meant that way at all!! I don't think you need an angel to vindicate your work like I do!!!}

Wow, those are really neat!!! (Sorry, I still say no metal swords for kids!! Mom Said!!!! And in classic Mom words... "You could lose an eye you know!") ptree- yes, kids are adaptable, my girl brags that she has scars from a swordfight, but she is only 6- I hope she says the same when she's a teenager!! When I was in india they used to make elephants and cows out of sheet, with clever cutting out and folding and bending, and fit together with tabs and rivets. Very clever, wish I had some photos, but they were also quite simply made and probably quite easily replicated.

There are lots of ways a company can package an item and still retain it's "pristine" condition, yet not overpackage the item with redundant packaging. Can be done quite easily with re-useable, recycled materials, and/or biodegradable packaging and less or no plastics. I'm surprised it's not obvious Look at Easter Eggs... Not sure if it's the same in the USA, but here in the UK the trend has been that instead of the chocolate bunny/egg cradled in a plastic form, it has been packaged in a card or egg-tray type material. Less plastic, yet still retaining the "pristine" condition. Sadly not all companies do this, but they should, and we as consumers should support the companies that make good choices.

Sorry, BEnt, As a mother, I would be very unhappy to find a metal sword or dagger as a present to a child. Age depending of course. This may be due to the fact that my daughter has an inch long scar on her head (which will be visible lifelong!) from her and her friends playing swords (wooden) when she was 4 years old. Children will playfight... putting a metal sword in their hand is asking for trouble, unless of course it's only ornamental and not to be played with.... and what is the fun with that. (And yes, my daughter has a play sword, plastic, and a shield too, but it's soft plastic and even then I don't let them hit each other properly) Helmets on the other hand would be a great idea, and a prerequisite to any of the afforementioned "gifts"

Initials or name in iron Horseshoe anything for horse mad girls, mine has a (Bill Epps style) horse-headed horse shoe on her wall I made and she looooves it. Older girl has butterfly (scroll work wings) A friend made a small sized rocking horse from steel, (decorative only) but I wouldn't advise on that as an actual toy unless you want repeated trips to the A&E Department!!!

butterscotch man, sounds like the saying "takes money to make money" It's EASIER to make money if you have money to invest in making money... but I suspect quite a lot of blacksmith types just bootstrap and get on with it and do it any way, with not a lot in the bank to begin with.

Neat!!! Yum, I love pineapples, it looks good enough to eat!! :)

I use oxy propane for cutting and spot heating. I used to have acetylene, but for the sake of having one less gas bottle to lease, I got rid of the acetylene and switched to oxy prop as I run a gas forge anyway. Same as what the others said, doesn't get quite so hot, so takes longer for me to start a cut, and doesn't quite cut as clean, but you get used to it. In an ideal world, I would still have the acetylene because I think it is superior for the purpose, but in a practical world I have done without it and not been too bothered.

Fe wood... is it Peter??? man, I am so with you on this one!!! I hate plastic bags, I hate overpackaging, but I especially, I hate plastic. It causes so much damage to wildlife, especially sea life. Have you heard the term "mermaid's tears"? Oh, this subject depresses me greatly. I am old enough to remember my parents buying groceries, and they came in paper bags. Which we would re-use. Oh, and soap, this drives me mad too- soap used to come in a bar, wrapped in paper. Now it seems that the norm is that soap is in a plastic bottle, or people use shower gel, in a plastic bottle. Why put something in a plastic bottle that doesn't need to be??? The world has gone mad I'm afraid, digging up petro chemicals out of the ground, to then make them into objects to be discarded back into the ground.. I wish it were easier to avoid plastic and overpackaging....!! (hehe bi-sacksuel... good one!!)

I don't know about rotator cuff, but I had carpal tunnel surgery a year ago last oct, and took a long time to heal. They said I'd be back at work at 6 weeks, but it turned out to be much longer. Dont' rush it, listen to your body, do the physio, go gently, and slowly get it exercised. You've only got one body and it needs taking care of!! Take the time to do all the other things!!!

haha, yeah, i do think 4H is probably a bit purer than Young Farmers!!! dream horse, probably remain a dream for a while, the farm is not ours... i rent my workspace there, end of a barn that stores tractors etc. they have about 80 acres or so, farmer lady is sound as. A stockman leases some of the pasture for some cows and sheep, they have orchards, and an ancient withy-bed that's fallen into neglect, she wants to get the land "working" again, has revamped the place as a rural skills centre, developing the garden... am looking into getting a charcoal kiln see if that can be developed... diversify eh!! have a daughter and a litter of step kids that came previously, older girl is horse mad, 2 boys not too fussed but i think would be happy to have more members of the menagerie!! native uk horses here are very beautiful. i have some horse drawn traveller friends, some amazing horses, all stout build, feather'd legs and full manes. Fairy tale horses.... I have this plan (dream plan) of crossing the native ponies with appaloosas, so colourful, spotty, feather'd leg, full mane and flowing tail.... Actually, my dream lifestyle is horsedrawn on the canal. That's another story. Ah, the shires... amazing creatures... worthy of carrying knights... eh!!!

wow!