Randy

I have the same problem uploading, too. I find if I keep reducing the size of the photo until the file is about 60 kb then it will load.

Go, Jake, Go, Jake, Go, Jake!!!!! We're behind you, buddy!

If I had to start all over again from scratch, knowing what I do now I think I would get a press instead of a power hammer. It can do most of what a p.h. can do plus a lot more.

Colleen, you have a "green" shop! All recyclables. You're "in"!

Good job, Colleen! One of the things I did when setting up my shop was to insulate the ceiling and then I covered it with drop ceiling accoustical tiles. Since it wasn't a drop ceiling I just used roofing nails, with the big heads and nailed them up with some adhesive under them. It has done wonders in reducing the noise, plus no echoeing. Even with a Nazel 1B and a hydraulic press the neighbors haven't heard me working and I asked them to be sure.

I guess I could grex about coal, too. When I first started buying it, back in the '70's it was already being dropped by a lot of coal yards. The old smiths friends I had were having a tough time getting it. It cost about $80 a ton back then. Then I found a mine in western Maryland that had coal. I went up with a trucker in his 10 ton dump and the machinery they had was huge! The tire on their bucket machine was bigger than the dump truck. He had one piece of coal across the whole top of the bucket. He turned off the engine and asked how I liked that piece?! I said I can't use that, its' too big! So he flipped it up in the air with the bucket and each time it came down it broke into smaller pieces. Even the big pieces that remained I could break up by hand. Best burning coal I have had. Good and hot, little klinker, nice to work with. I bought several loads from that mine over the years. $10 a ton for the coal plus $10 a ton for the trucker. $200 for 10 tons of coal! I sold some and gave some away to my old smith friends. Then the EPA came in and shut the mine down. I even called the owner of the mine and found the next mine on the same vein and ordered 10 tons of that. Mistake! Full of slate. Miserable stuff. So now I'm hunting for some decent stuff again. Plus it's over $200 a ton now in bulk. It's $8.50 a 50 pound bag if I buy it that way. So that's $340 a ton. And it's crappy stuff. I have two good gas forges, but they sure don't have the control that a coal forge has.

On the propane pricing, I just got two small tanks, bbq, refilled, not exchange, and it cost $31.50 total for both of them.

On the steel topic, when I started forging back in the '70's it was 35 cents a pound for any size. Seemed like it stayed at that price for about 15 years. Then it jumped up to $1.35 a pound plus higher for smaller stock. Now it's nuts. Wish I could get a supplier with 1018 and wrought iron. Maybe there's a business waiting to happen.

You also want to move the chimney off to the side more so that you can put a bank of coal on both sides of the fire. See attached photo. Otherwise looking good.

Time to do some venting. Mainly in regards to the steel industry. First this change to A36 from 1018 is a pain the buttocks. The A36 is much harder than the 1018 even when hot, therefore more energy to hammer it. It just doesn't move as fast so more time hammering. Where I used to be able to nick 1/4" round on my hardie and then break it off cold, the A36 put a big half round gash in my hardie. If I request the 1018 the yards just say they can't get it that the A36 is the industry standard now. I've found the other online, but then the shipping costs eat you up.

Next problem is the pricing of steel today. They say that the prices haven't gone up, but they sure did on my bill! The smaller the stock the more the price per pound, due to it takes more work to make the smaller material. The hot rolled stock I got on Friday ran me from $1.56 per pound for 3/4" square up to $2.78 per pound for 3/16" x 3/4" flat. Oh, and this flat stock wasn't even hot rolled. It was sheared which I specifically said I did not want. Now also included in the price per pound was labor. $75.00 per hour to cut the pieces in half, from 20 footers to 10 footers. Now we all know that's one cut per size, they don't cut one piece at a time, but that's how they figure things. Next time I'll cut it myself. It used to be a service that they offered free of charge.

So now I'm supposed to raise my prices on my work to reflect the added cost of my metal, the extra time to forge it, band saw blades wearing out faster, etc. and in this economy??? I know this isn't a new issue, but these latest prices just brought it to the forefront again for me.

Keep in mind that any hearing that you loose can never be gotten back. When in doubt wear ear protection.

Back to the previous subject: yes, I did read The Artists' Way, quite a while ago. I remember it was good but that's all I remember. Maybe I need to dig it out again. In regards to pricing and detaching from the piece, for me I find it best to set a straight shop rate and add material cost and go from there. That way it's only time. I include design time, too.

One structured event that I saw the results from was put on by the Guild of Metalsmiths in Minnesota. I went up to do a demonstration for them, but when I saw the items in their gallery I was a bit intimidated. A very talented group of smiths! Some of the pieces that were different and I liked a lot were grilles that looked like a steel line drawing inside of them. See photo of grille by David Mariette, a beautiful example of what they were doing. I found out that they had meetings and practiced the exercises in Drawing On the Right Side Of the Brain by using the book of the same name by Betty Edwards. I wish they had classes around here! Anyway, not only did they do the exercises in the book, but they took it a step further by bending bar stock to turn the drawings into the grilles. Now for something like that I need the class. I have had the book for a long time and did one or two of the exercises, but I just don't stay with it on my own. Perhaps you can pass this idea along to your group as a plan?

Good to hear that you guys are okay!

Be sure to check out the Atlanta forging group: http://alexbealer.org

Also Ivan Bailey is outside of Atlanta, Corrina Mensoff as well as some other fine smiths. They can help you to locate supplies and contacts.

Good luck on your house hunt!

What's the village called? Without the fog it's one of tne most idealic places I've ever been.

I don't think I saw that gate. Must have been done after we left. I can't find it online either. I don't even find a site for him. He might have had it in his portfolio when he came over, but this mind doesn't recall it.

Actually it was his idea to call him Nanny as that's what he was being to our group while there. That sure goes back some years.

That's incredible. What a fine circke of people we associate with! I first met Mike at one of the ABANA Conferences over here. It was great that he was our Nanny for the tour. It was a Leonard Masters iron tour and Leonard had everything worked out, but Mike kept it all running. Can't you see him almost going nuts trying to get those cars out of the road? He also took us to see the restoration he did of a gate at one of the churches. A blue gate no less. Great job!

So do you know that lovely little village down the road from his shop?

Last time I saw Mike he was over here. He was staying with Claire Yellin and I was staying at her mom's house outside of Philly. We spent that weekend in Yellins' shop on Arch Street. Always a thrill. I contacted him once after that but that was the last time I heard from him. Do go up and see him and give him a hug for me. I'd love to hear what he's been up to.

Yes, Jake and Bryan, take care!!!

Okay, now you’re making me very nostalgic. I came to your beautiful country in ’89 on an iron tour. So I got the chance to take in your lovely countryside, history and people. As a “quick” synopsis, we first stopped at Richard Quinnels’ shop near Leatherhead, Surry. Here’s my first encounter with time comparison or a time warp. His house was older than our free country! His shop was also an old building with forges from one end to another. It looked like a forging factory. At least that’s the way I remember it. We were definitely in the English countryside. We could have stayed there all week.

We then went up to Hereford for the BABA Conference. Not only an educational experience in forging, but a union of kindred spirits. One night we had a rowdy time with limericks and bawdy tunes. It was also surprising who had the bawdiest ones. And this was before the ale! Oh, I remember the looks I got from the cafeteria ladies when they saw my name tag. “Randy”. We got a good laugh out of that.

Part of the conference was to go to Ironbridge for a smelting and iron rolling. It was only the second time it was reopened. The first was for Princess Diana and Prince Charles. On the way back on the bus I saw rolling hills and a castle in the distance and wanted to go there. Boy, was I put back in time. They said that was in Wales and couldn’t go there. Bummer! Next time I’m heading for Wales.

After the conference, on the way to London, we went to Michael Roberts shop. The Anvil Barn. By the way, he was our Nanny for the tour. From there we walked to a local village for lunch. Now from where we were we didn’t see anything but farm fields so weren’t sure where this village was, but then it appeared. Old stone buildings, a big old tree in the town square and rolling hills. It was hard to leave.

Back to the bus and a visit to where Michael was raised. There was a long driveway through the woods and the bus got stuck on a curve. The bus was too long to fit. So while they worked on a remedy for that we took another nice walk to the estate. What a huge place! The kind of place we see in pictures, but just don’t see over here.

Michael knew a shortcut to London from there so we were winding around back single lane roads in the bus when all of a sudden the road was blocked with parked cars. No one in them! Michael was mad! He went flying off the bus looking for the drivers. He came back laughing and the drivers coming out of a nearby driveway. “Only in England do people stop for tea time.”

London was a treat, too. The V & A Museum tour of ironwork with the curator. What a thrill to see the actual pieces that I’d seen photos of for years. Being able to see the actual scale of things, plus I could see the backs to learn how they were put together! I went on my own to the British Museum. I wanted to see the Celtic work. And I wasn’t disappointed. Amazing stuff!

We saw Churchill’s little house. I’m being facetious. The tapestries on the walls are bigger than my house! Tony Robinson met us at the Great Hall at Winchester Castle to show us his forged stainless steel gates he did for the Royal Wedding in ’82. If you want to see a master of hot metal, check out Tony’s works! We also went to Hampton Court to see the gardens and Jean Tijou’s famous gates. You have more iron history dating back before we were even discovered. Amazing! It really changed our perception of iron history, being limited to what’s here in the States.

I also had a great time in the pubs and hob knobbing with the locals. Very gracious people. All in all a fabulous time. Two weeks I’ll never forget. Oh, this was supposed to be a quick synopsis. Well, it was considering all that I left out. You have a beautiful country and I hope I get the opportunity to visit again sometime. I know there’s so much more to see and learn. Sorry if I rambled on too long. It's just a special time in my life.

It's a 5 h.p. motor and a Northern Tool, 16 GPM, 2 stage, 1/2" shaft, 2,500 PSI / max 3,000 PSI pump.

Thomas is right on. You need to get a "zoning variance" to run a business from your home. Most areas like artists. Mine cost me $1,000 and a lot of paperwork and photos, but I got it. But do everthing they ask you for the paperwork.

Forged hearts for candle holders, love letter openers, wall hooks, etc.

I hope this article has answered some of your questions. I find the key to this machine, as many others, is tooling. I have a lot of texturing dies and forming dies, but it always seems like I need more. I still want to make some punches, but will need a particular job to determine what sizes are required. Once they're made I find it incredible in what you can do with the press.

About 25 years ago I used to belong to a 12 step program, AA. Artists Anonymous. True! We met once a week in a church basement and discussed what was going on in our art. We had painters, musicians, singers, potters, writers, fiber artists and a blacksmith. It was really interesting to hear their trials and tribulations. All pretty much the same stories, maybe not the story as much as the feelings and results. Kinda like this group! One exercise we did was to think back, or meditate back as far as we could to our first experience with art and what happened. I remember geting a 4th place award for a coloring contest in elementary school. The response from my father was, "you can never make a living doing that!". What a thing to say to a kid. And how has that affected me over the years. Making such negativity come true? So we learn what we have to work against and get a better understanding of why we are worried about rejection or what the value is of our work.

Another exercise was to focus on what was holding us back from accomplishing our goals in our art. Almost everyone had the same problem. Procrastination. Coming up with excuses not to create. And we anylized that. Here we love being creative. We love what we can produce. Designing, forging, satisfaction in a finished piece. And then a client raves about how much they love the piece. Plus they pay you for it! Back to the studio and, oh, I'd better straighten up. I need to clean the lights, oil the machinery, make some more tooling, mow the yard, read a book, go to the scrap yard and see what they have today, Not that these things don't have to be done at some point, but it's an excuse not to get back to what you love doing. So why do we do this? Why the avoidance? Maybe it's "what's the use, I'll never be any good anyway". Or "even if I produce whatever, no one will buy it" or whatever circle you want to run around in. I still struggle with this.

Seeing Jake working on so many projects is truely inspiring. We all have, with few exceptions, our own demons to fight against and find our solutions, or not. We can choose to watch the boob tube or zone out on the couch when there's a chunk of metal just waiting to be coaxed into a new form. I've learned alot from books, fellow artists and just life experiences, but putting it into practice...that's another thing.

Here's one of the editions that the details and pattern are in: http://www.abana.org/hbarchive/HBvolume8/HB%20vol8%233/HB_8%233.pdf

Beth and John are right on the mark, Jake. Looks like we're back to what I wrote before about the problem of doing what we want and then need to find a client who has an appreciation of what it is and maybe how it was done and has the money to back that up. In doing shows for many years I had my intemidation of dealing with the public and their lack of knowledge of forging. The majority of the crowd would just walk by in a daze. But then those special people would come in. Well, some weren't so special, just want to share that their grandfather had been a blacksmith, blah, blah, blah... But then the others were truley interested. Funny how they saw toltally different things in my work than I did, and they often enjoyed the things that I was so conscious about being wrong or bad or? They don't look at all of the detail that we focus on. They see an overall piece. They have different eyes than we do and that's a good place to be coming from for us. I found that if I didn't charge enough for the piece the people would walk. I thought it was priced too high. They figure something must be wrong with it at that price. I proved this to myself over and over. This happened when I carried a piece around for a couple years with out selling it I would mark the price up, not down. It was often the piece that sold first at the next show. Go figure.

If you want an excellent book, Art & Fear, Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It's available on Amazon. It really explains what an artist goes through and ways around it.

Another good book is, As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen. As you see by the "thinketh" it takes some getting used to in reading, but then flows. Very spiritual and into the laws of attraction.

Can't wait to see your next piece!

Jake, I think the piece is great! The pieces compliment each other, the copper was a good solution and the colors are very complimenting. You know we are our own worst critics! Picky, picky, picky. Sure it may not be exactly as you invisioned but you learned along the way, you found solutions for problems that arose during creation and you have a functioning handle. These things are a work in progress. From what you learned from this one the next one will be better and so will other things you make. Plus it's an opportunity to do another one. This is positive growth! Often when I start a new project I have a mental picture then draw it up to figure up details and construction ideas, but as the work progresses there are things that I hadn't planned on or the piece wants to go in another direction. That's when I sit back and observe what's happened. Often it had a better idea or flow then I had. Learn from it and move on. Some times we learn our limitations, too. Again we have a choice. Either avoid the problem, learn how to do it, or find another solution. It's a constant chalenge. That's what keeps it interesting. :)