TomN

I told you I was terrible with accents! At least I know which one you were now though. :)

Are you the one with a slight accent? Possibly Aussie........i'm terrible with accents by the way. And you didn't hear me singing, because if I try to sing people will kill me with anything to hand. Its not good!

Which one were you Colleen? I was the one that sounded like Barry White, with a hangover, due to my stupid toncilitis.

Had a nice time at the AGM. Not sure how the more regulars saw it, but seemed like a fantastic turnout to me. Not just that, but a wide range of ages as well, so shows the Guild has really inspired a new generation of smiths.

Really looking forward to getting down to Exeter tomorrow. Should be there by 9am ish. Should be an interesting experience. I will be sleeping in my car I think.

I wish I was up there. Blacksmithing and being in the Lakes, surrounded by mountains would be heaven. Where abouts are you based?

Wish I lived closer! Oh well. Good luck finding an apprentice Owen.

Should be coming to watch, chat and drink some beers.

Looks like a great event. Shame i'm away in Cornwall on holiday. Might be able to make it along on the Sunday, but I doubt it.

Looks like a great class. Very cool indeed to go through the process of ore right the way through to a knife. One day i'd love to do this sort of this, but make a hammer out of it. I'm intrigued about your student that is a 'hobby miner' Owen. I go to the Lake District a lot to walk the mountains and am always interested in the mining industry. Are they on this site by any chance? I'd love a chat about that!

Sent an email to them about 5 days ago and am still awaiting a reply.

Thanks John. I have sent them an email expressing interest. Fingers crossed.

Now this sounds interesting! I would love to hear the details on this John. Better get my forge out and start practising.....

I plan on going along and helping you out Giles! Wife has given me the go ahead as well. Having done any smithing for a long time though, as the weather has been horrendous and my outside 'shop' has been wrecked.

Yorkshiremans ledger, sounds like the punchline to a penny pinching joke. (No offence JohnB) Very interesting though Giles. An unusual purchase.

Might come on the twists and scroll ends course.

I watched that programme a few months ago. Very interesting watch. It seems that the fashion changed through times and a lot of Henry VIII's armour was inspired by Italian styles and made by descendants of German smiths. All of his armour was made for use as well. A lot of people don't realise that the fat Henry VIII, used to be very thin and a great fighter in tournaments when he was younger. So his armour pieces were pretty, but also functional. Interesting programme!

Nice bit of countryside around there! If I was a bit closer I could have come and given you a hand, but it seems your further away from me than I thought. Oh well. Good luck anyway. Perserverence is a virtue and you will find plenty of help on here.

I've got hold of suspension springs and leaf springs from a local garage. Just have a chat with the manager before you go skip diving. I would strongly suggest that you go on the tool making course at the Guild (April 27th and 28th) as tool steel acts differently to the mild steel you will have used before. And you will need to learn how to heat treat the steel to make tools. There is a forum lower down on this page for the Blacksmiths Guild. Where abouts in the mendips are you? I'm relatively close!

Hi Bogmonster. Welcome to the site. I can agree with you about the courses run at the Guild down in Exeter, as that is where I am learning as well. As for the stuff on the course, you can make the pint glass holder out of 8-10mm round stock. All you will need is a hammer and an anvil. It will make life a lot easier if you have a vice, and a piece of pipe (welded to a block that holds it in the vice) to form the round section around. A few tools here would also help, such as scrolling forks, but you could probably just about make do with a pair of pliers. As for the ME, I don't know a lot about it, but don't be lured into thinking you need to use a massive hammer and thick stock metal. Tailor your smithing to yourself! Good luck and enjoy!

Been busy lately trying to find a job. Also am half way through rebuilding my workshop. Just got my leg stand from a local metalworks, so once I have my anvil stand welded up, I will be laughing..........if the weather holds off that is. A few weekends ago I went down to Exeter for a firewelding course. As usual it was a great and informative course run by The Blacksmithing Guild. John B had a guest teacher there, who was a thoroughly nice bloke and talk us all with a smile on his face for the whole of the two days. We learnt how to scarf up the ends and make a butt ended fire weld and then did a t section weld on flat bar. Both were put in a vice and yanked hard to 'prove' the weld had taken. Its surprising just how well they stick together with small contact points. After the first day, we went on to take 4 thin, round bar sections, to make a cage twist and fire welded the ends. This was then fire welded onto a square bar and we could make it into what we wanted. On my first attempt the I got the 4 thin bars welded together and then welded onto the thicker square bar. When I went to twist the cage section up, the fireweld at the end split in the middle and I was left with 2 groups of two bars together. i plunged it back in the forge and re-firewelded the 2 groups back together. Unfortunately they got twisted and I ended with the 4 thin round rods 'out of sequence', so when I untwisted them to make the box twist it went a bit odd. Interesting all the same! I ended up just quickly putting a twist in it and then a sort of hook end, so my very short wife can use it to reach things in cupboards when I am out of the house. I had a retry, which went a lot better! Got the cage twist right and tried a different twist in the middle (heat was perfectly even when I did the twist though). I then made it into a poker, with a log roller and put a little antelope like face on the end. Poker Cage twist Antelope face log roller I need to change the sharp end on top of the cage twist into a little hook, so it can be hung by a fire place and then I will treat it and paint it.

Looks like a great and interesting event. Wish it wasn't so far away! I still think the guy in the snail competition that made the s nail is a genius.

That mans sentiments seem to mirror my own. I hope I still have the same mind when i'm half his age! As for the accent, for you American types, that is a West Country accent. That is the south west of England. I'd know, as thats where i'm from. Would mind making an appointment to go see him. I bet he got some good stories and advice to pass on. Fair play to the old boy. As we say down Bristol way 'he's done it all right'.

Not looking for any wire at the moment. That was just for a bit of fun! Currenty having no free time at the moment, I am just trying to rebuild my workshop at the moment. Slowly looking to build up tools as I go. Its just getting the free time to make them. See you in a few weekends time.

Hi John, sounds like you had a good time at the show. Shame I couldn't make it! I've got myself 3 weeks work in a warehouse at the moment, which is terrible and minimum wage, but I can't turn down the work at the moment. Giles has told me about the commision. I won't be able to have a go at it for quite some time at the moment, as free time is very rare currently. I won't be coming to the Windsor show, as I will be down at Westpoint for the firewelding course.