Dogsoldat

I wonder if steaming the wood had a similar effect on the wood cells that kiln drying does.  From what I understand is when the wood is heated and kiln dried the cells rupture and that stabilizes the wood.  I've never heard of the pitch being washed out of the wood preventing checking but then there are volumes of stuff I don't know  :)

what about upsetting for the scarf to weld reigns on tongs?  and everyone needs tongs

All the rivets you see are either articulation points or mounting points for leather straps.   take a look through this pdf and much will become clear.  there also is an excellent book by ? Price on armour that's well worth getting .  Drat...   links not going through.  but if you google  Basic Armouring by Paul Blackwell

Brian Brazeal has a fantastic video on youtube on making tongs.  There are quite a few others that have excellent youtube videos on tongs of various sorts.  Google a few and watch them a few times thru and things will start to make a lot of sense in a  hurry.  Time well spent  even giving them a good perusal.  heck even have it in a small window in the corner of your screen while cruising thru IFI.   some times the important bits catch your eye when you least expect it...  :)

I have a  cold chisel made in metal shop.  It's either in my stuff somewhere or in with dads tools someplace.  Just remember that it came out to soft as 2  of the queen bee girls were bs'ing between me and the quench tank.  They moved quick when  being yelled at to move or get burnt...  can't  remember making anything before that.  Did watch Dad make a knife out of a planer blade and Teflon for a handle on his rivet forge,  was for a cousin if I remember right.

Some wonderful ideas there.  This has been a bit of a  question I've been rolling around in my head as my wife would like to see some sort of stand to go with the single roses.  What I have been thinking of though is a Brazeal  horseshoe heart with some to hold the rose up in.  Whether that's one end twisted up into a spiral or something socketed riveted on.  I think the heart as a base would make the roses quite desirable for Valentines Day.  Just have to find some time to get out and play in the shop... 

Thanks for that bit of history Thomas.  Always fascinating how things were done.

That's rather interesting.  Must be more for tin work with wheels on the bottom.

Yeah the sword is interesting have a few more pics of it too.  He has it for sale $250 I think.  Would have to check.  There are 2 marks on the blade but couldn't say what they are supposed to be in terms of makers marks. Been really tempted to buy it but the wife has been giving me the evil eye every time I mention it.  Holidays treated you well I hope.  4-5" of fluffy stuff.  Just enough to make life interesting.

Was visiting a friend that has a barbershop and has all sorts of odds and ends pass thru on consignment and such.  Showed me a 1903  The Gibson guitar he recently picked up in a 1898 leather case.  A stratavarius violin from Czechslovakia,  he was saying it was appraised on the Antique Roadshow.   And he also acquired a fair collection on knives.  Some Kinfolks, a Kabar Rifle knife, a Jim Frost made in Pakistan that though cheap steel looks well made otherwise.  And an 1812 NCO's sword

Any reason not to put sauna tube or a 5 gal pail filled with concrete with a bit of rebar sticking out the top with a hole drilled in the bottom of the post?  At least that's the way Dad had done his outbuildings.  Keeps the posts from rotting off.  Either way looks like a heck of a good start.

ah goodness.  just to sharp for your own good Frosty!   :)  thanks for the chuckle!

What about making crosses anyways.  just twist the arms til the diamond in the center is the right size.

Thanks Frank.

I have a fair bit of it that I have collected from when I was running feller buncher.  For awhile there it seemed every time I turned around I found another clump that was going to be levelled anyways so I brought a bunch home. Have several nice billets I have to try and turn into bows one day.  But that's another hobby  :)  

I guess you wouldn't have any idea whether the are soft iron,  copper or a copper alloy.  They certainly look interesting.

It took three weekends of puttering away but I finally finished it.  Sheath and all.  Steel is a bit of 5160 from an old Ford leaf spring.  The handle is a piece of yew I had collected some time ago and the brass bits are from the thrust washers off a 527 skid cat trunion.  reasonably happy with how it turned out.  The grind and polish went really well.  the handle went on nice but the pommel cap  has tried working loose once or twice.  The tang hardened up making it rather difficult to peen over nicely.  should have taken a pic or two when it was fresh forged.  My new flatter made for a nice quick job of dressing the blade.

Whats in the left corner of the picture?  Looks like the bottom of a big bick.   Very nice score  congrats!

You did a very nice job on the stained glass.  I really like the symmetry and assymetricalness of it .  Kinda makes me want to just keep staring at it.  :)  so... I guess it's a bit big to have Santa stick it in my stocking.

Finally had a little more time to work on mine today.  Very similar dimensions.  Started with an S-cam shaft 1 1/2" dia.  Same issue with the hole being a little off and the shank is a little off center to the face.  need to clean it up a little and heat treat.  That and can't forget my stamp...   made another pick in between heats for something to do.  

Thanks for that Frank.  Nothing beats form and function.  I will have to try and remember this if I am making any bbq forks.

Just had a thought and it may be  of limited use but what about bending the reigns back on themselves to shorten things up to fit in a box.  Since we all have a heat source to straighten the reigns back out.

  One of the very first one I made everything was in about the right ratio,  but had cold shuts so a wing broke off and another was nearly there.  Yeah the neck is to long, head is a little to big, and the wings to short.  He just balances on top,  drilled a small dimple  at his balance point and set him on  so when I have time plan on changing him out.  Figure another 5-8 tries should make for an acceptable one.

   You wouldn't happen to have a sketch or link for a few steps in your bugs Jim.  I think I am picturing it right but you never know.  Sounds like It may be on the to try list.

 Took  quite a few tries to get a dragonfly somewhere close to what I wanted.  Still not good enough but he balances on the top so pretty simple to change out when I manage to make a better one.  Punched a few holes through the mounting plate and plug welded with the wire feed from the bottom.  With a  little more symmetrical dragonfly it would balance on the point and turn in the breeze.

I have my bottle in a wooden box and had a space heater blow on it though a hole in the side  (no heat),  just the moving air around the bottle does a pretty good job of preventing it from freezing up.  It now has an old exhaust fan from an old range hood. that blows into the box.  Takes about two minutes from when the pressure starts to drop back to wide open when I forget to plug it in.