Roy Ubu

You are probably right, Daswulf. Kind of a matter of which a person thinks is easier, split and braid or bundle, forge weld, braid.

It's a little like the fold out cross. It is a simple, elegant representation. Sawing and folding makes it extraordinary in terms of producing it. Take care all.

I am becoming more persuaded that the top one is braided after looking at a lot of hair on Duckduckgo. Probably a four strand braid. But I don't think it is necessarily a bundle welded to the lower part because of the transition from strands to shaft (not sharp but rounded) although I guess it could be fullered round either way. 

That all means about 3/4 stock tapered, cut into four strands, each strand textured then braided. Four steps. Sounds easy.

As for the bottom two, I'm looking for the welded, punched bead octopuus thread. Looks most likely for now.

Thanks all for the input. Maybe the smith will show up so we can congratulate  and pick his or her brain, see more good stuff. If not,  more ideas are welcome.

You may be right about the welds. That is not something I have done in terms of shaping. I like to think it's possible to handle everything with regular tooling but if that's the way it's done, I like the result. Still puzzling about the top one. Guess the best thing is to jump in.

Didn't see a name or web site. I would certainly be happy to put my questions to him or her. I noticed the same, perhaps corroded, texture you point out. By hammer etc...I prefer not to work with chemicals.

I was going down that road but a couple of factors turned me back. 

First, if it is a bundle it would be hard to taper evenly, with hammer anyway, second, you would still have the problem of getting very deep relief around the "suction cups". I am guessing it might be like pineapple, but punching the diamonds at their highest point at some stage of the process. No idea about the top one.

You may have seen this on Pinterest. I try to copy what I like and I haven't experimented yet, but I am really stumped on the top twist, the next down looks like it could be done with pineapple steps and the third and fourth look like simple twists with maybe some kind of punch treatment on two edges, but I'm having a hard time imagining the punch. Or maybe all are some variation of pineapple steps. I sure would like to use them in a couple of projects. Thanks for ideas.

10 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

Haha, well at least U.S. lets us know you don't need to Google translate your posts.  There are 9 cities worldwide named Olympia, with 6 in the States. No big deal to me , but I thought it was interesting how many there are. I grew up In Fairfield CA, and there are 53 worldwide and 35 here in the States. I live near Las Vegas now and there are only 3 of those in the States, with one being kinda well known. The remaining 55 are mostly South of the border, so I usually don't need to clarify.  I am pretty sure I know which one by your comment of

that describes one state pretty well.    I moved to the desert because I hated the rain we had where I grew up.

 

Olympia - Washington

Olympia - South Carolina

Olympia - North Carolina

Olympia - Missouri

Olympia - Kentucky

Olympia - California

 

Your garden art is very well done, and it is a nice clean forging.

I grew up with older parents and I learned how to roll a hoop. Dad cut the spokes out of a trike wheel, and made a tee stick for it. I have seen some hoops that were quite large in old pictures.

 

 

Quite the sleuth, Biggundoctor. My home town is the capital of the rainy, when not 108 degree, billionaire state, divided north to south by a major mountain range accented by multiple volcanos, furnished with a large inland salt waterway, lapped by the Pacific Ocean, bordered by a foreign country inhabited by generally nice people to the north and one of the major continental rivers sung about by Woody Guthrie to the south. Had no idea there were so many Olympias. Second thing I learned today. Maybe I'll skip tomorrow.

Lots of first class, generous blacksmiths here.

17 hours ago, George N. M. said:

Ken, very impressive and I catching.  I am wondering about some of your techniques and tooling.  To twist a number of 1" square bars together like the base would take some pretty hefty equipment.  I also suspect that you use a good size power hammer.  How did you make the cuts for the curls in the upright portion?

Thanks.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Sorry, not very clear. The base is 1 inch square stock, not hard to twist with a long, deep heat, double handle monkey wrench, pipe to contain and stabilize the stock. Vertical is 3/4 square stock, curls chisel cut supported in leg vice. These are all Yellin elements, I think, or that is where I remember seeing them. He was a great one to seek out older stuff and make it his own. What we all do. Hard to be original except in the way elements are combined. Like music or any art/craft.

6 minutes ago, Nodebt said:

  Hi Ken!  What is your avatar doing there?  Is that one of those ground wheels for measuring off hectares the easy way?

I made my own version of an old toy, stick guiding rolling hoop. Did both in plastic tubing. Steel would have been more durable and environmentally friendly. 

Never stick with stuff for long so I built a coffee roaster and delivered in my neighborhood, used the toy company logo for the coffee business. Too lazy to think up new stuff all of the time, so I use Stickman along with other terms linked to past fiascos. Turned out alright anyway.

Binged Dexter last week. Seems like a nice guy. I feel a little conflicted.

I wanted to get better at heads. Thought starting with a scull made sense. Add the flesh later. One body part at a time.

More air under the fire.

15 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

World Wide Web here,  I wonder about folks not listing at least a continent when they use a non-unique place name.  I've known folks that got tripped up over Georgia in the USSR vs Georgia in the USA before.  Of course I'm fussy that way feel free to ignore me.

U.S.

9 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Very nice sculpture. 

Its hard to guess the size of it. What size is the square stock at the base? 

1 inch square stock base ring.

6 hours ago, Nodebt said:

  I agree.  That arched section of the base is pretty cool too.

Flat stock chisel split & expanded, ends incerted into slots   (mechanical joint)

9 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Looks pretty green for Olympia Greece!

No gods here.

Garden before wind, rain, general grey nastiness.

My friend, who is lucky enough to be strolling the streets of Cordoba, Argentina, sent me a couple of pictures of some anvils he ran across in an antique store. I wish I could tell him more about them. Tapered heal, probably European, wider face than horns, separated legs with decorated arch typical of what place and period? He could have gotten them for $600, but they would set off the metal detector and would surely be confiscated as fast as my Leatherman at the boarder. I'm heading that way soon, but I bet one of the Cordoba brothers picks them up before I can get there.

Ideas are sacred in the sense that they should be shared. I doubt I've had a purely original thought in my life, but if I ever did, that would be the one I'd be proudest to pass on. On the other hand, it's probably easier to combine old ideas in new ways to make some larger, at least novel product. Take anything you want from me and if it comes out well, share it with someone else. I thought that was what this place was about.

Very nice design. Sawn, heated, twisted, I'm guessing.

Called a busher. Smoothes rough stone surfaces when sculpting.

When you are writing an instructional book, you might be tempted to make instructions for every little thing, even those things you don't necessarily have a formula for. I think most people simply find the most comfortable position to deliver the blow as accurately as possible, using the part of the anvil that will give the best result. I have stood on the anvil and driven a long piece of heavy stock between my feet onto the face to upset the end. This posture is far from matching the one you describe. The main caution I would make is to avoid bending down too close to the work. There is a danger of taking a blow from a rebounding hammer in the forehead. This can be painful, not to mention embarrassing if there are witnesses.

"Secretariate, Ruffian, Tom Fool, Tim Tam, Dr Fager, Demascus, Buckpasser. All shoed by a blacksmith"

Thought he was a "plater".

I like the punch and chisel design. Many Yellin pieces incorporated that kind of element. Seems like I read that he researched their historical usage. I have meant to do the same.

Maybe I'll do that right now. Thanks, and keep stuff coming.

"Bodega"? Not "yunque"? Must be slang. Wonderful, but very poor place when a larger country isn't sponsoring war there. Apparent surplus of doves too.