David Kailey

made these while at the wild west fest in missoula, mt It was a peiod old west deal so no power tools all old school smithing Had a great time.

Buddy of mine gave me a moose skull that he found in the woods. I is a bit weathered and so i wanted to do something I had never seen before and so here is is thus far. the pit will have an isulated bottom and 4" wall to help keep the heat from charing the skull I also made some candle holders as mantle or table center pieces

Thank you guys for your comments, I am very humbled by your appreciation.

Go for it!!!! I just want to see the pics when your done!!!!

Made this for a friend of mine to say thanks for doing me a favor. You can get all the details on my site @ http://www.morganjadeironworks.com/project/7/3-candle-floor-table-stand-holde

Never messed with the lily but here is my effort. Check out all the details @ http://www.morganjadeironworks.com/project/17/calla-lily-candle-holder

I currently use a a papa rino that i bought from http://www.incandescent-iron.com/rhan.html it is a papa rino, it is a great anvil and i have had no issues with it. I designed the plate that the anvil sits on because i got tired of the rings and hardy tool holder breaking off or bending and the time it takes to weld all off them on. So I had the top plasma cut from 1/2" plate. It is very strong and is holding up well, I have sold 5 of the top plates and had no problems with them so far. I went with the 3 leg so it never wobbles and a shelf with expanded metal so the scale falls thru the shelf

Colleen, Here is a link to the Smiths web site that taught me how to forge acorns from black pipe. Below that is the link to the article he wrote and posted on his web site. http://www.incandescent-iron.com/ http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-17797617870419/ForgeAcorns.pdf

I started my Smithing by taking a class from Steve McGrew in the winter of 2011. He was working on a oak leaf and acorn door knocker and I thought is was great, so he taught me to make an acorn and oak leaf, among other things. After taking his class I started forging different things and Steve always welcomed me into his Smithy and I could always contact him for any questions. After seeing his article in the Hot Iron News 2013/1 where he showed how to make his door knocker, I decided to finally tackle a project that had been rolling around in my head for over a year. An oak Branch center piece for a table that could also be hung on the wall. So I built everything i needed to make an acorn and started in on the project. Steve had e mailed me and told me that i could come beat some metal with him at his smithy over the weekend and so it began. I drew out the main branch and all the side branches that day and welded them up. Thankfully Steve let me use his power hammer for the main branch it started as a 1 1/8' round stock so that saved me a lot of work, Thanks Steve!!!! The side branches are from 5/8" round stock. So Spring break was here and i had my 10 year old Daughter Madelynn for the week and so we forged all the acorns and the leaves together, It was great to forge with her, She loved it!!!! All that was left to do was to assemble all the pieces into a branch. So here it is. I have about 13 hours into this branch it is 32" long and about 18" wide.

This is a table i Built this week. Pretty simple design, dose not require much smithing skills but that is what makes it beautiful. the top is a 3" walnut slab distressed with logging chain, hammer, and what ever else was with in reach legs are 1" square stock with a hammer texture and a 6" detail using hot chisle work and a quarter twist shelf is 1/2" square stock also textured. I like to leave a bunch of scale on the anvil as it adds another texture in addition to the hammer blows. I installed some flat stock and forged some spikes that i drove through the wood and the flat stock and them welded them on the underside of the slab. All the labor was in forging the texture and wire wheeling the scale off. I got the slab of walnut for $60 and the iron was all at a local salvage yard that cost me $20 my labor was around 17 hours.

Here are some pics of the work i got to do in my first year Smithing. Some of this is stuff I did on my own and the railing was a job I got asked to help with by my friend Steve who is my mentor and has taught me alot, always been around to help me out, and is a talented smith.

thanks for sharing your work

i like it when if flakes off and land on my hammering hand right between my thumb and inde finger. You cant just let go of the hammer and by the time you stop hammering to let go it has already burned it way in to your skin!!! I always wear long sleve shirt so i have not notice burns from slag or cinders but I have been burned badly by large metal that i am working on and that is what has left me so good scars.

I have a buddy who actually takes his cordless sawzall with him to save on the cutting price

I just had a local guy from a “Rat Rod” magazine ask me to make some forged shifters and mirror mounts. These rat Rod guys have money and are always trying to one up each other.

I forgot to mention, In spokane there are areas in the city that have huge yard sale weekends and i have set up and solt stuff out of my friends driveway that live in those parts of town I sometimes even set up my forge and anvil and pound on metal. It really draws attention to all the people driving around and alot of them stop to check it out.

I started selling my stuff at local farmers markets. Which got me connections to diffrent shows and trade fairs. They are cheap or free and there is little commitment but always make sure you have pics of all your work and cards for people to take.

Here is my blacksmithing apron i had made, along with some cuffs. I started smithing a year ago and as with my traditional archery i have embraced the culture of the trade. I also am a taller thicker built guy so finding a thick leather apron was difficult. I am happy with the way it turned out it. The upper is a stiff chunk of bull hide and the bottom Bison hid which is very thick but pretty flexible. Cuffs are the same leather as the upper portion of the apron. My wife is not happy about all the burn holes in my sleves and front of my shirt. I have suffered some pretty good burns on my forearms and am glad to have some protection. I know it may sound wimpy to some but I would like to preserve my body so as to enjoy smithing for a longer duration of time.

I have two hammers that i use for 80% of all my work and it is because I like the way they feel, I like the story behind how i aquired them and am pleased with the work I produce with them. With that said wy good buddy hates one of them and his reason is that it just dosn't feel right to his hand. So there you have all my "technical" advice about hammers. The best hammer is your mental confidance!!! After that is don't much matter you can do great work with a Rock fastened to a stick.

makita makes a angle grinder that has a variable speed ajustment on it for around $150 I use it most of the time because i can slow the rpm down and not deal with flying wires hardly at all. I only use my bench wheel when i have to

there are 3-4 types of "clips that the rail roads use to hold down the rail any I have mad tools from these that have held up well. here is a picture of three of them that i have found

http://www.incandescent-iron.com/ His name is Steve he also is the desighner and seller of Rino Anvils. He is a top notch guy and dose great work 509-456-8321 this is his number he is usually around in the afternoons.

Steve is a great guy, and has been a great mentor, i am glad to have meet him and i enjoy banging around in his smithy. I just got a papa Rhino and am loving it,

Well done! the photos are great!!! I look forwar to seeing it installed!!

I like it!! nice job!!