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I Forge Iron

Lodestone25

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Everything posted by Lodestone25

  1. Hey guys, I moved a few years ago and one of my chandelier pieces had to sit in a garage for about 2.5 years. I pulled it out today because I finally have a place to put it again, and found it had (not surprisingly) developed quite the patina and is even rusting in many places. It's made of mild steel and was originally treated with 4 or 5 coats of linseed oil (about 4 years ago). Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could return this to it's original luster? Thanks as always for your input fellas! (photo of the piece attached) Lodestone
  2. Wow thank you for all the great tips gentlemen! I've never done a lot of the suggestions but I'm looking into them and experimenting on what works best. VaughnT - your chisel work is fantastic, do you do that cold or hot? To the guys who suggested electrolytic etching, is there a method/tutorial you'd recommend I follow? I'm finding all kinds of crazy suggestions online so I was hoping one of you could grant some sanity! Thanks again all, Lodestone
  3. I was recently commissioned to forge a cross for one of my neighbors who had lost a close family member. She asked if I could inscribe her initials on the piece and I've never done that before. I tried carefully using chisels/punches to make the letters, I tried sketching them and then using a dremel to grind the letters, but everything I've done looks childish and not fit for the piece. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good way to do this? (photo is the completed cross, waiting for initials.) Thanks all! Lodestone
  4. Ok, I feel a lot better now. I thought I had overlooked something and maybe ruined the blade! Thanks for your input fellas! Lodestone
  5. I made my wife a kitchen knife for her birthday out of O-1 Steel, and I need a little help with care and maintenance. I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out (see first picture). I told her she'd have to clean it immediately after use and store it with a thin coat of mineral oil to ensure it doesn't rust. Well, the first time she used it to cut some chicken, she said after about 7 minutes the blade had colored to what's shown in the second picture. That staining will not come off with soap and water. What is going on there? I'm sure I could buff it or sand it back to clean, but is there something else we're doing wrong here? Thanks in advance for your help! Lodestone
  6. Yeah i made an S hanger because i thought it might look neat, but I agree with you ciladog-- it would have been better with a gooseneck. maybe I'll do that next weekend!
  7. Finished today! Here are some pictures of it hanging in my dining room. The wire's blend in really nice, can't really notice them at all. We've got a big dining room table on order that will fit better with it, but for now we'll have to make due with the little one. Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out. Lodestone
  8. Yep, I have a grounding wire coming down to a copper clamp bound around a structural piece of the chandelier. Lodestone
  9. Just to keep everyone posted, I ended up running the wires along the inside of one scroll-arm, around the spiral, and up into the center cylinder (This was JimsShip's Idea - thank you sir!). I attached the wire to the steel in three places each by putting a little acetone on the buffer wheel of my Dremel and buffing the oil off in small spots for a dab of Loctite super gel. This stuff cures in 60 seconds and held the wires to the steel great. If i didn't clean the spot off well enough (ie there was still Linseed oil in the area), the glue would not hold in the slightest and I'd have to re-buff and try again. In the end, i think it turned out really well. Oh, and I had my neighbor (who owns his one electrician company) come by to make sure my wiring was legit and he said it looked great. so it should be safe as well! Thanks for your input fellas, Lodestone
  10. Thanks for your input gentlemen, it's much appreciated. I'm definitely going to be running the wires along that twist to help hold it in place, and I think I'm going to try to attach them mechanically in some discreet way, like small zip ties... or another idea i had was burning the paper off of twist ties and using the thin blackened wire to hold it in a couple places. Maybe I'll try both and see what happens. doc, do you think silicon caulk would hold to the oiled steel and the wire? I dont have any experience with the stuff, but that would be my concern. Chinobi, thanks for the compliment sir! that means a lot to me. Lodestone
  11. I've finally finished the metalwork part of a chandelier I've been working on for about a year now and I have a question on the best way to run the wires. My plan all along has been to just run them along the steel "arms" of the chandelier and then up and into the center piece where they will be wired together (see pictures). I'm trying to think of a way to discreetly make sure the wires stay "attached" to the steel arms along the way to the center piece, so that they don't hang down and look all sloppy. At first I was thinking very small dabs of hot glue spaced every couple of inches would do it, but now that the piece is finished (I used several coats of linseed oil), I'm concerned that linseed oil and hot glue might not be the best idea. Does anyone know if there is a different adhesive that would work better? Any other ideas on a better way to do this? Thank you for your help!! Lodestone
  12. I've got her all welded up and almost ready for finishing... right now I'm thinking heating to black and applying Linseed oil may work the best. My only concern with leaving it "raw metal" versus say coating it with black rustoleum or something like that, is that my welds aren't exactly the cleanest so maybe a coat of rustoleum would help hide some of the imperfections. any thoughts guys?
  13. Wow thanks for the pics Martin! That's exactly what I was hoping to find here!!! I really like finish on your third piece!
  14. Thanks very much for your input guys, I'll have to try out a few of your suggestions to see what works best. I'll be sure to post pics when I'm done! Thanks again, Lodestone
  15. Thanks for the suggestion Woody, any input on where I could find instructions on that type of finish? Or is it just a product I can buy?
  16. Thanks Ron, I'll probably end up doing something like that.. The reason I ask is because I've spent about a year working on this chandelier (pictures linked below), I've got it all cleaned up and ready for the final welding (the crescents and candle mounts are not welded yet). I was planning on leaving it raw with just a coat of linseed oil, but of course my wife decided that the "silver" color doesn't match her dining room, so she wants a darker finish.... can you point me towards something that might work for that? http://imgur.com/a/Ugr6p THanks again, Lodestone
  17. Hey guys, I tried searching around but couldn't find anything - does anyone know where I can find some photos showing the different types of steel finishes out there? I've read a lot about different types of wax, linseed oil, tung oil, rustoleum, etc out there, but I can't decide which one I want to use on my current piece. a photo of each different finish end result I think would be really helpful. Does this exist anywhere? Thanks! Lodestone
  18. Great tips, thanks very much guys! I'll let you know how it goes - Lodestone
  19. Does anyone have any tips on how to forge cups or saucers to hold candles on a chandelier? I dont have any specialized tools, so a way to do with with just a forge, anvil, a variety of hammers (ball, straight peen, etc), and a post vice would be much appreciated. What kind of stock is best to start out with? I've been trying to figure this one out for a couple weeks now and im at a loss. any tips would be much appreciated! Thank you, Lodestone
  20. John, thanks so much for the tips and input! I'll look into the copper wire wrap idea, it sounds like it would be a great touch. As for wiring, I'm thinking right now I'll try to make it electric and hide the wires the best I can, and if it turns out looking bad I'll just switch to candles. Thanks again John, your insight is much appreciated! Lodestone
  21. Thanks for the feedback guys! I was trying to figure out whether or not to see if I could run electric candles on this thing in the end, but i might be out of luck since I used solid stock instead of tubing. Do you think I'd be able to run thin black wires through the center cylinder and out to provide electricity to the ends? Or do you think that would end up looking bad? Otherwise I'll just have to go with good old fashioned candles, which i think would look nice as well. Lodestone
  22. I'm definitely still a rookie - just trying to push my boundaries a bit with this project. This is my first attempt at a chandelier, not complete yet by any means, this is just the "core". I'm planning on adding some banding and detail scrollwork along the middle cylinder section (as well as candleholders at the ends of the arms). I have a whole bunch of process pics here, I just wanted to see if anyone had any input as to things I could do better, things I did right, and maybe any ideas for what kind of detail pieces I could add to "fill it out" Thank you for your help! Lodestone
  23. whew, thanks guys! I'm never quite sure what I'm doing with these deals, but im glad to hear i did ok. I fired up the forge tonight and tried out the Trenton, man it was nice. Going from a 140lb anvil to a 296lb makes a huge difference in stability! Lodestone
  24. I believe one is a 296lb Trenton (in really good shape), and the other is a 246lb Soderfors in pretty decent shape. I paid 600$ each on these, any thoughts? I'm still relatively new to this stuff so I wanted to see if you guys thought I made a decent deal or not. Thanks for your help, Lodestone
  25. Thanks for the input George! I'll keep that in mind as i move forward. A CNC is a computer controlled milling machine. He has one that you just load your computer model into and it mills out whatever you designed into whatever material you want. (within reason, and as long as you use the right type of bits for the material.)
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