hans138

1. this is the anvil type I dream of
2.  

I feel that this profession has been around for ages, and how many people have worked in the craft, and how many things have they made? its so old that I feel its very rare for anyone to come up with something that is 100% original. so if you make something you didn't come up w yourself at least give credit to where it is deserved 

very nice job blending the welds into the tentacles and body

dude got xxxxx game. any one here play the video game HORIZON NEW DAWN reminds me of that 

congrats on making the plunge into smithing, one of the oldest professions. it can be learned in a few days but take a life time to master.  just a word of advice on making knives.

we come across a blade in form or another multiple times a day our whole lives, its got an easy straight forward shape we are all to familiar with, but there harder to make than you could ever guess. and im talking about a sub par knife, personally i would pick someting else out as my first project maybe find something that will teach you how to draw out a length of rod, or round up a piece of square stock and make a simple hook, that was my first project (and i was ticked off when the student teacher wouldnt even let me try and make a knife for months, and now i know why) its surprisingly hard, and thats just the forging you still have to contend w the heat treating  and if you dont evenly hammer the knife itll warp on you or worse crack, when you heat treat it. but that being said do what your heart tells you try and make the knife and when you fail ( i hope you make that knife your female dog) may be try a few other projects then come back to the knife. best tip i can give you is before you begin to pack the edge(hammering the bevel on the edge) be sure to bend the knife in the direction of the blade casue packing the edge will cause that side of the knife to lengthen and that in turn will cause it to bend the other way. but since you though ahead and bent it towards the blade slightly it will straighten its self out.  when i was taught that trick i was a total game changer for me

we would love to see some pics of your knife and any other projects you end up forgeing and dont worry if there bad every one here had to start off w little to no exp themselves so we have heaps of sub par forgings.

HI THERE. im not sure if some one mentioned this but leave it in the fire for a goood loooooooong soak so it gets lots of scale built up, nice deep scale. when allowed to really penetrate the material it leaves a fantastic texture on the metal that really ads a lot in the line of texture, especially stressed texture,also when i think of stressed metal rust comes to mind. urinating on it a few times a day for a few days does a good job, then give it a real quick rub with a sanding foam pad to knock the loose stuff off then maybe a lil sealant to protect it and blamo you got a distressed item done in a controlled manner.

maaybe dont tell the customer that u peed on it.... unless there into that kind of thing.

well i wish you the best and hope the customer is happy as can be with your piece.

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so prob the most abundant and easily obtained "stock" in the smithing world are RR spikes. they are good practice to make knifes and you can make some sharp looking ones if you put somethought and execution into it, but they dont hold an edge well. also tomahawks but same prob with its edge hold quality's. but what i like to do is use them to practice stuff like splitting, scarfing and forge welding, drawing out in various cross sections. even basket twists. 

i taught a few class's out of my garage and the humble spike was used as free fodder for the flame. i like it cause i lived right by the tracks. and not only the spike but there are all kinds of big bolts, large plates (what the spikes are hammered into) clips (holds the tracks in place via the plates) and various parts that fell off the trains. 

now one project i started but never finished was a giant hand ad arm made from whole spikes minus the head(although i used some of the discarded heads as knuckles on the fingers really looked better than i had hoped). the sketch looked promising (which to me says a lot cause i cant draw to save my life) and had a nice robotic, boxy look to it. i was only about 39% done and man was it heavy. prob close to 60 lbs. ( 27 Kilos or so) but i lost interest before i finished, and now i am interested again i no longer have it. my problem when it comes to projects is i come down on my self cause the project does not seem good enough for me to attach my name to it, but in reality its perfectly fine, maybe even actually cool to cool as xxxx according to friends. (you beginners out there head this advise, do not be like me... no matter how tempted you are. i tend to not finish pieces out of self consciousness and it hurts my progress. SEE YOUR WORKS THROUGH FROM CONCEPTION ALL THE WAY TO IT BEING BIRTHED INTO THIS HARSH BEAUTIFUL WORLD. your advancement and growth as an artisan will benefit greatly. 

but seeing as spring will be here sooner or later its time for the farmers market, and i am brain storming now all the diff RRS items i could make. and seeing as up cycling is so popular no i def want to keep the silhouette of the spike intact so customers can see what it started life as. one thing i want to stay away from in over done stuff like bottle openers. i am gonna do a few oyster shuckers to send to my chef pals out on the pacific coast but those wont do well here as i am in the midwest. Gonna do a few cork screws and maybe some candle holders where i flatten out the head so ittl sit steady on a table then dish out the spike part to make kind of a curved well for the candle to sit in. ad a mirror finish to the dish so it reflects light nicely but i bet its gonna need a looooot of tweaking to be an item that will catch folks eyey. 

also gonna do some door knockers and stricking plates, now i think those would look great on a nice big wooden door, or decorating some ones man cave. 

also latches for live stock gates and barn doors id done right could be darn cool, well have to see if my vision excedes my talent, which it usually does but thats good because it forces me to try harder and make the dream a reality.

what about you guys what are some of your ideas i can steal...errr i mean admire. i guess really nothing is origanal in the smithing world. think how long its been a profession 9 (i call it the second oldest profession) and how many people have chosen it or been chosen my it, now add up all the diff projects folks have done and you can see why i belive there really is not much if anything a person could do that hasnt in some capacity been done before. sounds bleak and depressing huh... i should just give up now. 

man i depress my self... 

any who what are some out of the box ideas yall have done or have thought of doing. 

Love the flatware bird! Very nice gat to

Ya it turned out well and it was my first small metal project. Ill get a better pic of the copper piece in the middle. I textured it to look like wood and alot of class mates thought it was wood. If any of you guys make one post it here i would love to see other peoples takes on the idea

I like the wagon wheel idea. I can realy picture it in a vise

So i accidently bought a little giant vise for 3$. It was dark and i was looking through some old timers garage that is a constant rummage sale. Any one have any info. Like are they rare. Its missing something off the bottom but what i dont know

Thanks guys.
Im not sure where inwas going w the pipe plant. The prof. just wanted us to come up with some samples of what we could create w pipe. It was totally new to me so i just started cutting it and a carnivorus plant popped n my head alttiosuough it lost most of its predatious feeling an acceptical (which was great for me cause im my harshest critic)plant did emerge.

Here are a few pics of my first "fine" metals piece
I called it "the buckler"cause its a shield belt buckle.



Notice the horrible rivits and down right sloppy backside. Thats what happens when you rush to finish a project.

So i doing some thinking the other day and i realized that ive never posted any of my work. So here are a few of my first pieces.

First one is a squid key rack. It started its life out as a simple piece of 4x1/2'' flat stock. And boy did i have a lot if drawing out to do (at the time us begginners couldnt use the p0wer hammer) and the tenticle part is a small piece of flat stock (cant remember what though).

The second one was not really a project bu t just an experimentation with pipe.

I'll post a few more pices later today

now that you have pointed out that its angle iron i can totally see how it all fits together. it makes sense now that thee is a reason why there so few gaps between the wraps. thanks for the bit of knowledge in my ever expanding understanding of the second oldest profession.

Nice stuff. How did u attach the flat stock thats twisted around the round stock.the third down from the top

Very nice work. How did get that texture on the metal piece you mounted the cross on

wel ha lots of those at the scohool i went to and an do they have sone rebound. after a few of my first swings i miseed the target trying to be all macho and see how hard i could hits it and that hammer shot up at me like a bullelt. i t so horrable scary, i made sure never to do that again

mine have been in my mothers storate shed for just ybder a tear. they are so ready to put tthe heat to it. my wife and i are getting married on sat, then we hava honey moom then we get to ove into our new place and it has a huge garage and a small work space in a seperat room right hehind it. im so excited.

what it our negledted equipment did some weirde s"toys ' type sruff and came to life

it seens to be coming delaminated as well. nut that doesnt meen it would be a great first anvil for ya.

do you have on now?

i would be  little  more causious on this one . its welde(withch if done properly than its not a big deal) and they totally have the highest price i would even feel comfortable haggleing with. k but if you must have an anvil i know the feeling. tht dont always pop up in and area that is convieient fot both of you guys

wow that one has some storiest to tell. all the slight imporfedtions make it look ike a million bucks.

some day ill have a anvil simsilare. im hoping  that style

cogradulations, thats a fine piece of history there and i looks to have mayony morre yers lfter to it.

ya you found a good place here, ther is always going to be sombody on here, no matter how skilled you are.  that can give you some solid advice. im myself in about to build my on venturi burner. im going to mess with doing some small foundry work. mostly aluminium, brass and the like. one of my buddys has a 3-d printers and he makes these bad ass storm trooper helmets out of a fiberglass composite. we're going to move on to metals i cant wait to show you guys.... and of cousre pic your brains about a small foundry.

good luck to you mason

no problem glen, i hope no ones feelings were hurt or ego's brusied..

i have no personal problems with mr hofi and at the time of the original posting i really only knew him through his hammers (wich i was surprised to see so many diff thoughts both negative and positive), and few other bits of misleading info. we're all friends here righ? ;)

the only 2 cents i have on this is slow down, watch the edges of the weldpool and move slow enough that when you see the undercut happening move slow enough that you see it filled. also im pretty sure you can run 7018 A/C but you need to do it at low ampers.