Michael

Hey, after 10 roses I just figured this one out. Making the outer petals wider than the inner ones. I've been doing a faggot weld on the end of my rose rod to give me that width. How do you get that nice rounded shape at the bottom of the outer petals?

Hey Thomas can you give us a BP on that Dragon Business card holder? Michael-Frightening the neighbors since the year four.

Covered patio, next to my woodworking shop in the yard. About 20 feet behind the house. There's a power outlet for the blower, covered on 3 sides but the 40 yr old corregated metal is rusted and leaks. 8 inch flue pipe running up thru the roofing. Burning charcoal.

Half the time I'm at the scrap yard in the VW Bug, so I bend the 10 and 20' stock (1/4 inch square and round, maybe up to 3/8ths) so it'll fit in the back, if I'm shopping for thicker half inch stuff and its long, I bring the handled cold cut and a sledge and snap it off at about 4 feet, it leans in the corner behind the forge, the bent stuff gets hung by nails from the patio cover framing near the forge. Mostly I work with 1/2 inch and under.

the one I made was 3/8 plate on the bottom and 1 inch angle iron to hold the dies. Should have used thicker angle, reinforced the small stuff with bar stock mig welded in place. Still trying to figure the best shape for the dies. I used a spring fuller most of the time, was thinking of making round and square dies to use in the guilotine. what shapes get used the most in the work of others?

Been looking on Craigslist trying to find a cheap enough arc welder to help the smithing thing along a bit. Just found one on wednesday night, a Miller Thunderbolt 225V, looks to be about 1974 or 75 vintage. Came with 20 foot cables, rolling stand and a helmet, $50 for the whole thing. Now I just need to get 220 out to the patio, or figure out how to get away with welding in the kitchen close to the outlet for the electric stove. Finished an Art Welding class last year and stick welding really spoke to me. As soon as its up and running I have visions of a forge table I can weld my brake drum forge into and a nice big stand for the post vise. I'm sure some more welding project will come to mind. Michael-frightening the neighbors since the year four.

I'm talking about what I think are farriers hoof nippers. I see them with smithing tools all the time. I've used them to lever nails out of boards, half the ebay auctions for tongs are nippers. I even bought a cheap pair at the flea a couple of weeks ago. The price was right and the handles had a nice springy feel to them. My hope, despite looking suspiciously cast, is the heat and bend the jaws for holding RR spikes. "get to the question" (screams voice in head) Is there a blacksmithing use for these things that I've been missing? I could maybe see cutting off thin stock, nothing over 3/8ths and orange hot at that. Or are they strictly a farriers tool that gets lumped in with other blacksmith stuff? Thanks Michael, glad to have IFI back

thanks, the results of waiting two years before attempting to make tongs, it only took me a year and a half to attempt my first drive hook.

Last weekend I got some unexpected forging time and made my first set of tongs, small bolt tongs to hold the quarter inch round and square I've been using for hooks, roses and leaves. My arm gave out before I could get the reins properly drawn out or fit the rivet just right, but they came out better than I expected. Also did the spring fuller in mile steel, next one in thicker material I think. Michael

The painting is by Paul Detlefsen, a google image search on him will turn up a few of his paintings. One of them hung in my grandparents living room for years. Lots of reproductions out there. Ebay always has a few. These were mass produced in the 40's and 50's I think. I've got a smaller one on a souvenier block of wood and a larger version on canvas, in need of a frame.

I've put cement board behind the forge on the wooden wall, could use a bigger hearth than the brake drum forge provides, and need to anchor leg on the post vise, but it works. Currently trying to finish a bellows so I can move to the side of the patio that Doesn't leak when it rains.

Reveling in that infrequent joy, a day where my office closes but school is still open, I did a little forging over the holiday weekend. These heart hooks have been on my project list for a while, but I had to get my forge welding technique down before I could make them work. The welds are serviceable, but far from perfect. Got out to the smithy (patio) after a leisurely breakfast, lit the charcoal in the BBQ chimney about 10:40 and I had a forge fire up and running by 11 AM. Did the welds, then pointed the other ends and turned them around 180 degrees to make the hearts. At that point, it was time to get ready for the GIT's 2nd grade holiday party. Got cleaned up (they don't often see Dads at these things, much less smoky dirty Dads), celebrated with the GIT and got back home by 2:30. Then firing up the gas forge, (large pipe, insulation and a MAPP gas torch) which takes all of 3 minutes to get up to heat, and finished hot cutting, scrolling and bending the hooks. Just what I wanted the gas forge for, to get to work quickly, though it doesn't get as hot as the charcoal forge, and is limited in the size of the work you can do. Then on Xmas day, with an hour to kill I made the hook in the middle, also in the gas forge, Got to try out the new twisting wrench, an old Coe's (my first old tool) with a handle welded onto the end, nice even twists with that. Best, Michael-Richmond CA

I took a class at the local adult school, Art Welding. 9-noon on saturday's for 8 weeks. Lots of discussion about mobiles, yard art and negative space. and while I did stickweld together some scrap that kind of looks like a frog, what I really made was tools for smithing. A mini forge, guillotine fuller, bending fork and twisting wrench. Instructor was happy to see what I can turn out in the forge and had no problem with me making tools for that purpose. Got to try Stick (my favorite) TIG, MIG, Flux core and OA welding, also had some fun with the OA cutting rig. Great fun, and the teacher gonna email me when the plasma cutter is set up. Michael, SF Bay Area