myloh67

Thanks Pawel for the input. The intention was to make the work optically float. Appreciate the comment :)

I completely agree, to incorporate instability into the design of ANY work.. well what would be the point of that! Unless of course you were Jean Tinguely.

Wonderful, a labour of love for sure.

Mitch you are more than welcome and your request shows your decency. I will make some changes mind. With the upright forged from 5/8 rd i would centalize a conic cup to make that element more symmetric. The dish with 5/8 hole, in position as it is required packing, (ie due to the taper left a void 1.5mm (imperial?)) i filled it with copper strip. This allowed the dish to bite into the soft material and when hammered down held it secure, it also created a pleasant contrast. Dont forget photos :)

Cheers Gents, nicely put BI

Heres a holder of candle fresh out of the fire today. Might do a batch and see how they mov..e

Paul Allen teaches smithing on this NETS, this is one talented man, he has work in the Victoria and Albert museum London. And he also has the gift of teaching. It would be a right blow if this folded, I know quite a few that are real keen to get on this course.

A very good days work indeed! with great results.

Thats right I dug it out, it was originally a much larger piece and I took my time before I introduced it to the saw.

"Owit" is this an accidental or intentional pun, either way ...Twit Towoo Raven

Material is Bog Oak, Black Granite and Bronze. The Oak was left air drying for 18 month and treated with linseed oil. The Bronze was laquered and stone was brushed in water. Thanks for the comments.

The top is oak that has been preserved in the bog in a non oxygenated atmosphere and would be anything between 5000 to 7000 years old. More than likely a part of the root of the tree due to the texture. Lovely material.

Sharing time again ! Finished this piece yesterday. Inspired by Edgar A. Poe, The Raven.

I am working on a small piece that includes some bird shaped bog oak. This talon is essentially four tapers welded together. This could be the handle of a poker if it was say to clutch onto a ball ?!

Thank goodness for my photographic memory...., id be lost without it :D

Lovely smithing Jake, looking like the material is communicating at it best from here, (keep er lit) local saying and photos keep them coming please

Brilliant Thomas, how is your hearing ? :D

That looks very lovely, she's a lucky girl.

Good to hear from you, would be good to meet up here or over there, good luck with next weekend, lots of goodness in this sentence Good day M Ps its good to hear the hammer is behavin well

Yes Michael its a top and bottom spring swage and i do preshape before entering the swage. Cod thats a delicacy nowaday :D

Have you tried any blacksmithing? If you have not, then try and see if that helps answer your question. If you have,then from personal experience i would say it could be that there might not be any point. I tried it initially and got bit, had to continue, apart from that and till this day I know that money is not my objective in life. I consider myself lucky that I can earn enough to get me over the hill but more importantly I enjoy what I do. There are lots of easier ways to earn money if that is the objective. Take on a course and see how you fair.

Nelsons burn cream, tried and tested, TOP OF THE SHOP!

You asked for it! So with a ball, you would normally rotate the material. If you didnt rotate and hammered on, you would get the excess material squidging out to the sides, called flash. you would then let cool and grind or file it off. Taking that into account it doesnt matter what shape element you put into the spring swage, it doesnt need to be symetrical. The top element of the sw picks up the impression of the upper part of the master and the bottom part the lower of the master. Trick is when your using your sw in production, to pre forge the shape as close as you can to the original, hence less squidging out to the side and a more accurate replication. Making of the swage.. I used 2 mild steel blocks 40mmx30x80mm (suffient size), made the spring from about a meter of 30mmx8 mild, welded the blocks to spring. I forged the master in mild steel, quenched, cut out some bits to make it decorative and case hardened it. I clamped the reins of the sw together so the blocks remained closed tight in fire, (this reduces scale build up on the face of the blocks and creates a better impression (so does a clean mug of coffee to a customer). Took my sw to the fire, got an good even heat on both blocks, get your cold master and centrally place between the hot blocks of sw, forge under massey until both blocks touch or close and be careful not to over hammer. Hope this threw some light out, let me know what you have in mind to create and PM me if you need a dig out!

I like the finish on the hammer as it stands id lave er bee. When is the basher gonna have his bashin

Sounds like you have had a brilliant week and there will be many more to come :D